Amazon Prime's new Batman cartoon has gender-swapped the villain named the Penguin to a woman, with the creator saying the change was inspired by a drag queen and numerous musicals.

"Batman: Caped Crusader" is an animated series produced by Bruce Timm, co-creator of the highly-successful "Batman: The Animated Series" that ran from 1992 to 1995.

Timm and executive producer James Tucker told the Emmys that they felt there was a lack of "good villains" in the show and, more specifically, not enough female antagonists.

'The idea that Batman lacks female villains is preposterous and insulting. ... It's clear this was just a cheap gender swap meant to demoralize Batman fans with in-your-face feminism.'

"James and I were talking about the overview of the show, and we said, 'One of the problems with Batman, as he is, is there's a lack of good villains. You've got Catwoman, you've got Poison Ivy, you've got Harley Quinn. But it would be really good to have more female villains,'" Timm said.

Timm continued, "Off the top of my head, I said, 'We never really could figure out exactly what to do with the Penguin, what the gimmick for the Penguin would be. What if we gender-flip the Penguin?'" he asked.

Tucker said he found the notion instantly inspiring. "I was thinking of Marlene Dietrich in her tuxedo and 'Cabaret' the musical and the art form of cabaret, and I just started drawing. I instantly got a flood of ideas. Also, I was thinking a little bit of Harvey Fierstein and 'Hairspray' and Divine."

Pop culture news site Bounding into Comics posted photos of the new Penguin — essentially the same as the 1990s character but with added makeup and lipstick.

That Park Place editor in chief John F. Trent called the character change a "cheap" swap that lacks originality.

"Bruce Timm created Harley Quinn with Paul Dini in the '90s. He could have created a brand-new character if he wanted," Trent scoffed.

"The idea that Batman lacks female villains is preposterous and insulting. There are plenty, such as Poison Ivy, Talia al'Ghul, Lady Shiva, and more. It's clear this was just a cheap gender swap meant to demoralize Batman fans with in-your-face feminism," he added.

Strangely, producer Tucker said that the idea for the new series was essentially a recreation of the 1990s production, but inverted.

"The mission statement for the show in general: to do something that harkened back to the original, but flip it," Tucker said.

The isn't the first time a significant change in the Batman universe faced widespread criticism.

In 2023, a DC Comics insider revealed that the company had planned to replace the Dark Knight with an all-new, black Batman. Plans for the permanent switch were allegedly scrapped when retailers predicted the change could decrease sales by as much as 75%.

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