We’ve returned to Gotham yet again for an all new iteration of Batman–though despite the change in appearance for the city and the characters, the Dark Knight and his foes are up to some familiar tricks. We’re going to break down exactly what happens at the end of The Batman and what it might mean for the future of the Caped Crusader’s perpetually rebooted film franchise so please, if you want to preserve the mystery for yourself, don’t scroll any further until you see the movie.
Major spoilers for The Batman to follow.
There are three major mysteries at play throughout The Batman. The first is the identity and motivation of The Riddler, who in this version of Gotham is a Zodiac-meets-Jigsaw style vigilante carving a bloody swath through the city’s elite leaving clues in his wake. The second is the mystery Riddler himself is trying to expose, the identity and source of the corruption within Gotham’s upper class. Finally, the third, is the nature of Selina Kyle’s involvement in said upper class and the truth about her relationship to Carmine Falcone and his organization. We’ll break these down one by one for simplicity’s sake, though in the movie itself they’re all heavily intertwined.
The Riddler
It turns out The Riddler is a man who is (probably) named Edward Nashton, which is one of his on-again-off-again names in the comics. There’s a little homage to this specific detail in the police finding multiple IDs on Riddler at his arrest, making it unclear if Nashton is really his legal name or not. From here, the movie takes some liberties in inventing a new backstory for Nashton, casting him as an orphan who was part of the Wayne family’s project for Gotham City’s renewal, living at a Wayne-sponsored orphanage. Unfortunately, after the Wayne parents were killed, the orphanage and the renewal project quickly became corrupted by the city’s criminal element and Nashton’s life was turned into a living hell.
This, naturally, spawned some pretty major resentments within him growing up and now, as an adult, he found himself a career as a forensic accountant. This special skill set, coupled with his childhood love and interest in riddles and puzzles, lead him down the path of eventually uncovering the truth of the city’s renewal project and the corruption at the root of Gotham’s problems. With this information in hand, Nashton did what anyone would do: Became a costumed serial killer with a puzzle gimmick, trying to get his point across in a way that couldn’t be covered up by the corrupt officials he was trying to expose.
This specific vibe for Riddler isn’t completely unheard of. In his nearly 80-year publication history, Riddler’s been everything from a flamboyant camp-driven bank robber to a maniacal, murderous ego maniac, to a vaguely altruistic private investigator. This particular version leans heavily into Nashton’s maniac and delusion, shelving his more ego-centric and whimsical impulses for a twisted sense of righteousness.
Either way, he ends up in Arkham all the same after Batman and Gordon are able to finally unravel his scheme–not before it (mostly) goes off, however, leaving Gotham almost entirely flooded and dozens of people dead. This specific desire to drag Gotham into a sort of post-apocalyptic rebirth actually does have some vague connections to the comics as well, mostly in the form of Snyder and Capulo’s Zero Year–but more on that in a moment.
While in Arkham, we see Nashton meeting his neighbor, a man mostly shrouded in shadow, who encourages Nashton to think of him as a friend before breaking down into maniacal laughter. We don’t actually get to see his face, but it’s clear that this is The Joker, and that he and Riddler are at the start of a beautiful, horrific friendship (that hopefully won’t devolve into a petty feud like we see in the comics arc, The War of Jokes and Riddles.)
Gotham City and the Wayne Family
The truth Riddler was so brutally uncovering revolved around the corruption at the heart of Gotham’s decline, which was, unsurprisingly, rooted in the city’s government and police force. It turned out that the renewal funds, after the Waynes were killed, were left as a means to both fund and launder money for Gotham’s underbelly.
This, unsurprisingly, was directly related to the murder of Thomas and Martha, which Bruce eventually discovers. It turned out that years ago, Thomas was put in a position to save Carmine Falcone’s life–which he did, owing to his oath as a doctor to first do no harm. This put Thomas in a position to ask for a favor from Falone, which he did mostly by accident. A reporter (a reimagined version of the father of Thomas Elliot, AKA Hush in the comics) uncovered the fact that Martha Wayne’s childhood had been fraught with conflict and mental illness. About to bring this to light to the public, Wayne called in Falcone who, rather than just scarring Elliot into silence, murdered him and used this as leverage against Wayne himself.
Of course, Bruce didn’t know any of this, and was deeply troubled at the implication that his father may have been partnering with Falcone to order hits on unsuspecting journalists–even though that’s not necessarily what happened. In addition to all of this, it was also revealed that Falcone was the man behind the tip that eventually brought down the other major Gotham crime family, the Maronis, which effectively put everyone–from the police to the court systems–into Falcone’s pocket.
This sequence of revelations allowed Jim Gordon, with the help of Batman, to finally make Falcone’s position in Gotham and the corruption in the police and legal system public and bring down the network of organized crime completely–which, undoubtedly will create a massive power vacuum to be dealt with in the future.
The bulk of these details–specifically the connection between Thomas Wayne and Carmine Falcone–can be traced back to The Long Halloween storyline in the comics.
Selina
While all of this other drama unfolded, Selina Kyle had a personal quest, relating to Falcone and his operation. She had been spending her time infiltrating Falcone’s operation via Penguin’s club, trying to get close to him to exact revenge for her mother. It turned out that Selina’s mother had a brief affair with Falcone, making Falcone her father. Falcone himself, however, had disregarded her mother entirely and refused to acknowledge Selina at all.
Whether or not Falcone even knows he has a daughter at all–it’s implied that he knew when she was a child but doesn’t recognize her as an adult–is up for debate. In the comics, this particular idea is borrowed from Dark Victory, the sequel to The Long Halloween, where things are similarly vague. In the comics it’s actually never definitively established if she actually is related to Falcone or not.
Following Falcone’s assassination and the partial flooding of Gotham, Selina decides to pack up and leave the city for good, saying she’ll head north, “maybe to Bludhaven.” In the comics, Bludhaven is a sister city of Gotham’s, frequently thought of as more dangerous and more corrupt. She attempts to invite Bruce, but he declines, opting to stick with Gotham as it goes through whatever transformation will happen in the wake of Falcone and Riddler’s scheme.
So where does any of this leave us? It’s difficult to say. The Riddler and The Joker are headed for an obvious team up, Gotham is in a crisis but Gordon is now in position to take control of the GCPD and possibly start some real reforms, Bruce has learned a lesson or two about being Batman as more than just an outlet for his anger, and The Penguin is poised to potentially fill the power vacuum Falcone left behind. That’s a lot of moving parts that could end up going any number of directions in the future.
As of right now, The Batman 2 has yet to be confirmed, but the story will undoubtedly continue on the small screen across the numerous HBO Max streaming spin-offs announced for the project.
