The Penguin
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| Supporting characters | Enemies: Major · Minor · One timers · Henchmen · Mobsters · From other media | Locations | ||||
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The Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot), is a DC Comics supervillain and an enemy of Batman. He was introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, he first appeared in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and has recurrently appeared in almost every franchise Batman has.
The Penguin commonly depicted is a short and fat or chubby man (in some versions obese) with an abnormally long nose who wears a top hat and a monocle, smokes with a long black filter and is never seen without an umbrella, which often hide gadgets and weaponry mechanisms. He is commonly seen in a tuxedo, smoking of elegant "penguin-like" clothes. The classic versions have him with a snub nose but some modern ones have him with an eagle nose and ectrodactyl hands. His hair length and degree of baldness also vary in each version. In the current version he also keeps beautiful women around him to showcase power.
He is almost always portrayed as a brilliant, eccentric, pompous, greedy, corrupt, calculating, manipulative and overachiever criminal with a thirst for power and a need to overcompensate his shortcomings. The rest of the characteristics of his personality can vary from version to version either to contrast or to fit his elegant appearance: in most versions, he is a rude, laud, stubborn, bitter, jealous and obsessive megalomaniac with a superiority complex and a short temper [1] (in addition, some of these times he is also portrayed as a tasteless joke-cracker who laughs at his own jokes, magnifying his loudness[2]), but in some [3], he is a calm and sophisticated with a great deal of control over his temper. Unlike most enemies of Batman, the Penguin has the particular characteristic of not being his anti-thesis, but the sort corruption he swore to eliminate. While the likes of the Joker were created by tragedy or exist only to oppose Batman by creating chaos, the Penguin only wants power and to get rid of his obstacles.
His most common schemes are bird themed robberies, trying to reform (or at least pretending so), running for mayor of Gotham City, territorial warring, and getting rid of Batman. Unlike the Riddler or The Joker, who often toy Batman, the Penguin mostly sticks to trying to get rid of him and is commonly the first getting the advantage whenever he sees an opportunity.
Already the second most recurring villain after the Joker for many years during the golden and silver age comics (1941 to the mid-1970s), actor Burgess Meredith popularized the Penguin and his signature squawking laughter outside the comics medium in the 1960s Batman television series, in which he is the most recurring villain, appearing in 21 episodes and the feature film. In the 1992 film Batman Returns, Danny DeVito played a much darker version of the character, which takes his obsessive personality further making him a paranoid megalomaniac as well as his physical appearance, which now includes baldness, sea predator-like teeth, a hunch and ectrodactyl hands. Subsequent Batman animated series have alternately featured the deformed Penguin and a more traditional version later. Some artistic interpretations of the character in the mainstream continuity like Tim Sale's, have represent him with the deformed body, ectrodactyl hands, and marine predator-like teeth characteristic of the DeVito version.
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[edit] Portrayal in the current DC Comics continuity
In the current continuity of DC Comics, the Penguin is a mobster-type kingpin criminal, who in keeping with his family's tradition of wealth, high society, class and style, lives a life of crime and evil fancying himself a "gentleman of crime" and is somewhat obsessed with birds and umbrellas. His intelligence and aristocratic personality often contrast against demented Batman villains, such as the Joker or the Riddler. Unlike most of them, he is more focused on his business and goals and does not necessarily theme his crimes around his obsessions which are almost just eccentricities. A great deal of his classic crimes are centered around stealing bird themed things or using birds (or umbrellas) to attack or perform crimes, but in the current version, reinvented by Chuck Dixon he leaves that modus operandi to become the top Gotham City kingpin of crime who hides his illegal businesses a facade as an exclusive club owner called The Iceberg Lounge. As such, his organized crime activities involve illegal weaponry traffic, drug and black market dealing, con, territorial warring, robbery and gambling.
Despite his superiority complex, he is one of the most sociable among the enemies of Batman. Besides the fact that he is the rogue's contact with the black market, he is one of the enemies of Batman that has teamed-up the most (The Injustice League, Batman: The Long Halloween, The Batman 1969 film), being the leader on various occasions (War Games). In Batman: Hush Returns he is shown gathering with the Joker (with whom he teams frequently in the silver age comics) out of friendship. These characteristics are mirrored outside comics:
- In The Batmans episode Team Penguin he is the leader of a super criminal team he gathers, and in other episodes Night and the City and Wrath he is shown as both friend and rival of the Joker, Killer Croc, Scar-face and the Riddler.
- In Batman: The Animated Series, he is probably the one who likes the most hanging around with his peers (Birds of a Feather and Almost Got 'Im).
