The Penguin: Mark Strong Reportedly Joins The Batman Spinoff Series

The Green Lantern and Shazam! star is returning to the DC universe.

By Cameron Bonomolo

Mark Strong isn't one to squawk at a DC role. The British actor — who previously played DC villains Sinestro in 2011's Green Lantern and Dr. Sivana in 2019's Shazam! — has reportedly joined the cast of The Penguin, the upcoming Max/DC series set within the world of The Batman.

Strong's undisclosed role was seemingly confirmed by his personal trainer, Giacomo Farci, who replied to a fan inquiring about The Penguin on Instagram: "Yes, I've trained Mark for it." Asked by another commenter to reveal which DC character Strong is playing, Farci teased: "I cannot answer this question but I'm sure you will figure it out." (Victor Fries, a.k.a. Mister Freeze? The bald baddie Calendar Man? Gotham crime boss Roman Sionis / Black Mask? Or... the Bat-Verse version of Lex Luthor?)

The actor, 60, is no stranger to comic book adaptations. Strong portrayed a New York crime lord in Matthew Vaughn's 2010 movie Kick-Ass, based on the Marvel comic, and reunited with the filmmaker when he played Agent Merlin in Vaughn's adaptation of Mark Millar's Kingsman comics in 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service and 2017's Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Strong has also been cast as Emperor Javicco Corrino in another upcoming Max series, the Dune saga prequel Dune: Prophecy.

Colin Farrell reprises his role as Gotham City gangster Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot in the series set in the immediate aftermath of Matt Reeves' The Batman, which ended with the crime-infested city half-submerged underwater following an attack by the Riddler (Paul Dano). 

Strong joins a cast that includes Cristin Milioti (The Sopranos) as Cobblepot's chief gang war rival, Sofia Falcone, daughter of the late crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Turturro); Michael Zegen (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Sofia's brother, Alberto Falcone; Clancy Brown (Dexter: New Blood) as Gotham City crime boss Salvatore Maroni; and Michael Kelly (Man of Steel) as Maroni underboss Johnny Vitti. Rounding out the cast are Rhenzy Feliz (Runaways), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse), Deirdre O'Connell (Daredevil), and John Cenatiempo (Joker) in undisclosed roles.

Lauren LeFranc (Hemlock Grove, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) is the writer, creator, and executive producer on Penguin, which is expected to premiere later this year on Max. The eight-episode series also hails from The Batman producers Reeves and Dylan Clark, and executive producers Farrell, Daniel Pipski (A Teacher), Adam Kassan (Ordinary Joe), Bill Carraro (Lovecraft Country), and director Craig Zobel (The Leftovers, Westworld).

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The DC crime drama contains "tons of violence, abject darkness and a man and a great struggle to try and claw his way to the top," Farrell said in a recent interview. "You know, there's a power grab in Gotham now. It's dark, man. Lauren LeFranc with her room of writers wrote eight extraordinary episodes. I mean, just really, really bold stuff. I couldn't believe that it got as dark as it gets... It would be a hard-R [rating]."

DC's The Penguin premieres later in 2024 on Max.

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