8 Worst Things The Riddler Has Ever Done

4. Torments Batman With Jason Todd’s Death

The Riddler Hush
DC Comics

Using the death of a loved one to torment somebody is a low, low blow. For Edward Nygma, it was just another day at the office.

During Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s fan favourite Hush arc, Batman finds himself beaten down physically and emotionally at every corner by a mysterious new villain named Hush. As the story heads towards its shocking climax, it’s revealed that Hush is actually Jason Todd – the Robin who was brutally murdered by The Joker 15 years ago.

In reality, this ‘Jason’ was actually Clayface. Thanks to The Riddler’s orders, Clayface took on the appearance of how Jason Todd may have looked had he lived to become an adult.

One of the big reveals of Hush was that The Riddler actually knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne. As such, he used this knowledge to target Bruce by attacking him with his greatest failure – not being able to prevent Jason’s death - in a move that was scummy even by Nygma's low standards.

There's an added element of pure evil to the whole Hush story, as The Riddler also has a role to play in turning Bruce's childhood pal Tommy Elliot into the titular Hush villain.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.