FOX Casts Cory Michael Smith As The Riddler In GOTHAM


Penguin and Catwoman won’t be the only classic Batman villains being reinterpreted in Gotham. Entertainment Weekly has announced that Cory Michael Smith will play Edward Nygma, better known as the future Riddler, in Fox’s Batman prequel series. Nygma is described as “a brilliant young forensic scientist working for Gotham PD and a penchant for speaking in … rather cryptic language. Inquisitive, eccentric and outgoing — yet socially awkward — he wants to be liked, but he doesn’t quite know how.” Smith will be a guest star in the pilot, but could be upgraded to series regular down the line.

Cory-Michael-Smith

Riddler’s inclusion isn’t very surprising. When we learned that the show would also focus on villain origins, Riddler was one of the characters mentioned. He was also mentioned in a description of the pilot script by i09, which verified that he would speak in riddles when passing on “pertinent information.”

Riddler

Since this show takes place in the past, I’m not as critical of Smith’s youthful look. Sure, I would have liked for Riddler to be around the same age as Bruce Wayne, but it’s not a deal breaker for me. His career as a forensic scientist is quite different from what we’ve seen in the comics, but makes sense given the focus of Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department. Personally, I would have had him as an informant/private detective, like he was in The Long Halloween, Dark Victory and other stories.

Well, that’s three Batman villains were getting for the pilot. Gotham producers, that’s good enough for now. If you really feel the need to Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy and all the others, do it in later seasons of the show. If you add on any more of his rogues gallery to these first episodes, it going to feel really contrived. I’m already expecting Gordon and Bullock to arrest Victor Zsasz in the second episode.

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly