NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
Following the Season 1 finale of The Penguin, viewers are confused whether Vic Aguilar is dead or alive. Oz Cobb did what many felt was unthinkable and took out the only person who was in his corner. But is Vic dead? Oz choked him out but left his limp body in front of the bench. There is a chance that Vic survived which could lead to Vic returning in either Season 2 of The Penguin or The Batman 2 as another character like Robin or the Red Hood.
Yes, we can call it a stretch, but DC is going in a new direction, and so far, their storytelling has been phenomenal. Not everything has to follow the path of the comics. Writers can recreate characters and switch origin stories up to fit into the new universe. Vic is the perfect person to experiment with. While the Red Hood would make sense if Vic is indeed dead, he can be resurrected as the Hood, but he makes better sense becoming Robin.
Vic in The Penguin was not the perfect person to fall under Oz. Vic had a heart. While not as street-smart as some of the other characters, he added a sense of heart to a show that was as dark as they come. Viewers rooted for Oz not because of his past, we wanted him to win because he was tied to Vic. If Oz won, that means Vic won as well. As we watched the scene where Oz made the sacrifice, viewers were shocked. All Vic wanted was to be part of something. He gave up his life to be a mentee to Oz and in the end, he lost everything. But did he?
Oz left Vic for dead and tossed his ID into Gotham River. That alone could signal a new beginning for the beloved character. There is no clear indication that Matt Reeves will take the route of adding Robin but it does make sense for him to go that route. It’s just a matter of finding a character worthy of that title. Bringing in Vic to be Robin would be such a smart move for the franchise moving forward. Robin was out for revenge when he first teamed up with Batman. Vic, being left for dead by a person he considered family, well, that falls right in line with Robin’s personality.
Then you add in the other part that may be forgotten. It was The Riddler who brought harm to Gotham in an attempt to purge the city of corruption. But in his wake, The Riddler managed to kill Vic’s family. So along with what The Penguin did to Vic, leaving him for dead, and The Riddler supposedly set to escape out of Arkham, Vic has more than just one reason to become Robin. He wants The Riddler to pay for what he’s done and he wants Oz to pay for trying to kill him.
With the bat signal being displayed at the end of the season, that means that either in the new film or Season 2 of The Penguin, somehow Batman and Oz will face one another. In that case, adding Vic as Robin makes so much sense. Then you add in the storyline that Selina Kyle aka Catwoman reached out to her half-sister Sofia, then we’re set for something explosive in DC to happen. Oh, and we can’t forget, The Joker is set to make his appearance.
