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When it comes to the world of superheroes brought to life on screen, it’s not uncommon for an actor to play different characters across projects. Take The CW’s Arrowverse for instance. John Wesley Shipp notably played both Henry Alley and Jay Garrick on The Flash having previously starred as Barry Allen in the 1990 The Flash series while Brandon Routh once portrayed Superman on the big screen and brought Ray Palmer/The Atom to life on Arrow. But now, casting news for the eagerly anticipated animated Batman: Knightfall sees an actor picking up their astounding eight DC villain role.
According to Nexus Point News, David Dastmalchian has been cast as The Riddler in Batman: Knightfall. The film, which does not yet have a release date, got its first official trailer today and is directed by Jeff Wamester and written by Jeremy Adams and is an adaptation of the classic Batman: Knightfall storyline from comics in which the villain Bane “broke the Bat”. The film will star Anson Mount as Batman, Michael Mando as Bane, and Pablo Schreiber as Jean-Paul Valley.
Dastmalchian’s Is Among the Actors Who Has Played the Most DC Characters (But Even He Doesn’t Quite Hold The Record)
As we noted, the Riddler casting makes the eighth DC villain that Dastmalchian has played. The actor previously played Thomas Schiff/Joker’s Thug in The Dark Knight in 2008, Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, Dwight Pollard in Gotham in 2017, Abra Kadabra on The Flash between 2017 and 2021, Calendar Man and Penguin in Batman: The Long Halloween in 2021, Grendon in 2023’s Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, and now The Riddler. However, he’s also played two heroes in the DC universe as well, specifically The Flash in 2023’s Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen and Vic Sage/The Question in the 2024 video game Batman: Arkham Shadow. That’s 10 characters overall across multiple different types of media—an impressive number.
However, Dastmalchian’s impressive roster of DC characters pales in comparison to another actor: Tara Strong. While Strong’s DC roles have been limited to voice work, she has voiced more than 30 roles in the DC universe including but not limited to Raven, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Vicky Vale, and even Young Bruce Wayne. Of course, given how prolific and varied Strong’s DC roster is, it would be difficult for anyone to keep up with her in terms of how many characters she’s portrayed. What makes Dastmalchian’s ever increasing list of DC characters so unique is the mix of live action and voice work as well as how different each of the villains are. There is a wide gulf between his portrayal of Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad, a villain who is a surprisingly sympathetic character once you get his full back story, and someone like his campy, over the top Abra Kadabra from The Flash or even his henchman in The Dark Knight. It’s the diversity of his characters that make this latest addition particularly interesting and have us even more excited to see how Batman: Knightfall comes to life.
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