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Last week, Max finally released the trailer for their much-anticipated The Batman spin-off series, The Penguin, teeing up its fall release date. Overall, it looks highly reminiscent of Matt Reeves’ film, with the cinematography very much in the Grieg Fraser mode. But what else do we know about The Penguin? More than you may think.

The Penguin is set after The Batman.

The plot of The Penguin is set to follow the title character, once again portrayed by Colin Farrell, as he rises through the ranks of the Gotham City criminal underworld. After the events of The Batman and the flooding of Gotham, including the death of Carmine Falcone, Cobblepot desperately wants to fill the power vacuum. Colin Farrell has also indicated that the film will serve as an origin story for the Penguin, something we have seen twice on screen before in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, played by Danny DeVito.

Wak! Wak! Fans who wanted Matt Reeves’ The Batman to lean into the violence of Gotham City could be in for a treat when The Penguin arrives on Max. The spinoff series, starring Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, could find the classic villain breaking more than bones as he continues to waddle toward the top of Gotham’s criminal food chain. Speaking with MovieZine, Farrell said The Penguin is gnarlier than Reeves’ PG-13 Batman film and should be considered “incredibly violent.”

“It was a long and really wonderful experience,” Farrell said about filming The Penguin series. “It’s dark; that’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark. It’s really heavy, I think— it certainly was doing it. Which is not to say I didn’t have fun, I had an amazing time doing it. It’s incredibly violent. It’s one man’s rise...