The 60s Batman movie featured Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. They also made the most appearances of all the Bat-foes adapted for and native to that series. I don’t know if that’s why these four are first ones in the listings of villains for the series but it could explain it.
In this installment we look as Selina Kyle and Edward Nigma. After what we saw last week with the Joker and Penguin (who also appeared in the New Scooby-Doo Movies…twice, along with Batman and Robin) we may learn things about the characters that the series never had a chance to show us. We’ll start with Batman’s love interest.
Rich, glamorous, and stunningly beautiful is how the world of Gotham high society sees Selina Kyle. A darling of the jet set, Selina is apparently independently wealthy, and is noted for giving large donations to animal protection organizations.
So instead of being a regular but highly talented cat burglar (or if you’re Frank Miller a former prostitute), Selina is already rich, sort of a mirror of Bruce while the Joker is always considered the mirror Batman. Considering that they originally wanted to downplay Bruce it’s a bit of a surprise.
What no one knows is that Selina Kyle leads a double life as the mysterious Catwoman, a shadowy figure that preys on the fortunes of Gotham’s idle and corrupt rich. The same socialites Selina shares a glass of champagne with one night might find their private safe ransacked by Catwoman the next.
That doesn’t seem very nice. If she’s already rich, why steal from others, or is that how she was intended to make her fortune? I’m assuming the motivation is coming up.
Growing up poor on Gotham’s streets, Selina was forced to steal to live. By the time she was a young woman, she had become the city’s most accomplished cat burglar, and adopted a cat-like disguise to heighten the mystery around her already growling legend.
I don’t remember this showing up in the show but it is in keeping with Selina’s origins in the comics.
Though she is a thief, the Catwoman does have her own code of honor. Remembering what it was like to grow up needy, she never steals from those who can’t afford it. The rich, especially those who came by their money through criminal means are fair game to her. She’s a little like a modern-day Robin Hood, only instead in giving her loot to the poor, she keeps it for herself.
Anyone ever see the show When Things Were Rotten, Robin Hood parody TV show co-created by Mel Brooks long before Men In Tights? I keep thinking of a line from the theme: “They robbed the rich, gave to the poor, except what they kept for expenses.” We do see Selina in the show using the money for feline preserves and other such charities. The bible does mention that she has the same connection to cats that Penguin has to birds (as we saw last week) but unlike Mr. Cobblepot we don’t have an explanation for her draw to cats.
On her own, however, the Catwoman is nothing if not a formidable opponent. She carries a cat-o’-nine-tails whip with her at all times, and is an extraordinary athlete as well as a dangerous hand-to-hand combatant.
In our series, Catwoman’s relationship to the Batman will be complex. There is an undeniable attraction between them, and they will occasionally find themselves working on the same case from different sides. Still, Catwoman is a criminal and Batman will be torn between his feelings for her and his drive to see justice done. Also adding to Batman’s conflict is that he and he alone will know who Catwoman really is.
Within an episode we’ll see how Batman, as Bruce Wayne, secretly discovered Selina Kyle’s double life. Even though Selina has no idea Batman (or Bruce Wayne) knows her secret, Batman knows revealing her double identity would leave his in question as well.
That last part didn’t happen. I think it was either her first appearance or soon after that she was arrested and everyone knew that Selina Kyle was Catwoman. That would have made for an interesting dilemma, though. What they did keep was Bruce’s strained relationship…at least until the move to Kids WB where Selina was on the outs with Batman. The tie-in comic of the time fleshed out that story and I’ll get to it eventually. Long story short she crossed a line with a cosmetics developer that tested her new product on cats.
Catwoman as she revealed in the bible for Batman: The Animated Series.
Like Penguin, there is an image in the bible featuring an earlier comic design before going with something more original. It’s not a very good drawing so I won’t post it but this is was the better idea. It’s sexy without being overly sexual, unlike her current costume.
We move on to Edward Nigma, the Ridder, and I’m curious how this will go. While Frank Gorshin’s version (which I fully enjoy mind you) seems to be the one that is usually a go-to around this time ,even influencing Jim Carrey’s portrayal in Batman Forever, I find John Glover’s portrayal in this series, and his Fox Kids costume, to be my favorite interpretation of the character, a man who just wants to match wits over committing crimes. (Except for revenge on his former boss, who robbed him blind of his achievements–possibly a shot at DC itself?) So how was he presented in the bible?
