The Dark Knight’s Rogues’ Gallery in Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe is already impressively broad, and there may be another member already hiding in plain sight thanks to The Penguin. The DC spin-off introduced Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), of course, as well as a significant number of new members of Gotham’s criminal underworld, including Clancy Brown’s Sal Maroni, and a brief but memorable cameo from DC Comics character Magpie (RIP).
Look a little closer at Lauren LeFranc’s excellent world, though, and there are significant hints at what the future of Bruce Wayne’s growing gallery of villains could look like in the upcoming The Batman: Part II. Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb has already been proclaimed the new king of Gotham, the Riddler’s army are still vowing revenge against the city’s corrupt elite class, and The Penguin featured significant hints to the Court of Owls’ existence in this universe.
Most intriguingly of all, though, is the major hint that The Penguin set up a new version of DC Comics villain Scarecrow, almost twenty years after Cillian Murphy debuted as his version in Batman Begins. That would bring up the possibility that Matt Reeves’ upcoming sequel (or sequels, if the plan to make a trilogy materializes as expected) could pull in the Riddler, Joker, Penguin, Catwoman (albeit as an antihero), the Court Of Owls, and Scarecrow. That’s an incredible line-up, particularly with Robert Pattinson’s Batman struggling with his own vigilante mission.
Theo Rossi’s Julian Rush Is The Best Scarecrow Replacement For The Batman: Part II
Gotham’s New Unstable Psychologist Has A Dark Side
Before we get into concrete evidence here – and yes, it does exist – a bit of background is needed. When Theo Rossi’s Julian Rush was introduced in The Penguin as Sofia Falcone’s personal psychiatrist (and later paramour/adoring follower), lots of theories over his true identity inevitably followed. Was he a more famous DC character hiding in plain sight? Was his surname a nod to iconic – and crucially, unadapted – DC villain Rush?
In actual fact, his storyline in The Penguin positioned him as a sort of Harley Quinn replacement, falling in love with an inmate, transforming into a loyal subordinate, and expressing deeply concerning murderous tendencies for a medical professional. But there was always a nagging suspicion, in my mind at least, that his method of treatment felt like the perfect starting point for a new take on Scarecrow. Yes, he’s got a different name, but who cares these days? That would at least hide his identity.
It’s not exactly a like-for-like swap for Scarecrow’s Fear toxin, but it could have the same terrifying application.
Rush’s seemingly self-developed method of “curing” Sofia (and later unlocking Francis Cobb’s suppressed memories of Oz’s youth) is a light rig that effectively hypnotizes the patient with red lights. The Penguin never explicitly explores the dark potential of that technology, but it’s clear that it has the power to completely overwhelm anyone’s psyche, and allow Rush to invade their mind. It’s not exactly a like-for-like swap for Scarecrow’s Fear toxin, but it could have the same terrifying application.
Not only would Rush’s weapon (for that’s what it could be) give him access to the deepest fears of his potential victims, but it would also render them completely vulnerable. Think of how Francis Cobb’s “treatment” in the finale leads to her seeing her dead sons: that’s not a memory, it’s a horrifying hallucination that causes her to have a massive stroke. Throw in the fact that Arkham used drugs (the early version of Bliss) on patients, and there’s a clear path to Rush being Scarecrow.
Related
The Penguin Episode 8 Recap & Ending Explained
The Penguin episode 8 is a truly massive finale, featuring all kinds of dark twists as Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb becomes the new King of Gotham City.
You’ve seen this sort of idea before, of course, in Jim Carrey’s Riddler from Batman Forever (to somewhat… uneven results), but it absolutely fits Matt Reeves’ desire to avoid more supernatural villains in his universe. A technology-based Scarecrow might prove controversial, but it would suit Reeves’ creative vision.
“What was important to me was to find a way to take these pop icons, these mythical characters that everybody knows, and translate it so that Gotham feels like a place in our world. We might push to the edge of the fantastical but we would never go into full fantastical. It’s meant to feel quite grounded. It doesn’t mean that you won’t see characters that people love.
That’s exactly what we want to do. Gentleman Ghost is probably pushed a bit too far for us to be able to find a way to do, but there is a fun way to think about how we would take characters that might push over into a bit of the fantastical and find a way to make sense of that.” –
Matt Reeves speaking to SFX Magazine
The Penguin Teased Rush Was Scarecrow (And Basically Nobody Noticed)
An Easter Egg In Episode Four Dropped A Huge Hint At Those Scarecrow Theories
In a far more tangible way, The Penguin actually did offer a huge hint that Julian Rush is going to become Scarecrow, and it appears that nobody noticed. I reviewed the show every week, watched each episode twice, and missed the Easter Egg that was hidden in The Penguin episode 4 that has now surfaced.
Courtesy of a post on Reddit – and the true Greatest Detective in Gotham (u/BebehBokChoy) – a scene from “Cent’Anni” shows what appears to be a glove with syringes for fingers, and something else that could very easily be a hood or mask on Rush’s desk. The scene in question sees Rush nursing Sofia back to consciousness after the Arkham flashback sequence. Did the wannabe villain leave the biggest indication of his emerging alterego in full view of Sofia?
The syringes, of course, don’t quite fit with Rush’s use of the light rig to induce a change in consciousness in his patients/victims, but it would make sense that Rush would need to use something to incapacitate targets before using his other weapon. And a version of the Fear toxin wouldn’t be outside of the realms of possibility.
Julian Rush’s Secret Identity Would Answer The Only Big Question I Had On The Penguin’s Ending
Rush’s Return To Arkham Is A Lot More Logical With The Scarecrow Theory
The Penguin‘s final episode is one of its best – in fact, I gave it 5 stars – but one of its stinger scenes is a bit of a headscratcher. With Sofia back in Arkham after Oz throws her under a bus for the murder of Sal Maroni and the subterranean bomb attack on Gotham, Julian Rush appears once more as an Arkham employee. Earlier in the season, he tells Sofia that he left and subsequently helped Alberto get her out, before his radical transformation into her sidekick and sexual partner. So what gives?
Arkham’s employment record is spotty at best in the comics, but giving a job back to a deviant criminal is a stretch even in that context. More curious is Rush’s own motivation for returning to Arkham. There’s obviously a chance that he’s there solely to be close to Sofia; scoping out a possible escape route, or to protect her, but what if it’s more sinister?
In Arkham, Rush would have access to more vulnerable inmates to further explore his Scarecrow experiments that saw their early formation throughoutThe Penguin. After seeing the results with Francis Cobb, this could well be his way of developing his method further, before a more explosive evolution into the Scarecrow in The Batman: Part II. And I for one, will be seated for it, excitedly.
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
- Cast
- Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi
- Release Date
- September 19, 2024
- Showrunner
- Lauren LeFranc