The Psychology Of Supervillains Club..May 2020 - The Riddler

The Psychology Of Supervillains Club…May 2020 - The Riddler

Welcome to The Psychology Of Supervillians Club. This month we will delve and dissect The Riddler . Step into his mind and determine what makes him tick

WARNING :
This club will be discussing darker aspects and elements within the DC Universe. These aspects and elements could be viewed as overtly violent, malevolent and possibly offensive to some.

  • We acknowledge that we are not mental health professionals, and are not able to provide any diagnosis or guidance in this regard.
  • This thread does not suggest or support any mental health diagnosis or any guidance of or for people in the real world. We are dealing with purely fictional characters within fictional worlds.
  • Supervillains are potentially driven by deep seated and often dark or disturbing concepts of what they feel is the right thing to do and why the villain is the hero of their own story.
  • We will explore if the supervillain is actually correct in their views and actions, are they justified in what they do and potentially would their fictional worlds be better off if they actually did win and defeat the hero.

The club gives this warning because some may find such discussions disturbing, distasteful, and/or possibly immoral and we want the community to be well aware of what the contents of these discussions can involve.

The Ground Rules: ( Yes…even villiany has to follow a few rules . Don’t take my word for it…Go ask The Legion Of Doom or The Crime Syndicate, they have rules too.)

  • Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • This is a “ safe space ” to explore a sometimes taboo topic…villainy. Why it’s necessary and possibly why villains are often more interesting than the heroes that oppose them.
  • Be respectful of the opinions of others. Did I mention thatPosts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • There is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” opinion here.
  • The views expressed are the opinions of the poster and deserve to be acknowledged as a valid opinion, even if you might disagree and debate items. What does that mean? Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • We are dealing with the intricacies of the mind. The one thing we do know is that we can never be ultimately sure what is actually going on in the mind of a supervillian.
  • However, we can conjecture based on what we do know about them and form our own points of view on what makes them tick and have blast while doing it.
  • In case you missed it the 3 times earlier…Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines

Don’t be afraid to be bold, to challenge the status quo, to think in unique ways and be outspoken. Their is no “right” or “wrong” point of view here. There is what we each find in delving beneath the surface and into the mind of our Supervillian Of The Month.

Most importantly, have fun. Enjoy your process. Revel in it. Don’t be afraid to let some of your “evil” out. We’ve all got a bit of it in us somewhere. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t find villains interesting, now would we. :smiling_imp:

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Reminder: Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines

Our June 2020 Supervillian of the month - The Riddler

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Below are some video and comic book resources for The Riddler available on DCU. This is by no means a definitive list. Just a few pointers to some of his “adventures”. PLEASE feel free to add to it. Watching and reading the entirety of the resources below is not expected.

Video Resources:
Batman Hush Yes, I picked the movie, since this adaption makes Riddler the "big bad”.

If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich - BTAS S1 Episode 40

What Is Reality - BTAS S1 Episode 48

Riddler’s Reform - BTAS S2 Episode 14

Riddled - The Batman S2 Episode 02

Riddler’s Revenge - The Batman S4 Episode 09

Optional Resources not on DCU, you could try “filmrise” app or Roku.

A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away - Batman’66 Season 1 episode 11

When the Rat’s Away, the Mice Will Play - Batman’66 Season 1 episode 12

Comic Resources:
Batman (1940-) Issue 171 First Silver Age appearance.

Batman: Gotham Adventures (1998 -) Issue 11

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2012 -) Issue 53 , Issue 54 , Issue 55

Batman feat The Riddler (2013) Issue 23.2

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2012) Issue 77 , Issue 78 , Issue 79

Green Arrow (2001) Issue 35

The War of Jokes and Riddles Storyline
Batman (2016) Issue 25 , Issue 26 , Issue 27 , Issue 28 , Issue 29 , Issue 30 , Issue 31 , Issue 32

What resources you use or don’t use is up to you. The only limit is your imagination and deduction.

Use whatever materials you like in building up your case for his psychology. Although noting what you’re basing it on could be helpful as resources for the club and our members.

I specifically used the movie version of Batman Hush because when they adapted it, the made the Riddler the “big bad”.
I know with the current pandemic circumstances, some folks may have more or less time on their hands than normal.

