Every Riddle In The Batman Explained

The Riddler taunts The Dark Knight with a string of riddles in The Batman, but what does each of the Riddler’s riddles mean? The Batman is more of a detective story than any previous live-action Batman movie, really exploring that side of DC’s most iconic character. It sees Batman and Lt. Jim Gordon working to catch the Riddler while also unraveling a conspiracy. Beginning with the murder of Gotham’s mayor, the Riddler is targeting anyone with information about an informant who helped the Gotham City Police Department bring down the mob boss, Salvatore Maroni.

The drug bust of Maroni is lauded as the biggest win in GCPD history, but the Riddler knows the operation hasn’t actually been shut down, it’s just now being run by the crooked cops of Gotham. Gotham’s corrupt have also been using a charitable program called Renewal that was started by Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne, to launder money and get rich. This is the corruption the Riddler wants Batman to uncover, leading him to this discovery and The Batman movie ending via a series of cryptic clues. Here’s every riddle in The Batman and what they actually mean.

Riddle #1: What Does A Liar Do When He’s Dead?

A dead body, no matter who it was when alive, will “lie still” and no longer move. A dead liar, however, won’t just “lie still” in that sense – they’ll also “lie still” in that their lies will continue until the truth is found out. In the case of the murdered Gotham City mayor (at whose crime scene Batman gets this riddle), the Riddler is accusing him of lying for years to cover up the city’s corruption. Even now that he’s dead, he’ll continue to lie until Batman and Gordon can uncover the truth.

Riddle #2: Follow The Maze Until You Find The Rat…

This may be the most important riddle since it helps drive Batman’s search for the Riddler. It’s discovered when examining the cage of rats used to murder Riddler’s second victim, Police Commissioner Pete Savage. Initially, Batman and Gordon believe Penguin is the rat, but when that lead turns out wrong, they then rightly suspect Catwoman’s father, Carmine Falcone.

Ultimately, the mob boss is revealed to be not just the police informant, but the mastermind behind much of Gotham’s corruption, with several city leaders indebted to him. When Batman turns Falcone over to the police, however, and brings him “into the light,” he’s assassinated by the Riddler, who’s been working out of an apartment overlooking the Iceberg Lounge the whole time.

Riddle #3: You Are El Rata Alada

Along with riddles from The Batman, the Riddler leaves messages in code for Batman. These messages use a cipher and can only be solved by figuring out what letters correspond to the symbols. The most noteworthy of these cipher messages is “You are el rata alada.” At first, Batman and Gordon assume the clue is the Spanish translation of “rata alada,” or winged rat, believing it’s referring to the Penguin, because penguins have wings and Cobblepot is their chief suspect.

The Penguin
series continues to show Oz Cobb as having some fluency in Spanish, a nice continuation from the film.

When they confront Penguin over this, he points out the Spanish is incorrect since “rata alada” should be preceded by “la” and not “el.” This makes Batman rethink the message and realize that “You are el” is a homophone for “URL,” essentially meaning a website. They pull up www.rataalada.com and chat with the Riddler, who gives them another riddle when he realizes Batman still hasn’t put all the pieces together.

Riddle #4: It Can Be Cruel, Poetic, Or Blind…

A play on words as justice can come in many forms, but when justice is being denied (as Riddler’s plan centers around his belief that justice is in short supply concerning Gotham’s elite answering for their crimes), the response is very often a violent one. This is the first of three riddles from The Batman posed to District Attorney Gil Colson and to which correct answers will unlock the bomb the Riddler has strapped to his neck. Batman is who actually supplies the answer, but the first combination code is unlocked all the same.

Riddle #5: If You Are Justice, Please Do Not Lie…

If you want to keep a secret, a bribe is how you buy silence. In this case, the secret is the identity of the police informant. Colson and others were paid bribes to keep this secret – the “price” for his “blind eye.” After answering the riddle, Batman presses Colson for how much and learns he was paid $10,000, meaning it’s someone very wealthy who wants the rat’s identity kept a secret.

Riddle #6: Since Your Justice Is So Select…

Clearly, Colson is corrupt like so many of those in positions of power in The Batman‘s Gotham. Their “justice” is “select” because they only really serve those who have something to offer them. As for the “vermin” Colson and others have been paid to “protect,” that’s obviously the rat. Specifically, the Riddler asks for “which vermin,” meaning Colson must reveal the rat’s identity. Colson refuses, and since the Riddler doesn’t receive the full answer to his final riddle, he detonates the bomb, killing him and knocking Batman out.

