That or make the Riddler Riddler again and quit with the forced attempts to make him a grittier villain. There’s been plenty of examples where you can write a dangerous villain despite their goofy appearances without having to go TDK on them.
Exactly. At his worst the Riddler is an insufferable asshole. When he does reform he is actually a very likeable and endearing character. I think thats what makes his character (particularly his detective run) tragic, because when he uses his genius for good he is a valuable ally and has the potential to definitely redeem himself.
@@ryanhunter226 Mind you, being insufferable can be an entertaining trait as well, if it’s intentional and acknowledged in-universe. The Arkham games really hit bullseye with Ed in that department. His higher-than-thou attitude makes you want to hit him with a breeze block, but you can tell that it comes from an inferiority complex, causing him to curve right on back to being endearing.
I read the War of Jokes and Riddles based on the name alone. There weren't many jokes, there weren't many riddles, and the war happened mostly off-panel.
@@homeaccount5943 - Now, calm down Home Account, he ain't hurtin' nobody. In fact, from 2017 to 2018, Tom King wrote one of the best *Mister Miracle* runs out there, my personal favorite actually! A wonderful 12 issues run, drawings by the talented Mitch Gerads... And even in his Batman run (that is indeed very hit or miss), I thought that Tom King incorporated enough great little storylines (the 12 angry men remake with Mr Freeze for instance, loved it!) so that his take on Batman will have both detractors *and fans* until the ends of times.
To be honest, I never understood why writers view Riddler as a loser and a pathetic gimmicky clown, every rogue can be looked at as a loser even the heroes. Joker is literally just a killer clown who’s obsessed with a weirdo dressed in bat tights fighting gangsters, some teenager with the powers of a spider (the living thing that scares the hell out of everyone) fighting his friend’s dad who’s wearing goblin clothes, a fat guy with tentacles and a fish bowl George Lucas. A guy in titanium suits fighting a chinese warlord with laser rings and other titanium wearing weirdos. And yet writers seem to take them seriously but when they get to a guy wearing outlandish green suits spreading riddles for attention they go NOPE THATS TOO MUCH TOO FAR. It’s all outlandish, goofy childish, and pathetic in any way you see it. It’s only that good writers like Chuck Dixon, Stan Lee and many many more with artists such as Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Neal Adams and many many more are the ones who made those outlandish concepts work and made us love them. It’s all outlandish depending on how you see it
In the 80's, there was a huge backlash amongst comic fans against the campy 60's version of Batman. Riddler was heavily associated with that show, so DC started downgrading him at the time in order to appease fans. In the long-run, though, he was too big of a pop-culture icon for the "loser" portrayal to last.
Exactly. Do people even remember when Brainiac was just the goofy green alien who never wore pants? Then after the 90’s cartoon, people considered Brainiac to be Superman’s arch nemesis, even over Lex Luthor. Green Goblin and Kraven were joke characters until they died. Hell, the most “iconic” group of Marvel villains today . . . Hydra. It was a running gag for decades how pathetic Hydra was. Hydra was the group of villains even the sorry D-list 90’s heroes, like Darkhawk could beat. Hydra only became cool once The Hand took it over. The point I’m making is you can make any villain great with the right story.
I think the problem is that most modern writers aren’t interested in writing challenging riddles for Eddie to pull off. They just can’t think outside the box, or maybe, they assume the people don’t like the concept of riddles anymore, since the answers to so many things is so easily found on the internet these days. So instead, they blame it on Eddie himself and intentionally make him lame to avoid having to use him at all. The best thing to happen to Eddie was when Paul Dini made him a freelance Detective, and he and Batman had to team up to solve cases. A great evolution for the character without disregarding his roots at all. Damn the new 52 for undoing it. Eddie has been trapped in amber, story-wise, ever since.
I think it's just the idea of leaving clues after you break the law is counter predictive. The zodia killer did that but the difference is he didn't get caught so the tuant worked
The Secret Origins story would actually be great if it was in Batman Beyond or some other story set in the future. It's awkward for the Riddler to be portrayed as long-retired when Batman himself still just looks like the standard, present-day version.
