10 Things DC Wants You To Forget About The Riddler

6. His Dad Abused Him

Oh yeah, one of the other big developments in the Riddler's character during the Hush storyline was the revelation that he was abused as child. During his time recuperating after having seven shades of shinola kicked out of him, he somehow recovers the repressed memories of his upbringing: with his mother out of the picture he was raised by his single father, who was not exactly a model parent by any stretch of the imagination.

This origin story for Edward Nigma dovetailed with the existing history he had in the comics as a brilliant child who committed his first crime in order to ensure he won a school contest that involved solving a puzzle in the fastest time. The prize? A book of riddles. Like, duh. So that was always the accepted explanation of why the Riddler was so into, well, riddles and puzzles, and why that obsession was intrinsically tied to his criminal activities.

It wasn't until this induced flashback to his childhood that we got the full picture, however: because not only was the young Edward a whip smart kid, but his deadbeat dad was incredibly jealous his son's academic achievements in school. He also couldn't understand where the intelligence was coming from, since he clearly didn't have much himself. This line of thinking lead the elder Nigma to assume that his son wasn't some sort wunderkind but a big fat cheater - which, to be fair, he was at least half-right about - and so subjected him to regular beatings.

From this sudden revelation The Riddler realises why he has such a compunction to leave behind clues as to his crimes - he has a deeply held need to prove his innocence, to absolve himself of any wrong doing or deception. At least that was the explanation before the New 52 reboot threw all that character development out the window.