“He’s the Stan Lee cameos of voice actors”: Penguin Spin-off Series Wins Big With 1 Star Who Has Fans Lining Up for His DCU Entry in Mystery Role
- Clancy Brown will be playing a villainous crime boss in the upcoming 'The Penguin'.
- Fans are excited for Brown's role, as he is known for playing many characters in Marvel and DC, among others.
- 'The Penguin' will focus on Colin Farrell's rise as the crime lord and will pick up shortly after 'The Batman'.
It seems like DC Studios is working on two paths. One is the new DCU led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, and the other is about separate standalone movies and franchises like Joker and The Batman. The upcoming series The Penguin is another step in this second path.
The Penguin will be a spin-off series from 2022’s Robert Pattinson starrer The Batman, where Colin Farrell will reprise his role as the title character. Along with him, Cristin Milioti and Rhenzy Feliz will be seen in villainous roles. But one specific veteran has caught fans’ attention with his return to DC again.
Clancy Brown Returns to DC With The Penguin
No one has the diversity of roles in the superhero world as Clancy Brown. The veteran actor is one of the most versatile performers in Hollywood, both in live-action and voice-acting roles, thanks to his deep, resonant voice.
His height and voice have often led him into some authoritative roles. Brown rose to fame with his role as The Kurgan in Highlander. His other noteworthy live-action roles include Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, and Sgt. Zim in Starship Troopers, among others.
In the superhero world, Brown has given his voice to many characters. Some of them are Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Series and other animated series, Parallax in Ryan Reynolds’ infamous Green Lantern and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, Trident in Teen Titans, Bane in one episode of The Batman TV Series, and many more.
In Marvel’s universe, Clancy Brown has voiced Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok and What If… series, and Taskmaster in Ultimate Spider-Man TV show. He also voiced Black Bolt, Hogun, Supreme Intelligence, Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and many more.
Apart from these, Brown has also made some live appearances, like Ray Schoonover in Daredevil Season 2 and General Wade Eiling in the CW’s The Flash. With all these roles in his resume, it is quite obvious for the fans to get excited for his upcoming role in The Penguin as well, and some have even compared him with Stan Lee of voice acting.
I love that Clancy Brown has managed to get himself cast in the Arrowverse, the Netflix Marvel universe, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, the animated Bruce Timmverse, The Boys/Gen V universe, and now The Batman universe lol
— 💀 The Horror Guru 🎃 (@TheHorrorGuru) August 23, 2024
He is the Stan Lee cameos of character/voice actors. https://t.co/Ao6yf8udNd
And let’s not forget he was the voice of Raiden in the short lived Mortal Kombat Cartoon Defenders of The Realm. This man has been everywhere.
— H2Z (@H2ZFatJedi) August 24, 2024
Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni is looking intense✨
— Deepan Chakravarthy (@mdeepanofficial) August 24, 2024
Clancy Brown and Shea Whigham are those two actors that will show up in anything anytime anywhere https://t.co/OCGukYapeB
— SuperBlue 🍉 (@Shadow_Strike2) August 24, 2024
I'll tell you what, Clancy Brown is very underrated. He is always great in everything. https://t.co/67oJjKDJkQ
— Seth Hodges (@CinemaSeth) August 24, 2024
Apart from Marvel and DC, Brown has also voiced Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants and Damien Darkblood, Kregg, and Ka-Hor in Invincible. His other live-action roles include Burg in The Mandalorian and Richard Brinkerhoff in Gen V. Brown has also given his voice to various video game characters from Marvel, DC and Star Wars.
The Penguin‘s Plot and Clancy Brown’s Role
When The Penguin was first seen in The Batman, it immediately caught the attention of the audience once they realized it was Colin Farrell underneath all that makeover. Now, the upcoming series will explore deeper into his crimes and backstory.
The spin-off series was planned during the production of The Batman itself. Its filming resumed earlier this year after it was halted due to the writers’ strike in 2023. The show will be 8 episodes long and might also introduce Joker and Clayface. If luck favors, fans might also get to see Robert Pattinson‘s cameo in it.
Talking about the story, showrunner Lauren LeFranc said to Entertainment Weekly,
It’s a ‘Scarface’ story. It’s a rise-to-power story of Oz before he really makes it to the top. We’re in Oz’s world. We’re living in the underbelly of the city. Oz is a mover and a shaker. He can’t always be trusted. He’s very smart and very methodical, but he’s also extremely impulsive. You can’t predict what he’s going to do.
According to Rolling Stone, The Peguin‘s story will begin 1 week after the events of The Batman. Clancy Brown will play the role of Salvatore Maroni, a drug trafficker and a crime boss who got arrested after Carmine Falcone gave out his information.
The Penguin will premiere on HBO on September 19, 2024.
