Edward Nygma, a.k.a. the Riddler, seeks revenge against his former boss, Daniel Mockridge, who profited off of Nygma's video game The Riddle of the Minotaur.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Asshole Victim: Mockridge. Denying royalties to your most important programmer because he's under a work-for-hire contract is probably legal, but a dick move. Firing him when he challenges that contract in court is probably illegal. Personally mocking him, as you inform him he's been fired—at that point, you're practically asking him to enact overly complicated revenge on you. Even Batman and Robin feel little sympathy for him.
- Bad Boss: Mockridge. It's one thing to not pay Eddie royalties due to his 'work-for-hire' contract, but it's another thing to fire him over it when he tries to sue, rub it in his face, and then have the nerve to say it's such business tactics that make the company successful, not the game Eddie made that's put them on the map in the first place.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Zigzagged; the Riddler doesn't manage to kill Mockridge, who still profits off the game, but Nygma avoids capture and leaves his old boss a nervous wreck who can't sleep without a shotgun next to him.
- Bat Deduction: Batman quickly realizes that dealing with the Riddler, he always has to find a secret meaning.
- Bookends: The episode starts with Mockridge firing Eddie, and when the latter challenges the former with his intellect he retorts with a riddle: "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" The episode ends with the Riddler traumatizing his former boss and making him so paranoid he can never enjoy another good night's sleep, prompting Batman to comment on Mockridge's predicament with a riddle of his own: "How much is a good night's sleep worth?"
- Break the Haughty: Mockridge is a smug and arrogant Corrupt Corporate Executive who mocks Edward Nygma after firing him. Once he's been kidnapped by Riddler and put through hell in an attempt on his life in revenge, Mockridge gets reduced to a cowering whimpering mess completely paranoid Riddler might come back to finish the job.
- Chekhov's Gun: Batman's palm top computer which he used to translate Riddler's Morse Code comes in handy on more occasions afterwards, particularly when he hijacks the Hand of Fate.
- Consolation Prize: Leaving your former boss gripped in terrified paranoia may not have the same satisfaction as killing him, but it apparently is enough for Nygma.
- Conspicuously Light Patch: An egregious example in one scene, where the Riddler’s entire body is part of the painted background with only his eyes and mouth being animated.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Dan Mockridge refuses to fairly compensate Edward Nygma for making his company a fortune, then fires him.
- Create Your Own Villain: Mockridge does this by firing Nygma, who comes back for revenge on him.
- Cutting the Knot: Batman bypasses the video game maze re-creation by hacking the controls of the Hand of Fate; later, when faced with a robot minotaur, Bats orders the Hand to ram it.
- Deadly Dodging: Faced with a pair of griffons, Batman and Robin duck into a previous corridor and the two destroy each other.
- Dungeon Bypass: In order to reach the center of the Riddler's maze in time to save Mockridge, Batman hijacks the flying "Hand of Fate".The Riddler: That is GRAND-SCALE CHEATING, Batman! You're not allowed to tamper with the Hand of Fate!
Batman: I don't believe in fate! - "Eureka!" Moment: When Robin mentions that The Riddle of the Minotaur has a dead-end called the Wasteland, Batman realizes that Riddler is luring Mockridge into a trap.
- Everyone Knows Morse: The Riddler manipulates the electric grid so the city lights are blinking on and off in Morse code to tell Batman a riddle. Not including spaces, it's 44 letters long, and Batman somehow doesn't miss any of them. Justified in that both Batman and the Riddler would make a point to know Morse code. It probably helps that Batman is feeding the beats to a computer rather than doing it in his head.
- Fictional Video Game: Nygma's smash hit The Riddle of the Minotaur, which started his Start of Darkness.
- Fixing the Game: Batman realizes that Nygma set up the game to make sure he would win no matter what, so he hi-jacks the Hand of Fate. Then, when they answer the Minotaur's riddle, Nygma tells it to kill them anyway.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Nygma was just a programmer, who got cheated and betrayed by Mockridge out of greed. This slight was what motivated Nygma to plot revenge and became the Riddler.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason why The Riddler sends Batman the hint to the maze. When one of his Mooks questions why he's bothering when he already has Mockridge, Riddler answers that the fact Batman knows who he is means he can't afford to let him live, so he'll lead him and Robin into the death trap that is the maze to be killed with Mockridge.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Dick is fond of Nygma's game, and even plays it towards the beginning of the episode. His knowledge of the game comes in handy later.
