The Riddler is no match for the internet as a fan cracks the villain’s code from the recently released trailer for The Batman.
The biggest thing to come out of this weekend’s DC FanDome event was definitely the new teaser trailer for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Warner Bros.’ newest attempt to reboot the series. This one stars Twilight veteran Robert Pattinson as a more down-to-earth version of the Caped Crusader who focuses on being “the world’s greatest detective.”
Also, he’s perfected the smokey eye look. Check it out:
Batman will have to deal with a menagerie of enemies in the new movie, including the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and the Riddler (Paul Dano). We can see some of the Riddler’s handiwork in the trailer; he lives a grim greeting card for the Dark Knight, complete with one of his trademark riddles: “What does a liar do when dead?” it asks. Then the answer is encoded with a bunch of nonsense symbols.
But the Riddler’s riddles are always solvable, if obscure, and the internet quickly got to work figuring this one out. Andrew Lane solved it pretty quickly:
So hyped for Matt Reeve’s Batman Movie, I decided to solve The Riddler’s code. #TheBatman pic.twitter.com/vsxVxucedv
— Andrew (@TheMasterD101) August 23, 2020
What does a liar do when he’s dead? “He lies still.” The Riddler is bringing the wordplay!
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Batman and his stories,” Lane told Syfy Wire. “Naturally, I was very excited during the trailer reveal. I also have an interest in forensic investigations and true crime. I decided to kill some time and try to break the code. It all really came down to wanting to challenge myself and wanting to engage in two interests of mine.”
"I spent about 40 minutes solving the code while my roommate watched. He actually gave me the idea and convinced me to post my work and solution. I’m beyond grateful to see all of these people enjoying my post and congratulating me on solving it."
True to his word, Lane laid out exactly how he cracked the code:
This didn't work because the symbols that I substituted with letters in the first phrase didn't line up with the same symbols in the second one. So I went to my next thought process, which was replacing the matching symbols in the first phrase with "E" since it is the most used
— Andrew (@TheMasterD101) August 23, 2020
letters to figure out the rest. The answer to the riddle is "He Lies Still". This is a double entendre, because he is literally lying still due to death and also continues to lie after death.
— Andrew (@TheMasterD101) August 23, 2020
“I’m honestly excited for the whole film,” Lane said. “I’m most excited to see Robert Pattinson’s take on Batman. I’ve really enjoyed his recent works, such as Good Times and The Lighthouse. I can’t wait to see his take on the Caped Crusader.”
You know, if the Riddler was real, and the internet was here to come together to solve his puzzles, he wouldn’t stand much of a chance. We can see how the Batman handles him with Reeves’ movie hits theaters on October 1, 2021.
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