‘The Penguin’ just created the perfect setup to debut an iconic DC villain
The Penguin episode 3, “Bliss,” paves the way for the show to debut an iconic DC villain to Matt Reeve’s Batverse.
Spoilers for The Penguin episode 3, “Bliss,” ahead!
By episode three of The Penguin, Oswald “Oz” Cobb (Colin Farrell) and Sofia Falcone (Cristin Millioti) establish a shaky alliance. Sofia doesn’t trust Oz but realizes his partnership may be useful as she struggles to climb the Falcone hierarchy and faces opposition from Johnny Vitti (Michael Kelly). As a result, she lets him in on the pharma scheme she and her brother, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), started. Before his death, he and his sister had begun developing a new type of drug, later dubbed “Bliss,” harvested from Bleeding Tooth Fungi. The fungus produces a red crystalline psychoactive substance that causes hallucinations and euphoria. Sofia reveals that she and her fellow inmates were given the drug in Arkham to make them more content and submissive.
In a city like Gotham, where residents are still grappling with the traumatic events of The Batman, the euphoric drug is sure to be hit. Sofia has been manufacturing the drug in a warehouse where the fungus grows on hanging garbage bags. She warns Oz not to so much as touch the mushrooms due to their fragility and meticulous manufacturing process. However, viewers can’t help but wonder how Sofia even learned how to harvest these mushrooms in the first place.
Is an iconic DC villain behind The Penguin‘s Bliss?
Sofia is a sharp, multi-talented woman in The Penguin, but understanding the properties of fungus and how to harvest mushrooms successfully in a warehouse seems more likely to be the job of a skilled botanist. Meanwhile, one of DC Comics’ most iconic Batman villains also happens to be a botanist: Poison Ivy. In the comics, Dr. Pamela Isley (a.k.a. Poison Ivy) is a successful Gotham botanist. However, an experiment gone wrong leaves her with criminal tendencies and the ability to control plants. She takes on the supervillain identity Poison Ivy and becomes a notorious eco-terrorist.
Given her immense knowledge of botany and plant-based powers, she would be the perfect person to guide Sofia in manufacturing Bliss. The Penguin has also already created an opportunity to explain how the pair met. The show established early on that Sofia was previously incarcerated in Arkham Asylum over accusations that she was a serial killer known as The Hangman. She spent ten years at Arkham until she was released sometime before the events of The Penguin. Meanwhile, she’s not the only Batman character to have spent a stint in Arkham Asylum. Poison Ivy was also incarcerated there after making eco-terrorist threats.
It’s possible that Poison Ivy and Sofia met at Arkham Asylum, with Poison Ivy letting her in on the secret to manufacturing Bliss. With The Penguin gearing up for a flashback episode, it has the perfect opportunity to include a Poison Ivy or Dr. Isley cameo. With the Batverse expected to expand further, it wouldn’t be surprising if The Penguin introduced further comic book characters, especially since director Craig Zobel already expressed interest in a Poison Ivy spinoff. If Poison Ivy is behind Bliss, it will be interesting to see what her endgame is.
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