The Penguin Episode 3 Has a Weird DCEU Connection

The Penguin premiered its third episode this weekend, furthering the mythos of The Batman’s Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) in some clever and unexpected ways. In the process, the series’ latest episode had an unexpected tie to the previous DC Extended Universe canon. Spoilers for Episode 3 of The Penguin lurk below! Only look if you want to know!

Episode 3 of The Penguin introduces the leader of the Tong crime family (played by François Chau), who Oz Cobb and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) are both trying to impress with their new street drug, Bliss. Chau’s supporting role in this episode of The Penguin has a weird symmetry to the previous DCEU, as he also portrayed a crime boss in the 2020 movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). In that film, Chau portrayed Mr. Keo, a leader of Gotham’s Chinese triad who Roman Sionis / Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) is attempting to ally himself with. When the two become at odds, Roman and his sidekick Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) kidnap Keo and his family at the Gotham docks and cut their faces off.

Will Batman Appear in The Penguin?

While speaking to SFX Magazine prior to the show’s debut, The Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc and The Batman director Matt Reeves confirmed that Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne / Batman will not make any sort of cameo appearance in the series.

“I understand why people’s desire would be to have Batman, or to think that unless Batman’s in a show or a film then it doesn’t have the same punch,” LeFranc explained. “To me I think it packs a different punch. Matt’s films are through the lens of the Batman, so you’re high up, looking down on the city. It’s a different perspective. With Oz, you’re in the city streets, you’re in the grit and the muck and the grime. He’s looking up, wanting to claw his way to the top. So it’s a different experience. I think Gotham is an interesting enough city that it deserves to have more doors unlocked within it, and for us to walk through those and see what we think.”  

“I don’t feel like it’s missing something fundamental,” Reeves echoed. “I feel like it’s an extension of what is fundamentally there. We know this is the world of Batman. You’re going down a different alley. So the spectre of Batman is there. The spectre of the Riddler is there. The spectre of everything that happens in the last movie is there. It informs it. And it’s exactly where we begin.”

What Is The Penguin About?

The Penguin is the next chapter in The Batman saga from Matt Reeves.The series stars Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Michael Kelly as Johnny Viti, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni, Deirdre O’Connell as Francis Cobb, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo, and Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush.

New episodes of The Penguin premiere on both HBO and Max every Sunday night.