Batman may well be the world’s greatest detective but his fans aren’t far behind as one BatFan managed to solve the Riddler’s code seen briefly in The Batman teaser released during DC’s Fandome online event.
The code, which appears roughly 45 seconds into the teaser, is written inside a greeting card presumably sent by the Riddler, asking “What does a liar do when they’re dead?” followed by a series of cryptic symbols. Andrew Lane, a fan who in his own words is ‘hyped’ for Matt Reeves’ take on the Dark Knight, worked out the code to reveal the answer, “he lies still.”
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After posting the results on Twitter, Lane explained his process saying that he looked at the code and at the recurring symbols within and had two thought processes about it. One failed attempt can be seen above the solution. Lane said, “I had a feeling that The Riddler may use the word “Batman” so I solved the first part as Batman.” But when that failed to produce results, he looked again at the symbols and deduced what letter they represented. For example, the ‘L’ symbol appears three times the code, in particular twice at the end. Director Matt Reeves has yet to confirm this theory though.
Although it’s still in production, The Batman is expected to release next year with Robert Pattinson in the lead role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Plot details are pretty thin on the ground right now but what is known is that it’ll feature three of Batman’s most famous villains: Catwoman played by Zoë Kravitz, the Penguin played by Colin Farrell and the aforementioned Riddler played by Paul Dano. The Batman picks up the story early on in Wayne’s quest for vengeance as a series of gruesome murders rock Gotham and the only lead the police have are cryptic riddles addressed to The Batman.
It’s also unclear where in the DCEU The Batman takes place. For example, there’s no confirmation if it’ll be set in the same universe as the recent Joker which ended with Bruce Wayne’s parents shot dead during a riot. The recent teaser seems to imply that the Wayne family were involved in citywide corruption though so there’s a possible thematic link with Todd Phillips take on the Clown Prince of Crime. The direction Matt Reeves has taken with Dano’s Riddler has a distinct Zodiac Killer/Se7en vibe of a vengeful serial killer leaving behind cryptic clues which is in keeping with the more grounded Joker seen in lat year’s film.
The Batman is expected to release across theaters in October 2021.
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Source: Digital Spy