The Penguin Easter Egg Sets Up The Debut Of A Classic Batman Villain

This article contains spoilers for "The Penguin."

We all knew Robert Pattinson's Batman was never going to show up in "The Penguin," and yet so many fans surely hoped that the Dark Knight would descend at some point. Alas, the eight-episode HBO series wrapped up without such a cameo, though "The Penguin" did set up "The Batman: Part II" quite nicely by ending on a shot of the Bat signal looming over the Gotham sky.

But while the show may not have given us Pattinson's avenger, it did feature quite a few Easter eggs and subtle nods to DC's comics, as well as teeing up some major events to come. The fact that Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone receives a letter from Zoe Kravitz's Selina Kyle/Catwoman during the finale, for example, suggests we could be seeing a team-up between these two forsaken daughters of the late Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong in "The Penguin," John Turturro in "The Batman"). Meanwhile, showrunner Lauren LeFranc snuck in a deep cut DC villain during an episode of "The Penguin" set in Arkham Asylum. As it turns out, though, that episode also features a hidden detail that hints at the existence of a much more well known Batman rogue.

Episode 4 of "The Penguin," titled "Cent'anni," established the show's strongest connection to 2022's "The Batman" by exploring the history of Carmine Falcone's crimes and how it affected his daughter, Sofia. It was an extended flashback that ultimately saw Sofia committed to Arkham Asylum and subjected to brutal electroshock treatments. While there, she meets Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi), who oversees her treatment alongside his superior, Dr. Ventris (T. Ryder Smith). Dr. Rush then proceeds to form a bond with Sofia during her stay at the asylum and remains in contact with her after she's released.

Anyone who was following the "Penguin" discourse will be aware of the speculation surrounding Dr. Rush, with many fans postulating that this could be the Matt Reeves-verse equivalent of Batman villain Dr. Hugo Strange or even Dr. Jonathan Crane, the man who, in DC's comics, ultimately becomes The Scarecrow. After all, it wouldn't be the first time the Reeves-verse has changed well-established character names, with "The Batman" renaming Paul Dano's Riddler from Edward Nygma, as he's known in the comics, to Edward Nashton.

Now, it seems, we have something close to confirmation that Dr. Rush is in fact a version of Scarecrow. As noted by Everything_DCU on Twitter/X, a scene in episode 4 of the series appears to show two important elements of Scarecrow's outfit sitting on Dr. Rush's desk in the present day: a fear-toxin glove and mask.

Scarecrow's syringe glove and mask was teased in Cent'Anni (episode 4) of THE PENGUIN!

Looks like we might have a clue of possible villain in THE BATMAN PART II👀 pic.twitter.com/NLohznK1T1

— Everything_DCU (@EverythingDCU_) November 15, 2024

First introduced in "World's Finest Comics #3" back in September 1941, Scarecrow has become one of the most recognizable figures in Batman's rogues gallery, and was most notably portrayed by Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan's inaugural 2005 Batman movie, "Batman Begins." Now, with these items showing up in Dr. Rush's office, it looks as though a future Matt Reeves Batman project could also feature the villain.

A particularly discerning Redditor noticed that the glove and mask were not present in an earlier scene set in Dr. Rush's office from episode 2. As user BebehBokChoy noted, in the scene in episode 4 where Sofia visits Rush's office, she was not supposed to be there and only shows up unexpectedly, which would mean the doctor didn't have time to put his mask and glove away — although giving such things pride of place on the desk in the office where you treat patients is surely a rookie supervillain mistake.

Various shots in the scene from episode 4 of "The Penguin" reveal that the glove in question closely resembles that of the Scarecrow's in the Arkham Asylum video games, where the villain attached fear toxin-filled syringes to the fingers. It seems Matt Reeves could be planning to borrow that video game detail for "The Batman: Part II," which would make that project even more highly anticipated than it already is. For now, we'll have to wait until the film debuts on October 2, 2026 to find out.