Warning! This article contains minor spoilers for The Penguin episodes 1 and 2.
The penguin is allowing Matt Reeves The Batman universe to repeat a trick of a DC project of recent years by making a popular villain even more iconic. One of the strengths of The penguin is undoubtedly the tone it portrays. The show is more similar to its sister movie The Batman In terms of its depiction of Gotham, its characters, and the otherworldly elements of DC, as was evident at the time of The penguin Episode 2’s ending.
Although this does not stop The penguinDC’s Easter eggs of shining through, it establishes a world much closer to reality than the exaggerated Batman 20th century adaptations. This will undoubtedly continue with The Batman – Part II‘s story, allowing this section of the Caped Crusader’s live-action universe to have significant strengths. interesting, The penguin‘s influence on upcoming Batman Movies and shows specifically giving characters more grounded, sympathetic motivations is nothing new for iterations of the iconic DC Comics world and its infamous villains.
The penguin makes the DC icon much more human
Oz Cobb is much more human than DC Comic’s Oswald Cobblepot often is
generally, The Batman Universe fleshed out Oswald Cobb in a much more human character than was shown in previous iterations. The penguinThe new origin story for the titular character makes several changes to that of DC Comics, with the alterations being the primary way he is shown as a more realistic character than the overtly bloodthirsty villain of the source material. In the comics, Oswald Cobblepot begins using the moniker of the Penguin after killing his brothers and father.
The men of Oswald’s family did not like him because of his looks, but his mother showed him a loving relationship. One day, Oswald killed his brothers and father to gain his mother’s attention, then revealed that he had a thirst for killing with his love of birds influencing his supervillain identity from that point on. While some semblance of sympathetic motivation is outlined in these stories, DC Comics has, well, comic book elements that make him more of a mustache-twirling villain who embraces a specific moniker than Colin Farrell’s version. in The penguins cast of letters.
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Overall, Oz Cobb is presented as much more human than his DC Comics counterpart. His different family history, poor upbringing, wants, desires, dreams, and flaws all give Oz a sense of realism. That the source material shows only at a glance. While there will always be room for a more exaggerated version of The Penguin and that’s not to say the DC Comics iteration can’t work, The penguinThe portrayal of him not only makes him a compelling main character, but one that repeats a trick from an older DC TV show that makes him infinitely more sympathetic.
The Penguin copies 1 trick from Batman: The Animated Series’ Mr. Freeze Story
Oz Cobb’s family connections give him similarities to Mr. Freeze
As mentioned, the image of the titular character in The penguin Takes cues from a previous TV show centering around the world of Gotham – Batman: The Animated Series. Batman: The Animated Series is one of the more iconic iterations of Gotham’s Dark Knight, with some creative decisions from the show becoming so popular that they leaked to DC Comics to rewrite decades of character history. One of the prime examples of this came with one of Batman: The Animated Series Major villains, Mr. Freeze.
Mr. Freeze’s backstory has been minimal in DC Comics before Batman: The Animated SeriesThat soon changed. The show introduced a whole backstory for Mr. Freeze that revolved around family and gave the character sympathetic motivations. The character changes were so well received that DC Comics began to retcon the villain’s backstory, establishing him as an iconic Batman villain from then on. in The penguinThis change was somewhat emulated by the introduction of Frances Cobb, Oz’s mother.
Oz’s connection with his mother is further detailed in episode 2, with the penguin soundtrack tying strongly to the duo and rooting their relationship in even more humanity.
One of the reasons behind The penguinThe strong reviews are the cast of characters, with Farrell’s Oz leading the way. The aforementioned sense of humanity imbibed in Oz would not be as strong without the relationship with his mother. Frances gives Oz a lot of motivation for his actions, grounded in something many can relate to. generally, The penguinThe familial connections make the titular villain much more than that, just like Batman: The Animated Series Has for Mr. Freeze.
Like Batman: TAS reinvented Mr. Freeze
Victor Fries became an iconic villain thanks to Batman: The Animated Series
in Batman: The Animated SeriesMr. Freeze is written as Victor Freeze. Fries was a man who experimented with cryotechnology as a means to save his terminally ill wife. However, Fries’ life took a turn for the worse when the CEO of Gothcorp, Fries’ employer, ordered him to shut down his projects. Price begged for his wife’s life, yet the pleas fell on the deaf ears of Ferris Boyle. Eventually, Boyle broke into Fries’ laboratory and destroyed his work, kicking the latter into a batch of chemicals and leaving him to die.
Mr. Freeze then turned to a life of crime in order to retrieve his frozen wife and continue to find a cure for her…
This explains how Mr. Freeze became frozen, with the chemicals meaning he cannot survive in temperatures above zero. Mr. Freeze then turned to a life of crime in order to retrieve his frozen wife and continue to find a cure for her. Eventually, Freeze implores Batman to help save his wife and, when she is cured and begins a new life, Freeze retires from his life of crime in solitary at the North Pole. Just like Batman: The Animated Series Completely reinvented a DC villain to become iconic, The penguin is doing the same through the familial connections of the humans under these monikers.