The upcoming HBO series The Penguin continues from 2022's The Batman, headlined by English actor Robert Pattinson in the title role. A spin-off of the film, The Penguin is set to explore the rise of Oz Cobb (Oswald Cobblepot in the comics) as the kingpin of Gotham City after the assassination of the bigger gangster, Carmine Falcone. As seen in Matt Reeves' The Batman, Falcone was shot and killed by the unhinged psychopath, the Riddler. This has left Cobb with an opportunity to rise in the ranks.
Reeves, along with Dylan Clark, serves as the executive producer of The Penguin. Lauren LeFranc is the showrunner, and Craig Zobel directed the series' first three episodes. Last, but certainly not least, prosthetic makeup designer Mike Marino is behind Colin Farell's transition into Oz Cobb. And of course, as the centerpiece, Farell brilliantly fleshes out the antihero/nightclub proprietor for which the series is named. Between The Batman and its upcoming sequel (scheduled for release in October 2026), The Penguin takes the byway of streaming, to tell the story of the power grab by Oz Cobb and Gotham after the catastrophic deluge.
The Fallout of The Flooding Of Gotham City
Right off the bat, The Penguin is a by-product of The Batman, and Reeves' DC expansion. It serves as a bridge between the original and the sequel, and picks up one week after the events of Reeves' 2022 movie. The last of Reeves' BatVerse stated that Gotham was underwater, and the National Guard was coming. Martial law was declared in this state of emergency, but the city's criminal underbelly didn't tire or rest. Bruce Wayne's voiceover and the visuals of the city gave an insight into the catastrophic fallout of the flood orchestrated by the Riddler in an attempt to erase Gotham City off the map:
Looting and lawlessness will be rampant in the parts of the city no one can get to. I can already see things will get worse before they get better. And some will seize the chance to grab everything they can...
The Riddler concocted an elaborate plan to flood Gotham, believing the corrupt city was beyond salvage. The Riddler and his army thought that the "real change" promise made by Bella Reál in her campaign was an unachievable political goal. The election day, for them, was a time of "retribution." The Riddler planted seven bombs at seven different points around Gotham's sea wall to flood the city quickly, leaving no time for evacuation. In his final message, he incited his followers to take advantage of the chaos and mayhem and assassinate the new incumbent mayor, Bella Reál, at Gotham Square Garden:
As breaking news hits higher ground at Gotham Square Garden, celebrations will turn to panic [...] And as the venue becomes the city's shelter of last resort [...] And that's where all of you come in.
As seen towards the end of The Batman, masked armed Riddler-esque figures arrive inside Gotham Square Garden. Bella Reál's victory celebration becomes chaotic, and the newly-elected mayor is hit. Batman manages to take the hooded figures down and leads the survivors through the water to safety. In the aftermath of the attack, Wayne states that the city is underwater, and the city is primed for chaos. As confirmed by the shot of Oz seated in Falcone's chair, he is ready to take over.
The Power Vacuum Created With Carmine Falcone's Death
The Penguin's rise lies in Jim Gordon and Batman's attempts at a cat-and-mouse chase to uncover the mystery of El Rata Alada (Falcone), leading them down the rabbit hole of Gotham's corruption. Judging from the Penguin's dark mannerisms in the closing montage, it's clear that the eponymous show will detail his rise from a mid-tier mobster to the boss heading Gotham's post-attack crime empire. With Falcone gone, Catwoman, before leaving the city, acknowledges that Gotham awaits a power void to be filled:
There's gonna be a real power grab and it will be bloody.
The moment has come for Oz to establish and assert himself as a top mobster. As seen in The Batman, the Riddler sniped John Turturro's mob boss Falcone in the street moments after his arrest. The absence of an all-powerful criminal leader created a vacuum in the city. Like any gangster story, The Penguin should get its ABCs right: Oz's backstory, family, rise, rivalry, and complicated relationships among others. The crime world in Gotham City is more chaotic than ever before.
While The Penguin is grounded in Reeves' previous film, the trailer proves that the series isn't a typical superhero spin-off. And because Oz is an underboss, The Penguin is expected to humanize him, make him more morally gray than he appeared in the original, and give him a compelling arc. In an interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar+) executive producer Clark says the DC series is "almost like a Scarface story," noting:
It’s exciting to do something like that just as a standalone, but it speaks to the character and our movie, so that you’ll go back to the movie [and say], 'Oh, I see that backstory there, that line refers to this.'
Writer and showrunner LeFranc spoke to SFX Magazine (via ComicBookMovie.com) about putting a spin on the famous characters:
Matt's created new canon in his film, and I'm creating new canon in this show. We have characters you're familiar with but there's a different spin on them.
Simply put, The Penguin brings gangster Oz Cobb's saga from the big screen to streaming. It is a passageway into The Batman Part II and a bridge between the two movies.
The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on September 19.
The Batman
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- Release Date
- March 4, 2022
- Cast
- Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, Barry Keoghan, Jayme Lawson, Gil Perez-Abraham, Peter McDonald, Con O'Neill, Alex Ferns, Rupert Penry-Jones, Kosha Engler, Archie Barnes, Janine Harouni, Hana Hrzic, Joseph Walker, Luke Roberts, Oscar Novak, Stella Stocker, Sandra Dickinson, Jack Bennett, Andre Nightingale, Richard James-Neale, Lorraine Tai, Joseph Balderrama, James Eeles
- Director
- Matt Reeves
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