In The Batman, Cobb is more of an annoyance than a major player in the action, but he had flashes of being a formidable foe to the billionaire vigilante. As Carmine Falcone’s (John Turturro) lieutenant and drug peddling nightclub owner, Cobb was able to talk his way out of multiple Batman beatdowns and lead him on the one of the coolest movie car chases of 2022. But his contributions to the nearly three-hour film can all be condensed to less than a 13-minute supercut.
That was then, and this is Gotham now. In eight award-worthy episodes of The Penguin, Cobb has dismantled the Maroni crime family, inspired mutinies in all of the rival gangs, and is figuratively and literally on top of Gotham. Although Gotham produces a new villain every day, for now, Oz is the king. And he’s already shown how he can influence the media and politics, making him even more formidable.
The biggest confirmation of Oz being Batman’s next nemesis is in the last scene of The Penguin when Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo), creepily cosplaying as Cobb’s mother, tells him there’s nothing in his way of Gotham being his, just before someone gets the bright idea to send the bat signal into the sky. Even though the “five or six scenes” Farrell revealed in a Hollywood Reporter interview he was told he’d be in for The Batman Part II is hardly enough for main villain role, nothing is off the table.
Is there a world where the new king of crime doesn’t become Batman’s biggest obstacle?
