Matt Reeves: The Batman's Riddler has 'terrorist aspect'

Matt Reeves says Paul Dano’s Riddler has “a terrorist aspect to him”.

The 55-year-old filmmaker at the helm of ‘The Batman’ has opened up on his interpretation of the character – played by Dano – and admitted he has a “political agenda” to the actions he is taking.

He told Total Film magazine: “He’s not just a serial killer. He definitely has a political agenda. There’s a terrorist aspect to him. “He’s indicting the city for what it is. And one of the things he’s doing with each of these crimes is, he’s attacking the co-called legitimate pillars of the city.

“The whole point of it was to put [Batman] on the path of trying to solve a mystery that was not only going to reveal the history of the city, and why it’s so corrupt, but that also is going to turn at a point, and become actually quite personal.”

Meanwhile, Reeves admitted he took inspiration from ‘Mindhunter’ and the Zodiac killer when it comes to Riddler’s costume in the new movie, which is a departure from the outfits worn by the likes of Frank Gorshin and John Astin in the 1960s TV series, or Jim Carrey in ‘Batman Forever’.

He explained: “I read ‘Mindhunter’. It made me think of the Zodiac killer, and how he actually wore this primitive costume that really is a primitive superhero costume… a rogue’s galley costume.

“And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really scary, the idea of people really wearing masks, and withholding their identities, and terrorizing people and how scary that is.’

“And so I started thinking, ‘Well, it could be an origin tale for the Riddler, and it could be an origin tale for some of these other characters.'”

‘The Batman’ stars Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne, alongside Zoe Kravitz (Catwoman), Colin Farrell (the Penguin) and Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth).