The Penguin Proves DC Is Making Marvel’s Biggest Mistake
The Batman was arguably one of the stronger superhero movies we have had in recent years, offering a very unique take on the hero than what we have seen before. But with the recent news that The Penguin would bridge The Batman and its upcoming sequel, it sounds like DC is going down the same disappointing road as Marvel.
The Penguin
The movie world is currently oversaturated with cinematic universes. It was unique when Marvel did it at first, but with DC doing the same thing, plus the Godzilla movies, and even Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey now doing it, it feels hard to just enjoy any movie on its own anymore.
The Penguin would have been perfectly fine on its own, especially since Colin Farrell was one of the best parts of The Batman. But if the show is going to be required viewing to understand the sequel, it is already throwing too much at the audience.
The Bridge
The point when public favor began shifting on the MCU was around when they started making their own original shows for Disney+. At first, fans pretty unanimously loved them.
But then once they started including plot details that were crucial to understand the latest movies, fans grew frustrated at feeling like keeping up with the MCU had become like homework. The Penguin is already putting the new Batman movies in danger of being viewed that same way.
The show’s lead writer and showrunner, Lauren LeFranc, talks about the interconnected nature of the show with the movies as a selling point. The Penguin will be set one week after the events of The Batman and will evidently bring us right up to the start of the sequel.
“We are the bridge between the two films,” said LeFranc. “We’re going almost directly into the second film Matt has planned.”
The Planned Spinoffs
Having one successful film really feels like letting things go to your head for plotting out a whole interconnected universe. We are already seeing cracks in those plans, as The Penguin was not even the only TV spinoff that had been planned following The Batman.
A show focusing on the Gotham city police department had been planned, as well as one focusing on life at Arkham Asylum. Both of those show ideas were ultimately scrapped.
The Series Could Pull Down The Batman Part II
It is encouraging to see creators as excited as fans are about Batman, but throwing this much at people this quickly runs the risk of overloading viewers.
If The Penguin does poorly, having it be connected to the movies also runs the risk of tarnishing an iteration of Batman that has barely gotten out of the gate.
Batman In The Series?
The world of Batman has more than enough heroes and villains for characters to be doing their own separate things without crossing paths. The Penguin could have been set in the same world as the movies but simply been a standalone story. As it is, the show’s creators are already playing coy about whether Batman himself shows up in the series.
When asked about the subject, everyone has refused to give an answer so far. Hopefully the new Batman universe is not repeating the mistakes made by the MCU.
The Penguin debuts this September on HBO and Max.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
