10 Things DC Wants You To Forget About The Riddler

9. The Marilyn Manson Makeover

The Riddler
DC Comics

The nineties animated Batman series remains the gold standard against which all future superhero cartoons have been held to - to some it's even the definitive portrayal of the Dark Knight, on screen or otherwise. Which set the bar pretty high for any future shows that followed, and which...well, they've had mixed success in reaching.

Whilst the Brave And The Bold series was a heck of a lot of fun, the most recent CGI-based outing Beware The Batman sank and, before those two, we got the frankly bizarre The Batman back in 2004.

At first following the classic depiction of the character to a tee, The Batman diverged wildly as it started to reach back into the Caped Crusader's history. Initially Commissioner Gordon was nowhere to be found, his daughter Barbara became a much younger Batgirl, and many of his most infamous villains went through some pretty radical redesigns. The Joker wore a straightjacket-cum-nu metal outfit and green dreads, Bane abandoned his luchador outfit for a Red Hulk look, and The Riddler got his most...shall we say interesting makeover to date.

Since his first appearance on the shower people were comparing The Batman's Riddler to gangly goth rocker (and surprisingly eloquent star of Bowling For Columbine) Marilyn Manson. Which isn't an unfair comparison, what with the similarly pale and androgynous look, flowing jet black locks and urban legend surrounding removal of some of his rib bones. Well, maybe not the last one, but it was a pretty weird redesign, and even with Robert Englund - yes, Freddie Krueger himself - on vocal duties, we're not likely to see this Riddler ever again.

Contributor
Contributor

Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/