The Riddler
It’s been rumored that the backstory for The Joker’s origin film is going to deal with bullying (groan), and that’s somehow supposed to help the audience relate to him as a character. If they’re adamant about exploring a bullying storyline though, it would be better suited for a Riddler origins movie rather than for the Clown Prince of Crime.
Otherwise known as Edward Nygma, The Riddler is a criminal mastermind and a cunning strategist who’s constantly undone by his ego and compulsive desire to leave clues around all his crimes. He’ll never be truly satisfied until he can prove his intellectual superiority over Batman.
A backstory around him would show a meek kid constantly being bullied by his father and his peers because he thinks he’s better than them. He just wants to be the best at all costs and never getting the recognition he thinks he’s owed eventually would turn him to a life of crime.
If they didn’t want to show the Riddler as an outright supervillain, there’s an arc in the comics that shows the character reforming and becoming a private investigator. He still has all his cocky and arrogant traits, but he actually works to solve crimes. Making an origin story about a villain struggling with what’s right and wrong? That’s way more engaging than a Joker origin movie, if you ask us.
