Batman’s “The Riddler” Is the Ultimate Micro-Influencer
We're living in a timeline where it is literally impossible to not turn everything into some kind of meme. No matter the topic, the internet will always find a way – even with the latest Batman film, The Batman.
Leading up to the film's anticipated premiere, the spotlight has undoubtedly been on Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravtiz, who star as Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle aka "Cat Woman." We've seen them do plenty of red carpet interviews that TikTok has turned into fan cams and viral videos, plenty of excellent outfits, as well as an abundance of tweets about Kravitz revealing she "drank milk like a cat" to prepare for the role. Basically, nothing can surprise us at this point.
At least, that's what I thought before I realized that the internet's favorite character is neither Batman nor Cat Woman – it is The Riddler.
In the movie, the famous Batman villain is played by Paul Dano. The character has previously been interpreted by Corey Michael Smith in Gotham, and Jim Carrey in Batman Forever, and for The Batman, it has taken on a new twist.
Although Dano's performance in the film is top-tier, it is not his acting skills that are receiving attention – it is The Riddler's impressive "500 followers."
Most of us wouldn't even consider 500 followers to be close to impressive in today's internet culture, which is why it makes it really, really funny.
Is The Riddler basically the ultimate micro-influencer? Actually, scratch that. He's a nano influencer, which is defined as "having fewer than 10,000 followers on Instagram."
Of course, Twitter can't look past this, and the scene in question has already generated plenty of viral tweets, despite the movie only being out for three days.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, the reviews are smashing, and some fans are even saying it could be better than The Dark Knight. And don't worry – there are plenty of tweets applauding Dano's performance in the film as well because he did do an excellent job.
But, I'm not here to debate which movie is better nor rate anyone's acting – I'm just here to give you the Twitter gold.