First Look at Minnie Driver as Penguin in BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER

I got the opportunity to watch Batman: Caped Crusader early. While the excitement about a new Batman cartoon would be high enough, a 1940s-styled one from Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and Matt Reeves kicked it up four notches. Right away, in the very first episode, we got a sense this show was playing fast and loose with established canon and character norms. The first episode shows us a Gotham underworld terrified of one mobster: the Penguin. This is a Penguin as we’ve never seen before. As you can see in the image below, it’s a gender-swapped Penguin, Oswalda Cobblepot, as voiced by Minnie Driver.

Prime Video

The reveal comes out of the official Batman: Caped Crusader panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Timm introduced a screening of the first episode to the Hall H audience and then brought out executive producer Matt Reeves, Driver, and fellow actors Hamish Linklater (Batman), and Jamie Chung (Dr. Harleen Quinzel).

Prime Video also unveiled a clip from the first episode. While it doesn’t show the Penguin herself, it shows just how terrified she makes the corrupt in Gotham City.

While I can’t say much more about individual episodes, I can share that the season is tremendously good. Other villains are remixed and rethought throughout the season in really fun ways. It feels at once very different from Batman: The Animated Series and clearly from the same creator. Excellent stuff. If the other Penguin TV offering this year is as good, Cobblepot fans will be very happy.

Batman: Caped Crusader drops its entire 10-episode first season on August 1 on Prime Video.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

.youtube-embed{padding-bottom:56.25%!important;position:relative;overflow:hidden}.youtube-embed a,.youtube-embed iframe{display:block;width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute}.youtube-embed iframe{border:0}.youtube-embed img.youtube-cover{-o-object-fit:cover;object-fit:cover;height:100%;width:100%;cursor:pointer}.youtube-embed img.play-button{width:66px;position:absolute;left:46%;top:0;bottom:0;margin:auto;cursor:pointer}@media only screen and (max-width:499px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:45%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:425px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:44%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:375px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:43%;width:56px}}@media only screen and (max-width:345px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:42%;width:50px}}.youtube-embed .progressive-img{-webkit-filter:blur(10px);filter:blur(10px)}.youtube-embed .progressive-img.loaded{-webkit-filter:none;filter:none;-webkit-transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;-o-transition:filter 1s ease-out;-moz-transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out,-webkit-filter 1s ease-out}.youtube-embed .kskdDiv{display:none!important}

The post First Look at Minnie Driver as Penguin in BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER appeared first on Nerdist.