The DC universe is in an exciting place, because of how nebulous the future is. The old universe is dead and gone, but James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe hasn’t started yet. We don’t know how the new takes on classic characters will go, whether a brand new Batman and Robin will work in live-action, whether Gunn will actually deliver on his big galoot Superman, or whether we’ll get more than one project before the entire studio is sold yet again.
Before all that happens, we still have Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” which was a huge surprise and one of the best Batman movies ever. We don’t know what place this take on the character will have in Gunn’s universe, but at least for now, Reeves is not going anywhere. While we wait for “The Batman 2,” we have our first look at the first spin-off of Reeves’ universe — “The Penguin” TV series.
“The Penguin” centers on Colin Farrell’s scene-stealing, Spanish grammar-correcting mobster Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, who is oddly now called Ozz Cobb in the official synopsis for the show, in the aftermath of Carmine Falcone’s death and the power vacuum it left in Gotham City during The Riddler’s reign of terror. Watch “The Penguin” trailer above.
The Batman saga continuesMaxSomething interesting about the trailer is that Max is selling it as “the next chapter in The Batman Saga.” This seems to imply Warner Bros. is confident in this universe’s ability to stand out even with the DC Universe set to have its own Batman in “The Brave and the Bold” movie. But will audiences actually respond to having two Batmans (Batmen?) on the big screen? Only time will tell.
As for “The Penguin,” the trailer makes it clear this is more than just another go at the underrated “Gotham” TV show, which already gave us a phenomenal story about The Penguin trying to control the Gotham underworld. Instead, this feels cut from the same cloth as “The Batman” movie, with a balance of crime thriller vibes and enough action and mayhem to fit a comic book story.
Though the trailer doesn’t show much, it does reveal two interesting tidbits. We see Oz talking to someone about his childhood, and witnessing the death of a mobster called Rex Calabrese and how beloved he seemed by the people. Calabrese is a crime boss from the comics introduced in the New 52, who is also Selina Kyle’s father in the comics (Falcone is said to be her father in “The Batman”). Additionally, a shot of Oz in prison talking to an inmate seems to indicate we will meet this universe’s take on Salvatore Maroni, whose unseen arrest kickstarted the plot of Reeves’ “The Batman.”
Whether this is the start or end of Reeves’ “The Batman” universe, we’ll see more when “The Penguin” drops on Max this fall.
