3. Max Schreck Is Penguin's Brother - Batman Returns
Warner Bros.
Tim Burton's sequel to the seminal Batman 89 caused a storm when it released in 1992, with its dark, grotesque depiction of Penguin representing a major departure for the character and Batman in the public eye, but the film also underwent a number of different iterations before filming.
One initial draft had originally seen Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent take on Schreck's position, but production changes saw the creation of Christopher Walken's character.
Then, in one particular draft, it was even revealed that Schreck was Penguin's long lost brother, who'd changed his name in disgust that his parents had abandoned his only sibling.
In the end, it's easy to see why Burton opted not to pursue this angle, as Walken's performance really makes the character a thoroughly unlikeable presence onscreen.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
