Where is Batman in The Penguin?

We are three episodes into The Penguin, a new show about one of Batman's most famous villains. As played by Colin Farrell under layers of makeup, the Penguin becomes a fascinating character, a small-time mob enforcer with dreams of becoming a kingpin.

Before starring in his own series, Farrell played the Penguin in The Batman, Matt Reeves' 2022 movie starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. But will Batman, played by Pattinson or someone else, actually show up in The Penguin?

The answer is no. Batman does not appear in any of the eight episodes of The Penguin. There's no cameo, there's no arc, there may not even be a mention. The Penguin is squrely focused on the Penguin.

There are likely a number of reasons for that. For one, getting Pattinson to appear as Batman/Bruce Wayne could be expensive or difficult from a scheduling perspective. For another, including Batman could distract from what has been a very exciting story. I was lucky enough to see the entirety of the Penguin ahead of time, and I can honestly say that I never once missed Batman. The story of Oswald Cobb trying to crime the criminal ladder in Gotham City was more than entertaining enough, to the point where I think including Batman could have been a distraction. I would have hated for The Penguin to go the way of The Book of Boba Fett, a Star Wars TV show spun off from The Mandalorian; in that series, the Mandalorian and his sidekick Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, show up towards the end and basically highjack the whole thing, stealing Boba Fett's own show out from under him.

That said, Batman's absence is a little strange as events heat up. I won't spoil anything, but the gang fights in The Penguin get pretty intense, so much so that eventually you have to wonder why Bruce Wayne isn't intervening. Still, on the whole, I think excluding Batman from this series was the right call.

New episodes of The Penguin air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.

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