Batman's First Battle With Riddler Proves He's Not as Smart as Fans Think

screenrant.com:

While the Riddler never misses an opportunity to boast his own intelligence through the brilliantly twisted riddles and puzzles he creates for Batman to solve under the threat of death–either his or someone else's–the Riddler’s first battle with Batman proves that he actually isn’t as smart as fans think as his origin reveals Edward Nygma is a complete and total fraud.

Edward Nygma aka the Riddler was obsessed with puzzles from an early age, though his brilliance was squandered by his father who abused Edward both physically and emotionally. That abuse stayed with Edward into adulthood as he internalized his trauma and allowed it to grow inside of him until he became just as evil as his father. However, despite growing up to be a villain, Riddler's trauma made him obsessed with telling the truth which materialized in his compulsion to tell riddles. In fact, once he officially became a supervillain, Edward becomes so wrapped up in his ‘Riddler’ alter ego that he is incapable of fighting back his villainous urges. The Riddler is compelled to torture his victims through life-threatening challenges testing their intelligence and can’t simply kill them even when he has every opportunity to do so. Although, upon his introduction, it seems that particular quirk is a bit more malleable than fans have been led to believe as the Riddler is portrayed as basically just a con-man in a green suit.

Related: How Riddler Actually Learned Batman's Identity Teased By DC

In Detective Comics #140 by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, readers are introduced to Edward Nygma as a school student preparing for an intelligence test. The test is to solve an impossibly intricate puzzle, and the first person to do so will be regarded as the smartest of the