Batman: Arkham Knight then sees Cobblepot capitalizing on Gotham’s evacuation to smuggle and launder illicit firearm caches from Blüdhaven. Interestingly, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s story-oriented cinematic trailer revealed that the Penguin would be present in Metropolis at the time of Brainiac’s invasion.
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Why Penguin May Have Turned Up in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Metropolis
As players and completionists of the Batman: Arkham series know, Penguin is ultimately thwarted in each of his criminal efforts from the Iceberg Lounge to North Refrigeration. But while his defeat at the hands of Batman is inevitable, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Penguin looks like far less of a threat than he did in either Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, or Batman: Arkham Knight. In fact, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s story trailer pits Penguin as the butt-end of Harley Quinn’s shock collar prank.
Indeed, Cobblepot’s fall from being relatively high profile as a crime lord in Batman: Arkham City’s prequel narrative is significant, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League may be poking fun at the character for his inadequacies as an antagonist. It is possible that Cobblepot is fearful of Task Force X due to the squad’s notoriously mischievous affiliates, but he still runs from them as though it is possible to escape, and thus it can be inferred that he is being tasked with doing something for the Suicide Squad or Amanda Waller against his will.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Penguin can be seen trying to flee from an entrance to a North Refrigeration supply warehouse, as is signified by the fish skeleton logo above the entrance, so Penguin has obviously set up more than one facility for nefarious business schemes outside of Gotham. As such, Penguin’s presence in Metropolis could be to oversee this branch of North Refrigeration, giving Rocksteady an excuse to have him there so that his involvement in the game is possible.
However, there is also a chance that he could have fled to Metropolis after suffering defeat after defeat at the hands of Batman. Following the somewhat convoluted events of Batman: Arkham Knight’s Knightfall Protocol conclusion, Penguin may have been convinced to abandon Gotham for new criminal ventures in Metropolis where he may potentially go undetected as a small-fry organization that would be overlooked by the likes of Superman, Green Lantern, or Wonder Woman.
Penguin clearly has a role to play in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, otherwise Waller may not care enough to attach a shock collar to him in the first place. However, Penguin’s role may be as miniscule as a humorous NPC interaction that further ties Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s narrative into the Batman: Arkham continuity. Why Penguin is truly present in Metropolis will become more apparent when Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League eventually releases, though with the game currently only having a release window of sometime next year, fans will be waiting a fair bit longer for answers.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is scheduled to release in 2022 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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