[edit] Character history
[edit] Early life
Born Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot to a rich debutante family, the Penguin loses his father at a young age due to a pneumonia he catches after being drenched in a downpour. As a result, his overprotective mother always forces him take an umbrella wherever he goes. As a child, he is frequently bullied and teased in childhood because of his use of the umbrella, his physical shortcomings (retellings of his origin suggest he also suffered from some sort of hip ailment, which caused him to waddle when he walked[citation needed]), the peculiarities and eccentricities in his personality and his love for birds, which is only infatuated more by the situation, to the extreme that he considers the birds his only friends. These traits get him his lifetime nickname and make him an outcast, eventually driving him to become another bully, and eventually a violent criminal.
His worst bully is a kid named Sharkey, who comes up with "the Penguin" as his nickname and beat him in public. The most traumatic experiences in his early life were caused by this bully. After months sinking into the aviary at his mother's the pet shop, his books, pugilism, boxing and martial arts, he beats Sharkey with almost fatal results for the bully, who ends up with no teeth. But when Cobblepot returns to the pet shop he finds all the bird killed by Sharkey and their blood on the walls. At that point Cobblepot snaps and decides to become a bully himself. After that, the Penguin seeks to control the situation in his favor by becoming a drug dealer at school. Eventually, after majoring in ornithology, as a crime lord, he tracks down Sharkey, (who has his teeth replaced with metal shark-like teeth) and force feds him fish and liquor, then welded his teeth shut and fed him to a lions. [4]
He majors in ornithology and some comics suggest that he tries to abandon the nickname, which he hates, but it has been permanently brought into popularity by media and his high-profile criminal career. However, he eventually cashes in on its popularity with his "Iceberg Lounge" night club.
[edit] Early confrontations with Batman
Unlike Two-face, Catwoman and The Joker, whose early relationship with Batman is exploded in miniseries like Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequels. Early in Batman's career, he is only considered a con man and a thief. One of his chronologically earlier confrontations with Batman is in the final chapter of Batman: The long Halloween, when he joins Two-face's group of super criminal freaks to make a final hit against Carmine "the Roman" Falcone, Gotham City's formerly "untouchable crime lord". With Carmine murdered, the Penguin is next seen in Batman: Dark Victory #5, in which he breaks ground by trying to intercept merchandise of controlled by the Italian mob, an act considered inconceivable back then. His henchmen, all disguised as him, lacerated a great deal the Skeevers and the Zuccos, part of the Falcone empire. Batman stopped him in order to find the whereabouts of Two-face, but the Penguin didn't tell.
In an issue written by Alan Grant, Mortimer Kadaver overhears in prison Scarface and the Ventriloquist talk about an incoming drug shipment and decides to tell the Penguin in order to join forces to intercept the shipment, but eventually the Penguin decides to get rid of his partner.
[edit] From gimmick thief and con artist to information broker
Around the Knightfall events, the Penguin is notably absent in comics (contrasting with his wave popularity due to his appearances in 1992's Batman Returns and Batman: The Animated Series), then when he comes back, -as a Chuck Dixon conception of the character that eventually was mirrored in other media, he claims to have reformed and changes drastically his modus operandi for the first time, acting an information broker that does all of his business through his lounge booth surrounded by women of doubtful reputation (booth of a lounge bar that belongs to him and happens to be very popular with the underworld). Since he is barely seen outdoors, he ceases wearing his signature top hat. He also starts wearing all white clothes and combs his hair after a rock hopper penguin.
His first (but brief) re-incursion on crime at this point, is when he decides to steal a rare bird statue, he and Batman gets into a scuffle at his old hideout, but the Penguin calls quits and goes back to his booth at his lounge, where horrified, he realizes Batman takes the statue he has hidden in an egg he has with him, and vows revenge on Batman.
[edit] Becoming a kingpin in No Man's Land
In the No Man's Land story ark, the Penguin becomes the mayor kingpin of Gotham City's underworld while keeping facade as a legitimate lounge bar owner and business man. During the period when Gotham City was leveled by an earthquake, he is one of the major players in the mostly-abandoned and lawless city. He starts by trading favors by rescuing people in need in exchange for future aid (the same way [[Vito Corleone starts his empire in the Godfather, Part II. Eventually he controls all the goods trading of the city to the point of selling an apple for the outrageous price of $1'000,000.00. Of course by then money is worthless to the citizens an only he has the contacts to use a million dollars.
As with Poison Ivy who becomes the provider for vegetable goods, Batman makes a deal to cooperate with the Penguin, who is in charge of the economy aspects of No Man's Land and has the best contacts. I exchange both villains get immunity.
