After being shrouded in mystery for the entire promotional run-up to the release of The Batman, a new extended clip from the movie has finally unmasked Paul Dano’s Edward Nashton, the Riddler. In all of the trailers and promotional clips and images, the Riddler’s face has been purposely kept hidden, whether by certain camera angles of the scenes used or by his creepy mask, while other villains such as Penguin, Catwoman and Carmine Falcone have been fully present from the start. While many questioned whether there was a specific reason for this, it seems that the promotional plan was to simply hold the reveal of Dano until the last moment before the movie hits cinemas.The new clip played on Good Morning America as part of their interview with Dano, and is an extended clip from the first trailer for The Batman that sees Nashton sitting in a coffee shop being surrounded by Gotham cops led by Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). The scene was previously cut short before Dano turned around and revealed himself, but in the new clip, we do finally get a look at the Riddler’s unsettlingly calm face. As can be seen below as shared by @TheBCEU on Twitter.

Paul Dano recently revealed that playing the Riddler led to some sleepless nights, as it took a long time for him to come down from being the character. He recently told EW, “There were some nights around that I probably didn’t sleep as well as I would’ve wanted to just because it was a little hard to come down from this character. It takes a lot of energy to get there. And so you almost have to sustain it once you’re there because going up and down is kind of hard.”

Paul Dano Pushed Himself to Bring Out the Most Disturbing and Tortured Aspects of the Character

Getting into the role of the Riddler, Paul Dano pitched his own ideas about some of the extreme lengths the character would go to in order to prevent leaving evidence at the scene of his crimes, including wearing plastic wrap during some scenes.

“My head was just throbbing with heat,” Dano said explained. “I went home that night, after the first full day in that, and I almost couldn’t sleep because I was scared of what was happening to my head. It was like compressed from the sweat and the heat and the lack of oxygen. It was a crazy feeling.”

Matt Reeves praised the actor for being able to bring out different sides of the classic Batman villain in a whole new way. He said:

“Paul is really a chameleon. He’s brilliant in so much. But I think you see him going through a very internal tortured experience in his characters. You can see him really in an active way, having this kind of psychological turmoil that I find is really compelling.”

With initial reactions raving about the epic near-three-hour-long movie, fans will soon be able to see what the hype is all about for themselves when The Batman goes on general release on March 4th.