The perfect villains forThe Batman – Part IIare set up inThe Penguin. The series takes place one week after the events of 2022’sThe Batman, following Oswald “Oz” Cobb as he strives to supplant the lateCarmine Falcone as Gotham City’s top crime lord. The series will set up elements of theforthcomingThe Batman – Part II, and perhaps the aftermath of the Riddler’s devastating scheme inThe Batman– which is further explored inThe Penguin– makes one group of Batman villains the ideal antagonists of the upcoming sequel.
The Riddler’sgoal inThe Batmanwas to expose the depth of Gotham City’s corruption, murdering compromised politicians and police officers and making their corrupt activities public knowledge. Riddler was mostly successful, with the final portion of his plot – detonating explosives planted on Gotham’s seawall – flooding the city and killing many citizens. The flooding of Gotham City may seem to contradict Riddler’s goal of striking at Gotham’s corrupt elite, since it largely affects the city’s poorest communities, but Riddler is seemingly so consumed by a desire for revenge that he wishes to simply destroy Gotham as punishment for its corruption.
Matt Reeves Already Set Up The Court Of Owls For The Batman 2
TheRiddler’s war on Gotham’s corruption and his flooding of the city set up the Court of Owls as potential villains forThe Batman – Part II. Introduced in DC’s New 52 comic relaunch, the Court of Owls quickly became a popular group of antagonists, already having appeared in variousBatmanadaptations, from animated properties to video games and even the live-action TV showGotham Knights. The Court of Owls is a centuries-old secret society comprised of Gotham’s wealthiest and most powerful families, who secretly control the city and assassinate anyone who might threaten them.
None of the Wayne family members were part of the Court of Owls, despite their generations-old wealth, but one of Bruce Wayne’s ancestors was murdered by the Court.
While discussing howThe Batmanendingsets upThe Batman – Part II, director Matt Reeves noted:
It’s another mystery [in The Batman: Part II] that’s going to dig into the epic story about deeper corruption and it goes into places that he couldn’t even anticipate in the first one. The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie, and it expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see.
There is much speculation regarding the potential villains ofThe Batman – Part II, andthe Court of Owls certainly aligns with Reeves’s words.
Reeves’s Gotham Is Perfectly Set Up For The Court of Owls
The Court of Owls would be fitting villains for Matt Reeves’s take on Gotham City andtheBatmanmythos. After all, 2022’sThe Batmanexplored the depth of Gotham City’s corruption and Reeves’s comments note thatThe Batman – Part IIwill go even deeper. With much of Gotham’s politicians and police force being in the pocket of organized crime, who functionally rule the city, the revelation that a secret society of ultra-wealthy criminals is the true power behind the power would trulymake the city rotten to the core and set up a suitably threatening new opponent for Robert Pattinson’s Batman.
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The Court of Owls would be relatively easy for Reeves to integrate into his realistic vision of theBatmanmythos and the Court has yet to make their cinematic debut, so their introduction would be refreshingly new ground forBatmanfilms. Notably, some viewers have taken note of a potential hint toward the Court of Owls inThe Penguin.The Penguin’s original surname of Cobblepot has been changed to Cobb, a name notably shared with William Cobb, who served the Court of Owls as a Talon– one of the Court’s deadly assassins.
William Cobb is an ancestor of Dick Grayson in DC’s comics, but perhaps he is related to Oz in Reeves’s universe.
The Penguin Makes The Court Of Owls An Even More Essential Villain For The Batman 2
The Penguinhas shown that the Riddler’s flooding of Gotham City has only further widened the gap between rich and poor, with the former – having been largely unaffected by the flood – having more power and protection than before. Utilizing the Court of Owls as an even deeper layer of corruption in Gotham City would make the symbolic conflict between the two classes become literal. Moreover,Batman’s role would become more important than ever, since he would be one of the only people capable of standing against the Court of Owls.
Between Matt Reeves’s comments aboutThe Batman – Part II’sstory exploring even deeper corruption than what was exposed by the Riddler in the first movie, andThe Penguin’sfurther examination of the criminal underworld of Gotham City, the filmmaker’s DC universe seems perfectly poised to adapt the Court of Owls. Whether there are more teases to the Court of Owls' potential involvement in Gotham City inThe Penguinremains to be seen, but they would make a perfect villain for eitherThe Batman – Part IIor the following movie in Reeves’s franchise.
The Penguin
Cast
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
