Whilst last night in many ways represented Marvel Studios' moment in the spotlight at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego (Robert Downey Jr. Doctor Doom reveal, new Fantastic Four title, and all), earlier in the evening comic franchise fans were also treated to a panel for Matt Reeves and Craig Zobel's hotly anticipated HBO Original The Batman spin-off series The Penguin. And during the event, star Colin Farrell beamed into Hall H via Zoom to introduce a brand new trailer for his upcoming crime series, set a week after Paul Dano's Riddler flooded Gotham at the end of The Batman. Check it out below:
As you'll recall, a power vacuum opened up in Gotham following the death of mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in Reeves' 2022 take on the Caped Crusader, and as crime (and a lot of water) continues to flood the streets of the city in The Penguin, Farrell's Oz Cobb clearly has his eyes set on taking over. "You promised me Oswald [...] I deserve a better life," says the mobster's mentally ill mother Francis (Deirdre O'Connell) at the start of this gritty latest trailer. "Im workin' on it," comes Cobb's reply in Farrell's still-astonishing New York accent. We'll say! In an atmospheric two minutes punctuated by knife stabs, gun shots, drug deals, and brutal body bag business, we see the bird-monikered baddie looking to tear down the Falcone crime family from the inside out. Cristin Milioti's Sofia "The Hangman" Falcone however, fresh outta Arkham Asylum, clearly has other ideas, and it's around Falcone and Cobb's conflict The Penguin looks set to revolve.
Also caught up in Gotham's gang wars here are *deep breath* Cobb's driver Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz); Falcone mob boss Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly); Nadia Maroni (Shohreh Aghdashloo); Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown); Milos Grapa (James Madio); Luca Falcone (Scott Cohen); Carmine’s son Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen); Julian Rush (Theo Rossi); and Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo).
With The Penguin's Comic-Con panel also bringing with it confirmation that Farrell's beak-nosed New Yorker will be back in The Batman Part II, this eight-part series will be essential viewing for Bat fans not just because it looks like a straight-up crime drama banger, but also because it'll be the bridge that connects the two chapters of Matt Reeves' Bat saga. We'll find out for ourselves who comes out on top in the war for Gotham City — and whether Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight will pop up at all (Hey, we all have dreams!) — when The Penguin waddles its way onto our screens on 19 September.