The Penguin

The Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot), is a DC Comics supervillain and is an archenemy of Batman. He was introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, he first appeared in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941).

In most incarnations, The Penguin is a short, chubby man who wears a tuxedo, top hat, and monocle. A mobster-type criminal, he fancies himself a "gentleman of crime." Unlike most Batman villains, he does not theme his crimes around a psychotic obsession; his intelligence and aristocratic personality starkly contrast against demented Batman villains, such as the Joker. However, he recently became a nightclub owner who engages in more quiet criminal activity whom Batman tolerates as a source of criminal underworld information.

The Penguin does however possess a few eccentricities. He is known for his love of birds and his high-tech umbrellas that serve some specialized function, such as hang-gliding and weaponry. He also keeps beautiful women around him; perhaps to remind others of his monetary power or to compensate for his own grotesqueness. Although a second-string villain for many years, actor Burgess Meredith popularized the Penguin in the 1960s Batman television series, partially because of his signature squawking laughter. Danny DeVito played a much darker version of the character in the 1992 film Batman Returns. This version was not just an unattractive criminal but a physically deformed, sadistic, megalomaniacal monster. Subsequent Batman animated series have alternately featured the deformed Penguin and a more traditional version.

The deformed version of the character has also appeared in comics, most notably in the miniseries Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory. He only appears for a minor cameo at the end of the Long Halloween, and has no lines. He plays a slightly more notable role in Dark Victory, when Batman goes to him for information. This incarnation also added elements of the 1966 TV series character, as he shouted the well known "waugh waugh" while talking.

Character history
Born Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin was teased very much in childhood due to his short stature, obesity, and bird-like nose. These traits made him an outcast in his rich, high society family. Their rejection drove him to become a violent criminal. One story claims the Penguin and his mother owned a pet shop, and he became a criminal after neighborhood bullies murdered all the animals in the shop, including his beloved birds. In keeping with his family's tradition of wealth, the Penguin lives a life of crime and evil, yet executes it with his own self-proclaimed class and style. He commits crimes with the theme of the various birds he loves.

Unlike most of the Batman villains, The Penguin is a gentleman villain, in control of his own actions and perfectly sane, features that serve to maintain a unique relationship with his archenemy, Batman. This has extended into the current situation with The Penguin ceasing his direct involvement in crime, instead running a nightclub that is popular with the underworld. 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. During the period when Gotham City was leveled by an earthquake, he was one of the major players in the mostly-abandoned and lawless city, using his connections (one was eventually discovered to be tied to Lex Luthor and his company) to sell necessities at outrageous prices (See also: "No Man's Land").



The Penguin's trademarks are the various deadly umbrellas he uses to execute his evil plans. Several stories affirm that he was forced as a child to always carry an umbrella by his over-protective mother, due to his father dying of pneumonia after being drenched in a downpour. In keeping with his pretensions of being a refined gentleman, he also prefers to wear formal wear such as a top hat and tuxedo during his jobs.

The Penguin received his alias from a childhood nickname, bestowed by his peers, who teased him because of his grotesque appearance and love of birds (retellings of his origin suggest he also suffered from some sort of hip ailment, which caused him to waddle when he walked. The Penguin shows no signs of suffering from this affliction today). Some comics suggest that he tried to abandon the nickname, which he hates, but it has been permanently brought into popularity by his high-profile criminal career. He has cashed in on its popularity with his "Iceberg Lounge" night club.

In the 1960s TV Batman series, the only available information on his early life is that he was once an actor. One of his catchphrases was "Great Quivering Icebergs." Although called a "Pompous waddling master of foul play", Penguin thinks of himself as an "Aristocrat of Crime." On one episode, when Penguin tried to get himself taken back into prison by committing obvious crimes as part of a greater plan, he is furious when the Batman has him locked up in the city jail as a "common criminal" for violating a Gotham City ordinance. Penguin's thugs wear black bowlers with dark clothing with names of various animals of prey being either birds ("Hawk") or fish ("Shark").

