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Full spoilers follow for The Penguin‘s opening episode and The Batman.
The Penguin has premiered on streaming services worldwide – and its first episode has already filled Batman fans with glee or dread after the inclusion of a specific reference to the Dark Knight’s 80-plus year history.
Episode 1, titled ‘After Hours’ reintroduces audiences to Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb, i.e. the titular character, as he begins to make a play to become Gotham’s new crime kingpin following Carmine Falcone’s death in The Batman. In a wild 15-minute opening before the devious mobster can even put his plan into motion, though, he a) steals some expensive jewels from Carmine’s secret vault, b) impulsively guns down Carmine’s son Alberto after he insults Cobb, c) almost has his car’s hubcaps stolen by a bunch of teen criminals, and d) uses one of them – Victor, played by Rhenzy Feliz – to help him dispose of Alberto’s body. Talk about a busy night, eh, Oz?
It’s on route to getting rid of Alberto’s corpse that the Max crime drama series’ most intriguing Batman Easter Egg is revealed. Indeed, as Cobb inspects Alberto’s phone, he opens up its calendar, which includes a meeting with a group called… Gotham Knights.
Now, fans of the Caped Crusader don’t need me to discuss the significance of this DC Comics reference. But, for anyone who’s not as fanatical about the Bat and the decades-long mythos surrounding one of the most iconic superheroes ever created, here’s what you need to know about the Gotham Knights.
Who are the Gotham Knights? And why are they mentioned in The Penguin?
Essentially, the Gotham Knights are a superteam of Batman sidekicks and allies who fight crime alongside, and in the absence of, the Dark Knight himself. The group’s first outing came in March 2000 in ‘Batman: Gotham Knights’ #1, with the intent of this multi-year comic book run being used to feature the exploits of the Dark Knight and the extended Bat-Family – that being his closed confidant Alfred Pennyworth, as well as crime fighters Batman trained (Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl) and other characters allied to the legendary vigilante, including Oracle and Catwoman. Devin Grayson, the first ongoing female writer to helm a Batman comic series, was the brains behind the operation.
‘Batman: Gotham Knights’ ended in April 2006, but a new team – simply titled ‘Gotham Knights’, which was created by James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrows – made their literary debut in ‘Detective Comics’ #934 in June 2016. This supergroup was formed by Batman and Batwoman, with the latter eventually leading her fellow vigilantes (minus Batman) on numerous missions to clean up the streets of Gotham. The team’s original line-up consisted of crime fighters like Robin, Spoiler, Orphan, Azrael, Batwing, and Clayface.
As for why they’re referenced in The Penguin, I have no idea. It’s possible that it’s just one of my Easter eggs that Batman fans will want to keep an eye out for throughout the HBO miniseries’ eight-episode run. It’s also plausible that the Gotham Knights is the name for a group of vigilantes who, following events that play out at the end of The Batman, decide to follow in his footsteps and start fighting crime to rid Gotham of its deeply entrenched criminal community. That, though, would be something of a disservice to the Gotham Knights as they’re depicted in the comics.
Of course, the other and most obvious option is that we’ll see a version of the Gotham Knights in The Batman Part 2. After all, plot details concerning the sequel to one of the best Batman movies ever made are a closely guarded secret and, with filming not due to begin until early 2025 ahead of The Batman 2‘s October 2026 release, we won’t know anything about the Gotham Knights’ potential involvement for some time.
That said, I’d be very surprised if they show up in The Batman Epic Crime Saga’s next movie. Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader is only in the early stages of his crime-fighting career, so he’s not experienced enough to train anyone, let alone a whole team of fellow vigilantes. It’s for that reason, then, that I can’t see the Gotham Knights (as we know them, anyway) appearing in the next Matt Reeves-directed Bat-Flick.
Why would a Gotham Knights reference make Batman fans happy or sad?
On the ‘yay, Gotham Knights!’ front, it would be thrilling to see Reeves’ take on the supergroup. As my review of The Batman and review of The Penguin make clear, I loved this iteration of the Dark Knight’s universe, so I’d be very keen to see how the Gotham Knights would be interpreted in its more down-to-earth, gritty, and grimy world.
As for why the term ‘Gotham Knights’ might send shivers down some Batman fans’ spines, there are two main reasons. The first and more obvious one is the bang-average Gotham Knights game that was released on PC and consoles in October 2022. The action role-playing game wasn’t exactly the fun-filled multiplayer experience that many gamers wanted, even though, in our review of Gotham Knights, we said it was a “great crime-fighting game that will remind you what you loved about Gotham and the bat family”. Even so, our reviewer’s opinion was the exception to the norm, with the general consensus being that the videogame wasn’t the thrill ride that others hoped it would be.
The game adaptation, though, wasn’t as panned as The CW’s Gotham Knights TV series. Premiering on the US cable network in March 2023, Gotham Knights was a critical and commercial failure – the superhero show earning a paltry 21% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes before it was unceremoniously canceled, after a single season, just three months on from its debut.
Unless The Batman Epic Crime Saga finds a novel and fan-adoring way to introduce the Gotham Knights at some stage, then, I wouldn’t want them to be shoehorned into the Pattinson-starring franchise and further tarnish their reputation. If that’s what would happen, I’d prefer it to be nothing more than a crowd-pleasing Easter egg in the opening chapter of The Penguin, aka one of the best Max shows of 2024.
The Penguin’s first episode is out now on Max and HBO (US), Sky and Now TV (UK), and Binge (Australia).