- Hoarding the Profits: Daniel Mockridge used a legal loophole to cheat Edward Nygma out of the royalties for the video game the latter created. Unfortunately for Mockridge, this leads to Nygma becoming The Ridder and seeking revenge.
- Hurricane of Puns: The Riddler's hints.[Batman and Robin come across a sign that says "Loser's Ahead"]
Robin: "Loser's Ahead"?
[the duo turns a corner, two giant shurikens come out of nowhere, and the duo ducks just before the blades lop their heads off]
Batman: "Loses a head." I don't know what's worse, the traps or the puns. - Hypocrite: After calling Batman out on "grand-scale cheating" for tampering with the Hand of Fate, the Riddler has no trouble siccing the Minotaur robot on him, Robin, and Mockridge even though he solved its riddle.
- Intercom Villainy: The Riddler broadcasts criticisms of Batman and Robin as they make their way through the labyrinth.
- Karma Houdini:
- The Riddler gets away scot-free at the end. The producers have stated that they let the Riddler escape as a testament to his intellect.
- The two Mooks who help kidnap Mockridge and fight the Caped Crusaders never reappear after watching Nygma set the trap at the maze. Presumably, he paid them off and they left to avoid a second encounter with the heroes.
- Lampshade Hanging: "Edward Nygma? Oh, I get it, E. Nygma, as in a riddle or puzzle, an enigma." Probably for the benefit of younger fans in the audience who don't know the word.
- Malevolent Architecture: There is a maze in an amusement park full of death traps, path-blocking puzzles, and highly lethal robots that prevent you from going back the way you came. None of which seems so unusual for Batman, until you remember that this was
meant to be navigated by the park-goers. However, the maze was almost surely "tweaked" after-market by its designer, the Riddler, who in the BTAS continuity is a Gadgeteer Genius, specifically to make it a death trap. - Meaningful Background Event: As Nygma and his henchmen leave the electric plant after sending a riddle to lure Batman to the maze, the guard they tied up is shown slumped over in his chair and casting a shadow in the shape of a question mark.
- Meaningful Name: Mockridge mocks Edward Nygma’s misfortune.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: Villain-on-villain case: Mockridge succeeds in continuing to make money off Nygma's intellectual creations, but lives his life in constant paranoid fear of Nygma coming to get him again.
- Mobile Maze: A real-life amusement park labyrinth based on The Riddle of the Minotaur, with robotic monsters and moving walls.
- Mook Bouncer: The Riddler has constructed a maze, complete with mechanical Ambushing Enemies. Batman uses them to his advantage and rigs one to take him to the end of the maze.
- Musical Trigger / Songs in the Key of Lock: A door has three possible keys, labelled "A," "C," and "D." The D key causes two blades to fly at Batman and Robin. When Batman tries to use the A key, Robin stops him, saying there will be three blades—the Key of A and the Key of D have three and two sharps, respectively. The correct answer is the Key of C, which has no sharps. They get through the puzzle.
- Neverending Terror: In the aftermath, it's showcased that Mockridge will forever be afraid of Nygma coming to finish the job, and will never get a good night's sleep because of it.
- Never Say "Die":
- Rather than say 'kill', Riddler says that the robot will destroy Batman and the others.
- Averted when Riddler mentions that in eight minutes, Mockridge is going to become the only good corporate shark: "A dead one".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Batman calls the Riddler by his real last name, the Riddler decides the Bat is a serious threat who needs to be killed.note
- Nintendo Hard: In-Universe, The Riddle of the Minotaur is a smash hit despite being extremely difficult; according to Robin, no one has yet beaten it (although it's unclear if he's talking about the game or the real-life version at the amusement park).
