“The Penguin” is, by all accounts, a bonafide hit. Not only has the HBO series proved that the world established by Matt Reeves in 2022’s “The Batman” provides fertile ground for multiple stories to be told, but DC has actually beat Marvel at its own game for once. The eight-episode series stands on its own as a character study of the titular rouge and as a gripping crime thriller, at once expanding the shared universe and feeling as if it isn’t required viewing in order to understand that universe — which is much more than can be said for Marvel’s slate of Disney+ shows.
If there is one criticism that holds some weight, however, it’s the question of where the heck Batman is for the entirety of the show’s run. Going into “The Penguin,” we knew that Robert Pattinson’s Batman wasn’t going to show up, but with the amount of carnage Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb created in Gotham’s underworld, it did, at times, seem as though the Dark Knight should have stepped in. After all, he spent much of “The Batman” beating up petty thugs, so Oz running a massive drug operation that ultimately leads to a giant crater appearing in Gotham should perhaps have peaked the Dark Knight’s interest.
Of course, at the end of “The Batman,” Pattinson’s vigilante has a transformative moment where he seems to realize the true nature of being a hero, so his absence could perhaps be explained by him reconfiguring his project to save Gotham in the wake of his personal revelation. But even then, it seems that Reeves himself recognized the need for a Batman appearance in “The Penguin,” which it turns out, almost happened.
Batman would have detracted from the story of The Penguin
“The Penguin” finally acknowledged that Batman still exists right at the end when the Bat signal looms over Gotham following Oz Cobb’s ascendence to kingpin of the city’s underworld. Prior to that, despite Matt Reeves confirming that Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight would not appear in the TV series, fans were still cautiously optimistic that we’d get some sort of Batman-related reference or major Easter egg. Alas, the Bat signal at the very end of “The Penguin” was really all we got.
As it happens, when Reeves and showrunner Lauren LeFranc were putting the series together, they very nearly did include a full-on Batman appearance. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Reeves revealed that there were discussions about crossing Oz’s world with Bruce Wayne’s, but that none of it ever came to fruition. “Over the course of writing the season,” he explained, “we discussed many times whether or not there might be some cross-through that would feel earned. We tried a few different ideas conceptually, nothing that was ever written ultimately, but nothing seemed to quite gel in a way that felt earned.”
One idea that almost made the cut was to have Bruce Wayne appear before Oz’s protégé Vic Agular (Rhenzy Feliz), but as Reeves put it, “Even that ended up throwing things off too much.” Just what “throwing things off” means was clarified by LeFranc, who told EW, “We wanted our characters to be the predominant people that you’re following in this show. Anything that started to detract from that wasn’t servicing the type of show we wanted to do.”
Did The Penguin need Batman?
While “The Penguin” was set in the same Gotham established by Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” the story itself felt very much self-contained, and not only due to the lack of Robert Pattinson’s avenger. The show was concerned with establishing its central figure as some sort of scrappy underdog, fleshing out his backstory in an apparent attempt to produce some sympathy for Oz Cobb among audiences. But over the course of the series, any sympathy Oz does manage to accrue is slowly eroded before being eviscerated when he carries out one of the most heinous acts imaginable in the finale.
As such, “The Penguin” felt as if it had something to say beyond being a simple way to bridge the gap between Batman movies. For the majority of its eight episodes, it was really concerned with making its point about our capacity to root for truly evil characters. Even the Easter eggs that were featured in “The Penguin” were often quite subtle, such as when the show put a spin on Robin’s origin story or featured a little-known, deep cut DC character in its Arkham Asylum episode.
Despite being concerned chiefly with telling Oz’s story, however, “The Penguin” did at least set up “The Batman: Part II” quite nicely, with the titular villain now at the pinnacle of organized crime in the city and set for a direct clash with Gotham’s savior. As such, the show never really did need Robert Pattinson’s Batman, but as with every project set in Gotham that doesn’t feature its most famous resident, there’s that expectation among fans that Batman will, eventually, show up. The fact that he didn’t in “The Penguin” is both kind of cool and frankly a little disappointing.
“The Penguin” season 1 is now streaming in its entirety on Max.