So the first trailer for The Batman Penguin spin off series has been released by HBO,
or what is now just called Max, and it includes some exciting footage surrounding what's in
store.
We get a look at Gotham a week after its flooding, some moody shots of Colin Farrell's Penguin,
and brief footage of new characters like Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone.
On top of this new teaser, there was a somewhat confirmation
of the Arkham Asylum series too, shaping up the future of Matt Reeves Batman universe
in a big way.
In this video, I'm going to be giving you my breakdown and review for The Penguin
trailer and discussing the other news that was shared from the HBO event as well.
The trailer will be linked in the description of this video
if you haven't seen it already.
Before I get into it though, if you want to keep up to date on any of my future content
surrounding The Penguin series, The Batman universe and other
upcoming DC projects, then don't forget to support this upload by giving it a like rating,
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But without further a do, lets dive into the new footage surrounding The
Penguin.
So The Penguin is titled as the next chapter in Matt Reeves Batman saga and we already
know that it's due to take place after the events of 2022’s The Batman Part 1, and
following the death of mob boss Carmine Falcone.
Falcone’s death and the floods of Gotham have left a power vacuum in the criminal underworld,
and the 8 part series revealed to come out in 2024, is
expected to explore just that.
The first in production teaser trailer gives us a few explosive moments, focussed mainly
on Colin Farrell's Penguin weilding different guns, waddling around
New York with his penguin-like walk and meeting new characters like Sofia Falcone.
We open the trailer with a few re-occuring shots from the end of the Batman, showing
Gotham flooded after Riddler blew up the sea wall in the
third act of that film.
We follow with establishing shots outside of the Iceberg Lounge, and it seems that not
long after the previous flooding, that the location is no longer submerged.
Based on the time it takes for real life floodings to clear, I don’t think it’s unrealistic
for the flooding to eventually subside in a short
amount of time, and we could guess that most of this series will be taking place about
a week or so after the events of The Batman.
Colin Farrell did say that the opening scene begins
right after the ending of The Batman part 1, with Oz waddling through the water, so
we'd guess that after this moment, it will transition a week or so later to a now partially
destroyed, but clearer Gotham city.
Moving on, we get a shot of the Penguin's new car, after his old vehicle was destroyed
in The Batman's car chase scene, and it fits in line with all the behind
the scenes footage that we got with both Farrell and Rhenzy Feliz, who are also seen together
throughout the teaser.
We also get a brief look at Michael Kelly's unknown character, who
could be apart of Maroni's gang or one of Penguin's new men too.
But overlyaing these shots is dialogue from Penguin himself, saying, “this is one of
those moments, when you gotta ask yourself, what kind of life do I want?”.
He continues by stating, “the world ain’t built for guys like us.
That’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours.
I was Carmine Falcone’s right-hand man … you ain’t seen what I
can do.”
So it definitely stresses on the central idea of The Penguin series, in that the past fragility
of the character is being tested, exposed, but then from that comes his potential rise
to power.
The moment with Shoreh Aghdashloo, where her character's men hold Oz at knife point, showcases
that the other mobs are ready to seize control themselves, and we also know
that Cristin Millioti's Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Carmine, is going to be going
up against Penguin too.
So the trailer really builds with this approach of the different mobs not expecting
Penguin to be too much of a problem.
But that's where the ending of this footage completely delivers.
We hear Penguin saying to someone, "can you imagine, the people saying my name
on the streets after you're gone and have it mean something".
And cue in a chilling scene where Penguin guns down someone, laughing
sadistically, and reinforcing that he's going to become a different animal in the criminal
underworld.
It ends with him claiming the title, "the new king pin of Gotham", and then we see
The Penguin logo animating and appearing exactly like font from the Batman movie.
So it was a brilliant culmination of tension and of course, it's just a small tease surrounding
how this spin-off narrative will be shown through the
eyes of Colin's Penguin.
So now that I've discussed what we saw in the trailer for The Penguin what are my thoughts
on it.
Well, to me, it really looks like another gripping instalment in the Matt Reeves
Batverse, and similar to the first teaser trailer for The Batman film from a few years
back, it really sold me on the direction that Craig Zobel and Lauren LeFranc are going in.
There's a lot of Sopranos and Godfather vibes just
from the few dialogue scenes and meetings that Farrell's Penguin has with the other
unknown characters, yet the footage also makes it feel like
we are fully back in Matt Reeves iteration of Gotham.
