When Batman gets a card from the Riddler, chances are the riddle will be in code.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
Warning: Mild spoilers ahead.
If the Riddler sent you a coded riddle, would you be able to solve it? In the new movie trailer that debuted this week for The Batman, the Caped Crusader (played by Robert Pattinson) gets an owl greeting card with a very unusual message from Edward Nigma, aka the Riddler.
The Riddler, played by Paul Dano, isn’t a run-of-the-mill kind of DC Comics villain. He’s a super-criminal with a genius-level IQ and a love for puzzles.
Of course, when the Riddler’s cryptic message to Batman is revealed in the trailer, it didn’t take too long before smart fans deciphered it.
The Riddler has good taste in weird greeting cards.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
The handwritten riddle text says, “What does a liar do when he’s dead?”
But then there are strange symbols on the other side of the note. In this cryptogram, each symbol corresponds to a different letter of the English alphabet. Since the symbols will spell out the same answer to the riddle, Batman now has a guide to use to break future riddles.
It seems as though the Riddler is giving Batman two ways to figure out his riddle — through deductive reasoning and through breaking the code of his cryptogram.
Game designer and puzzle crafter Mike Selinker offers a walkthrough on his Twitter on how he was able to figure out the coded message.
In the new #TheBatmanTrailer, the Riddler leaves a card with the question “What does a liar do when he’s dead?” I could just solve it like a riddle (and did), but it’s a good opportunity to show how to solve a puzzle by brute force, so you’re sure of the answer. Here goes. (1/12) pic.twitter.com/sHveBmU2Pt
— Mike Selinker (@mikeselinker) August 23, 2020
So did you figure out the answer to the riddle “What does a liar do when he’s dead?”
He lies still. (Get the pun?)
Now that we all have the code, we can all read further messages from the Riddler, just in case Batman needs some extra help.
