The Penguin's biggest Batman fan theory has been debunked

How good was The Penguin when it was all said and done? Well, let's put it this way: the worst thing about it had nothing to do with the show itself. Despite going into the Batman series with more skepticism, wonderful reviews Oz Cobb's (Colin Farrell) winding road to becoming king of Gotham City after the events of director Matt Reeves' blockbuster proved the doubters emphatically wrong. Thanks in large part to Cristina Miliotti's truly inspired performance as sociopathic partner-in-crime Sofia Falcone, the two main episodes took the series to even greater heights. But despite the obvious quality of the writing in each episode, one annoying detail ended up being a turnoff for a very specific audience — what the hell was up with Dr. Julianne Rush?

The new character, played by actor Theo Rossi (“Luke Cage,” “Emilia the Criminal” and most recently “Carry-On”), was introduced at the beginning of “The Penguin” as a quirky card, serving as Sofia's personal psychiatrist. with a somewhat unhealthy attachment to a recent misdeed. Several flashbacks revealed that he had worked at Arkham Asylum in the past and was partially responsible for the horrific “treatment” meted out to Sophia during her incarceration. Upon release, he added several important layers to the mentally unbalanced antagonist, including a touch of erotica in his, ah, submissive role playing in later episodes.

Despite everything that adds so much to the series, some fans just couldn't wrap their heads around the original creature (who, by the way, helped solidify all those “The Sopranos” parallels). No, he was speculated to be the classic Batman villain Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow. Putting aside my personal distaste for this line of thinking — sometimes a character can exist without any connection to pre-established DC lore — no less an authority than showrunner Lauren Lefranc has officially debunked this oddly prevalent fan theory.

Folks, it's time for an intervention. I get it – this particular fan theory didn't come out of the blue. To be fair one particular episode of “Penguin” certainly seemed to suggest that there was more to it behind the masked and gloved identity of Dr. Julian Rush appearing on the not-so-good doctor's desk. That would be pretty damning evidence… unless this episode was from a series other than The Penguin and set in any other universe than the Batman universe, where everything is presented more or less exactly as it appears. Would the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even Zack Snyder's DC Universe have pulled such a stunt? Probably! But one would like to believe that Matt Reeves and his handpicked creative team are above such plot twists.

Either way, we can now point to The Penguin creator, showrunner and writer Lorraine LeFranco as the final word on the matter. In an interview with ScreenRant walking the red carpet at the 2025 Golden Globes, LeFrank was refreshingly blunt about the fan theory:

“Well, I can tell he's not a Scarecrow.”

Talk about a definitive answer! I can see why many would have hoped that his presence would lead to something much bigger, especially considering that the series already includes a new psychedelic drug like Bliss and that his occupation (not to mention suspicious motives) certainly aligned with Scarecrow . . But much of this theory stemmed from the mistaken idea that heroes mandatory exist only to advance the plot, not to reveal new angles and new flavors to our potential purchases that we would never have seen otherwise. People, not everyone has to secretly be the most important people in the franchise!

Now that we have been convinced of this, please think and pray to all who were convinced of this poor, doomed Victor Aguilar (Renzy Feliz) was actually Mr. Freeze all along.