‘The Penguin’ Episode 2 Confirms Show’s Setting, As Well As That of ‘The Batman’ Movie
Many fans were dubious when Colin Farrell was chosen to play Ozz Cobb, also known as The Penguin, in Matt Reeves’ The Batman since they weren’t sure what to anticipate from the role. Although some fans were worried about the fact that Farrell did not look the part, the costume designers did a tremendous job of making him look like the real deal, and Farrell made up for a fantastic villain.
The Penguin became so successful, in fact, that HBO ordered a standalone spin-off series right away.
Since its September 19, 2024 premiere, the television series, called simply The Penguin, has garnered positive reviews from both critics and audiences. They hail it as an excellent example of world-building and a fitting follow-up to Reeves’ movie.
The world-building component of the cast’s performances is also receiving praise from fans, which is why this report will be devoted to the Reeves world’s lore.
Namely, Episode 2 of The Penguin actually did an important thing for the evolution of Reeves’ world, as it was finally defined and revealed when the whole franchise was set. The series actually confirmed the date, so we finally know when both The Batman and The Penguin are set.
If you remember Reeves’ film, which was sort of a “Year Two” rendering of the story, Batman was still a semi-mythological figure in Gotham. People knew he was there, but he was such a mysterious figure that so many exaggerated stories circled around, with people being more afraid of what Batman represented than Batman himself.
The Caped Crusader was not a well-known figure at the time, and while that doesn’t help us regarding the time the story takes place, it goes to show that it was all very early in Batman’s story.
Seeing how Reeves wanted to portray a modern-day Gotham, most fans assumed that the movie was set in 2019, which would have meant that The Penguin is also set in 2019. This belief is the result of numerous set photos and background info that we’ve gotten over the course of production, all of which made us believe that the movie was set in 2019, which made sense.
But, as it turns out, The Batman was not set in 2019, but rather in 2022, as Episode 2 of The Penguin confirms.
Namely, in the episode, we can see that Alberto Falcone died on November 13, 2022, which means that The Batman is also set in 2022 and that The Batman: Part II will probably be set in late 2022 or early 2023, as a winter set has been confirmed. This was also commented on and confirmed by episode director Craig Zobel, who said the following:
Screen Rant: We learned that The Batman was set in 2022 through this episode, which we didn’t know before. Was that something that was consciously carried over into The Penguin , or what was the discussion about finally confirming that this is the timeline that we’re running with?
Craig Zobel: I can’t really speak for Matt a hundred percent, but my impression was that Matt sort of had decided the timeline before even Lauren [LeFranc] had started crafting the story and that it was certainly supposed to be 2022. It just maybe hadn’t gotten mentioned directly in the movie, but I think the gift of that movie is that it’s just a very specific world and look.
Source: ScreenRant
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