Since there are video resources, if someone one the club wants to volunteer to setup a watch-a-long for something Riddler related, GO FOR IT!!

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Here are some questions to maybe think about. If you find any of them interesting, please let the club know your take. As always, posing your own questions is great too.

The Riddler is certainly compulsive, but is he compulsive obsessive?

Is he self-defeating?

Does the Riddler compulsively use riddles because of “achievemephobia”, the fear of success?

Why does he always have to be, or prove he Is, “the smartest person in the room"?

Does he suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

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Without further ado, we delve into the mind of The Riddler
Let the adventure begin!!!

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Riddler’s my favorite DC villain.

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I think this is one of the few times I’ve seen Riddler lists pop up without mention of Dark Knight, Dark City (though I can understand why it would be skipped)

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Certainly feel free to use it if you want.
Do you know the run it’s from?

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I think it was a one shot before Alan grant came on board with Batman, but let me double check that tmrw. People always seem to love or hate it. Was a way darker riddler, but had some supernatural stuff thrown in. I liked it as a Halloween read

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Batman '66 Riddler did a lot of giggling. well Gorshin’s version that i can remember

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I think it was a mini-series within the series of Batman.

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Dark Knight, Dark City was a 1990 three-part story arc in Batman. It was later collected here.

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Gorshin is my favorite Riddler of all time. He was so perfect for the part. If Batman’66 was on here, every Gorshin episode would have been on the video resources list. But, since it’s owned by The House of Mouse, we ain’t seeing ‘66 on here anytime soon.

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It’s available for free on Roku. You can always provide links to that site.

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Is it commercial free on Roku?
I ripped my box set, for personal use only of course. But being able to stream it could be useful on occasion.

Batman: The Enemy Within, the Telltale Games sequel, has a focus on Riddler including his origins and his motivations. Please keep in mind that this video game universe is a little different than the comics.

Spoilers are ahead, I will use the spoiler blur feature but I still want to give the warning. Also, please keep in mind I am not an avid Batman comic reader so I am not 100% sure on how much of this differs from the comics.

One thing that stood out to me in the video game was Riddler’s gray hair. He was a seasoned veteran in the world of crime. It is later revealed that he was terrorizing the city during the days of Thomas Wayne’s crime circle. He did disappear from the streets, only to start working for The Agency (in the video game Amanda Waller works for The Agency.) This is the part that is interesting, there was an accident that led to his narcissism. I believe he was a bit of a narcissist before, however, this character trait was enhanced from the accident.

I also believe this was his greatest flaw. He would purposely push buttons for the attention he sought to prove he was better than everyone and Batman soon became his main focus. While others in the crime world wanted to avoid Batman, Riddler would often enjoy his lethal cat and mouse game. Perhaps, he saw something in Batman that others didn’t. I am leaning towards him seeing as an equal just on the other side of the law. Which once again, this feeds his narcissism as he would feel validated if Batman could not decipher his riddle. Then I have to think of the other outcome, how he would react if and when Batman would decipher his riddles. It seems like he would always try to one-up his own madness to outdo Batman all in the name saying he was better than him. The anguish that he must have felt with defeat was probably paralyzing, at least momentarily.

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Sometimes I think the the house of mouse may own me, and I don’t even know it :sweat_smile:

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Whoa, I did not know Batman had a tell tale series! Is it walking dead status level. Cause, THAT was a good one

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I like that if I’m lazy for long enough, other people in the community are always available to answer questions that I should have researched myself. :+1:

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In my opinion, yes. The Walking Dead series was able to create a new universe with new characters where the two Batman games are not in the comic universe but are definitely Batman stories. The villains across the 2 games are Two-Face, Penguin, a few surprises, Catwoman, Harley, Bane, Mr. Freeze, and a guy named John Doe that I think you will enjoy learning more about.

Telltale also has a Guardians of the Galaxy game, Game of Thrones, and a Borderlands game. I have yet to play one that I have not enjoyed.

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It has commercials, but I find that Roku is very good about keeping those to a minimum.

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Oh my gosh, you legit got me on cloud nine! Thanks for sharing!

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I forgot to mention one of the best games from them, A Wolf Among Us. It is based on the Fables comics from Vertigo. I had low expectations with this game going in and absolutely loved it.

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