The Batman Fan Spots Crazy Batman Forever Riddler Easter Egg Connection

The Batman has fans’ full attention at the moment, and as such, we’re beginning to see some of the deeper-buried Easter eggs of the film being unearthed. One of the more fun connections that seems to be going viral on social media right now is the small detail of the glasses that Paul Dano’s Riddler wears – glasses that seem to be exact same pair worn by Jim Carrey’s Riddler in Batman Forever! 

Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of Paul Dano’s Riddler and Jim Carrey’s Riddler in the Twitter post below: 

To be fair, the theory that The Batman‘s version of Riddler had this Easter egg nod to Batman Forever actually started as far back as the first promotional images and trailers featuring Dano’s Riddler. In fact, a year ago, the topic started circulating over on Reddit – even if it didn’t get very far: 

Jim Carrey took on the role of Edward Nygma/The Riddler in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 soft-reboot Batman Forever. Schumacher’s vision of Batman was worlds away from what director Tim Burton had built with Batman (1989) and Batman Forever; Carrey’s zany take on Riddler alongside Tommy Lee Jones’ cartoonish take on Two-Face felt more at home in Adam West’s Batman series than a 1990s superhero-action movie. Batman Forever still became a hit – largely off the lasting strength of the Burton franchise, as well as the shameless marketing and merchandising campaign that was tied to the film. In fact, if you search “Riddler’s glasses” right now you’re more likely to find results about those McDonald’s promotional glasses for Batman Forever than you will anything about that film or The Batman! 

Paul Dano’s Riddler has conversely been a frightening reimagining of one of Batman’s least-threatening foes. Right from the first costume reveals, Dano’s Riddler was being compared to the real-life Zodiac Killer or infamous movie serial killers like John Doe from Se7en. Finding out he is wearing those Jim Carrey glasses actually makes him seem a little more… fun? 

As stated, The Batman director Matt Reeves actually managed to pack in quite a few fun DC Comics Easter eggs into his “grounded” and “Noir” vision of Batman. This clear nod to the previous movie version of Riddler is a cool little novelty, and will certainly have some fans double-checking to see where else there might be nods to past Batman movies and characters tucked in the shadowy folds of The Batman. 

The Batman is now in theaters.