The Penguin Shares First Look at Shazam!’s Mark Strong as Young Carmine Falcone

Gangster Carmine Falcone was one of the key figures in The Batman, and he was played by character actor John Turturro to great effect.

Though Falcone may be dead by the time The Penguin’s story rolls around, it looks like he’ll be having a presence in the upcoming series—but he’ll be played by another actor; what’s more, it’s someone who was a main rival in a DCEU movie.

Mark Strong Takes Over Carmine Falcone

For the Penguin series, Mark Strong (Green Lantern, Shazam!) is going to be taking over the role of the boss of the Falcone crime family. Here’s a first look at him in costume:

For context, here’s how Turturro played Falcone in the movie:

Though Strong is expected to play a younger version of Falcone, it does look like he’s going to be playing the face of the character even after he was killed in The Batman. It’s not clear why they wouldn’t use a picture of Turturro’s Falcone instead, but it was probably done to keep the faces consistent for anyone who didn’t check out the movie.

Plus, it can just be chalked up that the photo of Strong was the only available picture of Falcone that was attainable, as Falcone would likely not want his picture taken all the time when he got older.

Flashbacks Confirmed

With the inclusion of a younger Falcone in the story, it’s very likely that the series is going to feature some flashbacks. Maybe the show will cover how exactly Oz gets caught up with the Falcone crime family, but maybe it could be part of a recollection by Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), who is seen being visited by Oz in the trailers.

Credit: HBO; fair use for news and promotional purposes

It’s been teased that Oz’s climb to power could be blocked by Sofia Falcone, and it’s likely that Oz will be looking to Maroni to possibly dig up anything that he can use against her. By the looks of Sofia though, it definitely feels like she has something up her sleeve, and it will be up to the Penguin to try and outsmart her.

Credit: HBO; fair use for news and promotional purposes

Early Reviews

So far, early reviews for the series have been great, and a lot of comparisons have been made to classic gangster properties like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos.

Admittedly, The Penguin feels like it’s following this trend of recent comic book movies where they take auteur works and give them a comic book makeover. Joker was essentially a comic book version of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, and The Batman had elements of David Fincher’s Se7en.

With the superhero genre perceived to be in decline, it’s going to be interesting to see all these more experimental films and series coming out all in an attempt to keep things fresh. Even Marvel has started branching out with the period feel of Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Catch The Penguin when it premieres on Max on Sept. 19.

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