#’The Batman’ photos leaked: Riddler evokes Zodiac Killer

Riddle me this: Why is indie actor Paul Dano out-trending major movie star Robert Pattinson on Twitter right now?

New promo art from “The Batman” has been leaked — and the villain is already pulling focus from “The Dark Knight” himself.

The colorful — but still not officially endorsed by Warner Bros. — images, thought to be leaked from a tie-in calendar, show Pattinson’s title character in filmmaker Matt Reeves’ hotly anticipated reboot. One fan declared, “Holy s – – t doesn’t Robert Pattinson look amazing in the Bat Suit[?]”

But it’s the first look at Dano’s Riddler that has the Twitterverse in a full-on fan frenzy.

Many pointed out what they considered to be a clear inspiration for Dano’s costume: The notorious Zodiac Killer, a still-unidentified serial murderer who terrorized northern California in the 1960s and ’70s.

“The Zodiac Killer is clearly a huge inspiration for the design of the Riddler,” tweeted one confident serial killer-cum-comic book expert, while another gushed: “I love his Zodiac Killer vibe.”

“The Zodiac Killer vibes Riddler is giving off in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” is the exact reason why I know he’s going to blow our minds,” another giddy fan digitally squealed.

A more even-keeled tweeter chimed in with: “I have no issue with the Riddler’s new look in “The Batman” 2022. He looks frightening and iconic in his own unique way. It’s an intriguing reinterpretation of this character. We’ve had plenty of classic Riddler looks on screen now so I’m fully embracing this fresh take.”

Another summed it up like this: “Paul Dano’s Riddler is going to be one of the greatest CBM villain performances of all time mark my words.”

Reps for Warner Bros. are remaining mum about the authenticity of all images that fans shared on social media platforms on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, after a series of COVID-19-induced delays, Warner Bros. latest installment in the Dark Knight ouevre seems firmly back on the pre-release hype track.

Filming officially resumed on Sept. 17, after halting production for two weeks when somebody involved with the movie, who was rumored to be Pattinson, tested positive for the coronavirus.

However, by October 12, 2020, a healthy Pattinson, 34, was spotted back on set — filming a drizzly funeral scene outside St. George’s Hall in Liverpool, England. It marked the first time the British actor had been seen outside in character. Warner Bros. also had about 100 extras on hand for the sequence, which has jarred some insiders given the UK’s spike in coronavirus cases at the time.

“Quite a few of us are surprised, to say the least, that around 100 people based in a film studio in Hertfordshire are being asked to go to a high risk area in the North West,” a source told MailOnline at the time. “However, to be fair to the production company, they do test for coronavirus.”

The film also plans to have Chicago double as Gotham City, the Chicago Tribune reported, just as it did during Christopher Nolan’s 2008 “The Dark Knight.”

“The Batman,” which also stars Zoë Kravitz and Colin Farrell, is now set to be released on March 4, 2022.