I’m convinced the Penguin secretly debuted the Batman universe’s version of the Scarecrow (and this fixes the only problem with the ending)

Matt Reeves’ Dark Knight Rogues Gallery Batman universe is already impressively large, and there may be another member already hidden in plain sight thanks to The penguin. The DC spin-off introduced Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), of course, as well as a significant number of new members of Gotham’s criminal underworld, including Clancy Brown’s Sal Maroni, and a brief but memorable cameo from Gotham’s character Magpie. DC Comics (RIP) .

Look a little closer at Lauren LeFranc’s excellent world, and there are significant hints as to what the future of Bruce Wayne’s growing rogues gallery might look like in the coming months. Batman: Part II. Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb has already been proclaimed the new king of Gotham, the Riddler’s army still swears revenge on the city’s corrupt elite class and The penguin presented significant hints about the existence of the Court of Owls in this universe.

Most intriguing of all, however, is the main indication that The penguin created a new version of the DC Comics villain Scarecrow, almost twenty years after Cillian Murphy debuted as his version in Batman begins. This would raise the possibility that Matt Reeves’ next sequel (or sequels, if the plan to make a trilogy materializes as expected) could attract the Riddler, the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman (albeit as an antihero ), the Court of Owls, and Scarecrow. It’s an incredible lineup, especially with Robert Pattinson’s Batman struggling with his own vigilante mission.

Theo Rossi’s Julian Rush is the best Scarecrow replacement for Batman: Part II

Gotham’s unstable new psychologist has a dark side

Before we get into the hard evidence here – and yes, it exists – a little background is needed. When Theo Rossi’s Julian Rush was introduced in The penguin as Sofia Falcone’s personal psychiatrist (and later adoring lover/follower), many theories about her true identity inevitably followed. Was he a more famous DC character hiding in plain sight? Was his surname an homage to the iconic – and crucially mismatched – DC villain Rush?

In fact, its plot in The penguin positioned him as a sort of replacement for Harley Quinn, falling in love with an inmate, transforming into a loyal subordinate, and expressing murderous tendencies that are deeply troubling to a medical professional. But there was always a nagging suspicion, at least in my mind, that his method of treatment seemed like the perfect starting point for a new take on the Scarecrow. Yes, it has a different name, but who cares these days? This would at least hide your identity.

The method apparently developed by Rush to “cure” Sofia (and later unlock Francis Cobb’s suppressed memories of Oz’s youth) is a light rig that effectively hypnotizes the patient with red lights. The penguin it never explicitly explores the dark potential of this technology, but it’s clear that it has the power to completely take over anyone’s psyche and allow Rush to invade their mind. It’s not exactly a like-for-like swap for Scarecrow’s Fear toxin, but it could have the same terrifying application.

Not only would it be Rush’s weapon (for that’s what it could be) would give him access to his potential victims’ deepest fears, but it would also make them completely vulnerable. Think about how Francis Cobb’s “treatment” at the end leads her to see her dead children: this is not a memory, it is a horrible hallucination that causes her to suffer a massive stroke. Add in the fact that Arkham used drugs (the early version of Bliss) on patients, and there’s a clear path for Rush to be Scarecrow.

You’ve seen this kind of idea before, of course, in Jim Carrey’s Charade. Batman Forever (with somewhat… uneven results), but it fits perfectly with Matt Reeves’ desire to avoid more supernatural villains in his universe. A technology-based Scarecrow might be controversial, but it would serve Reeves’ creative vision.

“What was important to me was finding a way to take these pop icons, these mythical characters that everyone knows, and translate them so that Gotham feels like a place in our world. We could reach the limit of the fantastic, but we would never reach the total fantastic. The goal is to appear very grounded. That doesn’t mean you won’t see characters that people love.

This is exactly what we want to do. Gentleman Ghost has probably been taken too far for us to find a way to do that, but there’s a fun way to think about how we would take characters that could take a little bit of the fantastical and find a way to make sense of it.” – Matt Reeves speaking to SFX Magazine

The penguin teased by Rush was a scarecrow (and basically no one noticed)

An Easter Egg in Episode Four Gave a Big Hint at Scarecrow Theories

In a much more tangible way, The penguin in fact, it dropped a big hint that Julian Rush would become the Scarecrow, and it seems like no one noticed. I rewatched the show every week, watched each episode twice and missed the hidden Easter egg The penguin episode 4 that has now appeared.

Courtesy of a post on Reddit – and the real Gotham’s Greatest Detective (u/BebehBokChoy) – a scene from “Cent’Anni” shows what appears to be a glove with syringes for fingers, and something else that could easily be a hood or mask on Rush’s desk. The scene in question shows Rush nursing Sofia back to consciousness after the Arkham flashback sequence. Did the aspiring villain leave the biggest hint of his emerging alter-ego in Sofia’s view?

Syringes, of course, don’t match Rush’s use of light equipment to induce a shift in consciousness in his patients/victims, but it would make sense that Rush would need to use something to incapacitate targets before using his other weapon. . And a version of the Fear toxin wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

Julian Rush’s Secret Identity Would Answer the One Big Question I Had About The Penguin’s Ending

Rush’s return to Arkham is much more logical with the strawman theory

The penguinThe final episode of is one of the best – in fact, I gave it 5 stars – but one of its most memorable scenes is a little scary. With Sofia back in Arkham after Oz threw her under a bus for the murder of Sal Maroni and the underground bomb attack on Gotham, Julian Rush appears once again as an Arkham employee. At the beginning of the season, he tells Sofia that he left and later helped Alberto get her out, before his radical transformation into his companion and sexual partner. So what happens?

Arkham’s employment history is spotty at best in the comics, but giving a deviant criminal his job back is a stretch even in this context. More curious is Rush’s own motivation for returning to Arkham.. Obviously there’s a chance he’s just there to be close to Sofia; looking for a possible escape route or to protect her, but what if it’s more sinister?

In Arkham, Rush would have access to more vulnerable inmates to further explore his experiments on Scarecrow, which saw his initial formation throughout the game.The penguin. After seeing the results with Francis Cobb, this could very well be his way of further developing his method, before a more explosive evolution into the Scarecrow in Batman: Part II. And I for one will be sitting down for it, with enthusiasm.

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