Film / Batman: Puppet Master

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Batman: Puppet Master is a Batman fan film set in the universe of The Dark Knight Trilogy. Set in-between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, the video is intended to explain why Batman went into hiding after the end of the former.

After Batman becomes a wanted criminal for the purported death of Harvey Dent, the FBI sends its greatest special agent, Edward Nigma, to catch him. However, that isn't enough for Nigma; he wants to prove his greatness, and for him that means unmasking the Batman and revealing his secret identity. To do this, he works with the mob, led by a mysterious figure known only as "Scarface", and becomes increasingly obsessed with his prize...

Since its release (to tie in with the release of The Dark Knight Rises), the video has been praised by numerous bloggers and reviewers for its high production values and great storytelling.

Watch the video on its official site, here, as well as YouTube. See also The Joker Blogs.

Provides examples of:

• Adaptational Dye-Job: Peyton Riley was blonde in the comics, but her actress is a redhead here.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Of a sort. In the comics, Peyton Riley became the second Ventriloquist because she went insane and believed the Scarface puppet started talking to her. Here, Riley believes that Scarface is an actual person that is only attending the meeting via phone call; upon meeting the puppet itself, she can only express disbelief at what he is before she's gunned down.
• Adaptational Job Change:
  • This film shows Riddler to be an FBI agent, a job title that none of Nigma's previous incarnations have ever had.
  • Despite taking place in the same 'verse as Batman Begins where Victor Zsasz was a mob enforcer, here he's the crazed Serial Killer from the comics.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Arnold Wesker and Peyton Riley never knew each other in the comics, as Wesker had died after Peyton Riley succeeded him as the Ventriloquist. In this film, Peyton is shown working for Wesker (or rather, his Scarface persona) as a henchwoman. This also applies to Scarface himself, as Peyton herself is incredulous at the idea of what Scarface really is, while Scarface just sees her as a disposable henchwoman that's no longer relevant to his needs.
• Adaptational Skill: Just like in Batman: The Animated Series, Arnold Wesker can perform ventriloquism very well without any mouth mistakes.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, Peyton Riley succeeds Arnold Wesker as the Ventriloquist, and worked with the likes of Killer Moth, Firefly and Lock-Up to attack The Penguin. Here, she's merely a henchman of Scarface's, who ultimately ends up perishing at his hands once he has no further use for her.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: At the end of the film, Scarface and Nigma reaffirm their plan for taking Gotham City and defeating Batman in the process.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Nigma displays no fear when Batman makes his presence known via Sonic Stunner, nor when Batman lifts him up by the collar to intimidate him:
  "You really don't have time for all these theatrics."
• Challenge Seeker: Special Agent Nigma is assigned to track down the killer of Harvey Dent. However even after realizing that Batman is not Dent's killer, Nigma is so obsessed with solving the mystery of who he is that he's willing to let a serial killer out of Arkham and start a crime wave in alliance with Scarface in order to draw out the Bat.
  Batman: You don't have to do this.
  Nigma: Sometimes you have to get a little dirty when digging up the truth.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Similar to Catwoman (Selina Kyle) from the films proper, neither "The Riddler" nor "The Ventriloquist" are used, only "Edward Nigma" and "Arnold Wesker". That said, the puppet Wesker uses is still referred to as Scarface, both by Nigma and Wesker himself.
• Continuity Nod: As part of Nigma's Motive Rant:
  "Protect Gotham? The city that lets itself be terrorized by scarecrows and clowns? A city dumb enough to think you murdered Harvey Dent?"
• Dastardly Dapper Derby: Agent Nigma's anachronistic fashion choice.
• Demonic Dummy: Scarface. His puppet looks positively unhinged, and he has no issue with killing Peyton Riley, or even turning the gun on Wesker himself once he gets out of the box.
• Dirty Coward: While the other henchmen try to fight Batman, Arnold Wesker cowers behind the table and begs the Bat not to harm him.
