Batman villains have always been his main focus

Batman is absent, so the Penguin returns. Typical Batman villain.

Batman has done this for decades, but naming a TV show after a villain is new. In ‘The Penguin’, Colin Farrell reprises his role as the mobster from Matt Reeves’ excellent ‘The Batman‘.

‘Catwoman’, starring Halle Berry, was a heroic character who fought the usual villains. More ambiguous is “Joker,” which features an iconic Batman villain stripped of his most extreme features (no deformed face, no extravagant clothing, no brainless henchmen) in a Gotham theoretically like the comics but less stylised and before the Batman’s genesis.

The jump from ‘The Penguin’ is notable: a historical Batman villain gets the ‘Joker’ treatment. Thus, the version is less histrionic and caricature-like than in the comics or animated series. The Penguin does not have a deformity like the Clown Prince of Crime, so it is easier to achieve, but Farrell had to undergo extensive makeup sessions to give him his nicknameful features.

This character lives in the same Gotham as ‘The Batman’ and alongside secondary characters like Carmine Falcone. Batman is absent because the series focusses on the villain. Are Batman villains interesting enough to compete with DC’s most famous hero? Batman’s vast villain roster hinges on that.

Gallery of villains
DC heroes have a much stronger rogues gallery than Marvel heroes, but their villains (from Galactus to Dr. Octopus) have always been exaggerated and almost self-parodic, making them special. Flash, another classic DC superhero with an impressive gallery, has been fully explored by scriptwriters like Mark Waid.

It is hard to find superhero villains as popular as the Joker or Harley Quinn. This is reflected in adaptations: Harley has starred in three films and can be seen in ‘Joker 2’.

In the 1960s live-action Batman series, fans wanted to know who would guest star as the villain, who got as much attention as the hero. In the legendary nineties animated series, villains, their origins, and psychologies dominated the plots.

In that sense, ‘The Penguin’ is a series fully immersed in Batman’s rogues’ galleries: it doesn’t need the Bat Man to tell a compelling story because Gotham City’s mafia and sewers are enough. The same goes for Daredevil, whose new series, ‘Born Again,’ may follow these same paths, at least based on Kingpin’s return.

Unlike most superhero films, ‘The Batman’ immersed itself in Gotham’s criminal underworld and its complex web of betrayals, alliances, and enmities. ‘The Penguin’ benefits from focussing on its criminal protagonist because few environments are as conducive as the Bat-verse.

Batman villains have always been his main focus

By b0oua

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