by Ani Bundel
The DC Universe may be in the middle of a rehaul, but no one in Hall H during Saturday’s The Penguin panel at San Diego Comic-Con seemed worried about what that means.
It’s no secret that Max, once a respectable streamer based in HBO programming, falls further behind competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+/Hulu. The streaming service has been forced to cancel superhero series and movies right and left (some of which were completed!) in the name of tax write-offs. Those that have survived (like Peacemaker) have taken such long hiatuses fans aren’t even sure they are coming back. Meanwhile, the whole streaming service has begun to lose its status as a standalone subscription, now rolled into a bundle where Disney+ is unquestionably the leading reason to sign up.
However, in Hall H, a room full of hardcore comics fans, these troubles faded away against the promise of back-to-back DC and Marvel panels. DC filled an entire table with moderator Josh Horowitz (of the Happy Sad Confused podcast) introducing creator Matt Reeves, showrunner Lauren LaFranc, producer Dylan Clark, makeup artist Mike Marino, and stars Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, and Colin Farrell, piped in from his home overseas.
Farrell introduced The Penguin trailer, which feels slightly like the Gotham version of The Sopranos.
Other than Reeves admitting that he’d pitched the eight-episode series around the Penguin while filming The Batman. Warner Bros. Pictures insisted it had nothing to do with HBO, so those background issues didn’t rear their head.
Reeves was far more interested in waxing poetic about the long-form format of the limited series, to put a character under a microscope and dig into their psyche. However, he admitted the actual story the show will tell is not one he came up with; it was all LeFranc, who Farrell called twisted for dreaming it up.
Reeves dominated the panel with his vision of the world he’s become responsible for creating. He called himself a custodian of the franchise; someone came before him, and someone will come after him, but he is striving to do right by the material while he has it.
This is a version that’s worlds away from the Adam West Batman; Reeves takes the world seriously the way fans take it seriously. The Batman and now The Penguin take the characters seriously as people digging in and finding their humanity.
Farrell admitted he didn’t initially see how much he could do with the character when he was cast for the film; it was just exciting to be in the world of The Batman. It wasn’t until he saw the makeup prothetelic model on a computer that he began to see how much there was in this Penguin.
Farrell called the first makeup test one of the most extraordinary experiences of his life. He also talked about using practical effects and having things you can touch and use instead of his makeup being complete CGI, pointing out how much better it is not to rely on AI for such things, which would make this kind of fully immersive makeup a dying art.
The Penguin debuts on Sunday, September 19 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. New episodes will release weekly on Sundays through mid-November.
Stay tuned for more SDCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.
