It’s a busy time for Batman’s mobster villain The Penguin, who will be played by Minnie Driver in the new series Batman: Caped Crusader. The animated series premieres on Thursday, Aug. 1 on Prime Video, and this weekend Amazon announced that the antagonist has swapped genders in this iteration. Driver will provide the voice of “Oswalda Cobblepot.”
Batman: Caped Crusader comes from animation legend Bruce Timm as well as The Batman director Matt Reeves and producer J.J. Abrams. The star-studded series kept its A-list casting a secret up until San Diego Comic-Con, where Driver joined Reeves and cast mates Hamish Linklater and Jamie Chung on stage. The series is not related to Max’s upcoming live-action drama The Penguin, though Reeves is an executive producer on both shows. While The Penguin is a spinoff of Reeves’ 2022 movie The Batman, Caped Crusader and a stand-alone reimagining of the Batman franchise.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Caped Crusader stars Linklater as Batman and Chung as Harley Quinn. Other cast members include Christina Ricci as Catwoman, Diedrich Bader as Two-Face, Tom Kenny as Firebug, Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon, Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox, Dan Donohue as Clayface and Eric Morgan Stuart as Commissioner Jim Gordon. Haley Joel Osment, David Krumholtz, Gary Anthony Williams and John DiMaggio are also in the cast in undisclosed roles.
As for the story, the trailer hints that this show will start out early in Batman’s career when Gotham City is still getting used to his existence. It sounds like the main through-line of the plot will be the battle against organized crime and the threat of a gang war, though we do see glimpses of Penguin, Two-Face and other supervillains. We also hear about a mysterious new figure called “The Jester,” who may be this series’ take on the Joker. It’s unclear how much screen time Driver’s gender-swapped Penguin will get on the show, but don’t have to wait much longer to find out.
Penguin is one of the oldest villains in Batman’s rogues’ gallery, first appearing in the comic books in December of 1941. He is typically portrayed as a mob boss with an eccentric taste for the trappings of high class – often including a top hat and a monocle. He is often included in storylines about corruption, as well as those that challenge Batman’s privilege and class. Changing this character to a woman could have some interesting ripple effects on the story as a whole, but there’s no telling where these writers will go with it.
Batman: Caped Crusader premieres Thursday on Prime Video, with all 10 episodes dropping at once. The Penguin premieres on Sept. 19 on Max.
