The Batmanhas been out in theaters for over a month now and has raked inmore than $700 million at the worldwide box office, as well as being acclaimed by both critics and fans alike. The movie, set in a different universe than the DCEU, follows Bruce Wayne/Batman as he attempts to solve Riddler’s psychotic games and has quickly brought the masked-vigilante roaring back to life. Despite how fans or critics might feel aboutBen Affleck’s turn as thewinged vigilante, the overall feedback was that a change was needed - and Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves delivered in every possible way.
With how well the movie has done, DC has already ordered two shows from the newBatmanuniverse that will air on HBO Max, following the lead of James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squaddoing a spin-off series for Peacemaker on the same streaming network. That being said, audiences had no idea thePeacemakerseries was even in the works (let alone just a few months away from airing), while fans were informed of the two newBatmanspin-off shows beforeThe Batmaneven premiered (to build hype). So, with how wellPeacemakerhas done for DC, areThe Batmanseries capable of competing with their new HBO Max threat?
Rightly so,The Batmanwas a movie about Batman, and the three-hour movie reflected it with Bruce Wayne and his dark-alias appearing in nearly every scene. In the same light,The Suicide Squadwas an ensemble movie and did a great job reflecting it. Once the team was assembled, there was seldom a moment when they all weren’t on-screen together. With that in mind, audiences need to remember that (even though his spin-off series was a surprise) Peacemaker got a decent amount of screen time inThe Suicide Squaddue to the fact that he was a prominent member of the ensemble, paired with how he ended up turning on the team which gave his character more depth.
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Meanwhile, one ofThe Batmanshows is centered around Penguin. This character got virtually zero screen-time in the movie due to the multitude of different villains and stories weaving through the narrative. Now, don’t get us wrong – Colin Farrell was unrecognizable and did a phenomenal job as the antagonist. However, his role seemed to be reduced to little more than a cameo with the introduction of Falcone (John Turturro), and his presence only seemed necessary because fans already knew a spin-off was planned.
Unfortunately, the same holds true for the upcoming Arkham Asylum series. Riddler andthe surprise cameo from Jokerset up the sequel, but the two of them combined still had very little screen time and more or less just made fans curious about whatothervillains are lurking in the wings of Arkham. In short,Peacemakerwas a surprise treat for fans, while the Penguin and Arkham Asylum series will both have expectations to meet, and hopefully, they can.
Fans Know Penguin & Arkham Asylum
WhilePeacemakermight have had the upper hand in shock factor, the newBatmanspin-offs have one advantage over theSuicidespin-off. Penguin and Arkham Asylum are much more known among the comic book and cinematic communities. Peacemaker’s appearance inThe Suicide Squadwas the first that audiences have ever gotten to see a live-action rendition of the character. In contrast, Arkham Asylum andPenguin have been presented in countless forms of mediaover the decades, including priorBatmanfilms.
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That, combined with how well Colin Farrell and Paul Dano did in their roles, equals a ton of hype for two shows that haven’t given any clue as to when a release date will occur. So, whilePeacemakermay have been something unexpected for fans to enjoy, the Penguin and Arkham Asylum series are two projects that fans can look forward to for quite a while before they’re rewarded for their patience.
The Films Have Similar Ratings
Peacemakerhad the advantage of surprise, and the Penguin/Arkham Asylum series have the advantage of notoriety. Still, one area where they’re pretty much deadlocked is how well the projects they spun-off from did among critics and fans.The Suicide Squadscored a successful 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.2 on IMDb, and a 72% on Metacritic.The Batmanfollowed up with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85%, an 8.3 on IMDb, and also scored 72% on Metacritic. So, withPeacemakerhaving the upper hand in one area, the Penguin/Arkham Asylum having the upper hand in another, and both of their predecessor projects scoring highly/similarly among critics, it might be safe to say that only time will tell with this one and fans will just have to be patient to find out how well the Penguin/Arkham Asylum series' do.
