You wouldn’t have thought that The Batman hasn’t shot a single frame of footage since March based on what director Matt Reeves was able to put together for the recently-revealed first trailer, which almost instantly doubled the anticipation levels after giving us our first clear details on the plot of the Dark Knight’s latest reboot, as well as seeing Robert Pattinson in action under the cape and cowl for the first time.
The promo seemed to confirm the rumors that Paul Dano’s Riddler would be the movie’s primary antagonist, although Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman features prominently alongside a glimpse of what is widely believed to be Colin Farrell under heavy makeup as Oswald Cobblepot. It looks like The Batman is making much bigger alterations to the Riddler though than simply changing his surname from Nygma to Nashton.
The character’s look is vastly different to anything that’s been seen in either live-action or animation before, and while it would have been ridiculous to expect Dano to appear in question mark-covered spandex, it’ll be nonetheless interesting to find out how Reeves’ more tactical version of the iconic villain fits into the story, especially when the Cloverfield director is already hyping up the actor’s performance.
“Paul Dano plays a version of the Riddler that no one has ever seen before and it’s really exciting. He’s such an incredibly creative actor, and so what he is doing I think is going to blow people’s minds.”
This should hardly come as a surprise to anyone that’s followed Dano’s career, with the 36 year-old renowned for a series of critically-acclaimed and chameleonic performances in a variety of genres over the last fifteen years. He might not have been the most obvious choice to play the villain in a comic book blockbuster, but based on Reeves’ comments, it certainly sounds as though he’s going to knock The Batman‘s Riddler out of the park.