When Matt Reeves released The Batman in cinemas last year, it didn’t just unleash a brand new Dark Knight on the world – it began the building of a whole new Gotham. Bruce Wayne’s beloved city often shape-shifts along with the material, whether depicted as a gaudy neon-lit ‘toon-scape (the Joel Schumacher Bat-flicks), a thrumming contemporary urban environment (The Dark Knight trilogy), or festering with a scuzzy ‘70s New Yorkian grime (Joker). Given all of The Batman’s film noir influences, the Gotham of Reeves’ film is one rife with corruption – boasting grandiose architecture, an oppressive atmosphere, and packed with shady places for dark deals to unfold in the city’s criminal underworld. And that underworld is packed with famous rogues.
While much of The Batman saw Robert Pattinson’s Bat face off against Paul Dano’s Riddler (while entangled in the affairs of Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman), it gave an indication of a Gotham teeming with villains – not least, Colin Farrell in an all-too-brief turn as The Penguin. His Oswald Cobblepot proved a real standout, a big-mouthed wise-guy mobster with big designs on Gotham’s crime scene – and now he’s stepping up as the lead character in his own show. The Penguin, coming in 2024, will pick up days after where The Batman ended, exploring the moves that Cobblepot makes in the power vacuum left by Carmine Falcone’s departure – and Empire has a world-exclusive new look at the show in our 2024 Preview issue. Take a look above.
If it’ll likely be a while before The Batman Part II makes its way to the big screen, The Penguin is being described as ‘the next chapter in The Batman saga’, building the myth of Gotham to even greater heights before the Bat is back in business. Get ready to dive even deeper into the city’s darkest corners.
Read more in Empire’s 2024 Preview issue – also featuring The Fall Guy, Nosferatu, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, and much more – on sale Thursday 23 November. Pre-order a copy online here. The Penguin is coming in 2024.