By the end of No Man's Land, the outside interest, enforced by Bane and Mercy Graves for Lex Luthor, takes over the districts under his domain temporarely leaving him out of the picture.
[edit] War Games
Despite Luthor's inconvenient move for the Penguin, he keeps his status after Gotham City is restored back to regular function. Along with Scarface and the Ventriloquist, Black Mask, Matches Malone (a secret identity of Batman) and several other gang leaders, the Penguin is involved the War Games. After the war, Black Mask becomes the new underworld overlord.
[edit] Infinite Crisis and One Year Later
After War Games, the Penguin becomes swept up in the events of Infinite Crisis. In Infinite Crisis #7, he is briefly seen as part of the Battle of Metropolis, a multi-character brawl started by the Secret Society of Super Villains. The Penguin, along with several other villains, are bowled over by the surprise appearance of Bart Allen.
At the end of Infinite Crisis, while the Penguin is away from Gotham City, the Great White and Tally Man kill many of the villains who worked for him, and frame Harvey Dent. Great White had planned to take over Gotham's criminal syndicate and weaken all his competition - Penguin included. After the power play, upon his return to Gotham, , the Penguin pretended to cease his direct involvement in crime, instead giving the Iceberg Lounge a spin as a nightclub franchise with a great marketing strategy and overpriced merchandise. He urges the Riddler to avoid crime, as it's more lucrative in their current, non-criminal lifestyle. As such, he is an excellent source of information on crime and Batman grudgingly tolerates his operations because of that. However, the entrepreneurial Penguin is often fencing stolen property or arranging early furloughs for incarcerated former criminal associates - for a hefty fee, of course - on the side.
[edit] Countdown and Gotham Underground
In the pages of Gotham Underground, a tie-in to the series Countdown, after the death of Black Mask, the Penguin is one of the three forces competing for the territory left and the position of Gotham City's underworld overlord, the other two being invasive forces from Metropolis, Tobias Whale and Intergang. He betrays most of the supercriminals of Gotham by delivering them to the Suicide Squad, in exchange, he gets the weapons of all the exiled supervillains of the world, which he uses to create his own army against Whale, who gathered the main non-metahuman gangs of the city under his command. The Penguin wins the war and asks Whale to join him, but he joind Intergang instead. The leader of Intergang in Gotham, Johnny Stitches, threats all members of the metahuman gang and they leave the Penguin, who is given an ultimatum to leave Gotham. He refuses and awaits ready to fight Intergang alone in the Iceber Lounge, only to be saved by Batman in the last minute, who forces him to become his snitch again. However, Batman is killed by Darkseid soon after that, so the new role of the Penguin in the city is yet to be revealed.
[edit] Powers, skills and weapons
The Penguin has no real super power. However, during his period as a gimmick thief, he shows an extraordinary command over the actions of his birds. Although he doesn't like to rely on it, Cobblepot is a skilled martial artist and boxer. The Penguin prefers to rely in his intelligence, his umbrella weapons, his birds, his henchmen and in later stories, in his resources.
At several points the Penguin has claimed to be the most intelligent adversary of Batman. There is no particular evidence of his intellectual coefficient; however, he is still the only villain Batman has not been able to bring down, (unlike other freaks like Two-face and the Joker or other crime lords like Sal Maroni, the Falcones or Rupert Thorne). In Earths one and two and other media incarnations, the Penguin has also shown his cleverness by benefiting whenever Batman shows a weak spot, like the time the villain took control of the Bat-mobile (an action almost every incarnation of the character has done), stealing powers from Superman or Green Lantern, leading teams of supervillains, running for mayor, attempting to hill him while blind or unconscious, etc.
The Penguin has also shown a great command as interpersonal relations by initiating a circle of favors and goods trading in No Man's Land, being friends with some of his most powerful rivals like the Joker, Scarface and being part of the Injustice League and the second Secret Society of Super Villains (and leader of both the Team Penguin in The Batman and the Super Foes in the Super Friends comics).
[edit] Other versions
| Earth/continuity | Creators | First appearance | Appearances | Main article |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Earth | Chuck Dixon | The Penguin | ||
| Earth-2 | Bob Kane Bill Finger | The Penguin / Earth-2 | ||
| Earth-1 | Bob Kane Bill Finger | The Penguin / Earth-1 | ||
| Earth-Super Friends | The Penguin / Earth-Super Friends |
[edit] In other media
Save for the still relatively new and uncertain Batman Begins film series, the Penguin has been present in virtually every other media franchise Batman has. Second in frequency only to the Joker and actually topping him in episode appearances in the 1960s Batman series. Thanks largely Burgess Meredith's scene stealing, campy interpretation of the character, which is still being parodied and referenced, in several contemporary media, the Penguin is a very recognized popular culture character.
