Superhero stories that take the spotlight away from a well-known hero don’t always bear fruit — one needn’t look any further than Sony’s failed universe, which is likely ending with this month’s Kraven the Hunter, as evidence of all that could go wrong. But it’s not an inherently misguided idea, as DC and Matt Reeves just demonstrated with The Penguin, one of the best superhero spin-offs ever.
The HBO series managed to tell a grounded crime saga and an origin story at the same time, all without relying on the Caped Crusader. It won’t be the last project to recontextualize a classic Batman villain, either, as Reeves’ plans for the “Batman Epic Crime Saga” continue to shape up.
