This text accommodates spoilers for “The Penguin.”
All of us knew Robert Pattinson’s Batman was by no means going to indicate up in “The Penguin,” and but so many followers absolutely hoped that the Darkish Knight would descend in some unspecified time in the future. Alas, the eight-episode HBO collection wrapped up with out such a cameo, although “The Penguin” did arrange “The Batman: Half II” fairly properly by ending on a shot of the Bat sign looming over the Gotham sky.
However whereas the present could not have given us Pattinson’s avenger, it did characteristic fairly a number of Easter eggs and delicate nods to DC’s comics, in addition to teeing up some main occasions to come back. The truth that Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone receives a letter from Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman throughout the finale, for instance, suggests we may very well be seeing a team-up between these two forsaken daughters of the late Carmine Falcone (Mark Robust in “The Penguin,” John Turturro in “The Batman”). In the meantime, showrunner Lauren LeFranc snuck in a deep reduce DC villain throughout an episode of “The Penguin” set in Arkham Asylum. Because it seems, although, that episode additionally includes a hidden element that hints on the existence of a way more well-known Batman rogue.
Is Dr. Julian Rush actually an notorious Batman rogue?
Episode 4 of “The Penguin,” titled “Cent’anni,” established the present’s strongest connection to 2022’s “The Batman” by exploring the historical past of Carmine Falcone’s crimes and the way it affected his daughter, Sofia. It was an prolonged flashback that in the end noticed Sofia dedicated to Arkham Asylum and subjected to brutal electroshock therapies. Whereas there, she meets Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi), who oversees her remedy alongside his superior, Dr. Ventris (T. Ryder Smith). Dr. Rush then proceeds to kind a bond with Sofia throughout her keep on the asylum and stays involved together with her after she’s launched.
Anybody who was following the “Penguin” discourse will concentrate on the hypothesis surrounding Dr. Rush, with many followers postulating that this may very well be the Matt Reeves-verse equal of Batman villain Dr. Hugo Unusual and even Dr. Jonathan Crane, the person who, in DC’s comics, in the end turns into The Scarecrow. In any case, it would not be the primary time the Reeves-verse has modified well-established character names, with “The Batman” renaming Paul Dano’s Riddler from Edward Nygma, as he is identified within the comics, to Edward Nashton.
Now, it appears, now we have one thing near affirmation that Dr. Rush is the truth is a model of Scarecrow. As famous by Everything_DCU on Twitter/X, a scene in episode 4 of the collection seems to indicate two necessary components of Scarecrow’s outfit sitting on Dr. Rush’s desk within the current day: a fear-toxin glove and masks.
Scarecrow’s syringe glove and masks was teased in Cent’Anni (episode 4) of THE PENGUIN!
Appears to be like like we’d have a clue of doable villain in THE BATMAN PART II👀 pic.twitter.com/NLohznK1T1
— Everything_DCU (@EverythingDCU_) November 15, 2024
The Penguin nearly actually units up a future Scarecrow look
First launched in “World’s Most interesting Comics #3” again in September 1941, Scarecrow has change into one of the recognizable figures in Batman’s rogues gallery, and was most notably portrayed by Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s inaugural 2005 Batman film, “Batman Begins.” Now, with this stuff displaying up in Dr. Rush’s workplace, it seems to be as if a future Matt Reeves Batman venture may additionally characteristic the villain.
A very discerning Redditor seen that the glove and masks weren’t current in an earlier scene set in Dr. Rush’s workplace from episode 2. As consumer BebehBokChoy famous, within the scene in episode 4 the place Sofia visits Rush’s workplace, she was not alleged to be there and solely exhibits up unexpectedly, which might imply the physician did not have time to place his masks and glove away — though giving such issues satisfaction of place on the desk within the workplace the place you deal with sufferers is definitely a rookie supervillain mistake.
Numerous photographs within the scene from episode 4 of “The Penguin” reveal that the glove in query carefully resembles that of the Scarecrow’s within the Arkham Asylum video video games, the place the villain hooked up worry toxin-filled syringes to the fingers. It appears Matt Reeves may very well be planning to borrow that online game element for “The Batman: Half II,” which might make that venture much more extremely anticipated than it already is. For now, we’ll have to attend till the movie debuts on October 2, 2026 to search out out.
