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Description
"Riddle me this, what's black and grey and a total exophthalmic morosoph? Answer: You, Batman! Yes, it is I: Edward Nygma, the Riddler! And more importantly, your intellectual superior. I have laid out a string of tasks that not even your feeble mind can solve. You answer my riddles and I tell you where my hostages are..."

Edward Nygma always had an obsessive need for attention and an unhealthy thirst for knowledge.  As a boy from Waterbury CT, he annoyed his parents and other adults with an endless string of questions; he was constantly belittled and called a moron by his abusive father. He finally decided to become the person with the answer to everything, even if that meant forming the questions on his own. The trigger for his obsession was pulled when he entered a school contest to win everyone's approval; solve a puzzle and win a prize. Nygma broke in late at night and put the puzzle together as many times as possible until he had the winning solution. The prize was a book of riddles. With his cheating having gone unpunished, Edward began to seek out similar thrills

As he grew, Edward dedicated himself to learning and furthering his education, earning a degree in computer engineering from Stanford University in 1995, and becoming a genius at coding and hacking. With this knowledge, he initially worked at Competitron Games where his magnum opus was the Labyrinth of the Minotaur PC game. However, after he was fired by his greedy boss, Daniel Mockridge, he joined the G.C.P.D. Cyber Crimes division to make a difference, as well as to bide his time to take out his revenge. During that time, he soon came under the assumption that Gotham's corruption was not due to economics, but due to intellectual and moral decline. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Nygma used his position and skills to create a massive web of blackmail linked to the most prominent of Gothamites, planning to release it all on Christmas Eve 1996, jamming radio signals across the city. This was what caught the attention of Batman and Catwoman, who had been on a campaign to clear a bounty on their heads placed by a psychopath impersonating Roman Sionis, AKA Black Mask; a man who would go down in Gotham's history as the Joker. Yet using wit and intellect, Batman and Catwoman managed to stop Nygma. Yet this first encounter had a profoundly negative effect on Nygma's mental health, and he became obsessed with proving himself as the Dark Knight's intellectual superior. Thus, Edward Nygma would constantly match his wits against Batman as the Riddler.

For Riddler's backstory, I went with the origin described both in the comics and in Arkham Origins, namely because I found it so appealing that Riddler would start out as a corrupt policeman back in Batman's early years, that I just had to go with that version. As for his appearance, I wasn't going with the green unitard. When most people see the Riddler in that getup, and they can't help it, they think of either the take on the character portrayed by the late Frank Gorshin, or by Jim Carrey. I figured the formal suit and bowler hat look was so much more popular, and it also harkens back to Riddler's appearance in Batman: The Animated Series. Though, I kept the purple domino mask as a way to pay homage to his earlier appearances back in the late 40's. I also gave him the same hairstyle that Jim Lee gave him in Hush.

One of Batman's more flamboyant enemies, he's been described by the Dark Knight as an "insecure C-lister, a one-gimmick hack" and "The Joke of the Underworld", due to the fact that he is not as big of a threat as other rogues such as Joker, Two-Face and Bane. With a knack for technology and engineering, he has often constructed the most elaborate of traps for Batman, Catwoman and Robin to solve, using abandoned or condemned buildings as his hideouts to refit to his designs. The Riddler has become infamous throughout Gotham for his OCD, narcissism and his smooth-talking, quirky personality. He distinguishes himself from the more insane members of Batman's rogues gallery in that he doesn't merely like to outright kill his victims, but instead he likes to break them first by having them go through elaborate traps. Due to his constant defeats, the Riddler is often angry at his powerlessness to stop tipping off both Batman and the GCPD, and has attempted to commit several crimes without his signature tactics, but often the thrill is too much for Nygma. This has often seen him sent back to Arkham Asylum for treatment.

During the Long Halloween and the Hangman Killings, Riddler acted as a reluctant informant for Batman and Catwoman, and in time he eventually enlisted the aid of two female assistants, Query and Echo, to help him pull off larger crimes. By the 2020s, however, Riddler's reliance on computers and robotics to conduct his crimes backfired on him. He used a VR program to trap Commissioner Gordon while he erased all records of his identity from banks and motor industries, but when Batman entered his program to rescue Gordon, Riddler accidentally caused his virtual world to disintegrate, and causing his brain to be suspended in electronic backlash, effectively rendering him a vegetable. Ironically, Query eventually ended up becoming pregnant with Edward's illegitimate daughter, Ellie Nygma, AKA Enigma of the Teen Titans.

