Paul Dano To Play The Riddler In Matt Reeves' The Batman

The Emmy-nommed Dano will line up against Robert Pattinson's Caped Crusader in 2021.

by Andrew Pollard
the Riddler
DC Comics

In what looks to be a truly inspired piece of casting, Matt Reeves’ The Batman has brought in Paul Dano to play the Riddler.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, the Emmy Award nominated actor – best known for the likes of Escape at Dannemora, Wildlife, 12 Years a Slave, Prisoners, and There Will Be Blood – will be butting heads with Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader in the June 2021 movie.

Only last night, word came out that Jonah Hill had decided to pass on a role in The Batman, with Hill supposedly in the frame to play either the Riddler or the Penguin. Whether that means Dano was actually second choice for the Riddler gig, who knows. Either way, most would likely agree that Dano should make for a great Riddler.

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In this latest THR story, Paul Dano’s version of the Riddler will not be the Edward Nygma character that comic book fans are so familiar with. Instead, Dano will be playing a character called Edward Nashton, because… well, just because…

Of course, Paul Dano will not be the first person to play the Riddler in live-action. Frank Gorshin and then John Astin played the role in the Adam West and Burt Ward Batman series of the ‘60s, before Jim Carrey then yucked it up as Nygma in 1995’s Batman Forever. More recently, Cory Michael Smith played this longtime Bat-foe in Fox’s Gotham.

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In addition to Pattinson as the Dark Knight, The Batman will also feature X-Men: First Class’ Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon.

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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.