Batman Theory- Riddler is Anti-Hero:
The Batman trailer was really quite thrilling and it managed to surprise us when many people thought that it won’t be able to. The one thing that we loved about the trailer was that Reeves gave us a tiny tease of all the major things that we knew about the film. We’ve known that this film will be a noir driven detective tale of Batman. So, the trailer showed us the kind of gritty & grounded world that the film is set in. We knew the main cast members and the characters, so Reeves showed almost all of them to us.
Batman/Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, the Penguin, Gil Coulson, Jim Gordon & the Riddler were all spotted in the trailer. We also got a glimpse of other aspects like the Batmobile and Batman’s fighting style. Oh, and yes, we got to hear the voice of Alfred as well. So that was great too. All in all, the sleuths on the internet got enough to unpack despite the fact that there’s plenty that we haven’t got because about 70% of the film hasn’t even been shot yet.
The one big conclusion that we have been able to come across is that the Riddler isn’t an agent of madness and chaos like the Joker. He has a clear motivation behind his theatrical murders. So far, he has murdered Mayor Don Mitchell Jr. who was just elected as the Mayor for his third consecutive term. After killing him, the Riddler taped him and wrote “No More Lies” on his face. Then we see a wall full of newspaper clippings that credit the Mayor for his achievements. The Riddler branded them as “Lies” too. So according to him, the Mayor was totally corrupt.
The second target of the Riddler is District Attorney Gil Coulson (Peter Sarsgaard). We see him crash the Mayor’s funeral gathering in a car and his neck has been taped with a bomb. So apparently, the DA of Gotham is also corrupt. The Riddler’s real goal here is that he wants to open everyone’s eyes towards the deeply rooted corruption in Gotham. He wants everyone to see the lies that the people in power have been telling all this time. He isn’t taking out the innocent. He is acting his own judgment upon those who are seemingly corrupt, and the real villains of Gotham.
The Batman is in his 2nd year, and he has been fighting low life criminals so far. The Riddler seems to be just like Batman, but only far more lethal with his methods. He wants Gotham to be rid of the real criminals, which are the people higher up in powerful positions. And more than anything, he wants Batman to open up his blind eyes and look at these criminals hiding in plain sight. Batman maybe someone who doesn’t kill, but the Riddler does. Despite that, he seems to be an anti-hero in his own right. He isn’t killing for fun. He isn’t a serial killer. All he wants is to give control of the city back to the people.
We’ve covered a couple of theories that talk about the ultimate twist of the film. Apparently, there are hints in the trailer that the Court of Owls are the real villain of the film. For those uninitiated, the Court of Owls is a group of wealthy politicians and Gotham’s elite individuals who control the socio-economic conditions of Gotham from behind the scenes. The Riddler has somehow stumbled upon the existence of the Court and that’s why he seems to be murdering every person of power that is working for the Court.
There’s a chance that Thomas & Martha Wayne were also involved with the Court. Furthermore, we believe that since the Court of Owls secretly controls everything in Gotham, the entire GCPD could also be controlled by them. So whatever cases Jim Gordon & Batman solve together could actually be the targets of the Court. Hence, Batman has been unknowingly working for the Court of Owls.
Towards the end of the trailer, the Riddler tells Batman, “You’re a part of this too.” Batsy replies, “How am I a part of this?” Riddler states, “You’ll see.” The Riddler thinks of Batman as a hypocrite. That’s why, both the riddles in the trailer have been directly addressed to Batman. He is calling Batman out personally because of his involvement in the crimes of the Court of Owls.
Let’s see if these theories come true.
