The Batman director, Matt Reeves, has explained how the Zodiac Killer inspired the movie's villain, The Riddler. The upcoming superhero action film, based on the titular DC Comics character, will serve as the latest contribution to the Batman franchise. Reeves, whose previous credits include Cloverfield and acclaimed sequels Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War of the Planet of the Apes, is leading the project and penned the script along with Peter Craig. It was announced back in 2019 that Robert Pattinson would take on the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, and that the new film would track the character in his early years of crime fighting, uncovering the corruption rampant in Gotham City. In particular, Pattinson's Batman will hunt down the Riddler, a serial killer targeting Gotham’s elite. In addition to Pattinson, The Batman stars Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano as The Riddler.

The character of Edward Nashton, known throughout Gotham as The Riddler, has regularly been depicted as a criminal mastermind, taunting Batman and law enforcement by incorporating puzzles, which act as clues, into his schemes. The first full trailer for The Batman does not reveal much about The Riddler or his regular appearance, beginning with his early arrest in a café, but it does signify that the supervillain in Reeves’ adaptation will be darker than in past live-action iterations. Dano’s performance as The Riddler looks to establish him as a significant threat in Gotham, carrying a more menacing demeanor and live-streaming his crimes for citizens to see. A new teaser, along with official images, revealed more of the villain's costume, but much about him has been left ambiguous.

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In a recent conversation with MovieMaker, Matt Reeves revealed the inspiration behind The Riddler in The Batman. He says that he wanted to base the character on the infamous Zodiac Killer, a real-life 1970s serial killer shrouded in mystery, who teased the detectives trying to uncover his identity and stop him. Reeves added that the idea for the movie was to portray the Riddler villain in that same image, and to indicate that his targets reveal that there is more of a conspiracy at play. Read Reeves' quote below:

"The premise of the movie is that the Riddler is kind of molded in an almost Zodiac Killer sort of mode, and is killing very prominent figures in Gotham, and they are the pillars of society. These are supposedly legitimate figures. It begins with the mayor, and then it escalates from there. And in the wake of the murders, he reveals the ways in which these people were not everything they said they were, and you start to realize there’s some kind of association. And so just like Woodward and Bernstein, you’ve got Gordon and Batman trying to follow the clues to try and make sense of this thing in a classic kind-of-detective story way."

THE BATMAN TV Spot Vengeance the riddler paul dano

Reeves also previously revealed that a fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain inspired the character of Bruce Wayne in his adaptation of The Batman. The director said that he always envisioned this likeness when writing the film, and that the image of the late rockstar was important in creating a representation of Wayne that differentiates itself from those of previous Batman movie installments. Reeves took this idea of Cobain in a decaying manor and used it to write a version of the character that would be unfamiliar to audiences; one that has been affected by tragedy and become more isolated. Paired with The Riddler's Zodiac inspiration, The Batman is shaping up to be a very dark film.

Much of the marketing for The Batman teases The Riddler's involvement with the titular hero, but it is also very intentional with how much it reveals about him. Considering the inspiration for his character, it makes sense to surround him in mystery, and it will be interesting to see how soon the movie uncovers his layers. Even the most recent poster for The Batman features a small detail related to The Riddler, increasing speculation and excitement around how the two will finally meet. Since The Batman has drawn inspiration from two extremely famous figures, the pair's inevitable clash is sure to be one for the movie history books.

More: Pattinson's Batman Action Scenes Already Have A Clear Difference From Bale's

Source: MovieMaker

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