One Year Later
While the Penguin is away from Gotham City, the Great White and Tally Man kill many of the villains who worked for Penguin, and framed Harvey Dent. Great White had planned to take over Gotham's criminal syndicate and weaken all his competition - Penguin included. Upon his return to Gotham, the Penguin continues to claim that he has gone 'straight' and has reopened the Iceburg Lounge nightclub, selling overpriced penguin merchandise. He urges the Riddler to avoid crime, as it's more lucrative in their current, non-criminal lifestyle.

Batman Returns
In Batman Returns, The Penguin was portrayed by Danny DeVito. Director Tim Burton, inspired by the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, re-imagined the character not as an eloquent gentleman of crime, but a physically deformed lunatic with a childhood trauma. While this Penguin retained a number of trademarks, particularly the variety of trick umbrellas and the use of a monocle, he was given a huge visual makeover. His hands were now flippers, with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. Where the comic version had varied between a full head of hair and varying degrees of thinning, this Penguin was bald, with his remaining length of hair long and stringy. Instead of a tuxedo, he wore a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit, with a jabot as opposed to a bow tie. Other instances show him in black boots, a bib-like cloth around his neck, and something akin to a child's blanket sleeper, or the old long john-style underwear of the 1800s. Combined with his long dark coat/robe, the full white front of the bodysuit gave him an even more penguin-like appearance. One visual aspect that remained fairly intact in this re-imagining was the familiar top hat. Another new touch was his large yellow duck vehicle, which had the triple functionality of being a boat, a car, and an elevator-like lift.

At the beginning of the film The Penguin's origin story was retold. While he was still born disfigured, his wealthy parents (whose hatred for their child was kept from the comics) tried to get rid of their son. However, the Cobblepot child survived and, after floating down Gotham's sewers and under the city zoo, he was taken in by a group of penguins and, eventually, joined a circus freak show. Years later, The Penguin developed both a partnership with evil millionaire Max Shreck and unrequited lust for Catwoman. The Penguin became a hero to Gotham City when he rescued the Mayor's infant son from a member of the Red Triangle Gang (who, of course, was working for him.) He then ran for Mayor and framed Batman for a murder. Batman eventually learns that the Penguin's run for mayor is a cover for his true intentions: to kidnap and murder every first-born child in Gotham City as a twisted act of revenge for being abandoned as a child.

Batman foiled the Penguin's plans by recording one of his tirades against the city and playing it in front a crowd. In a final, desperate act, the Penguin tried to destroy Gotham with missiles launched from the backs of penguins. Thwarted once again, Penguin battled Batman, but crashed through a plate-glass window and fell back into the waters of his sewer home. Soon after Max Shreck died at Catwoman's hands and Catwoman herself escaped, Penguin rose from the water but died almost immediately afterwards. His fellow penguins lined up and slowly slid his corpse down back into the sewer water, sending him to a watery grave.

The Dark Knight
In response to speculation that the Penguin, with Phillip Seymour Hoffman approached for the role, would have a small role as a British arms dealer in the sequel to Batman Begins titled The Dark Knight, franchise director Christopher Nolan said he considered the character difficult to portray on film, explaining, "There are certain characters that are easier to mesh with the more real take on Batman we're doing." Freeze Dried Movies has however reported that the character will have a small role in the upcoming film, and a larger role in the third installment.

Batman (1960s TV series)
The Penguin was played by Burgess Meredith in the Batman television series of the 1960s and the spin-off movie. A largely campy interpretation, Meredith's performance is perhaps best remembered through his signature laugh, meant to mimic the squawk of a penguin. One cause of the laugh was the smoke from the cigarettes the character smoked, which irritated Meredith's throat (he had already quit smoking in real life). A notable scene involves Penguin having Batman and Robin dangled over a pit of acid while he runs to "get help" as both a ploy to remove his enemies and gain some positive press as a good Samaritan	. On Late Night with Conan O'Brian, Dick Cheney is often played in fake TV movies by Meredith's Penguin. Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, also frequently uses Meredith's Penguin laugh to imitate Cheney.

