Throughout the eight-episode run of the HBO limited series "The Penguin" (read /Film's review), the mobster Oswald Cobb (as portrayed by Oscar-nominated actor Colin Farrell) has been clawing his way to the top of a power vacuum left behind by the death of his old boss Carmine Falcone during the 2022 film "The Batman." Oz, as he's known, isn't the only one trying to take charge in "The Penguin," with Carmine's daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti) plotting to take Oz down for the murder of her brother in addition to scheming to introduce the citizens of Gotham to a powerful new street drug inspired by her years-long lockup in Arkham Asylum. But now that "The Penguin" has ended, we have to look to 2026 for "The Batman Part II" to see how the Caped Crusader will handle a redesigned Mafia. And all we can do now is think about how "The Penguin" concluded and what that may mean for the next chapter in Bruce Wayne's saga.
It should come as no surprise (even to outside observers) that Oz makes it out alive of the show, bearing the nasty nickname he landed for his scarred face and gait due to a physical disability. Although Sofia isn't a new character created for this series, she's not remotely as well-known inside and outside of the DC Comics universe as the Penguin is, even if Farrell's version is much grimmer and more grounded than previous iterations. But if we began "The Penguin" with even a shred of sympathy for Oz -- who sometimes seems to cut a figure like that of the pathetic Fredo in "The Godfather" trilogy -- it's absent by the final image of the series, with Oz dancing in his new penthouse apartment while, outside, an all-too-familiar Bat-Signal shines in the night sky.
Much of the "Penguin" finale seems to be as much about guaranteeing that Farrell will appear in "The Batman Part II" as it is confirming who will not be there for the new film. In a season full of violence and death, the most shocking of all comes with the brutal strangulation that Oz enacts on his closest ally, Victor (Rhenzy Feliz). After all their desperate wheeling and dealing, all the machinations to ensure that Oz could control the drug trade by stealing Bliss out from Sofia and her enemy-turned-ally Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), as soon as Oz hits the apex, he has a tender heart-to-heart with Victor that wraps up with him choking the life out of the young man via headlock, suggesting that having true family ties, any serious emotional connection, will only serve as an albatross around his neck. This is as much an inverse of the Batman-and-Robin dynamic as possible; Oz is going it alone and is more than willing to sacrifice close relationships along the way.