Edward Nygma (Arrowverse)

**Edward “Ed” Nygma** is a former detective at the Gotham City Police Department, the son of a late unnamed man and a late unnamed woman, the former partner-turned-archenemy of Commissioner James Gordon and Harleen Quinzel, a master criminal mastermind in Gotham City and one of the deadliest enemies of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

## Edward Nygma (Arrowverse)

* Civilian
* The Riddler

## General Information

### Occupation

Detective at the Gotham City Police Department (formerly)Criminal

Arkham Asylum Inmate (occasionally)

Leader of his henchmen

### Affiliation

Gotham City Police Department (formerly)His Gang

### Family

Unnamed (mother; deceased)Unnamed (father; deceased)

Evelyn Rhyme (daughter; deceased)

### Alter Ego

The Riddler

Ed was a talented and incredibly intelligent detective at the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), being well-respected among his peers at the GCPD. He worked closely with the likes of Harleen Quinzel, solving many of the hardest cases the department had ever faced. Ed was also fascinated with riddles, frequently giving an officer a number of complicated riddles. Not long before looking into the death of the Waynes, Ed was partnered with Jim Gordon. Ed was given the job of looking into the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, comforting their 8-year-old son, Bruce, when he arrived at the scene.

Taking Bruce to the GCPD interrogation room, Ed questioned Bruce about what he saw, with the young Bruce describing a man in black. Soon after, Alfred Pennyworth arrived to take Bruce back home. Soon after, Harleen found fingerprints on Martha Wayne’s pearl necklace, and managed to find a match to them: an assassin named Joe Chill. Ed then started to wonder about who hired Chill and pulled up a list of the two most powerful crime bosses in Gotham City.

Ed, Harleen and Jim went to The Mask to question Roman Sionis, the owner of the club and secret crime boss. Harleen questioned her friend who worked at the club, Dinah, while Ed and Jim questioned Sionis. Ed immediately became suspicious of Sionis, who had become agitated however Ed and Jim were rescued by Harleen. Wanting to find more evidence, Ed, Jim and Harleen went to The Iceberg Lounge to question Oswald Cobblepot. However, Ed was intelligent enough to realize Oswald was not involved in The Wayne’s death.

Ed eventually realized Roman was the one who hired Joe Chill to murder The Waynes thanks to Harleen giving him evidence from Bruce. Ed and Jim stormed The Mask club where they discovered Sionis with Harleen at gunpoint. Sionis escaped with Ed and Jim being caught in a shootout. They chased Roman through the streets of Gotham until they were distracted by Harleen who phoned them that Dinah had been shot and was dying. Ed and Jim rushed to the scene, with Ed having to pull a bullet from Dinah.

Ed, Jim and Harleen eventually found Joe Chill operating with another man named Victor Zsasz. Ed immediately rushed over to a dark alley along with Harleen, and arrested Chill. Ed and Harleen questioned Chill, who told them where Sionis was.

Ed, Jim and Harleen rushed to the area where Sionis was located, however were ambushed by Sionis’s assassin, Deathstroke. Ed and Harleen were caught in a shootout, and Jim apprehended Sionis. Ed, Jim and Harleen questioned Roman in the interrogation room, to which Sionis confessed to hiring Joe Chill to kill the Waynes after Thomas Wayne bought out Roman’s company, Janus Cosmetics, after Roman sold a deadly makeup product that disfigured hundreds of women and killed one of them.

Ed then had all the evidence he needed and told Captain Bullock about his findings. Ed was present at the trial of Roman Sionis, and happily watched as Roman was sent to prison. After which, Ed told Bruce and Alfred about his findings. Bruce then embraced him.

27 years after Roman was imprisoned, Ed was pulled into the Captain’s office, to which Commissioner Bullock and Ed’s former partner, Jim Gordon, who was now captain, was present. Bullock informed Ed that Jim had told him about forcing Jane Cartwright to testify against her mother for killing her husband in order to put her behind bars. Ed initially denied it, but Harleen showed a video of Jane testifying at her mother’s trial, clearly being forced.

This led Ed to be fired from the GCPD, and Jim being promoted to the title of Commissioner by Bullock. Ed angrily left the GCPD and retreated to his loft. Using his genius intellect, Ed discovered that Jane was actually forced to testify by Jim, and that Jim had set the whole thing up to make Ed look like a dirty cop in order to get the title of commissioner. This led Ed to go mad with rage, all to the point that he became completely insane.

Ed became the dangerous criminal known as **The Riddler** in order to get revenge on Jim. He interrogated his old friend Harleen on the information about Jim, threatening to kill her cousin if she didn’t tell him where he was. Harleen told him, which led to Ed capturing Jim and getting a forced confession out of him by having Jervis Tetch hypnotize Jim into confessing about why he got Ed fired. Shortly after, the GCPD showed up. Ed managed to kill a few of them before escaping.

Shortly after this, Ed was found and captured by the mysterious vigilante known as Batman and placed in Arkham Asylum. Ed was then after given therapy by his old friend, now enemy, Harleen.

At some point, Ed became a more frequent enemy of Batman, and the two would go on to have many encounters for the next 15 years. However, in 2015, Batman left Gotham after killing The Joker. Ed’s whereabouts is unknown.

During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Ed, along with everyone else in the multiverse apart from the seven Paragons, was killed by an antimatter wave on December 10th, 2019, only to be resurrected a month later after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.

It is unknown where Ed is post-crisis, however it is widely implied that he remains locked up in Arkham Asylum. However, it is also speculated that Ed is hiding within Gotham City, remaining inactive without Batman around. Later on, in 2021, The Riddler resurfaced with a vengeance, live-streaming to Gotham saying that he will kill Beth Kane as punishment for Ocean killing his daughter, Enigma. Riddler attempted to get to Alice, but was stopped by Batwoman, whom he grew to obsess over and started to try and test his wits against her in order to kill her and get to Alice.