The Penguin Name-Drops an Iconic Batman Storyline

The Penguin picks up after the events of The Riddler’s devastation of Gotham in The Batman, and that’s a continuing theme into The Penguin’s second episode. The Riddler’s actions and the harm they caused to the city have some ties to a classic Batman story from the comics, and that story is actually mentioned out loud during the new episode as well. That story is the 1999 event No Man’s Land, though there are some ties to other Batman comic stores that lead into that as well, and here’s how it works its way into the show. Spoilers for The Penguin episode 2 are incoming from here on out.

They Lost Everything

Oz invites some of his crew, including Vic, to his place for a get-together. He also invites Eve Karlo and her girls over, including Rox, and then introduces Vic to Rox before stepping away. Oz heads to his room to look over some of the documents he found in Carmine Falcone’s safe.

After he steps away, Vic and Rox start talking and she asks him where he’s from. Vic says “I’m from Crown Point,” and Rox then talks about her cousin who lived over there and how bad things got after what The Riddler did. Rox says “Yeah my cousin lived over there, she said it’s like a no man’s land now or something. I mean, they lost everything.” That No Man’s Land part probably made a few longtime Batman fans smile, but if you aren’t familiar with that story, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

The Cataclysm

To understand No Man’s Land, we first have to take a trip back to 1996. That’s when the storyline known as Contagion is released, sticking Batman and Gotham in the midst of a mutated strain of the Ebola virus called the Apocalypse Virus. This was enacted by the Order of St. Dumas (Azrael’s old crew), and though a cure was found for that strand eventually, it is once again mutated and spreading in the next storyline titled Legacy.

This leads Batman into direct conflict with Ra’s al Ghul, who is then in control of the virus and enacting plans to spread it. Batman and the rest of the Bat Family manage to stop Ra’s and the League of Shadows and find a vaccine for the virus as well, but they aren’t able to stop several suicide bombers from attacking the GCPD headquarters.

 That leads us to 1998 when a Batman storyline called Cataclysm took place. Gotham City hasn’t experienced an earthquake in some time, but that all changes when an earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale hits and absolutely devastates the city and everyone in it. While some buildings built by Wayne still stand, many of the skyscrapers and buildings crumble due to the shock, and then as gas mains explode the fires start to overtake parts of the city.

Alfred almost dies after Wayne Manor collapses and Batman is closed off in the Batcave, unable to get out. He does eventually make it out and various members of the Bat Family come to help once they finally are able to get into the city, but it’s absolute chaos, and over 100,000 people are dead due to the devastation. Combined with the events of Contagion and Legacy, Cataclysm leads the Government to do something drastic with Gotham, and that brings us to 1999.

No Man’s Land

After the earthquake and the previous events in Gotham, the United States cuts Gotham off completely, literally and figuratively. Bridges are destroyed connecting Gotham to other cities, and the military prevents anyone from getting in. Even superheroes like Superman are told to stay out, though in some cases it’s by Batman and not the government. Things get worse when the various villains start fighting for control, each claiming different areas of the city.

Then there’s the fact that Batman tries to help from the outside first, but it doesn’t work, and things have only gotten worse during his time away. No Man’s Land deals with a lot of unexpected alliances being made due to the conditions of the city, and others like The Joker and The Penguin cause chaos either directly or indirectly to make things even worse.

 It’s actually Lex Luthor who ends up helping rebuild the city and mending its relationship to the United States, though as with anything Lex, it’s all the more beneficial for him than anyone else. The storyline officially ended in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #94, though it had a number of tie-ins across all of the Batman titles.

What did you think of No Man’s Land, and would you like to see more elements of that storyline featured in The Batman? You can talk all things comics and DC with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!