Riddle #7: I Grew Up From A Seed, As Tough As A Weed…

An orphan is someone whose parents are dead, like Bruce Wayne, and the term generally refers to someone who lost their parents at a young age, growing up without knowing where they “come from.” There’s more to this riddle than that, though, because Batman deduces “in a mansion, in a slum” refers to the Gotham Orphanage housed in the old Wayne “mansion.” The building has since burned down, but it was in disrepair even before then as it had lost funding following the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, effectively becoming a “slum.“

Riddle #8: See You In Hell

This riddle reads more like a threat than a clue, which makes sense since it comes from the scene of a bombing on Wayne Tower that sends Alfred to the hospital. Batman doesn’t actually solve this one, either, and it’s only explained to him by the Riddler when he confronts the villain at Arkham Asylum.

Originally, Riddler believed Batman would join him in his crusade against Gotham’s corrupt officials, even imagining that Batman would be locked up in the asylum as well. “See you in hell” wasn’t really a riddle or a threat but more like an invitation, with “hell” meaning Arkham Asylum.

Riddle #9: The Sins Of My Father

As the Riddler is leading Batman further down the rabbit hole, one of his targets is Bruce Wayne. He wants to use Thomas Wayne’s sins to punish Bruce, killing him for the supposed corruption of his father. Riddler goes on to expose Thomas Wayne’s “corruption”, which is that Martha is a member of the Arkham family whose father murdered her mother then died by suicide, and the Arkham family then used their power and influence to cover it up. When it was exposed by a reporter, Riddler believed that Thomas Wayne used his connection to Falcone to have the reporter killed.

There is a scene where Bruce tries to piece together the clues about how him and his father fit into the rest of Riddler’s scheme, with Bruce Wayne focusing on the “sins of my father” part of it. Eventually, Bruce learns that Thomas Wayne didn’t actually go to Falcone to have the reporter killed, but Falcone did it anyway.

Another aspect to Thomas Wayne’s sin is the Gothan Renewal Fund that he set up to help the people of Gotham. Following Thomas Wayne’s death, the fund was under the influence of Falcone, who used it to make himself wealthier, continuing the fund as a front for criminal activity.

Riddle #10: What’s Black And Blue And Dead All Over?

The “You!” in this case is Batman, but it’s not made immediately clear how he is the answer until the Riddler’s ultimate plan to flood the city is revealed. Batman is already “black” thanks to the costume he wears, and once Gotham is flooded he’ll also be “blue” due to the water and eventually “dead” because of Riddler’s army of copycat killers. Riddler’s plan, including his arrest, doesn’t focus on Batman’s death, but the Riddler manages to wreak widespread damage across Gotham all the same.

Riddle #11: Riddle Me This…

The fewer friends one has, the more important each individual friend can become. The Riddler has no friends in Arkham, but he makes a new, very important friend when a fellow inmate poses this riddle to him. That inmate is the Joker, who appears in a small cameo near the very end of the film that’s a fun Easter egg and also a potential setup for a The Batman sequel.

Riddler’s Hidden Riddle: Gotham’s True Face

As the final part of Riddler’s plan begins to take shape, Batman and Detective Martinez discover one more video of his where he is talking to his followers about election day and how the day of judgment has finally arrived. He talks about how they finally uncovered Gotham’s true face, which is the deep corruption that runs through the city, from the common criminals to government officials. Of course, this isn’t all that Riddler is talking about.

He is also talking about himself and his followers. To him, they are the true faces of Gotham, and should be the ones who have the power, with his plan intended to begin to shift that power away from the corrupted. This is essentially all a lie though, because deep down Riddler just wants others to suffer the way he did as a child. Still, he emboldened an entire group of people. Even The Penguin shows that Riddler’s followers are still active, as one of them tries to get Oz Cobb to scan a QR code when riding the subway.

As part of The Batman‘s marketing, fans can visit The Batman Easter egg site, www.rataalada.com, and answer some of Riddler’s riddles on their own. Answering them all correctly unlocks a final message from the Riddler, hinting that while he may be locked up in Arkham, fans haven’t seen the last of him. Here are riddles from The Batman featured on www.rataalada.com:

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