HBO The Penguin only exists because The Batman was a huge success and audiences were really drawn to Colin Farrell’s against-type interpretation of Oswald Cobblepot, or Oz Cobb as he is known in this universe. So why isn’t Robert Pattinson’s caped crusader featured anywhere in the show’s eight-episode tour of Gotham’s warring criminal underground? He had bigger fish to fry, suggests the director behind the next one The Batman Part II.

“It was a time of great turmoil in the city, it was literally the week after what happened,” Matt Reeves said. digital spy (via Gamesradar). “A lot of the city is desperate, so the police can’t respond everywhere, there’s crime everywhere, it’s a very, very dangerous time.”

The Batman Movie 2022 ends with a series of explosions demolishing Gotham’s sea wall. As a result, the city center is flooded and the crime-ridden metropolis is plunged into even more chaos. “(Batman) is trying to deal with the consequences of everything that happened, which he blames himself for to some extent,” Reeves added.

It’s a pretty sane in-universe explanation for why, all along The PenguinWith the twists and turns and intrigue of the criminal empire, Bruce Wayne never shows up on Cobb to try and get things under control. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc previously suggested that Batman’s exclusion helped keep the focus on the “grit, mud and grime” of Gotham’s city streets and Penguin’s journey to rise through the ranks.

But that doesn’t mean a Pattinson appearance was never considered. “During the course of writing the season, we discussed several times whether or not there would be a crossover that would feel merited,” Reeves previously said. Weekly Entertainment. “We tried a few different ideas conceptually, nothing ever got written, but nothing really seemed to come together in a way that felt deserved.”

As things currently stand, the fans who finished The Penguin season 1 last sunday you will have to wait until The Batman Part II in 2026 to see Pattinson put on the black cowl again. After that, there’s still a chance he’ll appear in Season 2 of The Penguin if the show ends up being renewed.