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A week after the events of The Batman, the HBO series follows Oswald Cobblepot, also known as the Penguin, as he rises to power amidst the chaos left in Falcone's wake. Matt Reeves' 2022 film the Batman leaves Gotham City in a shambles. Attacks by the Riddler concluded in a cataclysmic flood that destroyed key parts of Gotham City's infrastructure.
The death of crime lord Carmine Falcone also created a significant void within the underworld of Gotham's criminal forces. This is where it comes in on the timeline. Cobblepot realizes this is the opportunity to take control of the city's top spot as the crime leader.
As the city reels from the Riddler's destructive hand, Cobblepot navigates a treacherous Gotham criminal landscape rife with factions of rival elements fighting to emerge as the supreme leader. The series details how the Penguin takes advantage of Gotham's chaos to solidify his position and take the place left between Batman and its much-awaited follow-up.
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Aftermath of The Batman in The Penguin
The film concludes with the devastation that the Riddler's flood has brought to the city of Gotham. Water levels have drowned most of the city, destroying its infrastructure and leaving many residents in disarray. There is an added level of chaos when it is realized that the Riddler murdered Carmine Falcone, one of the strongest crime lords in Gotham.
Thus, he immediately opens a power vacuum in the city's criminal underworld. Oswald Cobblepot, long Falcone's second-in-command, finally has his chance to move up into power. In The Penguin, the series reveals how Cobblepot uses his knowledge of Gotham's underworld to assert his position of authority.
With no way to settle the leadership vacuum Falcone left, Gotham's criminal enterprises are broken and weak, setting the ideal stage upon which Cobblepot can emerge from the shadows.
Oswald Cobblepot's ambition
In The Penguin, Cobblepot is a very crafty and ambitious figure who fades into the shadows because of Falcone's influence. But, with Falcone having departed from this world, Cobblepot's ambition takes over. His path from being a subsidiary to dominant in Gotham's criminal empire will continue in The Penguin.
It is just one week since The Batman's climax, so Gotham has yet to find its footing in rebuilding. Cobblepot sees an opportunity to take control of Falcone's criminal operations back into his hands. His ascension, however, is not without difficulty.
Cobblepot must outcompete rival factions and navigate Gotham's chaotic power structure. Ambition and ruthlessness fuel this storyline, which is complicated by power struggles within the city's underworld.
Power struggles in Gotham's criminal underworld
The Penguin introduces Cobblepot's rise through a series of power struggles. I should mention another major character, Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Carmine Falcone, who was acted by Cristin Milioti. Recently discharged from Arkham Asylum, Sofia does not want her family legacy to be forgotten and threatens the latter's ambitions quite dangerously.
She is the heir to the Falcone empire, and the series will make conflict over his right to power central. More significantly, the old Maroni crime family emerges to take advantage of the long history that has left behind this opportunity Falcone had created.
They, too, are ready to capitalize on the power Falcone's end has left and the mayhem Riddler has caused the city. These threats add more complexity to Cobblepot's ascension since he has to accommodate these old and new foes if he is to stay on.
The Penguin gets down to the inner workings of Gotham's criminal enterprises, giving viewers a deeper understanding of how Cobblepot rises by being cunning and merely through will. In doing so, The Penguin illustrates the intricate dynamics of the underworld in Gotham after Falcone's death.
The Penguin fits perfectly into the narrative of The Batman, providing a most organic follow-on from the mayhem caused by the Riddler's assault on Gotham and Falcone's murder.
The Penguin depicts Oswald Cobblepot's rise to power but does this by telling the story of how he makes himself the head of, then all, of the fractured groups that make up a vigilant part of the city's crime world, making full use of all the chaos within the city.
The darkness of Gotham's gritty city would be well done in the pages of The Penguin after The Batman. The power struggles between Sofia Falcone and the Maroni crime family would be a very intense reminder of how far Cobblepot has come.
Fato sees more of Cobblepots' ambition, ruthlessness, and transformation into a kingpin. Cobblepot marks a new chapter in the city's crime history.
Focusing on a character-driven plot and oscillating between scenes of Gotham's criminal enterprises, The Penguin offers the missing piece between the story The Batman told and the story of The Batman that is to come, telling the complex narrative of power, ambition, and survival in a city still reeling from disaster.