- Now You Tell Me: Once Batman and Robin are well into the faithful recreation of Nygma's video-game labyrinth, Robin admits that he only ever got about halfway on the computer, and that's actually pretty good.Robin: I guess this isn't a good time to tell you, nobody's ever made it to the center of the maze.
- Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Given that he was fired, one has to wonder where Nygma got the money to pay for turning the amusement park maze into a deathtrap, hiring his Mooks, and whatever he used to hack into Gotham's electrical system. He likely used his smarts to obtain them.
- Only the Knowledgable May Pass: How the maze in the video game and the life-size version works; the puzzles are all trivia-based.
- Pac Man Fever: Let's just say, The Riddle of the Minotaur's graphics are less than impressive even for the 16-bit era of console gaming (at the time), though as a computer game it's only mildly behind what Personal Computers were capable of. Amusingly, the game recycles sound effects from Super Mario Bros.. However, it's mentioned that the game is a few years old by the time the episode's plot starts, so it might have been considered impressive when it first came out (and the game's premise/challenges might have been good enough that no one minded inferior graphics).
- Paranoia Gambit: The end of the episode shows Mockridge so paranoid and scared that Nygma will come back for revenge again that he is seen shaking as he locks his door with multiple locks and gets into bed with a shotgun. Nygma seems to be doing this to his old boss at the end.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: Daniel Mockridge takes credit for the creation of a video game called The Riddle of the Minotaur, created by his programmer, Edward Nygma and denies him any kind of royalties since he's under a work-for-hire contract. This comes back to bite him in the butt as Nygma takes on the persona, the Riddler, to take his revenge. Batman and Robin end up saving Mockridge, but Robin laments how legally, he's still gonna get off scot-free and make a fortune off of the game. Batman points out that may not be the case, since they were not able to catch the Riddler, meaning that Mockridge may have his fortune, but will now live in a constant state of paranoia over Nygma coming back to possibly finish the job.Bruce Wayne: How much is a good nights' sleep worth? Now there's a Riddle for you.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: One of the Riddler's clues references the song "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma! (talking of a "place that's high as an elephant's eye," where the answer is corn/maize/maze). Robin doesn't get it, and Batman calls it "before [his] time."
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Batman gets a good one when Riddler sics the Minotaur on him, which he then follows up on by making the Hand of Fate slam into it.Batman: I solved your riddle, Nygma, now here's one of mine! How do you take out a Minotaur in a single blow? Like THIS!
- Race Against the Clock: Nygma has programmed the Minotaur robot to murder Mockridge at exactly 4:30 AM, giving Batman and Robin less than ten minutes to run the Minotaur labyrinth to reach him before he is killed.
- Read the Fine Print: While firing Nygma, Mockridge points out that he had signed a 'Work-for-Hire' contract, meaning he doesn't have to owe him a thing.
- Shout-Out: As the scene transitions away from Robin's session with the Riddle of the Minotaur game on the Bat-computer, the distinctive boings of Mario's jumps and coin-collecting sounds from Super Mario Bros. are heard.
- Sore Loser: After Batman solves the Riddle of the Minotaur, Riddler insists it was a lucky guess and orders the robot to kill them all anyway.
- Tablecloth Yank: Robin knocks a thug standing on a table off his feet by pulling out the tablecloth. "I love that trick, but I can never make it work."
- Take That!: Arguable whether it's actually intentional, but Mockridge cutting Nygma out of the profits for the game because of his contract feels very much like what Bob Kane did to Bill Finger over the creation of Batman.
- There Are No Coincidences: Batman states that he doesn't believe in fate.
- Title Drop:Nygma: You are a fool, Mockridge, to think that you can get away with this! Your amoral greed is no match for an intellect like mine!
Mockridge: Oh yeah? Then tell me something, Eddie. If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? - Too Dumb to Live: Oh Mockridge, how could you not see that cheating and firing someone as brilliant as Nygma would later get you hunted and nearly killed in revenge? Not to mention firing the one guy who put the company on the map was a stupid business practice to begin with. Really, the question he should be asked is, "If you're so rich, why aren't you smart?"
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Turns out Nygma was never even at the amusement park and is in the air leaving Gotham by the time Batman and Robin even realize this.
