The Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The Penguin is one of Batman's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.
The Penguin is a Gotham City mobster who fancies himself the number one "Gentleman of Crime". He is most often seen wearing a monocle, top hat, and morning suit while carrying his signature umbrella. The character appears most times as a short, fat man with a long nose. Penguin uses high-tech umbrellas as different tools. His umbrellas have been used as guns, gas, swords/knives, a mini-helicopter and many other unconventional tools. The Penguin owns and runs a nightclub called the Iceberg Lounge which provides a cover for his criminal activity. Batman sometimes uses the nightclub as a source of criminal underworld information. Unlike most of Batman's rogues gallery, the Penguin is completely sane and in full control of his actions, giving him a unique relationship with Batman. According to his creator Bob Kane, the character was inspired by the advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes in the 1940s; a penguin with a top hat and cane. However, similarities have been found between Penguin's design and the appearance of the Dick Tracy character Broadway Bates, who was introduced in 1932. Co-creator Bill Finger thought that the image of high-society gentlemen in tuxedos was reminiscent of emperor penguins. His main color is usually purple.
The Penguin has repeatedly been named one of the best Batman villains and one of the greatest villains in comics. Penguin was ranked #51 in IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. The character has been featured in various media adaptations, including feature films, television series, and video games. For example, the Penguin has been voiced by Paul Williams and David Ogden Stiers in the DC Animated Universe, Tom Kenny in The Batman, Nolan North in the Batman: Arkham video game series and Elias Toufexis in Gotham Knights. His live-action portrayals include Burgess Meredith in the 1960s Batman television series and its spin-off film, Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, Robin Lord Taylor in the television series Gotham, and Colin Farrell in the film The Batman, as well as the character's upcoming eponymous television series on Max.
Publication history
The Penguin made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The character is set to receive his first solo title as a part of the Dawn of DC initiative, with the book being written by Tom King and drawn by Rafael de Latorre.
Fictional character biography
Golden Age
Originally known only by his alias, the Penguin first appeared in Gotham City as a skilled thief, sneaking a pair of priceless paintings (valued at $250,000 in 1941 dollars) out of an art museum by hiding the rolled-up canvases in the handle of his umbrella. The Penguin later used the stolen paintings as proof of his underworld acumen to a local mob boss, who allowed him to join his crime family. With the Penguin's planning, the mob pulled off a string of ingenious heists. The "be-monocled bird" and the mobster eventually fell out, leading Cobblepot to kill him with his umbrella gun. The Penguin became the leader of the mob and attempted to neutralize Batman by framing him for the theft of a statue which Penguin, himself, had stolen. As part of the plot, Penguin actually already owned the statue and was framing Batman and Robin to commit insurance fraud. The Penguin's plans were eventually prevented, but the bandit himself escaped.
Penguin was later sighted at the time when Dick Grayson was traveling on a train. Batman and Robin found out that he was getting reward money for turning in criminals that he later sprung from prison. While Batman and Robin defeated the criminals during the conflict, Penguin fell into the Mississippi River.<ref>Detective Comics #59. DC Comics.</ref>
Penguin made his way to Florida where he set up a gambling operation with Joe Crow, Buzzard Benny, and Canary where the patrons would win big and then they would be followed by Penguin's henchmen so that they can rob them. Batman and Robin put an end to the gambling operation, but Penguin got away.
Penguin later utilized some exotic birds to assist in his crime spree. Batman and Robin stopped this crime spree, but Penguin got away again.
