10 Hilariously Unthreatening Movie Villains

3. The Riddler - Batman Forever

Justin Hammer
Warner Bros.

For a man with one of the best rogues galleries in all of comics-dom, the cinematic Batman struggles to find an enemy worthy of his skills. It was all downhill after Jack Nicholson's Joker, really.

From the grotesque, black-vomiting Penguin, to the glittery Mr. Freeze and his puns, the nineties never really gave Batman a chance to flex his Bat-muscles. Even if they were made out of rubber.

The nadir of them all: Jim Carrey's Riddler. Taking a page out of Frank Gorshin's book, this prancing idiot never feels like a real threat to Val Kilmer's Batman; not physically or mentally. Even his riddles are pretty weak. It's no wonder Tommy Lee Jones (who played the garish Two-Face in the same film) couldn't stand the guy.

Thankfully, the Bat-franchise would eventually go on to better things with a villain for the ages in Heath Ledger's Joker (and, to a lesser extent, Bane).

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.