The Penguin: Does Batman Really Save Gotham? A Critical Look

The Batman franchise has been around for ages! Fans have followed Batman's adventures in many forms!

The Oldest Batman Insult

Even though Bruce Wayne is a superhero known for saving Gotham, The Penguin series highlights some very critical criticisms against the caped crusader. While it's clear that he tries to improve things and even donates a huge amount of money from his wealth to people that need it the most!

The new HBO Max series The Penguin follows what happened after the events of Matt Reeves' movie The Batman. It continues the adventures with Oswald Cobb, aka The Penguin, his role as one of the most influential and powerful figures within Gotham's criminal underworld. What happened in The Batman? The Riddler's plans really devastated Gotham! This lead to mass flooding that devastated the entire city making this a perfect landscape to start even more crimes!

Also Read: The Penguin's QR Code: A Riddler Easter Egg in Gotham

Batman's Shortcomings:

It might sound like there is plenty of blame that could go to other people in Gotham, but The Penguin also places Batman at fault. While Batman really saved plenty of people as he stopped the Riddler from continuing his violent and catastrophic killing spree! The show looks at the bigger picture.

It does touch upon several well-known and popular issues regarding Batman that a lot of fans never discuss. In fact, there are many critics that say that Batman fails to really make an impact on the crime levels and solve problems that lead to such catastrophic levels of criminal activity! What happens is Batman usually only shows up and then disappears!

Gotham is truly the place that exemplifies how terrible class wars are! You have the poorest of the poor, living among the richest of the rich. With incredible poverty in so many sections of Gotham, it provides a platform that criminals and bad actors can flourish in.

Also Read: The Penguin: A Deeper Look at Batman's New Name and Gotham's Reaction

The Penguin's Perspective

The Penguin, takes us back to Gotham. With its series' point of view the creators and directors aim to get viewers to think differently about Batman. That means seeing Gotham's struggles! Batman, might be able to be at the right place at the right time. That really is seen when the Riddler's attempts at devastating the entire city! The fact that the entire Gotham had major flooding also meant some residents perished. That shows how awful that situation was. What makes this more intriguing is that even while Batman is trying his best to keep everything intact, this also brings to light a critical shortcoming!

In The Penguin's latest episode there is even a radio announcer who reported a shocking reality, with Gotham's crime rate going up! It shows that this rise in criminals was an increase of 42%! It wasn't enough that people lost homes. There are also a whole lot more issues created by these violent acts!

Bruce Wayne may never fully understand this reality! His wealth protects him from seeing just how tough this environment really is, even if he does attempt to improve it, and donate an incredible amount of wealth that many citizens will need for years! However, to really resolve the bigger problem he has to focus on reducing criminal activity. It requires addressing the deep roots and solving it instead of fixing things piecemeal!

Also Read: The Penguin: A New Look at Gotham's Criminal Underworld

Batman and His Criticisms

The Penguin gives viewers a brand new perspective!

It highlights a criticism that's been aimed at Batman for many, many years!

The Gotham depicted in this series shows just how easily crime can run rampant and these issues won't be going away anytime soon, as it makes clear that Batman has an ongoing struggle and isn't always fully successful. The viewers are able to gain this powerful insight and see just what happens in a post-catastrophe period, and also get to observe how little has actually changed and it is something everyone needs to look at! It's something everyone needs to know! What could truly help Batman and change the Gotham he inhabits, requires not just stopping those criminal acts! But fixing Gotham in such a way, may need a reimagining! A series where Bruce Wayne actually goes in depth in a big and meaningful way is what is needed!

The Penguin: Does Batman Really Save Gotham? A Critical Look

The Oldest Batman Insult

Batman's Shortcomings:

The Penguin's Perspective

Batman and His Criticisms

Related Articles