[edit] Cameos
[edit] The Monkees
Burgess Meredith appeared as the Penguin in the Monkees show.
[edit] Scooby-Doo
In an classic episode of Scooby-Doo, the Mystery Machine gang team up with Batman and Robin to stop the plans of the Joker and the Penguin.
[edit] Tiny Toons
The Penguin, depicted as Danny DeVito's version, made a cameo in Tiny Toons Adventures as part of an Academy Award ceremony. Curiously, the Tiny Toon's character designer is Bruce Timm, who would be producer and character designer of Batman: the Animated Series, and by far, this Penguin looks closer to the future animated version than to DeVito.
[edit] Saturday Night Live
In a Saturday Night Live skit called "Superman's Funeral," he attended Superman's Funeral and made the same sound he made for laughing when he cried.
[edit] Parodies
- El Chocorol: In Maman and Bobin, a Mexican one-hour parody special of Batman, the Penguin is parodied as "El Chocorol". A reference to a sweet snak from Marinela a well known brand that also produces another chocolate snack named "Pingüinos" (penguins).
- Mr. Monday: In The Venture Bros., among many imprisoned villains that parody archetypical comic book super villains, there is a Mr. Monday, who parodied several trademarks of the Penguin.
- The Lounge Lizard and Jack-A-Dandy: In Awesome Comics, one of Professor Night's (a reference to Batman himself) most recurring archenemies is supposed to be the Lounge Lizzard. Despite being an anthropomorphic mutant lizard, like the Penguin, he represents no real threat, is excessively refined and characteristically over dressed all the time. On the other hand, Jack-A-Dandy, who is a more direct analogy to the Joker, shares many characteristics of the Penguin, in the way he dresses (too elegant, top hat, monocle, cigarette with filter), and the way he talks making to much emphasis in his upper class.
[edit] References
[edit] Political parodies
The Penguin, particularly as portrayed by Burgess Meredith, has often been used as a reference to parody different high profile politicians:
- Dick Chaney: The Daily Show 's host, John Stewart, frequently makes references to the 1960s TV version of the Penguin when mocking U.S. Vice-President Dick Chaney, by laughing like Burgess Meredith did as the character.
- Al Gore: This one was made by the opposition party, in August of 2006, the Wall Street Journal found out that ExxonMobil's PR firm, DCI Group, was behind an amateur-looking YouTube video making fun of Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth. The video portrayed Gore as the Penguin, apparently as depicted in Batman: The Animated Series. Who is behind penguin spoof of Al Gore?.
- John McCain: In October 2008, an internet meme surfaced when YouTube users posted videos that compared John McCain with the Penguin. Most of the meme focused on a scene from a 1960s series episode in which the Penguin and Batman debated as opponents for mayor of Gotham City, suggesting similarities between their debate and the debates between McCain and Barack Obama.[5]
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, called Franklin Delano Roosevelt a criminal and told his audience to “ask Batman” “if they don’t believe him”, showing a picture of Meredith as the Penguin next to one of the former President, in which he looks like him.[6].
[edit] Merchandise
[edit] Lego Set
Danish building toy maker Lego's Lego Batman line includes one particular set, 7783-The Batcave: The Penguin and Mr. Freeze's Invasion, which features The Penguin. He appears as a minifigure in the set, with short, unbending legs, the classic top hat and monocle and a purple pin-stripe suit. The Penguin rides in a submarine reminiscent of the one in the 1960's TV series and is assisted by minuature penguin robots.
[edit] Video game appearances
The Penguin has also appeared as a boss in several Batman video games. They are Batman: The Caped Crusader, the various video game adaptations of the movie Batman Returns, Batman: The Animated Series and The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Super NES. At one point he was planned to appear as a boss in The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega CD, in which he would try to kidnap Summer Gleeson. The Penguin was cut from the game for unknown reasons, but the storyboards for his animated cutscene are displayed in Paul Dini's book, Batman: Animated.
[edit] References
- ↑ In the 60s TV series he claims to be the world's best thief, in Batman Returns he manipulates people to get power and attention and plots revenge after he doesn't get it, in Joker's Asylum: The Penguin, he destroys the life of a chef, killing his loved ones and causing him to commit suicide, only because he happened to laugh at while facing him.
- ↑ Like in The Batman, the 60s Batman show and most of the silver and golden age comics.
- ↑ The New Batman Adventures and Gotham Underground
- ↑ Secret Origins Special 1
- ↑ Prescient "Batman" episode nails the Obama-McCain race
- ↑ http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=221834
