Riddler’s Latest Puzzle Questions the Waynes in The Batman TV Spot

The Riddler digs up dirt on the Waynes in a new look at The Batman. Trailers have hinted at a childhood connection between the reclusive Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) and the enigmatic Edward Nashton (Paul Dano), the live-streaming serial killer out to unmask the truth about Gotham City with a trail of cryptic clues for the Dark Knight detective to solve. “The Riddler’s latest, it’s all about the Waynes,” says cat burglar Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) in a new TV spot for The Batman, where Bruce finds himself at the center of a puzzle topped with the biggest question mark of all: “The sins of my father?” 

Batman’s investigation of the Riddler’s game unravels a criminal conspiracy and a web of lies somehow linking corrupt Gotham D.A. Gil Colson (Peter Sarsgaard), G.C.P.D. Commissioner Pete Savage (Alex Ferns), and potentially the late Thomas Wayne (Luke Roberts).

Described by director Matt Reeves as a noir detective mystery wrapped up with an action movie and a psychological thriller, The Batman is grounded in the reality of gritty 1970s cop movies.

“Because the movie is a detective story, because it is a thriller in the sort of cop world, and because it’s about corruption, we’re treating this Batman story as if this could have happened,” Reeves said during DC FanDome 2020. “The idea is that Batman doesn’t have sort of the ability to have super-heroic powers, he just has super-heroic focus and super-heroic drive.”

Set in Year Two of Bruce’s career as a costumed crime-fighter, The Batman pits the vengeful vigilante against Riddler and Gotham gangster Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), a.k.a. the Penguin. 

“In that way, it’s like a classic noir, and this series of murders that Batman investigates is very much in that mode. So Chinatown was a really big one,” Reeves added, pointing to the “gritty, flawed humanity of it.”

“[Batman] was very inspired by those kinds of movies, by French Connection, and other sorts of cop movies like that,” Reeves said. “I would say even a movie like Taxi Driver, the description of a place, and very much getting inside of somebody’s head. I guess a lot of ’70s, sort of street-grounded stories.” 

The Batman is playing only in movie theaters on March 4. The Batman tickets go on sale in February.