17 Years Later, The Biggest Fan Theory About The Dark Knight Would Have Been a Great Twist

Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is one of the most acclaimed comic book adaptations of all time, but the series might have been even greater if a fan theory about The Dark Knight came true. Nolan’s approach on his Batman films was quite different from Marvel’s shared universe building, but the director wasn’t above including Easter eggs or teases for future installments. Famously, Batman Begins ends with the Joker card reveal, setting the stage for Batman to face his arch-nemesis in the sequel.

Some viewers thought Nolan pulled off that trick again in The Dark Knight by laying the foundation for another major DC villain to make an appearance.Though it ultimately didn’t pan out, there was much speculation that Coleman Reese, a prominent supporting character in The Dark Knight was poised to have a much larger role in the franchise and was secretly The Riddler. But why did fans feel this way?Batman Fans Thought Coleman Reese Could Be The RiddlerIn The Dark Knight, Coleman Reese is a Wayne Enterprises employee who works closely with Lucius Fox.



His main job in the film is to run diligence on the company’s pending deal with LSI Holdings, and he double-checks the numbers at the behest of Fox. Upon taking a closer look at the figures, Reese realizes that things aren’t adding up on Wayne Enterprises’ end, discovering that the Applied Sciences division “just disappeared overnight.” After doing some more digging, Reese found the schematics for the Tumbler and brought his findings to Fox.

Believing Bruce Wayne to be Batman, Reese asks for $10 million a year to keep the secret, but he changes his tune after Fox points out the flaws with that plan.Throughout the film, Fox calls Coleman Reese “Mr. Reese,” which when heard in the right way sure does sound like the word “mysteries.

” Given the Riddler’s penchant for brain-teasing puzzles, some fans thought this was Nolan’s way of setting up Reese to be the main villain in the Dark Knight sequel. This would have been similar to how in the comics, Edward Nygma (E. Nygma) is the Riddler’s real name.

It certainly would have been an interesting twist; Batman’s villains knowing his secret identity is something of a recurring bit in the Dark Knight trilogy (see: Ra’s al Ghul and Bane), but Reese has the added wrinkle of being interested in publicly exposing the truth. Bane knew who Batman was in The Dark Knight Rises, but didn’t broadcast it to the world. In this way, there would have been some fascinating stakes with Reese as the forefront, threatening to expose Bruce for who is really is if his latest puzzle goes unsolved.

[RELATED – The Dark Knight Viral Marketing Campaign Will Never Be Beaten]In the end, Reese was simply a Wayne Enterprises employee. His arc in the movie ends after Bruce Wayne saves him following the Joker’s threat on Reese’s life. Due to that selfless act, Reese decides to live the rest of his days keeping his boss’ secret to himself.

The character isn’t referenced in The Dark Knight Rises, but for a while, there was speculation the Riddler could still appear.The Dark Knight Rises’ Riddler Rumors ExplainedEarly on in development on Nolan’s third Batman movie, the Riddler was rumored to be one of the villains being considered. According to writer David S.

Goyer, Warner Bros. was interested in casting Leonardo DiCaprio (who had just collaborated with Nolan on Inception) in the role. Executives tried to convince Goyer to get Nolan onboard with the idea, but Goyer told them, “Dude, that’s not the way we work.

” Despite the studio’s insistence, the filmmakers went in a very different direction when crafting the story.In the end, another Inception star took on a Batman villain role for Nolan: Tom Hardy as Bane. Nolan was interested in using an antagonist who could challenge Batman physically, and Bane best fit that bill.

Hardy proved to be an intimidating presence, breaking the Bat and pushing Wayne to his absolute limits as he terrorized Gotham. The Dark Knight Rises has the feel of a war film, and it might have been difficult to pull that off with the Riddler pulling the strings.After The Dark Knight Rises, it took another 10 years for the Riddler to make his return to live-action films.

The character is the main antagonist of The Batman, with Matt Reeves reinventing the antagonist as a Zodiac-style serial killer. Paul Dano delivered a suitably unnerving performance as the Riddler (who goes by Edward Nashton in the film), though it’s unknown if he will factor into a future film in the franchise.The post 17 Years Later, The Biggest Fan Theory About The Dark Knight Would Have Been a Great Twist appeared first on ComicBook.

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