Matt Reeves Reveals Scrapped Plan for Bruce Wayne and Vic’s Meeting in ‘The Penguin’

Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga successfully expanded with the release of ‘The Penguin.’ Oz was initially introduced in ‘The Batman Part I’ and fans doubted that he could carry a TV show by himself. When the first episode premiered it was obvious that HBO and Reeves had a hit on their hands.

Reeves confirmed a while back that Batman won’t be part of the show, well, except for that hint in the final episode. Some fans were disappointed with that announcement while some agreed that introducing him would take away all the attention from Oz’s story.

Now following the release of the final episode, Reeves sat down with Entertainment Weekly and explained that for a time, they wanted to have Vic meet Bruce Wayne but ultimately decided against it.

Reeves discussed the decision to keep Bruce Wayne separate from the storyline in ‘The Penguin’ series, explaining that while the team considered multiple ways to incorporate Bruce, none of them felt “earned.”

One concept they explored was a scene where Bruce Wayne encounters Vic, played by Rhenzy Feliz, who is Oz’s righthand man. However, Reeves noted that even this felt out of place: “But even that ended up throwing things off too much.”

Over the course of writing the season, we discussed many times whether or not there might be some cross-through that would feel earned. We tried a few different ideas conceptually, nothing that was ever written ultimately, but nothing seemed to quite gel in a way that felt earned.

The showrunner Lauren LeFranc gave us a similar explanation. By introducing Batman, fans would overly focus on that cameo (??) and Oz’s story would be secondary.

We wanted our characters to be the predominant people that you’re following in this show. Anything that started to detract from that wasn’t servicing the type of show we wanted to do.

Source: EW

LeFranc gave us a similar explanation on why the only villain that shows up in Arkham Asylum is Magpie. Putting too many references and easter eggs in that episode would detract attention from Sofia’s story – and her backstory is extremely important to focus on as it explains every subsequent move that she has made.

What do you think? Do you agree with Reeves and LeFranc? Let us know in the comments below!

Liked this article? Follow us on Bluesky for the latest Marvel & DC news!