Years ago, young Eddie Nashton won a school prize by being first to figure out a complicated puzzle. It wasn’t hard. The boy was curious, quick-witted, analytical, and even more important, he cheated. Flushed with his success, the boy went on to become an expert on solving puzzles, games, and riddles.
I wish they didn’t add the “cheated” part. It takes something away from Edward’s history, like Han not shooting first. Did he cheat at all of those other puzzles and riddles as well? Considering the character it loses something and I’m glad the show never showed us this.
In later years, Nashton changed his name to E. Nigma, and billed himself as “The Puzzle King.” He made a fortune inventing puzzles and games, and demonstrated them in one-to one exhibitions across the country. But it all proved too tame for Nigma’s quirky mind, and he decided to put his cunning to use by masterminding puzzle crimes on a grand scale. Police in every city were baffled by the quixotic crimes of the mysterious “Riddler”, but when Nigma hit Gotham, his very first scheme was deciphered and undone by Batman. As he was led away to jail, the Riddler swore that he’d someday engineer a riddle crime that even Batman couldn’t figure out.
This entire paragraph (except for the last sentence I guess) was abandoned by his appearance on the show. In his first appearance in TAS, “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?“, Nigma (his real name, which I prefer) worked for a puzzle company and brought them a lot of money before he realized they were screwing him out of a lot of that in royalties because he was work-for-hire (kind of like certain comic creators). He sued, they fired him, and Nigma, as The Riddler, sought his revenge on Daniel Mockridge, his jerk of a boss. Batman and Robin had to save Mockridge, but the Riddler escaped, leaving Mockridge (presumably) permanently fearful that Riddler will come for him again. As far as I know, neither the TV show nor the tie-in comic ever sequelized this episode. And I don’t think they should. I like the thought that Mockridge is still afraid of his own shadow for the longest time.
To date, the Riddler has yet to make good on his promise to devise a riddle clue that Batman hasn’t been able to crack. Not that the Riddler is a total idiot; he’s actually more than a match for anyone on the police force. But he’s so psychologically fixed on the idea of stumping Batman that he can’t commit a crime without leaving the Dark Knight some clue as to how he can be caught.
There’s an issue of the tie-in comic we’ll be getting to where Riddler tries to go straight but, as often happens, he’s drawn back to crime as revenge. Even when he was trying to go straight Nigma was leaving clues for Batman to attempt to solve. That’s how ingrained the idea of besting Batman is in his mind. Even when isn’t trying to send clues he’s sending clues. He actually turns himself into Arkham once Batman and Robin make him realize that he isn’t cured.
In our series, we’ll be playing the Ridder as a sharp-witted, mental genius whose cryptograms are light years away from the goofy gag-like riddles of the 60s TV show. He may decide to riddle Batman with an ancient quote a la the Riddle Of The Sphinx, or leave a clue in the way he rearranges objects on a table. Writers should challenge themselves to come up with the most interesting yet visual clues they can when thinking out a Riddler story.
They kind of went in a different direction. While the written riddles were kept in, and I like those, they did create alternate ways of having Riddler try to confound the Dynamic Duo, like the VR puzzle box that trapped Commissioner Gordon’s mind. I’m glad they both kept the written clues in and tried other ways for Nigma to challenge the greatest detective in the DCU, keeping his operations fresh.
It should also be noted that out of all of Batman’s major adversaries, the Ridder is probably the one most likely to try to learn Batman’s secret identity. After all, a masked man is something of a riddle himself, which makes the idea of unmasking the Dark Knight all the more appealing to the Riddler. E. Nigma is not really bent on killing Batman, that’s for more out-and-out vicious characters like Penguin and some others that we’ll meet presently. The Riddler, even moreso than the Joker, is obsessed with the idea of the on-going chase between himself and Batman. For without Batman, what would the Riddler have left? He’d have to give up riddling completely, or move to Central City and match wits with that overhyped jogger.
Interesting that they snuck in a reference to the Flash in there. Actually, I don’t think Riddler tried that hard to unmask Batman in the show, no more than anyone else anyway. After all, he wants to match wits with Batman, not the guy underneath. That’s the power of the identity of Batman.
Interestingly, the Riddler is the first villain in the bible to not have a full style sheet all to himself.
In our next meeting, we will look at a character who has an impact not only on Batman but Bruce Wayne, as well as the self-proclaimed master of fear.
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