Those Gotham Gangs in ‘The Penguin’ Have Deeper Comic Roots

The latest episode of The Penguin, “Gold Summit“, has Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) making his biggest power play yet. Not only has he managed to craft a thriving drug operation with Bliss, but he’s stayed one step ahead of Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) and Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti). But Oz saves his biggest move for last when Sofia has his Bliss dealers executed; he gathers the various gangs of Gotham and rallies them together by promising them a place in his new crime empire – effectively gaining allies against the forces of the Maroni and Falcone crime families. But it also serves as a way for The Penguin to introduce more familiar faces from the comics.

The Penguin has been fairly subtle in drawing influence from Batman comics, most notably Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The gangs that Oz assembles fall into that same vein; most of them were introduced in modern Batman comic stories, and might even hint at the direction of The Batman Part II. Here’s a look at the various gangs in “Gold Summit” and their comic book history.

‘Batman: No Man’s Land’ Saw the Rise of Multiple Gangs in Gotham

Two of the gangs that appeared in “Gold Summit” are The Low Boyz, led by Billie Peña (Adrienne Acevedo Lovette), and the Odessa Mob, a group of Ukranian gangsters led by Fedor Laskin (David Grabowski-Clark) and Vasily Kosov (David Vadim). Both the Low Boyz and the Odessa Mob made their appearance during the Batman: No Man’s Land storyline when an earthquake rocked Gotham City to its core — and left it to be conquered by various criminals. Following the events of No Man’s Land, Commissioner Jim Gordon sought to bring the Odessa Mob to justice after they murdered two officers under his command in Detective Comics #742 by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinbrough. The Penguin has already indirectly referenced No Man’s Land, but it’s not the first time the Low Boyz have shown up in a Batman TV show; they appeared in Gotham when that series was putting its own spin on “No Man’s Land.”

Other gangs that show up are the Triads, who Oz and Sofia previously attempted to make a deal with, and the Sullivan family, led by Donald “Donny Boy” Sullivan (Johnny Hopkins). In Batman: The Long Halloween, the Sullivans were longtime allies of the Falcones – and the first to fall when Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent began their campaign to take down Carmine Falcone. Despite being released from prison, the Sullivans were brutally gunned down by the “Holiday Killer” — who turned out to be Falcone’s son Alberto. The Penguin kicked off with Oz shooting Alberto to death, so the Sullivans are spared their comic book fate…or so it seems.

One Gang in ‘The Penguin’ Might Hint at Trouble for Oz

The final gang that shows up in “Gold Summit” are the Crowns, led by Able Crown (Leon Addison Brown) and his brother Charles (Micah Peoples). Like Oz and Victor (Rhenzy Felix), the Crowns have their base of operations at Crown Point, one of Gotham’s poorest neighborhoods. But like the Sullivans, they suffered a grim fate in a major Batman comic. Batman: War Games has Stephanie Brown — a former Robin and future Batgirl — discovering one of Batman’s contigency plans: in his guise as the criminal Matches Malone, the Dark Knight intended to unite all of Gotham’s criminal organizations under one roof by gaining their trust & then dismantling them as Batman. Stephanie decides to implement the plan, but without Malone as a buffer the gangs slaughter each other. This leads to Black Mask becoming the main criminal figure in Gotham, and proving to be a formidable foe for Batman and his allies.

While Black Mask hasn’t appeared yet, the fact that Oz has gathered all of Gotham’s gangsters together doesn’t bode well for them. Oz will place his own well-being ahead of others, and while the other gangs might see themselves as an army, he might see them as stepping stones on his path to becoming Gotham’s top crime lord. The Penguin only has two episodes left, which means that everyone’s fate is up in the air.

New episodes of The Penguin air on HBO and stream on Max on Sundays.

It follows the transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.

Release Date

September 19, 2024

Cast

Colin Farrell , Cristin Milioti , Rhenzy Feliz , Michael Kelly , Shohreh Aghdashloo , Deirdre O’Connell , Clancy Brown , James Madio , Scott Cohen , Michael Zegen , Carmen Ejogo , Theo Rossi

Seasons

1

Prequel

The Batman (2022)

Story By

Bill Finger, Bob Kane

Watch on Max