Aw yes Joker Syndrome, where all writers want to write Joker as the bestest most dangerous villain who's so smart and cool that he trump's all other villains and he's always 10 steps ahead of everyone, to the point where they want to make most other bat rogues less good than him
The overexposure of Joker is diminishing not only other characters but him too. He doesn't need to be in or the main villain of every Batman story. Give other villains the spotlight and all the villains equal standing like they were pre 2008. Joker has scary moments but the attempts to shill him as the most frightening comic villain ever are annoying. He's not even the most frightening Batman villain. Professor Pyg, Victor Zsasz and for his short run James Gordon Jr are 3 villains scarier than him. As for villains outside Batman Joker has nothing on Anton Arcane from Swamp Thing. Under bad writers Joker is treated as more of a threat to villains stronger, smarter and with more power than him and it's getting old.
@@my_girl_seraphine5294 As good as Ledger's Joker was in The Dark Knight the message some writers took away from it was "For an instant successful Batman story just add Joker." Before then there were some stories he was the main villain, some he only had a minor role in and others he wasn't in at all. There was a balance.
In the Batman animated series, the Riddler only got a handful, if even that, of episodes dedicated to himself because it was hard to write him well and they wanted to do him justice, something that payed off because Riddler had some great episodes. Whenever someone writes a “the riddler is soooo lame compared to murderclown” story, it’s basically them saying “am I not smart enough to write this character? ...no its the riddler who is dumb.”.
@Rob Mohamedally he didn't sadly. however he DID show up in the NBA comics at least once and it was an EXCELLENT story with a surprisingly sombre ending.
Is there any comic where the "character has never been a big deal, they were always a big loser" is revealed to be villain plot? Like what if Riddler being a loser villain was Jokers plot to mess with Riddlers mind as Joker didn't want competition from a big mastermind like the Riddler, so he psychologically messes with his head by paying the psychiatrist in Arkham to tell Edward that his whole life is just a lie he invented because it was too traumatic for him to think he was not as intelligent as he thought he was?.
Well, yes there is a great Batman storyline in which *the "character has never been a big deal, they were always a big loser" is revealed to be villain plot* , and it's a favorite of mine, but it would be extremely spoilerish to just name it there, no? I mean, when I first read this arc I didn't know what to expect, but had I read it with a "the loser is the big bad" mindset, would have I enjoyed it as much? For reference, I'm of course referring to the massive 2014/2015 _TheNew52_ *Batman Eternal: Nobody* story...
I remeber the Year of the Villain special for the riddler. I don't know if it was worse because of YotV or the City of Bane storyline in the Batman books, but it was certainly a mess. And I remeber that War of Jokes and Riddles was kind of a mess, but I'll give it credit for that amazing sniper duel between Deadshot and Deathstroke.
I do agree with them Riddler is a bit sillier than the rest, so I'm fine with it being acknowledged (not like some of these stories though). I like Riddler cocky and a bit goofy but a threat and smart with a dash of pathetic, like the Arkham games.
What if there was a riddler story where a reporter, who didn't know anything about the riddler, (who would also be symbolic of the people that don't take him seriously) decided to say why the riddler was batman's worst villain on TV. The riddler see's this and kidnaps him, puts him in a riddle maze with death traps and broadcasts it across the country (so it wouldn't be just gotham that see's how serious he is) and treats it like a game show with him as the host. Where he'd air it would be on the reporter's own show as he to take over his tv building and broadcast it on there, just to add salt in the guy's wound. Admittedly the maze part comes from the tas episode 'If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?', but I thought it could work here. What do you think?
even better, having it so the maze isn't deadly just full of traumatic trapsthen you could have the riddler say smething like "Yeah, I'm not like the Joker, I don't just kill people at the drop of a hat. No, when I kill someone it's well thought out and struck with the precision of a surgeon. But this isn't about KILLING you, sir. No, no, no, that is BENEATH me. YOU challenged my intellect and my PRIDE. Do you think I'm such a fool NOW? When you couldnt even beat my oh so simple 'riddles'? If I'M a joker, what about you, the man who can't even beat ME?"
Half of the text in war and Jokes of riddles i didnt understood at all and it didnt seemed to me like that is the Riddler he was way way way to Brutal and Psychopatic for Riddler
@@homeaccount5943 I'm actually fine with that look and interested to see where they go with a darker Riddler. The Gotham Riddler is better than Jim Carrey's and hopefully the The Batman version is too.
