The Riddler (E. Nygma) is easy to write off as an OCD who deliberately foils his own plans through his Riddles. So we can write him off psychologically as an OCD with achievemephobia, the fear of success.
However, the arc in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2012) Issue 77 , Issue 78 , Issue 79 , we see a different diagnosis put forward at the end of issue 79.
“His affinity for tactics and strategy is so high that he defies diagnostic quantification. To him everything is a game and he is extremely adept at playing it. This begs the question, then, as to why Nigma continues to “lose.” At the end of the day there is only one answer that makes any sense: He is playing a different game.”
We can look at several other comics and videos and we realize that one thing that he doesn’t take well is being called “crazy” or “insane”. Certainly once we move into incarnations from 2000 on, we see a character more inline with darker tactics and desires. Even in the 90’s via BTAS and Batman: Gotham Adventures (1998 -) Issue 11 We see his compulsion change from the person who wronged him, to the authority figure that put him away, and finally to Batman. In fact Riddler’s Reform - BTAS S2 Episode 14 1 and Batman: Gotham Adventures (1998 -) Issue 11 are in many ways similar stories, or at minimum a continuing evolution towards a need to battle Batman in a game of wits.
However, all of these takes, especially the ones after 2000, show him devoid of glee. As if he’s going through the paces.
Perhaps it is my age, but, I still find the Frank Gorshin Riddler from Batman ’66 to be my favorite and the best grasp of the character conceptually. It’s not the elaborate plans or wanting Batman and Robin dead. It is the sheer, truly sadistic and psychotic glee he has in doing what he is doing. For me, it is the deepest and psychologically darkest version, because he is having so much fun. Savoring the moments, so happy and full of manic energy. Not just the actions but the ideas themselves. I will go so far as to say it is an extreme form of fetishism, bringing Riddler to what can only be defined as a virtually orgasmic bliss.
To take joy in being “the smartest man in the room” and “out thinking your opponent” is one thing. To take those things and have them effect you as a complete sexually climactic action. That is a whole lot deeper and more disturbing than any other Riddler incarnation.
So at the end of the day, between the psych eval we get in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2012) Issue 77 , Issue 78 , Issue 79 & Batman ’66 Frank Gorshin, it becomes clear that Nigma is indeed playing a different game. It is a pity that now in an era of no CCA, nobody has yet to truly delve into that deep and much more disturbing incarnation.
I think they would find the dirty little secret of Batman comics. The Riddler is far more terrifying and emotionally disturbed than the Joker. It would elevate him to being Batman’s most dangerous foe as they are truly mirrors of each other at the most basic, fundamental core. True intellect against the “World’s Greatest Detective”. The Riddler, not the Joker, is the “Professor Moriarty” to Batman’s “Sherlock Holmes”.