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posted ago by Rocketeer ago by Rocketeer +26 / -1

In the new Batman movie "The Batman", the main villain is the Riddler, presented as a Zodiac-style serial killer. He discovers hidden dirt on corrupt politicians and police officials, and targets these corrupt individuals for murder. He captures them and kills them in cruel ways (such as making rats burrow through the body of one), and leaves cryptic clues for Batman with the bodies. Once deciphered, these clues all lead Batman to discover the dirty secrets of the corrupt people killed by the Riddler (sort of like how the clues in Q drops help people discover the hidden dirt on politicians in real life).

Using the clues left by the Riddler, Batman discovers that virtually the entire Gotham City government and police force are corrupt and working for gangsters. He attempts to both clean up the corruption and catch the Riddler, although at one point, he questions whether cleaning up the corruption is feasible, as he fears that removing all of the corruption would destroy the city by completely taking out its government and law enforcement and leaving it in a state of anarchy.

All of the corrupt people are white men, and the only major incorruptible leader in the Gotham law enforcement is a race-swapped, black James Gordon (who is not yet Commissioner). Catwoman (also race-swapped) refers to the cabal of gangsters and corrupt government officials as "white privileged assholes".

Eventually, the Riddler is captured and is revealed to be an autistic incel. Batman discovers too late that the Riddler intended himself to be caught because the jailhouse is one of the few places in Gotham above sea level and is thus safe in a flood, has placed time bombs in key locations that cause the sea wall around Gotham to collapse and Gotham to be struck by a catastrophic flood, and has used the Internet to radicalize a cult of 500 followers (very similar to how the media portrays Q believers as being cultists being led by some basement-dwelling hacker). At one point, the screen names of some of these followers are shown, and one of them has the name "HoldTheLine". The Riddler also has a poster with the name "Don" written on it in big letters on the wall of his apartment.

The Riddler has convinced several of his followers to dress up like him and (on election night) assassinate the new Mayor with hunting rifles right as the flood happens. This new Mayor is a black woman who is presented in the movie as a sort of soulful saint female version of Barack Obama (as he is viewed by the Left). She is depicted as incorruptible and fiercely devoted to ending the corruption and helping the people of Gotham. Her campaign slogan is "Change". But the Riddler doesn't trust her because, while he didn't find any dirt on her like he did with the other politicians, he is so cynical that he believes all Gotham politicians who promise change are inherently lying and corrupt. So he wants to wash Gotham clean of its corruption and evil by unleashing a flood on it, while simultaneously having his followers kill the Mayor.

One of the Riddler's followers manages to shoot the Mayor, but she doesn't die. Batman fights and defeats all of the would-be assassins, then dives into the floodwaters to rescue drowning Gothamites. There's a montage later that shows the Mayor leading Gotham into a brighter, less corrupt future with an uplifting speech, while Batman helps save people stranded in the floodwaters in a scene reminiscent of footage of rescue teams after Hurricane Katrina.

Essentially, the movie's message (if one applies it as an analogy to the current-day U.S.) is that Q believers are basement-dwelling, incel terrorists-in-waiting who are right about there being government corruption but too blind to see that the corruption is caused by the white male patriarchy and can be fixed by voting in "Hope and Change" Obama types.