By: John M Jerva

After news broke that negotiations with Jonah Hill, who was vying for the role of The Penguin or The Riddler in The Batman, fell through, The Hollywood Reporter is bringing word that director Matt Reeves has found his Riddler in Emmy nominee Paul Dano. This comes after the announcement this week that Zoe Kravitz will play Catwoman as well.

Per THR: Dano’s version of the character will be named Edward Nashton, the man who in the comics later goes by the name Edward Nygma and adopts the villainous persona. Frank Gorshin and John Astin played the villain in the 1960s TV series, while Jim Carrey played him in 1995’s Batman Forever, directed by Joel Schumacher.

Robert Pattinson is set to play The Caped Crusader and it was also revealed that Jeffrey Wright will play Commissioner Gordon. Reeves had always stated that his film will include a Rogue’s Gallery of villains and Dano is the first confirmation we have thus far although Kravitz’s Catwoman may be an antagonist to Batman as well. The film is set to tell the story of a younger Batman as he becomes “The World’s Greatest Detective.”

Dano was recently nominated for an Emmy for Escape at Dannemora and his filmography consists of Love and Mercy, Prisoners, 12 Years a Slave, There Will Be Blood,  Little Miss Sunshine,Youth and Okja to name a few. Dano also helmed, co-wrote and produced the critically-acclaimed film Wildlife.

THR also included a history of The Riddler for all of you that may not be familiar with the DC villain:

Created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, the Riddler — AKA Edward Nygma, or “E. Nigma” — is a supervillain who aims to challenge Batman in a battle of wits, leaving clues and riddles for the world’s greatest detective to solve in order to catch him. Since debuting in 1948’s Detective Comics No. 140, he’s gone on to become one of the most high profile Bat-villains, appearing in movies, cartoons and video games across the past seven decades, stretching his question mark-ridden gimmick as far as it could go and then some, including spending some years as a good guy when he realized that it was just as much fun to solve crimes as it was to commit them.

Expect the casting news to rev up in the coming months as production is set to finally start on the long awaited new adventure of Gotham’s protector and the The Batman also has a release date set for June 25th, 2021. Keep it locked and loaded right here for more to come!

About The Author: John M Jerva is the owner and editor-in-chief of Action-Flix.com and is a DIE HARD fan of everyhting Action! From the glorious past to the thrilling future, John lives and breathes action!