Back in 1995, Val Kilmer wowed audiences as Batman on the big screen in Batman Forever. His primary antagonist in the film was the Riddler, played with maniacal glee by Jim Carrey. The Riddler taunted Batman throughout the movie with riddles, testing his wits and eventually revealing his secret identity through these conundrums. So, I guess you’re here to find out what the Batman Forever Riddles actually were, so here they are…
What were the Batman Forever Riddles?
The Face Riddle
The first of the Batman Forever riddles was sealed in a black envelope and left in Bruce Wayne’s office.
The card inside featured Bruce Wayne’s face, and when Wayne pulled the tab at the end of the card, the mouth opened wide and a long tongue covered in pasted on letters detailed the riddle.
It read: “If you look at the numbers on my face, you won’t find 13 any place.”
Bruce Wayne quickly figured out that the answer to the riddle was a clock. The part of the clock with numbers on it is the clock’s face, and 13 is nowhere to be seen.
The Skull Riddle
Riddler left the second of his riddles on the gate of Wayne Manor.
This one was also an image of Bruce Wayne’s face, and when he pulled the card’s tab, the face turned into a green skull. Across the two pictures were written the words: “Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead.”
Bruce Wayne (read about him – click here) deduced the riddle quickly once more, figuring out it referred to a match. When a match is struck, the red match head turns black.
The Castle Riddle
The third of the Batman Forever riddles was also sent to Wayne Manor, and it was a popup card that folded out to reveal knights waging a war at a castle.
This riddle was as follows: “The eight of us go forth not back, to protect our king from a foe’s attack.”
The characters mentioned in this riddle were all references to chess pieces. with the eight representing pawns, and the king being the chess piece of the same name.
The Tennis Riddle
The final riddle was placed inside the manor and was a complicated contraption that sent a small ball back and forth across a small tennis court.
This riddle said: “We’re five little items of an everyday sort, you’ll find us all in a tennis court.”
The riddle’s solution was vowels. All five vowels can be found in the words “a tennis court”.
The Answer
There was a larger riddle at play, with the numbers in each of these riddles spelling out a name. When the numbers from these riddles were replaced with their corresponding letters in the alphabet, they formed the combination “MRE”, adding up 13, 18 (a combination of riddles two and three), and 5. Mr. E is short for Mister Enigma, or Edward Nygma, the true identity of the Riddler. Read more here.
Last Updated: May 31, 2022
