After The Penguin and Creature Commandos, DC Is Finally Coming for Marvel’s Crown

After decades of struggling to match Marvel Studios’ consistent success, DC appears to have finally found its identity. While Marvel grapples with recent setbacks like The Marvels‘ disappointing box office performance and Secret Invasion’s critical disaster, DC Studios has delivered two consecutive hits that suggest James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new approach might succeed where previous attempts failed. More importantly, the critical and commercial triumph of both The Penguin and Creature Commandos proves that quality storytelling, rather than forced interconnectivity, is the key to building a sustainable cinematic universe.

There’s poetry in DC’s newfound success emerging from the ashes of failure. After Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the plug on DC Extended Universe in 2022, following years of diminishing returns and creative missteps, many wondered if DC could ever pose a real challenge to Marvel’s dominance. Yet, by learning from past mistakes and embracing a radically different philosophy, DC Studios is crafting stories that don’t just match Marvel’s best offerings. They might even surpass them.

Why The Penguin Changed Everything

The Penguin represents everything the DCEU got wrong, and DC Studios is getting right. Instead of rushing to introduce new characters or plant seeds for future crossovers, the series takes its time exploring Gotham City’s criminal underground through the eyes of Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobb. Each episode peels back new layers of the character’s psychology while building tension through carefully crafted storylines that pay off in deeply satisfying ways.

This methodical approach to storytelling has resonated with audiences in unprecedented ways. While The Penguin‘s premiere numbers were impressive – drawing 5.3 million viewers and outperforming recent HBO hits like Succession – what’s truly remarkable is how viewership grew with each subsequent episode. The show’s mounting success proves that audiences will stick around when characters are given room to breathe and evolve naturally.

That’s even more relevant when considering The Penguin as a spinoff of Matt Reeve’s The Batman. This TV show entered development organically because creative minds were willing to make it happen. So, instead of ordering a specific TV show for the sake of a cinematic lineup, DC Studios has just stepped out of the way for Reeves and showrunner Lauren LeFranc to do what they were passionate about.

[RELATED: Creature Commandos Is Setting Up Frankenstein as DC’s Biggest Monster (and Not Just Physically)]

With all that in mind, the Golden Globe win for Colin Farrell isn’t just another accolade for the trophy case. Instead, it validates DC’s new strategy for movies and TV shows. By prioritizing character development and emotional depth over spectacle, The Penguin achieved something that eluded even Marvel’s most acclaimed Disney+ series: serious awards recognition. The show’s additional nominations for Best Television Limited Series and Cristin Milioti’s powerhouse performance as Sofia Falcone demonstrate that superhero content can transcend genre limitations when creators are given the freedom to tell the stories they want to tell.

Creature Commandos Proves Lightning Can Strike Twice

If The Penguin showed that DC could excel with established characters through the Elseworlds initiative, Creature Commandos proves they can work the same magic with obscure properties. The animated series, which follows a black ops team of monsters and outcasts, had every reason to fail. First of all, animation usually attracts a smaller audience, especially when it’s developed for mature audiences. Furthermore, The Penguin rose from the shadow of Batman, DC’s most profitable character, while the members of Creature Commandos are a bunch of unknowns. Yet, the show became one of the highest-rated DC adaptations ever while steadily building its audience through word-of-mouth.

The show’s success is particularly meaningful because it launches James Gunn’s DCU proper. Unlike previous attempts to chase Marvel’s formula, Creature Commandos carves its own path by embracing weirdness and horror elements that set it apart from typical superhero fare. In other words, the show is not too worried about how it will connect to the supposed family-friendly tone of 2025’s Superman, focusing instead on telling a story that fits the quirky criminals that lead the story.

While Marvel still dominates the box office overall, recent projects have been hit or miss due to the MCU’s apparent creative fatigue. The studio’s rigid commitment to interconnectivity often comes at the expense of individual stories, with shows and movies increasingly requiring homework to be fully appreciated – that becomes even more evident when we realize Marvel Studios found unexpected success with Agatha All Along, a low-budget quasi-standalone story. That, combined with DC Studios’ success with more focused, character-driven narratives, suggests another way forward might exist for superhero media.

A Better Future for Everyone

The success of Creature Commandos and The Penguin arrives just as Gunn prepares to launch the DCU’s theatrical slate with Superman in July 2025. These shows provide a blueprint for success. Gunn and his team have shown that superhero fatigue isn’t inevitable by prioritizing contained storytelling over multiple-project ambitions and embracing what makes DC characters distinct. That shows audiences haven’t grown tired of the genre. They’ve simply become more discerning about quality. As DC Studios reaches for Marvel’s crown, the MCU will be forced to adapt and rethink its strategy, which is excellent news for fans.

History shows that strong competition between DC and Marvel ultimately benefits fans. When Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight pushed superhero filmmaking to new heights, Marvel responded with increasingly ambitious projects that culminated in the groundbreaking success of the Infinity Saga. Similarly, Marvel’s mastery of shared universe storytelling forced DC to innovate, leading to the current renaissance under DC Studios.

This healthy rivalry between DC and Marvel promises to drive both studios to new creative heights. As they push each other to innovate and improve, fans can look forward to more sophisticated and engaging stories from both universes. The real winners in this competition will be audiences, who are finally getting the best of both worlds.

The Penguin and Creature Commandos are currently available to stream on MAX.