Whether as a means to explore wealth or poverty, there’s an opportunity to take a Shakespearean approach to the Penguin, while also playing a bit more with the freakishness of the character and Gotham as a whole. Instead of a Batcave, used in secret, to protect Gotham, Penguin builds an Iceberg Lounge, an aboveground party house for the rich and morally dubious, further sinking Gotham’s standing.Īlternatively, it’s also easy to imagine a Boardwalk Empire-inspired take on the Penguin through the HBO series, one that charts how an impoverished boy becomes a gangster and ruled a city. Colin Farrell, qui jouera le Pingouin / Cobblepot dans le film The Batman, a récemment confirmé que Matt Reeves ne réalisera pas la série spin-off dédiée à son personnage qui a été commandée par la plateforme de streaming HBO Max. This concept of Bruce and Oswald being funhouse mirror reflections of one another is already baked into the comic book depictions. Likewise, had the Penguin succeeded, this act would have likely found itself in the number one spot. Though it is a bit silly of a story now, a modernized version could be truly terrifying.
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Perhaps a page could also be taken out of Telltale Games’ fantastic Batman: The Telltale Series, or animated series The Batman, in which Cobblepot is a foil to Bruce Wayne, the answer to the question of, What if Bruce Wayne had let his parents’ demise and wealth turn him to a life of corruption and opulence? Thankfully Batman is able to stop Penguin with enough time, and the story has since slipped the minds of many DC fans. Reeves and Farrell have a chance to take a more serious approach. But that take on the character hinged (often wonderfully) on camp. It should be noted that Cobblepot facilitating the shift from the mob to the freaks in Gotham was similarly explored in Fox’s Gotham over the course of five seasons. Masked vigilantes and villains are just starting to emerge in the wake of Batman’s presence.
Mobsters like Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) still hold the city in their grips. The Gotham that Reeves will usher us into is one on the precipice of great change. Buy Imaginext DC Super Friends Batman & The Penguin now at Smyths Toys UK Shop for DC Super Friends at great prices. Reeves seems keenly interested in exploring the growth of Gotham City over time, rather than creating one-and-done villains who are fully formed in their first appearances and then tossed off by the film’s end. The same goes for Catwoman and the Riddler. Rumor has it that when we meet Cobblepot in the film, he’ll be early in his career, just as Batman is, and that the film series will see him move closer to his more iconic moniker with each installment.
It’s this avenue that would be fascinating to explore in Reeve’s The Batman franchise and its Penguin spin-off series. Penguin facilitated that shift, becoming Gotham’s last surviving mobster, but one who is (mostly) comfortable working with the likes of Arkham’s most notorious inmates. As explored in Batman: The Long Halloween (1996), Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s sequel to Batman: Year One, Oswald Cobblepot is the bridge between the gangsters of Old Gotham City and freaks of the New Gotham: Scarecrow, Joker, Two-Face. Just like many stars who put themselves through hours of make up to become a completely different person on screen, it all helps put across a performance that has gained Farrell a lot of praise even though he is not on-screen for much of the movie.This depiction, alongside with Batman: The Animated Series, which took a similar, though slightly more palatable, design choice, not only brought Penguin back to prominence in the comics but gave him a new role.
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As the movie arrived on HBO Max this week, it allowed fans to once again enjoy the performance, which there will be more of in future with Farrell getting his own spin-off series.įootage of Farrell’s journey to becoming the Penguin was shared by Culture Crave, and in the clip the actor explains that it was “one of the most exciting, jubilant experiences” that he has ever had despite the whole process taking up to four hours at a time. Unlike the rest of the cast in The Batman, Farrell was completely unrecognizable when the first image of him as Penguin was released in 2020. Colin Farrell underwent a dramatic transformation to become Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin in The Batman and a newly released behind the scenes video shows exactly how the actor was changed from the much-idolized Farrell into his less appealing comic book character.