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.

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians
The Penguin appeared in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, where he gained Superman's superpowers by accident when Felix Faust tried to get them for himself. Ironically, Batman was not featured in the episode. This version of the Penguin was voiced by Frank Welker.

Scooby-Doo
Along with the Joker, Penguin was one of the villains from the memorable The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode, "Scooby-Doo Meets Batman and Robin".



Batman: The Animated Series
When Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992, The Penguin was voiced by Paul Williams. Due to the close relation in time between the movie and the animated series, the freakish look of the deformed Penguin remained, though toned down some. While physically altered, The Penguin returned to the gentleman of crime of the comics, fancying himself a high society elite.

In the 1997's follow-up to the original animated series, The New Batman Adventures, The Penguin lost his deformed appearance, regaining his five-fingered hands and losing his hunched back (although, like the other changes characters underwent, this was not a story point, but merely a new artistic interpretation of the character). His new appearance also saw him return to a role more similar to the one in the comic books: a "legitimate" businessman and mob boss that ran a night club called the "Iceberg Lounge". (This was in deference to the character's re-imaging by comics writer Chuck Dixon)

He also appeared in Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman as the main villain, this time voiced by David Ogden Stiers because Stiers provided a more menacing tone to Penguin's voice.

The Batman
The character has also appeared on The Batman, voiced by Tom Kenny, restored again to his deformed look. However, despite his long sharp nose, fangs and flipper hands, no comments are ever passed by other characters about his appearance. It's possible his deformity is public knowledge and dismissed as just another type of birth defect. Some say he's the youngest incarnation of the Penguin yet. In this continuity, The Penguin is primarily concerned with reestablishing the Cobblepot family name in society by stealing from the citizens of Gotham to rebuild his wealth. The Penguin in this incarnation is often rude, clumsy and unintelligent, his speech often peppered with confused squawks. He does however posses a few of his key personality traits from the comics and earlier animated series, such as his enormous greed and his way of considering himself a high society elite (despite, in reality, being a wanted criminal).

This Penguin is arguably a fusion of Burton's concept of the character as a deformed outcast and the refined, eloquent gentleman of the comics, desiring nothing more than to regain the respect and prestige he believes is rightfully his, and is very jealous of Bruce Wayne, but retains much of the crudity and vulgarity of Burton's Penguin, who displayed lechery at some points in the film.

He is sometimes aided by two henchwomen: a masked pair called the Kabuki Twins (although their names have never been mentioned in the show). In addition, it is clear that he also knows some form of martial arts, and is athletic enough to engage in hand-to-hand combat with The Batman, dodging and parrying with his various trick bumbershoots. He also seems to be in a rivalry with The Joker for the title of Gotham's most dangerous criminal. This Penguin also regards Bruce Wayne as a personal enemy and has held him hostage on multiple occasions (though he is unaware of Wayne's alter ego). In one episode, he even manages to infiltrate Wayne Manor, though does not discover the Batcave. He also has a grudge against Alfred, due to the Pennyworths having left the service of the Cobblepots generations ago.

In the episode "The Icy Depths", it was revealed that one of Oswald's disgraced ancestors stole the British crown jewels. The complex map to their location was hidden in a trick umbrella, suggesting this gimmick is a family tradition.

In "Team Penguin," he assembles a team of Gotham's villains including Killer Croc, Firefly, Ragdoll, and Killer Moth.

Unused concept art from the show indicates that a more classic version of the Penguin was considered.

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 1960s TV series and is assisted by miniature penguin robots. The Lego is also a great depiction of the Batcave.

He also appears in the Batman Lego promotional video. He's the final crook to be caught (after Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, and Joker).

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 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 beacuse it was tight on villains, but the storyboards for his animated cutscene are displayed in Paul Dini's book, Batman Animated.