If you were to stop anyone on the street and ask them to name a handful of Batman villains, one of their responses would undoubtedly be that of the Riddler. Since his since his inception in 1948, he has served as one of the Dark Knight’s greatest intellectual foils and, more recently, has been brought to life thanks to some truly memorable performances delivered by Cory Michael Smith on Gotham.
Well, technically, he’s been playing a pre-Riddler Edward Nygma, but that’s all about to change. ComicBook.com reports that he’ll make the transition to costumed supervillain when the show returns from its spring hiatus on April 24 in “How The Riddler Got His Name.”
Thankfully, Smith won’t be donning any sparkly spandex as seen in Batman Forever, as the actor told CinemaBlend:
“It is performative; not in a Jim Carrey way. I want him to be kind of showy. So what we have as the Riddler costume is really classy, and that’s kind of what we wanted.”
That sounds perfectly reasonable and more along the lines of what one would expect from a modern live action take on the character. But if you’re hoping to see him twirl a stylized cane, you may have to wait awhile. Or, at least, that’s what he said:
“I do not have a cane yet, but I want one so badly for a few different reasons; I won’t tell you all of them so I don’t spoil anything, but I’m pitching very hard for a cane. I want him to be someone who deserves a f***ing cane. He needs to be someone that’s just begging for a cane.”
With Harley Quinn set to put in an appearance in the season finale, it looks like the pieces of the Batman puzzle are certainly falling into place. In the meantime, we’ll just continue ignoring the significant age gap between Bruce Wayne and his future nemeses.
Gotham airs on Monday nights on Fox.