Disclaimer: Riddler belongs to D.C. Comics, Dick Sprang and Bill Finger

Description
"Riddle me this, what's black and grey and a total exophthalmic morosoph? Answer: You, Batman! Yes, it is I: Edward Nygma, the Riddler! And more importantly, your intellectual superior. I have laid out a string of tasks that not even your feeble mind can solve. You answer my riddles and I tell you where my hostages are..."

Edward Nygma always had an obsessive need for attention and an unhealthy thirst for knowledge.  As a boy from Waterbury CT, he annoyed his parents and other adults with an endless string of questions; he was constantly belittled and called a moron by his abusive father. He finally decided to become the person with the answer to everything, even if that meant forming the questions on his own. The trigger for his obsession was pulled when he entered a school contest to win everyone's approval; solve a puzzle and win a prize. Nygma broke in late at night and put the puzzle together as many times as possible until he had the winning solution. The prize was a book of riddles. With his cheating having gone unpunished, Edward began to seek out similar thrills

As he grew, Edward dedicated himself to learning and furthering his education, earning a degree in computer engineering from Stanford University in 1995, and becoming a genius at coding and hacking. With this knowledge, he initially worked at Competitron Games where his magnum opus was the Labyrinth of the Minotaur PC game. However, after he was fired by his greedy boss, Daniel Mockridge, he joined the G.C.P.D. Cyber Crimes division to make a difference, as well as to bide his time to take out his revenge. During that time, he soon came under the assumption that Gotham's corruption was not due to economics, but due to intellectual and moral decline. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Nygma used his position and skills to create a massive web of blackmail linked to the most prominent of Gothamites, planning to release it all on Christmas Eve 1996, jamming radio signals across the city. This was what caught the attention of Batman and Catwoman, who had been on a campaign to clear a bounty on their heads placed by a psychopath impersonating Roman Sionis, AKA Black Mask; a man who would go down in Gotham's history as the Joker. Yet using wit and intellect, Batman and Catwoman managed to stop Nygma. Yet this first encounter had a profoundly negative effect on Nygma's mental health, and he became obsessed with proving himself as the Dark Knight's intellectual superior. Thus, Edward Nygma would constantly match his wits against Batman as the Riddler.

For Riddler's backstory, I went with the origin described both in the comics and in Arkham Origins, namely because I found it so appealing that Riddler would start out as a corrupt policeman back in Batman's early years, that I just had to go with that version. As for his appearance, I wasn't going with the green unitard. When most people see the Riddler in that getup, and they can't help it, they think of either the take on the character portrayed by the late Frank Gorshin, or by Jim Carrey. I figured the formal suit and bowler hat look was so much more popular, and it also harkens back to Riddler's appearance in Batman: The Animated Series. Though, I kept the purple domino mask as a way to pay homage to his earlier appearances back in the late 40's. I also gave him the same hairstyle that Jim Lee gave him in Hush.

One of Batman's more flamboyant enemies, he's been described by the Dark Knight as an "insecure C-lister, a one-gimmick hack" and "The Joke of the Underworld", due to the fact that he is not as big of a threat as other rogues such as Joker, Two-Face and Bane. With a knack for technology and engineering, he has often constructed the most elaborate of traps for Batman, Catwoman and Robin to solve, using abandoned or condemned buildings as his hideouts to refit to his designs. The Riddler has become infamous throughout Gotham for his OCD, narcissism and his smooth-talking, quirky personality. He distinguishes himself from the more insane members of Batman's rogues gallery in that he doesn't merely like to outright kill his victims, but instead he likes to break them first by having them go through elaborate traps. Due to his constant defeats, the Riddler is often angry at his powerlessness to stop tipping off both Batman and the GCPD, and has attempted to commit several crimes without his signature tactics, but often the thrill is too much for Nygma. This has often seen him sent back to Arkham Asylum for treatment.

During the Long Halloween and the Hangman Killings, Riddler acted as a reluctant informant for Batman and Catwoman, and in time he eventually enlisted the aid of two female assistants, Query and Echo, to help him pull off larger crimes. By the 2020s, however, Riddler's reliance on computers and robotics to conduct his crimes backfired on him. He used a VR program to trap Commissioner Gordon while he erased all records of his identity from banks and motor industries, but when Batman entered his program to rescue Gordon, Riddler accidentally caused his virtual world to disintegrate, and causing his brain to be suspended in electronic backlash, effectively rendering him a vegetable. Ironically, Query eventually ended up becoming pregnant with Edward's illegitimate daughter, Ellie Nygma, AKA Enigma of the Teen Titans.

Disclaimer: Riddler belongs to D.C. Comics, Dick Sprang and Bill Finger