History: As a boy Eddie Nashtron won a jigsaw puzzle contest at school by breaking into his teacher's desk and photographing the assembled jigsaw puzzle the day before the contest. As an adult he ran a crooked carnival puzzle game, but this wasn't satisfying enough for him. He changed his name to E. Nigma and took on the costumed identity of the Riddler, committing daring crimes, then leaving riddles at the scene of the crime to taunt the police. He became an arch-enemy of the Batman.

Riddler briefly reformed after an encounter with the Question.

(Impulse #48) - Riddler was looking to avenge himself after a defeat by Flash, so he targeted Impulse, kidnapping Max Mercury and Professor Morlo. Riddler told Impulse he'd hidden three bombs around Manchester, and Impulse would have to solve a series of riddles to find them. Impulse got bored with the riddles, so he ran around Manchester at superspeed until he found and defused the bombs. Riddler was supremely annoyed that Impulse wouldn't play his game, and Impulse handed him over to the police.

(JSA #28) - Nevada; Riddler went to Roulette's House to attend one of her gladiatorial contests. He was among the crowd of villains that watched members of the JSA forced to fight each other.

(Green Arrow III #12) - Riddler and his crew robbed a restaurant, and he admitted this wasn’t a big job for him o he’d limit the banter and riddles. Green Arrow and Black Canary were eating at the restaurant, and they quickly took Riddler out.

(JLA #63) - When Wonder Woman’s lasso, the embodiment of truth, broke because she doubted it, the truth became subjective, altering the world. Riddler could no longer understand his clues, and Batman easily captured him.

(Green Arrow III #35-37) - Albert Davis hired Riddler to steal a number of mystical Russian artifacts from the Grell Museum in Star City, and Riddler agreed, but point out that he was no common criminal, and that he would also commit distraction crimes that appealed to his sense of whimsy. After completing the job for Davis he painted an art restoration lab blue, hog-tied the Star City Rockets baseball team and filled the financial center Montrose Tower with dried prunes. Davis disapproved of his theatrics, so Riddler choked him a bit with his cane before concluding their business. Riddler acquired an atom bomb, and announced to Star City that he would be detonating it. He cut off all exits to the city and holed up in the Tinder-Smith Garden arena, booby-trapping it so well even Green Arrow couldn't get inside. He demanded a ransom of $100,000,000, but the power went out in the city, and all mechanical devices stopped functioning because Mr. Davis used the stolen Russian artifacts to cast a spell over Star City. Green Arrow took this opportunity to take down Riddler, and he was imprisoned. Davis' spell also summoned demons that killed anyone breaking any laws or acting out in any violent fashion, Davis' idea of a perfect society because his wife and children were killed in a carjacking years ago. Green Arrow wanted the name of Riddler's employer, and refused to play word games with the villain. He beat on Riddler until he gave up Davis.

With the help of Hush, Riddler deduced Batman's identity, but refused to share it with other criminals.

(Green Arrow III #49, 50) - Riddler, contracted by Brick, had Arsenal kidnapped by Drakon and brought to his safehouse, Puertas al Infierno, a former prison, and left a taunting riddle for Green Arrow. The Outsiders and Team Arrow stormed the safehouse, defeating Riddler’s hi-tech armored mercenaries. Riddler caught Green Arrow and shot him in the shoulder as payback for the brutalization Arrow’d put him through. Once Riddler learned his security had been breached by the Outsiders he fled, noting that his act was a game, and a hint of things to come when he was serious about destroying Green Arrow.

(Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1) - The Society made plans for a worldwide prison break to free every incarcerated supervillain, and they sent Killer Croc to free Arkham Asylum's inmates. Riddler was one of the released inmates and after the prison breaks Riddler and the escaped villains massed in Metropolis. They were confronted by an army of virtually every hero on Earth, and the heroes and villains engaged in an epic battle.

Comments: Created by Bill Finger &  Dick Sprang