Spoilers for The Penguin

The Penguin had its season finale a week ago and surpassed all my expectations. It was fantastic. Brutal, too. But the Matt Reeve Batman universe isn’t finished yet. It will continue, in 2026, with the Batman Part 2. A film that will likely have to deal with the consequences of Oswald’s victory. The final episode brought big changes to Gotham. So, what does it mean for the Batman Part 2?

Most obviously, Oswald will be a major villain going forward. In the first film, he was only a minor antagonist. Important, but not essential. That film was focused on the Riddler and Falcone. But now that Oswald is the king of Gotham, he’ll be going head-to-head with the Caped Crusader. Not for the benefit of someone else either, but for his own sake and ambition. He’ll be wary of Batman as well, given their high-speed encounter in Part 1. Oswald will be under no delusion that “this guy is crazy.”

The final episode certainly pulled no punches in making Oswald a villain. He always was, but it would have been easy to root for him and Vic. When we first meet him, Oswald had already done terrible things, to Sofia and to his brothers. But that was in the show’s past. In the present, there were reasons for the audience to like him. He cared about his mother. He cared about Vic. He wanted to be a man of the people. He was the underdog as well, and who doesn’t love an underdog? In short, he was the protagonist and the protagonist usually gets the benefit of the doubt.

To cement Oswald as the cold-hearted villain that he’s meant to be, he needed to do something in the present that was unquestionably evil. Killing Vic was definitely that. I never thought that Vic would survive the show. I thought he’d be killed in a shoot-out or by Sofia. Or perhaps Oswald would kill him for trying to leave. I didn’t think that Oswald would kill him so viciously for the crime of being like family, and for making him feel vulnerable. Oswald is definitely irredeemable now. As the final scene makes clear, only Batman stands in his way. Also, at the end, he was wearing a top hat and tuxedo like in the comics!

It seems likely that Gotham’s anti-corruption push, led by newly expected Mayor Bella Reál, won’t last long. Oswald has already begun to worm his way into city hall and will, no doubt, support his corrupt friends and lackeys. Gotham has a new crime lord, more ruthless than even Falcone. I don’t like the Mayor’s chances. This happened in the comics as well. In The Long Halloween, which Batman Part 1 was based on, Batman, Gordon and Dent brought down the Falcone crime family only for the supervillains to take control during the sequel comic Dark Victory.

The Penguin adapted several characters and elements from Dark Victory, including Sofia, and it seems plausible that The Batman Part 2 will do the same. Now that an unambiguously evil villain is running the crime families, and corrupting city hall, the rise of the supervillains seems assured. Perhaps Oswald will recruit them to deal with Batman. That’s what Two-Face did to fight Sofia during Dark Victory.

It’s also possible that Oswald will be more of a background villain. A big bad who’s running the show whilst Batman deals with an immediate threat like Two-Face or Hush. Personally, I’m hoping for Mr freeze, but this is a very grounded version of the Batman mythology. I’m not sure how/if they could do the more supernatural and sci-fi villains. Of the grounded villains, Hush would be a good choice. Characters like Two-Face are great, but they’ve been seen on screen a lot. It would be great to see new villains, like Hush, adapted. The first film also had some references to Hush.

Still, having Oswald in the background whilst Batman deals with a different threat could be a bit repetitive. That already happened with Falcone and Riddler. The final scene of The Penguin, when the Bat Signal appears, also makes it clear that Oswald and Batman will trade blows. Batman’s absence during the city-wide gang war felt a little conspicuous at times, at least to my mind. The final shot corrected that minor failing. Batman hasn’t been sitting on the sidelines, and he’s not going to let Oswald seize power. In a similar vein to the above, perhaps Hush will be hired by Oswald to protect him from Batman.

On a final note, Sofia could make another appearance. At the end of episode 8, she receives a letter from her half-sister, Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. We don’t know what the letter said, and that could play into Part 2. Will Selina help her escape? It might just be a letter of consolation. Sofia came tragically full circle during the show. She finally got out of Arkham, only to be returned there by Oswald. During the first stint, she was helped through it by her brother, Alberto. This time, she’ll be helped through it by her half-sister. Still, it’s fun to speculate and the ending does suggest that we’ll see her again. Maybe there will be a mass breakout from Arkham, orchestrated to make life difficult for Batman.

I still think the sequel will include Robin as well. He might parallel Vic, being orphaned in the flood. In the comics, Robin’s origin does take place during Dark Victory, so it’s not impossible.

It’s going to be a long wait for 2026.

-Dexter