When most people think about The Riddler from the 1960's Batman TV series, they will probably visualize Frank Gorshin playing the iconic villain. Sidebar, Mark Hamill used Gorshin's laugh as the inspiration for The Joker as heard in the Batman animated series and several Arkham video games. But back to the Riddlers.

BATMAN, Frank Gorshin, 1966. TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved, Courtesy: Everett Collection
BATMAN, Frank Gorshin, 1966. TM and Copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved, Courtesy: Everett Collection

Some say Frank was holding out for more money. Others, including Frank, will say it was an honest mistake and he had a prior engagement he couldn't back out of in order to film. Either way, the studio went ahead and recast the villain using John Astin! The same actor most recognized as Gomez Addams from the classic Addams Family TV show!

John Astin as The Riddler
John Astin as Gomez Addams
John Astin as Gomez Addams

And there's something else to add to the "wait, what?" factor of this whole thing. It may be obvious to some, but I just found this out today. But the son of John Astin is none other than Mikey from The Goonies, and Special Agent Oso himself, Sean Astin!

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All this might've been obvious to some of you already, but I just discovered it this morning! Be sure to share this post with your friends who also may not know any of this so you can blow their minds too!