• Evil Plan: At first Nigma says he wants to swap the evidence bag containing the Dent revolver for the contents of the mysterious case, however he already knows what the evidence bag contains. What he actually wants is an alliance with Scarface, who will start a Mob War that will exhaust Batman and cause him to make mistakes so Nigma can catch him. Nigma in turn will run interference with the police and FBI to protect Scarface. Scarface gets the city and Nigma gets the Batman.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Riddler says this when he first meets Wesker, a stuttering and hunched old man who is ostensibly the Mouth of Sauron for the unseen crime boss Scarface.
• Fiery Cover-Up: Batman uses an incendiary batarang to destroy the revolver that Dent used to commit murder.
• Homing Projectile: Batman flips the table and hides behind it while everyone unloads on him, then sets up a device that enables him to take out the three goons with a trio of batarangs.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: When Scarface asks why his goons shouldn't just kill Nigma now that they've got the case, Nigma turns it round to reveal an Incredibly Obvious Bomb on the lock. The code to defuse it is, of course, the answer to a riddle.
• Human Notepad: Victor not only carves his Kill Tally on his body, he also carves a clue on the body of his latest victim for Batman to find, on the instructions of Nigma (who let him out of Arkham Asylum just so he could do this).
• Motive Misidentification: When Batman calls Nigma out on releasing dangerous Arkham inmates, Batman assumes that it's somehow meant to "protect Gotham". The Riddler, of course, takes offense to this notion.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Scarface's henchwoman is Peyton Riley, who was the second Ventriloquist in the comics during Wesker's Comic Book Death. Scarface even calls her "Sugar" before blowing her brains out.
  • Nigma's plan is closely patterned after the comic version of Bane's — by sparking a major crime wave in the city, Nigma intends to force the Dark to make critical, fatigue-induced mistakes.
  • The briefcase that Scarface's goons pull out of lock-up is shown to have a signature from a certain Dr. Harleen Quinzel.
  • Nigma mentions rival crime lords Galante and Sionis, aka Black Mask.
  • One piece of the Riddler's ensemble is a question mark ring, meant as a nod to his comic book ensemble. After Nigma stabs himself in the thigh with a Batarang, he uses a lead pipe as a makeshift cane in a further nod to the cane he often wields in the comics.
• No One Sees the Boss: When Nigma wants a face-to-Scarface meeting, he's given this trope by Wesker.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Scarface gives an epic one to Peyton Riley before taking her out:
  Scarface: What's that about leaving...sugar?
• Pull the Thread: Nigma discovers that only Harvey Dent's fingerprints were on the gun that Batman ostensibly used. This and the fact that he and Batman were on a First-Name Basis causes him to realise that Batman is Taking the Heat for Dent's murders.
• Saying Too Much: When Batman makes the mistake of saying "Harvey" instead of "Dent", Nigma realises the two of them were closer than everyone thinks.
• Scary Black Man: One of Scarface's goons is a particularly large black man. It's possible he might be Rhino, one of the Ventriloquist's henchmen.
• Sequel Hook: The Riddler and Scarface/Ventriloquist make a deal to work together: Scarface gets the city while Riddler gets the Batman.
• Sonic Stunner: Batman uses a kind of sonic grenade to cover his Three-Point Landing. Nigma is the only person in the room smart enough to put his fingers in his ears before the device goes off.
• Unwilling Suspension: By the time the police burst in the Bat has vanished and Victor is tied up and hanging upside down from the rafters. How did Batman have time to do this? He's the goddamned Batman!
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Averted; Nigma admits he doesn't care about the people of Gotham, despising them for being intimidated by the Rogues Gallery and their stupidity in accepting Batman as the Fall Guy for their 'white knight' Harvey Dent. He doesn't even want to catch Batman because he thinks he's a criminal who deserves to be behind bars. To him the mystery of Batman's Secret Identity is everything.
• Wham Shot: Scarface yells at his goons to get the case. Peyton looks at the phone only to find the phone he's supposedly talking from utterly smashed up, indicating that Scarface isn't just a mobster calling in remotely...
• Who Are You?: Solving this question becomes Special Agent Nigma's obsession.
  Nigma: There's a better challenge than: 'Who murdered Harvey Dent?'
  Batman: And what's that?
  Nigma: Who...are...you?
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Just before the Gotham police burst in, Agent Nigma stabs himself with a batarang and shouts that Batman has attacked him.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Peyton's final moments in the film are her gaping at Scarface holding a gun at her with utter befuddlement. Too bad it turns out to be real.