8 Worst Things The Riddler Has Ever Done

2. Going Legit

The Riddler Hush
DC Comics

For fans of The Riddler and fans of the larger scope of Batman and his world of supporting players, it just felt completely flat to see Edward Nygma go legit at one point in time. Not just a fleeting one-off or merely a month or two, for The Riddler was a ‘good guy’ for the best part of four years.

In the aftermath of the Hush arc, there came a chain of events that saw Nygma’s outlook change. After butting heads with Hush, The Joker, and Poison Ivy, undergoing plastic surgery and extreme tattooing, and been left in a year-long coma at the hands of Shining Knight, Eddie reformed and essentially became a hero in his own right from 2006 up until 2010.

The idea here was clearly to add an extra depth to the Edward Nygma character and to try something different with one of DC Comics’ most infamous villains, yet this was one of the "worst things The Riddler has ever done” for readers – who largely just wanted to see Nygma being a devious, deceptive rogue who tormented Gotham City, rather than him being one of the city’s saviours.

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.