The DC Universe has noticed that some of us are starting to feel a little bit of superhero fatigue. We love comic book stories more than most, but even we’ve found ourselves a little bit tired out by the constant onslaught of blockbusters. With new TV series The Penguin, though, DC is tackling fatigue head-on.
As the Content CEO for HBO, Casey Bloys has his eyes on the small screen future of the DC Universe, and he wants to keep things exciting. One of the first DC characters he will be shepherding to the big screen is The Penguin, bringing Colin Farrell’s take on the Batman villain to the small screen. He knows superhero fatigue is out there, but he thinks there’s a slightly different problem happening.
“I don’t know that it’s necessarily tentpole fatigue as much as it is a sameness of storytelling,” said Bloys to Deadline. “I think the key, even within DC, is trying to tell different stories in different styles, to not try to do the same show over and over and over again.”
Bloys has got this right. Those of us who’ve watched all of the DC movies in order over the years aren’t bored because of sheer quantity; we’re bored because so much of this stuff feels the same. He correctly pointed out that “Peacemaker is a very different show tonally than The Penguin”, showing the variety available from the best TV series over at DC.
Bloys added: “Unfortunately, Marvel, as good as their shows are, there’s probably been a lot of them. That’s one of the advantages we have at Warner Bros. is it’s not just one set of stories. There’s a lot of stories you can go to.”
This is one of the benefits of the “Elseworlds” strategy pursued by DC. Incoming studio bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran have made it very clear that The Batman 2 release date and the universe around it is completely separate from the main Gods and Monsters chronology. That allows this world to be darker, harsher, and tonally distinct.
That certainly helped The Batman, which we described as an “epic and stylish reinterpretation of the Dark Knight” in our four-star The Batman review. We have our fingers crossed that we’ll be repeating that praise when The Penguin release date comes around in 2024.
For more on the future and the upcoming DC movies on the way, check out our guides to Superman Legacy and the Aquaman 2 release date. You can also find out if Batman’s most underrated villain is finally getting his own movie.