Warning! Contains spoilers for Batman: Urban Legends #17!
While the Joker has often served the role of Batman’s primary antagonist, the Riddler is actually a much more compelling match for the Dark Knight and DC knows it. The Riddler has often been compared to the Clown Prince of Crime, as riddles and jokes are somewhat similar concepts. But despite their similarities, the Riddler can push Batman to his limits in a way that not even the Joker can accomplish.
Batman is known for having a strict moral code when it comes to fighting crime. He doesn’t use guns despite being an adept marksman because that’s how his parents were killed. And he doesn’t take the lives of his enemies, no matter how heinous a crime they have committed. The Joker often pushes him to the limit on this point, often striking at the Dark Knight personally in order to goad him into killing him. But Batman has refused, saying that if he kills the Joker, that will start him down a slippery slope that will lead to him murdering any criminal he comes across. But interestingly, despite the Joker’s more extreme nature, the Riddler can actually bring Batman closer to breaking his code than the clown ever could.
In the story “On His Worst Nights” written by Dan Watters with art by Riley Rossmo featured in Batman: Urban Legends #17, the Riddler escapes from custody and Batman must track him down. The Riddler used his staggering intellect to perform a seemingly impossible escape, so Batman confronts a variety of his other villains seeking an answer for how he could have broken out. As each villain proves to be another dead end, Batman becomes more and more frustrated, letting his hatred for the Riddler overpower him. The Riddler explains that due to the nature of riddles and their solutions, how they force people to look beyond the boundaries and rules that normally define the world, Batman hates them most of all. After all, if rules can’t apply in every situation, then maybe Batman’s strict moral code shouldn’t apply in every situation.
This is a fascinating aspect of Batman and Riddler’s relationship. While the Joker pushes Batman to the brink of breaking his crime-fighting rules through heinous acts, the Riddler is different, able to do this using something as innocuous as a riddle. While no one would blame Batman for someday snapping and killing the Joker given all the people he’s hurt and the lives he’s ruined, killing the Riddler would be a much less heroic act. So the Riddler actually threatens the very heroic nature of the Dark Knight whenever they clash, making their dynamic much more interesting.
The popularity of the Riddler outside of comic books in The Batman movie will hopefully persuade DC to use the character more often. The Joker has appeared so frequently that he risks becoming stale, whereas this story shows that there are still a lot of interesting facets of the Riddler to be explored in future plotlines. By pushing Batman to his limits in such an interesting way, the Riddler has shown that he should be the Caped Crusader’s main nemesis instead of the overused Joker.
Batman: Urban Legends #17 is now available from DC Comics.