Or Hugo Strange manipulates Gotham villains to think all their loser depictions are true, using his psychology skills, body doubles, payed off arkham doctors and subliminal messages using Mad Hatter tech. Like he makes Polka Dot Man think that his costume never had powers and he attacked people with a baseball bat, but it was just surgically altered goon while the real Polka-dot man was drugged out in a secret location and Strange the did the Switcheroo, making Polka-dot Man think he is delusional.
bonus points if the riddler is the one who defeats him, because the riddler is too egotistical to beleive he's a loser and too smart to be tricked hat easily.
I actually liked the Question one as well as the Year of the Villain one. I’m not a fan of “loser” Riddler portrayals but at least they were well-written.
Just here to see where the war of Jokes and Riddles would be on the list lol. I hill repeat what I've said on your video review...The story kinda suckedm but the idea itself of war of the rougues lead by Joker and the Riddler had SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!
@@rayvenkman2087 There are bug men out there who blindly praise the bastard over the same things over and over. Tom King is a sad sack pos who tries to cancel artists(Jae Lee) and tries to flex cia status(against Dean Cain) all while leaving behind a trail of broken emasculated characters while their over powered mommy wives solve all their problems while they mope in mediocrity. Self defeating drivel is all he writes. You can guess what his characters will say and do because he only knows one story and he forces characters to fit it instead of making the character properly fit the story which is a mark of a bad writer. Alan Moore he wishes to be but is sadly not.
Much to my great delight, I have not even looked at "Thanks for Nothing" and "Riddle Me That." Nor do I wish to. First, let's talk about "Riddler's Romance." (Yeah, I know that's just the tagline on the cover, not the actual story, but it's a better title than "Riddles," at the very least.) I say...yeah. It sucks. It...it really sucks. I can't stand it, myself. I fully and totally agree, it's just awful. And I'd also concur with "War of Jokes and Riddles" being second worst...though, with that said, I feel like if I DID read "Riddle Me That," it might become the new second worst for me. Thankfully, I have no intention of doing that. (pauses) Yay for Jokes and Riddles, I guess? Or should I say "too bad" for it? Aw, whatever...I don't give enough of a darn to care. As for "When Is a Door?"...I actually kind of like that one. I don't LOVE it, but I do have a soft spot for it. The reason is because, while Riddler is a loser in that story - a position I despise - it honestly feels like the artist and writers were TRYING to give him something more. Riddler in the story feels like the Riddler of the time, if that makes sense: a once grand and glorious rogue who has come down considerably in the world, and whom no one takes seriously anymore. They actually did a remake of it on a fan site, and that one was a really fascinating "remix" of the original comic. I don't actually think that story is bad at all...but, like you, it bothers me that Riddler IS a loser, period. We still hear ripples of that through comic-dom, and it really bothers me, since I love Eddie so much. Still, the fact he made it into that issue at all, and that he was shown even a modicum of respect, given the time period...that, itself, gains my respect. It's not in my Top 10 Riddler tales - I wouldn't even put it in my Top 15 - but it actually might be in my Top 20. Which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for the other two here I've read...God, I loathe them. ANYWAY...Happy 5th Anniversary, Rogues! And I hope we can collaborate again in the years to come! ;)
Now these are videos I'd love to see more of. For all of the great stories our favorite characters are blessed with, there are some truly awful ones that misrepresent them terribly. Happy anniversary, Rogues!
4:31 Most of the time no matter how Riddler's feeling he's always in "I'm a genius Batman and you're an idiot who relies on his fists and gadgets" mode. I doubt he'd get sad much.
Happy 5th anniversary! I totally agree with your choices here. I’ve read several of the Riddler stories on this list and remember feeling let down and a little sad that the creators of those stories just didn’t “get” the character & wondered why DC would let them undermine the coolness of one of Batman’s most famous villains.
I believe it's beacuse in current era the similarities between Riddler's narcisissm and the whole holier than thou basement dweller stereotype become more and more visible.
If Rouges gets this upset over Eddie’s worst storylines, I shutter to think of the Rage that he’ll unleash once he covers the worst Two-Face storylines.
Congratulations Mr Rogues, that was an incredible video! I even discovered a new one, for I, for some reason, wasn't even *aware* of that Question/Riddler one! It would have indeed worked better with Cluemaster... who, by the way, spoiler (heh) alert alert, was pretty damn cool in his first live-action appearance, played remarkably well by Rick Miller in *Batwoman* season 2! (yes, yes, I've forced myself to watch it to the end, because the _Arrowverse_ Black Mask was just too damn cool
I totally agree with your list, dude. His new look from "Riddle Me That" looks like a homosexual stereotype, and the design of that stripper from "Riddles" looks totally weird.