The same yellowish colour palette, the dark rainy streets and even the brief water damage
that we saw because of the Gotham floods make this world feel as visceral as it did
on the big screen.
Just in the few brief shots we get of Colin Farrell, he seems to be doing a wonderful
job with his performance, not just in showcasing more of his Penguin but making
him feel like he has a new edge.
We really get the sense that he is coming into his own, that he doesn't want to be messed
around and that he will be that next king pin.
The whole essence of this trailer just makes it feel like a quality HBO series, and I particularly
love how it finds the balance between being the next step
in The Batman saga, but also a project that seems like a seperated affair surrounding
Penguin.
While I'm getting to the stage of being burnt out on comic book movie or tv universes, Matt
Reeves Batman saga is really shaping up to be something special, and if this new footage
is any indication, it seems that every project is going to be tackled by talented creatives
in an aim to make the best movie or show possible.
Its not about just doing more for the sake of it and you can tell that just from the
tone of what we're seeing.
Farrell said previously that the series would explore Penguin's awkwardness,
his villany, his strength and ultimately the heartbroken man inside.
And while we haven't seen too much of those different angles yet, the
very moments of his performance in this footage make me confident that they are going to explore
all of that on a rich character level.
So overall, I can't wait to see how Reeves and the
producers of this show really flesh out the extended detail of Gotham City's underworld,
introducing other mobs and extending on families we've seen, whether it be Sofia Falcone,
Salvatore Maroni or so on, and hopefully there's some cool twists surrounding this big power
grab for control.
Before I end this video, I did want to talk about the other news that came out alongside
that Penguin trailer too, and it includes an update from Daniel Pipski, the producer
of The Penguin series, confirming that the Arkham
Asylum show is still in development.
Of course we last heard quite a while ago that they were planning on doing this show
as part of the next spin-off series, so it's just good to hear
this update from someone close to the Penguin's production.
My guess would be that this is the spinoff show set between The Batman Part 2 and a
likely 3rd film, similar to the way that the Penguin is set between The Batman Part 1 and
Part 2.
And we could presume that this Arkham show is somewhat about the villains in the Asylum
like Joker, Riddler and whoever is later put there, eventually breaking out by the time
that 3rd movie comes, leading us to a big standoff in Gotham.
The reason I say this is because look how The Penguin series is expanding beyond
the ending of The Batman part 1.
The flooding at the end of that movie suggested that new criminals will rise up in the Riddlers
place, like we are seeing Oz, and that show is detailing
Penguin's particular rise to power.
So what if by the end of The Batman Part 2, The Penguin and the other main villains of
that film, somewhat join that of Joker, Riddler and others
behind bars at Arkham, and plan some sort of retaliation.
It could essentially contribute to the growing sense of villany that's about to
explode in Gotham and really setup a Arkham Asylum show and 3rd Batman film really well.
It's just a thought that came to my mind, and I'm sure the direction that they do go
in will end up being completely different.
We'll have to see what updates we get in the coming months surrounding all the projects
in Matt Reeves Batman saga, but so far it looks like they are still
going ahead with that Arkham series, and like The Penguin show, it holds much potential.
But that was my video discussing the brand new trailer for The Penguin series and the
update for the upcoming Arkham Asylum show.
With production underway, and what we've seen for The
Penguin show already looking great, I couldn't be more excited to see how Matt Reeves Batman
saga evolves on the big screen as well as the small screen too.
We won't have to wait long to see the first spin-off series, as the in production
trailer confirms at the end of the footage that the show will be releasing on Max in
2024, which is accurate to a lot of our predictions when looking at the October 2025
release date for The Batman Part 2.
The series is supposed to lead into that sequel, so having this a year before will get fans
excited to see the developing storylines in this iteration
of Gotham city.
It will be interesting to see what kind of role Colin Farrell's Penguin and maybe other
characters like Sofia Falcone and Salvatore Maroni will have by the time Matt
Reeves sequel does come out, and hopefully this Penguin series can really flesh out those
details and storylines in a big way.
It's looking really good so far and this first teaser did
a great job of getting me fully on board with the direction that all the creatives are taking.
But what are your thoughts towards all the latest footage from The Penguin series and
does it get you excited for the future of this Batman saga.
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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