THE BATMAN Tie-In Novel Reveals The Riddler's Origin Story And Unexpected Link To Bruce Wayne

THE BATMAN Tie-In Novel Reveals The Riddler's Origin Story And Unexpected Link To Bruce Wayne

An upcoming tie-in novel for The Batman has revealed new details about The Riddler's origin story, including an unexpected link to Bruce Wayne during his childhood. Be warned that possible spoilers follow.

By JoshWilding - Feb 08, 2022 06:02 AM EST
Filed Under: The Batman
Source: via The Direct

We're less than a month away from The Batman's arrival in theaters, and Random House just dropped a new tie-in book titled Before The Batman: An Original Movie Novel. Aimed at middle graders, it explores Bruce Wayne's early years and reveals new details about The Riddler's tragic origin story.

It appears young Edward Nashton went to the same high school as Bruce Wayne and sang in the school choir. though he ultimately gave up his love of music for his true passion: riddles. In the orphanage he grew up in, Nashton frequently carried a book of crosswords or puzzles - leading to him being bullied by his fellow orphans - and given cruel nicknames like "Ed-weird." 

In the orphanage, Nashton would have to walk past a photo of Thomas and Martha Wayne (pictured alongside their young son Bruce) every day on the way to his food delivery job. As you might imagine, the future Riddler was intensely jealous of the billionaire Bruce's life, particularly when his fellow orphans would frequently joke about how wealthy he was compared to them. 

The novel mentions that Nashton hoped to "study forensic accounting" because "it sounded like solving puzzles," but the privileged life of Bruce Wayne is never far from the orphan's mind. 

Something tells us The Riddler's origin story takes an even darker turn somewhere along the line as he does ultimately become a serial killer. That's not the sort of content you'd find in a book like this, of course, but we do at least now have a better idea of what informs his apparent obsession with the Wayne family. Perhaps becoming a forensic accountant leads to Nashton figuring out Bruce is Batman?

The Batman is set to be released in theaters on March 4.

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Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:30 AM
🙄
RandyOrtonLF
RandyOrtonLF - 2/8/2022, 6:30 AM
Less than a month away holy shit. I don't think I've ever been this excited to watch a film.
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:34 AM
@RandyOrtonLF - me too and it will be great but i just hope they dont go all weird with the story and dont stray too much
Dabs
Dabs - 2/8/2022, 7:17 AM
@thebagman - Weird how and stray too much from what? As long as they stay true to the characters, the story can be anything
GhostDog
GhostDog - 2/8/2022, 6:36 AM
Kind of sounds corny to be honest. But it’s Reeves so let’s we how it goes.
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:42 AM
I just think batman movies have never stuck with the source material. They have always strayed. Burton did it. Nolan etc. while the movies were great im always waiting for a batman movie that reflects the comics.
RandyOrtonLF
RandyOrtonLF - 2/8/2022, 6:44 AM
@thebagman - Yeah but the beauty of Batman is that there is no definitive story. It can literally be anything as long as the characters maintain some of their most important traits. That's why I love Batman and Gotham so much.
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:57 AM
@RandyOrtonLF - i guess you have a point.
Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 2/8/2022, 6:56 AM
I don't think they are going the right way for marketing this "DETECTIVE" story. Cause now we know the criminals name, occupation, bullies Nick names he got as a child, his motivation for why he's doing what he's doing and the actor playing him.

And we know all of this before the movie is even out. So what's the mystery element now? Is the appeal of the movie just seeing batman figure out everything we already know? We should have been told Jackshit about the riddler. I'm sure the movie will still be good. But not sure about this part of the marketing
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:58 AM
@Mrcool210 - maybe the marketing is misdirection?
Batmandalorian
Batmandalorian - 2/8/2022, 6:59 AM
@Mrcool210 - Im personally not thrilled with whole cat and the bat theme
IronGenesis
IronGenesis - 2/8/2022, 7:12 AM
@Mrcool210 - You only know these things if you are going to read a a book for 12 year olds.
Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 2/8/2022, 7:13 AM
@IronGenesis - Still, the info shouldn't be out there at all.
DarthOmega
DarthOmega - 2/8/2022, 7:02 AM
They basically showed something like this in the international trailer a couple of months back


KWilly
KWilly - 2/8/2022, 7:02 AM
"and given cruel nicknames like "Ed-weird."

Bit cringey, but I can let it slide.
Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 2/8/2022, 7:08 AM
@KWilly - Bully Nick names are always cringy
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 2/8/2022, 10:41 AM
@KWilly - I mean, the nickname was made up by a bunch of children. They don't exactly have a way with words.
TheMandalorian
TheMandalorian - 2/8/2022, 7:59 AM
Poor bullied riddler… Womp womp?!… why do we care to humanize the serial killer bad guy?
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 2/8/2022, 11:06 AM
@TheMandalorian - Because humanising villains makes them more interesting and deepens their character beyond a moustache-twirling bad guy??

Tragic backstories aren't the screenwriters trying to excuse the behaviour of the villains, they are trying to make us UNDERSTAND why they're the way that they are.

The sad truth is most serial killers in real life had a pretty f*cked up life story.
MisterKite
MisterKite - 2/8/2022, 4:05 PM
@TheMandalorian - I don't usually leave negative comments on here, but this is a pretty uneducated statement.
OmegaDaGrodd
OmegaDaGrodd - 2/8/2022, 9:19 AM
'Edweird' sounds like a line from Fan4stic
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