While the focus during the game's Comic-Con panel was all on the announcement of Talia al Ghul and Solomon Grundy in Batman: Arkham City, one lone question went unanswered: who is doing the voice of The Penguin?

It seemed like such a no-brainer, and one that could have easily been answered with the name of some talented, yet unknown, voice actor who can pull off a euro accent. That is, if that voice actor wasn’t one of the most well known voice actor currently working today.

That’s right -- if you’ve already put two and two together -- Nathan Drake himself, Nolan North will be providing the voice for the Penguin in Arkham City. Confirmed in an interview between CVG and Rocksteady Producer Dax Ginn, the news isn’t particularly revelatory but it does continue North’s dominance of the video game voice-acting world.

Ginn also goes on to talk a little bit about Rocksteady’s approach to this sequel saying that, with 40+ hours of content packed into the game, Arkham City is not going to be just about the Joker this time around. Villains like Penguin and The Riddler are meant to have a much meatier role than they would have in Arkham Asylum, which was very much a Batman vs. Joker story.

In keeping with that focus on multiple villains, and a multi-faceted game experience, Rocksteady wanted to ensure that each villainstand out that much more — hence the notable voice actors. It’s actually too bad that Robin is only a playable character for the challenge maps because there are some solid choices from the lexicon of animated Batman series to choose from for his voice.

Obviously gamers won’t be clamoring at the chance to hear Nolan North riff on The Penguin, but they are itching to get their hands on this next Batman adventure. There is a ton of content, from the villains to the side-quests to just getting to glide around this city-sized prison. We can’t wait.

What do you think of The Penguin’s characterization, now knowing that Nolan North is doing the voice? Do you think there are any actors who could pull off the voices of other Batman characters?

Batman: Arkham City releases October 18, 2011 for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Source: CVG