The Penguin Reveals How DC Can Finally Beat Marvel

The Penguin recently put up numbers that would make even Marvel bigwigs like Kevin Feige blush. Across multiple platforms, this TV spinoff of The Batman earned 5.3 million views in only four days.

That’s more people than the 4.1 million who tuned in for the second season premiere of White Lotus and the 4.9 million who tuned in for the final season premiere of Succession.

Those were Primetime Emmy-winning shows, and the fact that a new superhero spinoff about Colin Farrell in a fugly fatsuit should be freaking Marvel out right now.

While both DC and Marvel have TV presences that go back many decades, the television battle lines between these two franchises became clearest just a few years back.

DC got the jump on the MCU in 2012 with the release of Arrow, and the success of that Batman Begins-inspired show led to a series of other spinoffs collectively referred to as the Arrowverse.

One year later, Marvel launched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC, a prelude to dropping more adult series like Daredevil, which premiered in 2015.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was (and don’t shoot the messenger, folks) mostly “we have the Avengers at home,” but the return of Agent Coulson helped that show run for an impressive seven seasons.

But it was the Netflix fare that mostly helped Marvel win against DC in the fight for TV viewers: shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones became critical hits and appointment prestige television, and the Arrowverse…well, it became the thing you put on in the background while catching up on laundry.

That arguably continued into the Disney+ era of MCU programming, which may have fallen off now (more on that soon) but which launched with the ambitious Wandavision.

That show’s scope and success solidified the idea that the MCU had innovative stories to tell; by comparison, the Arrowverse seemed stuck in a storytelling rut, ultimately dying a quiet death just last year.

However, there’s hope for DC fans, because the success of The Penguin implies that Warner Bros. is finally figuring out how to succeed where Marvel has failed.

Executives couldn’t have planned it better: while Disney+ is still capable of delivering hit Marvel shows like Agatha All Along, fans are increasingly turning their backs on MCU television after disappointments like She-Hulk and Secret Invasion.

And even hit shows seem largely superfluous: Loki spent all its time setting up a bad guy we’ll never hear from again (Kang), and The Falcon and Winer Soldier seems like it will have zero impact on Captain America 4.

Combined with Marvel’s recent box office failures (before Deadpool & Wolverine, that is), it’s clear that the MCU doesn’t have the same pull it once did.

However, superhero fans were happy to see Matt Reeves’ different approach to caped storytelling in The Batman, and they flocked to see the equally innovative spinoff.

Before Reeves, nobody had thought to give a supervillain an origin story, and before The Penguin, nobody imagined such a wild premise could beat the pants off of Marvel.

Now, while Reeves’ stories are set outside the DCU, James Gunn’s upcoming TV shows like Lanterns have the chance to build off the momentum of The Penguin.

It’s easier said than done, but The Penguin proves what superhero fans (whether they lean more toward Marvel or DC) want from a show: surprising character choices, captivating performances, and major relevance to a hit movie.

The DCU is supposed to finally give Warner Bros. its own interconnected cinematic universe of movies and TV shows, including the second season of the hit show Peacemaker.

We’re on the cusp of a DC television renaissance, and if most of their shows are anywhere near as good as The Penguin, Marvel may want to stop making shows for a while and just start taking notes.