What a great way to celebrate your 5 year anniversary. With a list of the worse Riddlet stories. I will admit I used like Riddle me That, but I can see why you dislike. It is just as bad as when they turned Toyman into a child killer in the 90s. This is why I do not like Riddler's new look in the upcoming The Batman film. It feels like the people working on it are trying to make Riddler "cool" and "edgy." Why can't they just embrace the campy nature of the character? Riddler can still be a threat without losing his classic look. Just look at The 3 part Chuck Dixion story from Detective comics. Riddler was very dangerous, but still felt like himself. Anyway Happy anniversary Rogues. I assume the next worst story list will be for Two Face? I think he has more bad stories than Eddie.
The War of Jokes and Riddles kind of reflects Tom King's run on Batman in general. Gets off to a great start. Brimming with interesting ideas. Superb build up to what feels like something spectacular. Only then for it all to be undone by mischaracterisation and an unsatisfying ending. When the best thing you can say about a story is "well at least it gave Kite Man a decent origin" something has definitely gone wrong.
Happy Channel Anniversary Rogues. It's really great to see how far this channel has come. Thankfully I've only read the J0nker Riddler War out of these lol.
Thanks for the video, Rogues. The first video I saw of you was the one about Cornelius Stirk, and since then I kept watching the rest of your videos. I like them mostly because you talk about forgotten heroes and villains, also because of your top 10 best comic books about various villains. Plus, you have a fascinating voice that goes up with the style of your videos. Thanks for these five years of uploading great videos, Rogues. God bless and have a great day.
Happy 5 year anniversary!!!!!!!! 🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉 5 years ago today, some random Swedish comic book nerd decided to let the world know what he believed were the 5 best Riddler stories (he was right about those best stories, by the way), and thus started the greatest RU-vid channel of all time. I’ve gone on and on before about how much I love this channel, so I’ll leave it at that and just say happy 5 year anniversary, you lovable rogue. Now, as for the video itself... I don’t think my list would be very different from yours. I was actually able to predict all the entries correctly, although I wasn’t quite sure what order they would be in, aside from your number one and two. As for my own list... well, Riddles would still be at the bottom spot... and probably the War Of Jokes And Riddles after that... When Is A Door Not A Door would probably still be at number five since that one doesn’t really make my blood boil... not sure how Riddle Me That and Thanks For Nothing would look on my list. On the one hand Thanks For Nothing basically spits on the concept of the Riddler and Riddle Me That tries to build him up as a big threat... but on the other hand Riddle Me That did what it set out to do poorly and Thanks For Nothing just said that Edward could be spending his time wiser and not that he’s a total loser... so I’m kinda torn over which is better or worse and which I dislike more. By the way, a lot of these stories, and most bad Riddler stories, seem to be written as if the Riddler was Cluemaster, or at least could be better if Riddler was replaced with Cluemaster. Interesting trend. Great video. I hope to see more of these Top 5 Worst Stories lists in the future. And once again, happy 5 years! I don’t know how you’ve never put out a bad video, but I’m glad you haven’t, and I’m glad you’ve come such a long way.
Lmao I just read Riddler's Romance in my Question re-read. I think the undeserved treatment of Eddie just stems from the tone of that gritty Question run wanting to establish it was above "campy villains", prefering to tackle realistic issues. And as seen in the Gaiman story, for some reason, Eddie was the poster boy of the 66 Batman rogue lineup at the time, thus, the perfect target, a complete victim of circumstance. Figures.
it makes sense really, riddler only had a few appearances before the show and then bam, he's the first villain of '66 and he gets a spot in the movie right next to the likes of joker penguin and catwoman
I think the writers can't think of clever riddles so they try to belittle and change him when they bother writing for him at all. It's more lazy writing then anything else. Riddler has been around since the 40s for a reason. He's a great character.
