The Batman: 10 Ways The Riddler Parallels Batman

When Batman first appears in this movie, it is one big entrance. We first see a montage of criminals only for them to see the bat signal in the sky and get paranoid that Batman might be near. They look at the dark areas and into the shadows and wonder if Batman is going to walk out of them at any minute.

Then the movie focuses on a crime on the subway when gang members in full-face make-up target a passenger. When the man is alone, they begin to beat him up. The gang members see the bat signal in the sky and like before, they look at the shadows. This time, Batman walks out of it and brutally beats them down.

It is an outstanding scene. So outstanding in fact, that we forget to realize that The Riddler was also hiding in the shadows when we first saw him. He was not cool though, he was disturbing.

We do not realize that the line of what we consider cool or disturbing is very blurry. The guy on the subway that Batman saved thought Batman was going to hurt him next. He sees Batman the way we did not - as a disturbed man dressed up as a bat with a penchant for violence. That’s not cool, that’s what a serial killer looks like.