- "Soon my little "Box" will be on countless TVs around the world, feeding me credit card numbers, bank codes, sexual fantasies and little white lies. Into my head they'll go. Victory is inevitable. For if knowledge is power, then a god... am... I."
- ―The Riddler[src]
The Box was a mind-reading machine that was created by Edward Nygma that fronted as 3D Television equipment, and was able to transmit brainwaves through a TV to create 3-D images. It was used by The Riddler and Two-Face to gain the knowledge of others. The device was built and funded by Nygma's company, NygmaTech.
History[]
Edward secretly worked on the box during his time at Wayne Enterprises. After Edward's boss, Fred Stickley, found out about that secret project, he put a halt on it, and declared it terminated.
But when Bruce Wayne came to visit the factory, Edward was determined to make that project a reality and have his idol by his side helping him.
After Edward showed his invention to Bruce and absent-mindedly said that it would manipulate brainwaves, Bruce rejected the idea, saying that tampering with people's brainwaves was too dangerous, and that it would raise too many questions.
Edward, feeling betrayed, spent long hours after work to prove his former idol wrong. Stickley suddenly appeared and was about to call security to halt that project once and for all, when Edward knocked him unconscious.
After Stickley awoke, Edward had tied him up and had attached a transceiver helmet to his head. Edward also wore a helmet, and turned on the invention which displayed a fishing television program in 3D, but while Stickley was mesmerized by it, Edward secretly absorbed his brain waves into his own brain, which made him smarter.
After Edward told Stickley what had happened, he was furious and fired Edward on the spot, but his former employee pushed him out the window, and killed him.
Afterwards, Edward resigned from Wayne Enterprises and eventually became a new costumed criminal called "The Riddler". Riddler made an alliance with another criminal named Two-Face to help him develop more of his boxes, after he demonstrated them in Two-Face's Hideout, so that he could become "Gotham's cleverest carbon based life form" in return for his help in finding out Batman's true identity.
Edward started a new firm called NygmaTech and began fast production on the boxes. Electronic stores were packed full of them and soon sold out.
Soon every home in Gotham City had a box on top of their television, and were unaware that their brainwaves were transferred across the city to an even larger box that was constructed by the Riddler on Claw Island, where the villain absorbed all of their knowledge for himself, which fed him with valuable information such as credit card numbers and bank codes.
At a NygmaTech Party, where Edward revealed his new improved box to the public, he demonstrated that whoever stepped inside would receive fully holographic fantasies. He tricked Bruce Wayne into stepping inside. Even though Two-Face crashed the party and destroyed the box, it had still managed to absorb some information from Bruce, which revealed that he was Batman.
After Batman and his new partner, Robin, infiltrated the Riddler's headquarters and destroyed his brain wave collecting device, the villain lost his knowledge and sanity and was taken to Arkham Asylum, while Two-Face was killed.
It was unknown what happened to the box, but it was most likely that all the business crumbled and that all the boxes that were bought by Gotham's citizens were possibly confiscated or destroyed.
Users[]
- Fred Stickley
- Sugar (briefly)
- Spice (briefly)
- Gotham City Citizens
- Bruce Wayne (briefly)