A Tale of Two Penguins – The Batman: Part II and Batman: Caped Crusader SDCC Updates
A couple of DC tidbits have come out of the San Diego Comic-Con, and both are about the Penguin, one of the most famous members of Batman’s rogues gallery. The first is a small but expected confirmation that the villain will return in The Batman: Part II, the next in Matt Reeves’ film series, once again played by Colin Farrell. This version of the Penguin also has his own TV series coming to HBO on September 19, 2024, which will find the Penguin fighting the successors of the Falcone crime family for control of Gotham City’s underworld. The Batman: Part II will begin filming in April of 2025 and be released on October 2, 2026, but there’s no word on what the plot will be.
Colin Farrell will return as The Penguin in ‘THE BATMAN: PART II’ #SDCC pic.twitter.com/GpEr3pOry7
— DC Film News (@DCFilmNews) July 28, 2024
I think everyone pretty much expected this. I know I’m in the vast minority, but I didn’t care for The Batman, so more from this version of Batman’s world doesn’t interest me. I’m particularly perplexed by the love for Colin Farrell’s Penguin, who, to me, is an obnoxious Mafia movie caricature more than anything else, with that ridiculous, exaggerated accent he had. But I felt the same way about Farrell’s portrayal of Bullseye in Daredevil back in 2002, and everyone else seemed to love that as well. Colin Farrell is by no means a bad actor – In Bruges is absolutely brilliant, and he’s been great in other things – but he seems not to take comic book movies all that seriously. I recall a discussion between him and Hugh Grant where he admitted that he looked down on roles in more popular movies and would rather do smaller, independent films. (Hugh Grant’s response to this is epic.) That’s perfectly fine, and he’s much better in those kinds of movies, but I wish the filmmakers behind the bigger films would take that to heart and stop offering him roles he doesn’t want but for the paycheck. Again, though, most seem to disagree with me on this score.
The other reveal is much stranger but a reminder that we are still in the current era of Hollywood pandering and woke nonsense overtaking entertainment. Batman: Caped Crusader, the animated series with a 40s-era Batman (in aesthetic, at least) from producers J.J Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Bruce Timm, will also feature the Penguin… and he’ll be a woman. This version of the Penguin will not be Oswald Cobblepot but “Oswalda Cobblepot,” and be voiced by Minnie Driver. She will join the Asian Harley Quinn, who has nothing to do with the Joker, voiced by Jamie Chung, and almost certainly some other “reimagined” villains. Batman: Caped Crusader will begin airing on Amazon Prime Video on August 1, 2024, and I imagine we’re all required to watch it under penalty of lecture.
When Batman: Caped Crusader was announced, I thought it was a fantastic idea and wished that Kevin Conroy could’ve voiced Batman, as I always do. Now, I’m glad the man has nothing to do with this garbage. I’m not at Comic-Con, but I wonder if the audience started laughing like a bunch of Joker victims when the female Penguin was revealed. Nobody can possibly think this show is being made in good faith by people who want to entertain and do right by Batman and his mythos. How can you take Harley Quinn, change her personality, remove any connection to the Joker, and then say she’s the same character, at least “in spirit”? Harley Quinn is defined by her obsession with the Joker; anything else is another character entirely. Turning the Penguin into a woman is just a blatant sociopolitical statement; there’s no getting around that. They’re doing it just to do it, and I’m sure we’ll find out that the Penguin is more moral than Batman or something nonsensical like that. This show could’ve been amazing, but the people behind it couldn’t help themselves, and now, it’s just another missed opportunity to add to the ever-growing list.
