The Penguin: Does Bliss Have a History in DC Comics?

In the third episode of The Penguin, the mysterious drug that Alberto and Sofia Falcone have been promising will change their business is revealed, with Oz nicknaming it Bliss. So, does Bliss have a history in DC Comics or a connection to another Batman villain?

Is Bliss in DC Comics?

The Penguin Episode 3 features Oz taking a peek behind the curtains of Sofia Falcone’s bold plan to revitalize Gotham’s drug business. The primary drug on the street during the events of Matt Reeves’ film was called Drops, and they are even featured to some extent in The Penguin. However, Sofia’s plan to take over the Falcone crime family revolves around pushing a new drug to make even more money, which is where Bliss enters the picture. It’s revealed in the episode to Oz and the audience that Bliss is grown off the top of mushrooms and was medicine given to Arkham patients like Sofia.

The drug is bright red in appearance, almost crystalized as it is broken down and taken by mouth, as opposed to drops that people take through their eyes. The drug also has a strong effect on people as Sofia and Oz orchestrate a test run at a club, selling and distributing it to a resounding success. There’s no doubt that Bliss from The Penguin will be featured in some way or form in a future sequel to The Batman, but the comic history of the drug is a bit more complicated.

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Bliss is a drug introduced in Titans #26, a part of the series’ second volume published in 2010. The drug has many of the same effects in the comic as it does in The Penguin, though it’s made in an entirely different way. Bliss is created in the comics using reprocessed hormone secretions of kidnapped children, which is a far cry from the more “grounded” take that The Penguin uses for its story. The drug was created by a comic character named Elijah, who serves as a small-time antagonist for the DC team, the Titans, to go up against and stop the drug operation.

The Bliss operation is revitalized by a more famous DC Comics Villain, The Brain, to use its powerful hallucinatory effects to make himself more powerful. The Brain has been featured in other live-action DC Projects such as Doom Patrol, but the villain is way more high-concept and fantastical than what’s expected in the world of Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga. So, while Bliss has a much more grounded origin in The Penguin, its DC comics roots are way more over-the-top.

The Penguin is streaming now on Max