The Penguin may have been great, but it cannot compete with the best Batman TV show ever. As a standalone sequel to Matt Reeves’ The Batman, The Penguin really worked as a Gotham-based crime drama. This only increased the already sky-high anticipation for The Batman – Part II, despite the production issues and delays that have plagued the film since 2022. However, The Penguin features little to no connection to the character of Batman himself, outside of the fact that the titular character first debuted in The Batman.
For this reason, there aren’t many who would class The Penguin as the best Batman TV show, regardless of its incredibly high quality in its own right. Where this specific ranking is concerned, there is one clear standout. The show in question is widely considered to be the strongest outing of the Caped Crusader on the small screen, and one of the best iterations of the superhero in the entire genre, regardless of medium. Based on how it impacted the Batman mythos and the caliber of its many filmmaking aspects, even The Penguin cannot match up to Batman: The Animated Series.
The Penguin Is Great, But Still Can’t Beat Batman: The Animated Series
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The Penguin is at least in the top three of the best Batman TV shows ever, but Batman: The Animated Series easily takes the top spot. Released in the 1990s, the show has excellent aspects, be it the animation itself, its great score, or its mature storytelling. More specifically, though, Batman: The Animated Series was so good in distinct aspects that it impacted the wider storytelling of the entire character in other TV shows, movies, and even comic books.
One of the biggest impacts the show had on Batman was the depiction of the character’s villains. Be it Mr. Freeze, Harvey Two-Face, or Harley Quinn, Batman: The Animated Series changed how people see some of the Dark Knight’s most iconic villains; Mr. Freeze became a genuinely compelling villain as opposed to a joke, with subsequent stories utilizing the backstory that Batman: The Animated Series gave him. Some of the best-rated episodes by viewers on IMDb include those dedicated to Harvey Two-Face, proving how mature and interesting the writing was for these kinds of characters.
Where Harley Quinn is concerned, the character would not exist without Batman: The Animated Series. Despite being one of BAtman’s most popular rogues now, Harley Quinn wasn’t invented for DC Comics, but for the animated show, proving its impact on DC storytelling as a whole. Moreover, voice actors like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill became synonymous with Batman and Joker, respectively, with both going on to voice the characters in other projects, such as the Batman Arkham series of video games. Again, The Penguin is excellent, but it cannot compete with the sheer impact Batman: The Animated Series had on the Batman franchise, nor its excellent filmmaking qualities.
The Penguin Can Barely Be Considered Part Of The Superhero Genre
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Another aspect of Batman: The Animated Series that puts it above The Penguin as a superhero show is the dedication to the genre. The latter cannot really be classed as part of the superhero genre, given its much more grounded tone and storyline. Aside from using DC characters, the most “comic booky” aspect of The Penguin is Batman’s spotlight shining above Gotham in the final seconds of the last episode. Beyond that, everything else about The Penguin makes it a grounded crime drama set in a superhero universe, not an outright show in the latter genre.
The same cannot be said for Batman: The Animated Series, which embraces its superhero roots completely. The animated format of the show likely aided this, but even live-action shows like Titans and other dramas like Gotham include more from Batman’s comic book stories than The Penguin does. This does not make The Penguin a bad show, not by any stretch. Still, it is worth raising as a reason why it cannot quite compete with Batman: The Animated Series, which is not only the best Batman show, but one of the best in the entire superhero genre.
Batman: The Animated Series
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