Across 8 episodes of The Penguin, the entire Falcone family is killed, Crown Point is rocked by an explosion, and Oz Cobb murders his way to the top of Gotham City's underworld.
As for Batman...well, he's nowhere to be found.
The finale ends with the Bat-Signal lighting up Gotham's skyline but that's as close as we get to a cameo. Filmmaker Matt Reeves has already shared details on a scrapped appearance and, in an interview with Digital Spy, he shared a story reason for the Dark Knight's distracting absence.
"This was a time of great turmoil in the city, it's literally the week after what happened," the filmmaker explained. "Much of the city is in desperation, so police can't get everywhere, there's crime everywhere, it's a very, very dangerous time.
"[Batman’s] out there trying to grapple with the aftermath of everything that happened, which to some degree he blames himself for."
It appears Batman was simply too busy to get involved with the gang war between Oz and Sofia Falcone; it's a convincing enough explanation, albeit one that it's easy enough to pick holes in should you choose to do so.
Reeves did, however, go on to say that The Batman Part II will see the Caped Crusader finding it "very hard to be Batman."
In a separate conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the director addressed how the response to The Penguin has impacted his plans for the upcoming sequel, specifically in regards to the glowing reviews Cristin Milioti has received for her take on Sofia Gigante.
"The movie is very much a Batman movie, so its focus is on Batman and Bruce. It’s very much taking Rob Pattinson through this this next leg and how the Rogues Gallery fits into that. So a lot of that was already in place by the time we were getting the dailies. But there are absolutely certain ways in which it has affected it. It gave us ideas and we’re going, 'Oh, we could do this.'"
"But we’re still talking about the bigger picture and the future and what a second season of The Penguin might look like. You go through a process where you do something and have feelings about them, and then you see it go into the world and it’s no longer your baby. It belongs to the audience. To see them connect to Sofia, of course, makes us think, 'There’s more there.' So again, I can’t tell you what it is. We don’t know yet. We’re just starting to figure that out."
Rumour has it Sofia will play a major role in The Batman Part II, though what that will look like when she's locked up in Arkham remains to be seen. Of course, she's not the only villain there as The Batman's Riddler found a new friend in The Joker when they crossed paths in the asylum.
All episodes of The Penguin are now streaming on Max.