A new theatrical display standee for The Batman has fans working to crack The Riddler’s code. A Twitter user snapped some photos of the display, which had The Riddler’s cipher at the bottom. Fans have already been doing their best to break the code since some of it became visible in the movie’s trailer, so this one — which only had a sentence, at least as far as anybody can see — actually came together pretty quickly. With nods to the classic comics story The Long Halloween, The Batman looks to be tracking The Riddler as a serial killer who is taunting the police and the vigilante Batman.
The idea is not to have a “Year One” style origin where we see his parents murdered and then see him go into training, a la Batman Begins. Instead, this is more like “Year Two,” where Bruce Wayne is already Batman, but his Batman is fueled by rage and not fully formed.
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You can see the image below.
Not long after posting the original photo, that same Twitter user claimed to have cracked the code, and we haven’t seen them show their work, but it certainly seems like the right answer. According to BlurayAngel, the message reads “You are el rata alada,” which translates as “You are the winged rat.”
Paul Dano plays The Riddler in a stacked cast which also includes Robert Pattinson as Batman, Colin Farrell as the Penguin (soon to be starring in his own spinoff on HBO Max) Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon (similarly HBO Max-bound), and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth.
Warner Bros. describes The Batman as an edgy, action-packed thriller that depicts Batman in his early years, struggling to balance rage with righteousness as he investigates a disturbing mystery that has terrorized Gotham. Robert Pattinson delivers a raw, intense portrayal of Batman as a disillusioned, desperate vigilante awakened by the realization that the anger consuming him makes him no better than the ruthless serial killer he’s hunting.
The Batman will be in theaters on March 4, 2022.
