You don't need to watch The Batman before The Penguin but there are 4 key details from the movie to know

The Penguin is set to land on Max and with it will surely come speculation on whether or not viewers really need to watch Matt Reeves' The Batman which is three hours long. While I'd certainly encourage watching the movie--it's excellent and suitably dark and gritty--in all honesty you don't have to block out that time in your busy schedule to keep up with Oz Cobb's story on HBO.

What you really need is a brief premier on a few events that happen in the film to give some context to why Gotham is the way it is in The Penguin, what's led Oz to make a power grab like this, and one unexpected relation that may or may not factor into the story. For that, I've got you covered. Let's dive in to what you should know before watching the show!

How Riddler's vendetta against Carmine Falcone destabilized Gotham

The plot of The Batman revolves around The Riddler's murderous scheme to "unmask" the corrupt men in power who were responsible for the great lie of "renewal" in Gotham. Before he was killed, Thomas Wayne had vowed to donate a billion dollars to a charitable fund that would go to improving the city's public works such as the orphange where The Riddler grew up.

When Thomas died, that fund was misappropriated by the likes of Carmine Falcone who ratted out Salvatore Maroni's drops operation to get a bigger piece of the pot and put the Gotham PD, Mayor Mitchell, Commissioner Pete Savage, and District Attorney Gil Colson in his pocket. Riddler knew about all of this hence his plan to bring these people and their misdeeds into the light before he kills them.

By the end of The Batman, the system the city had been running under is nearly dismantled. The silver lining is that Bella Reál has been elected as the mayor of Gotham the night of Riddler's final act of vengeance. She, unlike her predecessor, has a real plan to reform the city, root out corruption, and restructure and rebuild the institutions that have been criminally underserved or ran into the ground under Mitchell, Savage, and Colson's watch.

Carmine Falcone dies in The Batman

Riddler refers to Carmine as "rata alada" which means "rat with wings" in Spanish. It's the clue he leaves for Batman as a reference to Carmine being the one who gave Maroni up for more power and a nod to the crime boss' last name. Once Batman and Gordon figure this out, they plan to bring Carmine in though the Bat also has to contend with a very pissed off Catwoman who is out for blood because she knows that he's the one who killed her friend, Annika.

Batman manages to keep Selina from shooting Carmine but, just as he's passed into the custody of the GCPD, a shot rings out and the mobster is found bleeding out on the ground. Briefly, it was thought that Penguin had killed him. Carmine's righthand man had drawn his gun and called him a rat in front of his crew and the police but Oz hadn't been the one to shoot, it'd been Riddler from a window in the building across the way.

Carmine's death triggers a power vacuum that's exacerbated by the destruction, death, and despair Gotham is reeling from due to Riddler blowing up the sea wall, flooding the city, and trapping people in Gotham Square Garden to be systematically killed by his militia of Riddlers. The last part doesn't get quite get off the ground thanks to Batman.

Selina Kyle is Carmine Falcone's daughter

While this may not come up in The Penguin, it's still important to note that Sofia and Alberto Falcone aren't Carmine's only children. It's revealed in The Batman that Selina's the child he never claimed. Her mother, Maria, worked at 44 Below and used to bring her daughter to work with her. That's where she met Carmine and noticed that he paid her attention which was strange to her until she realized it was because he's her father. But when Selina's mother was killed, Carmine let his daughter go into the system and said nothing about who she is to him.

Selina tries to kill Carmine because he murdered her friend, Annika, for knowing too much about his dealings regarding the renewal fund and who he had under his thumb. As they fight in the movie, he admits to murdering Maria and attempts to kill Selina as well though he blames her for the actions he feels he has to take. Batman is the one who stops him. Selina isn't exactly the heir to the Falcone crime family but her parentage could complicate things in this universe

Penguin ran the drops operation in The Batman

In the film, Penguin moved product for Carmine. Drops, the drug of choice in Gotham, is a lucrative business and its one the movie implies the Falcones took over after Carmine got Salvatore Maroni arrested. The power inherent in being in control of the drug flow in the city is what Oz Cobb wants in The Penguin. With the Iceberg Lounge and 44 Below abandoned due to Riddler's attack on Gotham, what he has left is his ability to keep business moving with the drugs.

As Carmine's righthand, not only does Oz know where the skeletons are buried, he's also aware of the day-to-day operations of the Falcones' criminal activity. What he's lacked is the opportunity to usurp the family to stake his own claim on Gotham. The events of The Batman's ending, which take place a week before the show, give him one such chance and Oz doesn't plan on squandering it.