Rataalada website associated with the advertising for Matt Reeves’ The Batman went through another change, as the domain has been “seized” by the Gotham City Police Department.
What is rataalada?
The Riddler in “The Batman” movie, leaves the “el rata alada” clue for Bruce Wayne.
Batman comes to know that the phrase ‘el rata alada’ means “rat with wings.”
A “rat” as in someone who sells out their associates. Batman and the detective guess that the phrase might refer to The Penguin (Colin Farrell). Penguin has wings. So, he may be the rat with wings.
However, when they catch The Penguin, they understand that he is not the person they are looking for. Penguin gives them the crucial clue. When they say the phrase “el rata alada” to him, he points out that it’s grammatically incorrect Spanish. Because rat is a feminine noun in Spanish, it should be “la rata”.
So why has The Riddler used the wrong definite article to refer to the rat? Because it is part of an aural pun.
After, the full clue is “you are el rata alada.” Say it out loud: U R L rata alada.” Not only is the riddle a clue about who they are looking for, but also it is a website, and the URL is rataalada.com.
In The Batman, the website is where they can communicate with The Riddler and work out who his new target is.
In real life, it is a website set up by Warner Bros. where fans can try and solve The Riddler’s puzzles. The “rataalada” website was initially a secret domain that offered fans the chance to talk to The Riddler (Paul Dano), solve puzzles, and get small rewards for answering the villain’s questions correctly.
The “rataalada” website was uncovered by fans after figuring out the hidden messages on the film’s official posters, long before The Batman hit theaters.
Rataalada.com was updated daily with a mysterious loading bar, which culminated in three riddles that, when answered correctly, unlocked this deleted scene from The Batman:
What happened to rataalada website?
Now when someone visits rataalada.com (and youareelrataalada.com), an image is shown that says, “THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED.”
The notice continues, “The domain for Rataalada.com and Youareelrataalada.com has been seized by the Gotham Police Department pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by the Gotham City District Court under the authority of 18 U.S.C. 981, 982, Inter Alia, as part of coordinated law enforcement action by City of Gotham Police Department.”
Why is rataalada seized?
If you have this question in mind, before answering, I would like to ask you:
Is Gotham City real?
Gotham City, or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman.
So, there is no Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) in real life. If you thought that the website was seized by police in real life, you’re wrong. This is a fictional seizure.
Now, let’s come back to the question. Why is rataalada seized?
I think there are two explanations for this:
- The Riddler is arrested during The Batman, and is still behind bars by the end of the film – so it makes sense that he’s not really in a position to keep his website updated.
The GCPD’s seizure of rataalada.com is presumably meant to reflect the arrest of a criminal and shutting down his ways of communication. - The website was a beautiful way to market the movie. That said, the more mundane explanation for rataalada.com’s current status is that The Batman‘s marketing campaign is starting to wind down as the film approaches its second month in theaters.
It appears that the viral campaign has come to an end as it gets shut down. While the GCPD’s seizure could signal that the “rataalada” game is officially over, that could also mean we are not far from getting a release date for one of the series spinoffs currently in development. Before The Batman’s release, Reeves was involved with a TV show focused on the GCPD. That show evolved into an Arkham Asylum project, but since the GCPD is still a big part of the plot, the “rataalada” website could be recycled to keep fans updated about Reeves’ corner of the DC universe.
Read about Kingsman 4
