Joker opened in cinemas worldwide this weekend and it’s proven to be a record-breaking hit. There’s already talk of a potential sequel, but it seems that Warner Bros. is now considering a series of movies focusing on famed Batman villains and their origins. We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones that told us Tom Welling was returning for “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and that The CW was developing an Arrow spinoff back in March – that the studio is just starting to develop films based on Mr. Freeze and the Riddler.
A possible Riddler solo movie is interesting news as Jonah Hill recently signed up for Matt Reeves’ The Batman to star opposite Robert Pattinson as one of his greatest foes, believed to be Edward Nygma. However, this Riddler film wouldn’t be a spinoff of The Batman and so wouldn’t star Hill or whoever ends up playing the character in Reeves’ production. As such, we could have two Riddlers rolling around the DC universe over the next few years.
This would be similar to how we have both Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker. Sure, Leto hasn’t played the role since 2016’s Suicide Squad, but the presence of his version of the villain will be felt in February’s Birds of Prey and there’s reportedly still hopes to do a Harley and Joker movie at some point. Just like Leto and Phoenix, one Riddler will exist in the DCEU and the other as part of the DC Black label of mature films.
The Riddler’s traditionally been seen as one of Batman’ goofier villains, thanks to the popularity of Frank Gorshin’s portrayal in the 1960’s show. And unlike others, he’s yet to receive a 21st century gritty reimagining on the big screen, with his last cinematic appearance coming in 1995’s Batman Forever, as played by Jim Carrey, who’s even admitted he was doing an impression of Gorshin. With that in mind, maybe it’s time for a Riddler standalone film to show folks how dark he can be.
