Riddler gets in on 'The Killing Joke' and may even push Batman to kill in 'One Bad Day'

Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 art
Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 art (Image credit: DC)

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Batman is having One Bad Day 🍌in a series of villain-focused one-shots, starting with Eddie Nygma, AKA the Riddler. And although Bruce Wayne has been playing caꦬt and mouse games with this particular villain for years, things shift dramatically in this story. 

Spoilers ahead for Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler #1 

Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler #1, written by Tom King, illustrated by Mitch Gerads, a🔯nd lettered by Clayton Cowles, is a double-sized one-shot that explores a new era in the Riddler's life: a💝bandoning the rules of a "game" played with Batman, and instead pivoting toward a killing spree where the targets are seemingly random.

In the process, he reveals he may have played a role in 'The Killing Joke' – the infamous story in which 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon and she becomes pa🀅ralyzed from the waist down – and also pushes Batman to the absolute brink.ཧ 

No, 🐭really: The Riddler may push Batman to kill in 'One Bad Day.'

Here's how.

How did the Riddler become a killer?

Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler #1 is told primarily through the Riddler's point of view, and we get flashbacks that reveal how he became who he is today. As an adolescent, his fathe🌟r – the headmaster of a prestigious academy – pushes Eddie to be the very best he can be because of his genius intellect. 

When a teacher threatens to report Eddie for cheating on an exam, Eddi🉐e kills him in cold blood by slamming his face repeatedly into the blacktop of the school basketball court.

You see, despite his intelဣlect, young Eddie becomes frustrated by riddles – and this particular teacher keeps putting them at the end of exams, meaning Edward gets less than perfect marks, which upsets his father. 

He evꦫentually decides to cheat by figuring out the next ဣriddle and memorizing the answer (which backfires when the teacher changes it at the last minute and Eddie doesn't read the question). His teacher tells him to lighten up. Stop studying so hard. Play a game every once in a while.

As origin stories go, it's frightening, especially considering how far the Riddler takes things as he🅷 continues killing.

Inꦛ addition to establishing this backstory, 'One Bad Day' features two key scenes that could have huge impacts o🎃n Batman himself and the DC Universe as a whole. 

The Riddler claims responsibility for 'The Killing Joke'

art from Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1

art from Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 (Image credit: DC)

The first takes place in the Gotham City police precinct, where Eddie tells Commissioner Gordon that the night 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:his daughter Barbara was shot by the Joker in the infamous story 'The Killing Joke,' it was becaus𝔍e the Riddler gave the other villain the information he needed to successfully break into the Gordon family home. 

There's no way of knowing if this is actually true, of course – the Riddler is a notoriously unreliable narrator – but th𝓰e words are effective and impactful. Jim Gordon is enraged enough to physically hurt E⛦ddie, who takes the escalation as a challenge to keep prodding.

This conversation leads to a series of events where the Riddler slowly but surely manipulates the entire Gotham City Police Department into either shooting each other out of fear or neglecting their d🅷uties altogether because they fear for their families. Every move Gordon makes, the Riddler counters it – much like the "game" he's played with Batman for years. 

At one point, Jim mentions trying to place police outside of the Riddler's hotel suite after he escapes Arkham Asylum (again), and Barbara calls the next day to tearfully tell him that someone poisoned her cats. No one is safe. And that's all because the Riddler has grown tired of the🐈 back-and-forth with Batman.

Does Batman break his one rule? 

art from Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1

art from Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 (Image credit: DC)

This all leads to the second key scene in 'One Bad Day' that could chang📖e everything for the Dark Knight and the city he fights so hard to protect. After repeated requests for Batman to meet Eddie at Arkham, Bruce finally shows up, and while Eddie idly shoots hoops – recalling the flashback where𒅌 he killed his teacher as a teen – he reveals his new strategy for undoing the Caped Crusader.

Rather than killing in patterns and leav🎶ing behind clues, weavinඣg elaborate labyrinths for Batman to unravel and solve, he's going to simply… live his life. He's going to kill people and commit crimes, and each time Batman – or the GCPD, for that matter – attempts to come after or stop him, the Riddler will kill a random person. He won't leave a clue. It won't be a puzzle.

He'll just kill.

And so he does. As the issue progresses, we learn that no one iꦍn the GCPD will risk the Riddler's wrath, reꦛndering law enforcement effectively useless; the Five Families will do whatever he wants after all their wives are killed; the banks will give him whatever he wants without even reporting the theft. And all the while, Batman has to contend with an important truth: The only way to stop the Riddler is to kill him.

And on the ꧂final page of Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler #1, it seems like he might actually br⛎eak his one rule.

As Batman appears behind the Riddler, who's looking in the mirror, Bruce says, "Riddle me th🍃is, Edward. Though we meet but once, you know me forever thereafter. What am I?"

The rest of the panels are black. The answer to the riddle is "Death." So the implication is that Batman actua🙈lly does kill the Riddler… which, if true, is a huge change in status quo for the hero, whether or not the events of 'One Bad Day' are canon in the broader DC Universe as we know it. 

Seeing as this is only the first one-shot in the event, one has to wonder, how much wors🌳e can it get for Bruce Wayne than to push him so far that he might willingly🔴 kill someone? Suddenly, the possibilities seem endless… and frightening.

Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddl🌠er #𒐪1 is available now.

Take a look at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:all the new Batman comics, graphic novels, and collections from DC in 2022 (and 2023).

Samantha Puc
Editor, Newsarama

Samantha Puc (she/they) is an editor at Newsarama and an avid comics fan. Their writing has been featured on Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., The Beat, The Mary Sue, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts 🐎degree in creativ🐼e nonfiction at The New School.