Nice video, Riddler is my all time favorite Batman villain, and I agree with The War of Jokes and Riddles, I haven’t read many comics but o read that one and I hated it so much, IMO the only redeeming quality was Kite Man, I honestly really liked him and that’s about it
Finally someone who agrees with me about "When Is a Door?" It really felt like it was just using the Riddler as a stand-in for any old "back in my day" complainer, and I suspect it wouldn't be as fondly remembered if it wasn't written by Neil Gaiman
I feel like "abusive parent" is just the backstory that they slap onto Batman villains when they don't know what else to do with them. Just give me a character other than Joker who decides to do messed up things purely for fun, DC.
Top 5 Worst Kite-Man stories. Hell yea Also I'm going to assume that worst Joker stories have to be from the stapled face period as I have a feeling the creators were putting him in every comic at that point
Literally every comic he appears in from Death in the Family onwards, in my opinion. For my money, that and the Killing Joke are the last good Joker stories.
These are some strange stories although some seem a lot worse than others. Also The Riddlers various redesigns are terrible in my opinion. Great video.
I get not wanting to completely reimagine the character, but I at least feel that the Riddle me That storyline did one thing right. It made it clear that Riddler really is smart, not just delusional or desperate.
Oh my god, that Bill Wray drawing of Riddler (the one in the thumbnail) is fucking atrocious. It looks like the Kelley Jones’ version of the penguin’s head mounted on Riddler’s body (complete with a long nose, receding hairline, and even the pointed chin)
Riddler wanting to make Joker laugh? Impossible. The Joker is the kind of villain who’s suppose to be unpredictable and psychotic. Most of Batman’s enemies, especially the Riddler, can’t even stand the guy. Some of them have even wanted to kill him.
Ok, had to stop watching at 'War of Jokes and Riddles'. I respect that you have your own opinion but that is my favorite Riddler story. It's what made me not only a fan of the character but also made him my favorite dc character. It also made me go back and read every single Riddler story, no matter how campy, to date. My favorite thing about the story is the Riddler almost non stop continuously tells riddles. Some are kinda 'eh' but also some i found freaking amazing. And that sit down dinner he had with the Joker and Bruce at Wayne Manor along with Joker's simple line of why 'he's' better than the Riddler (i didnt agree with it but it was awesome), just freakin' *Chefs Kiss*.
Even though the Riddler is far from my favorite villain. He still does have his good moments unfortunately this video does not show them LOL Darn it my favorite Riddler story is on this f****** list damn it. Don't worry somebody at least loves you war of jokes and riddles
@@homeaccount5943 no I'm not I adore Tom Kings writing. I absolutely adored war of jokes and riddles. Not because of the Riddler mind you but because of how much kite man is a part of the story.
I personally feel like The Riddler is very often the villain you feel sorry for. For me the worst was his fall from grace in Arkham games. In Arkham Knight he's an absolute wreck of a guy we know from Origins and Asylum. To the point when you literally feel, just, sorry. Or maybe it's just me because I'm sore loser myself XD
To be honest the only version of Riddler who I think is pure evil is the Arkham one. He put innocent people in deathtraps and when they died blamed them for supposedly being too stupid to get out, he kidnapped the Arkham City medical team and put them in traps because he couldn't handle that Hugo Strange knew who Batman was and he didn't and he kidnaps Catwoman to force Batman to play his games. His state in Knight is his own fault because of his inability to accept Batman's smarter than him.
In defence of the War of Jokes and Riddles... Technically I could understand Riddler's need to make Joker laugh again. Say Riddler's smart enough to pick up on Joker's obsession with Batman, and concludes it is neutral on both sides. When Joker grows tired of his battle with Batman, Riddler concludes that, with battling Batman being the only joy Joker has in life anymore, if he grows tired of that, then what has Joker got to live for? And Riddler thinks that if Joker commits suicide or whatever, Bruce would have no more reason to continue as Batman, so he'd quit. And Riddler doesn't want that to happen, as then he'd have no one worth challenging. That would justify why Riddler does what he does in the story. By the way Rogues, here's a birthday present I made for your channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dx4T8cK3Eos.html Episode One - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uLnpVSJI2Ug.html
All and any lists are gonna be somewhat subjective, but that's okay. I had a group of nerdy comic friends in the 80's, and we'd often disagree, but the debate was fun, and we never (seriously) insulted those who disagreed. But then I learned a lesson, I encountered some comic fans from back east and I was blown away by how different a take they had on comics, and that was okay too, but to me, then, surprising. (I mean, how could, for example, people not love Neal Adams art?) As always thank you so very much for the video. (And FYI - I totally agree with your list.)