The Penguin
PenguinThe Flying Penguin || Supervillain || Written by Alexia Laurent
real name. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot
main alias. The Penguin
affilations. Formerly League of Villainy, Secret Society of Super-Villains
base of operations. Metropolis, New York
gender. Male
height. 5' 2"
weight. 175 lbs (79 kg)
eyes. Blue
hair. Black
Before Batman's first official appearance in Gotham, Cobblepot was a rising crime lord; one of his specialties was weapon deals, which he conducted on his personal blimp. Becoming a good business partner with Luca Falcone, Cobblepot became a weapons smuggler.
During Batman's first year in Gotham, Cobblepot was working as a bartender for Carmine Falcone and wanted to move up in Gotham's underworld. He approached Batman in hopes of becoming an informant to help him bring down the Falcone empire. After a year of working together, Batman managed to deal a severe blow to Falcone's operations. After Falcone was arrested, Oswald purchased the bar he worked at and converted it into the Iceberg Lounge. After Oswald murdered one of his bouncers, Batman began to suspect that Cobblepot was using their relationship against him. When Batman found proof that Oswald had committed the murder, he confronted Cobblepot and the two fought. After Cobblepot spent a few months in Arkham, Oswald hired The Help to figure out Batman's identity, which he ultimately deduced once he reviewed bank records connected to Bruce Wayne.
During the second year of Batman's career, Penguin was still not the master of Gotham's underworld he would one day become. A lieutenant in Carmine Falcone's operation, Penguin was contacted by the actor Basil Karlo for a less-than-legal edge he could use to make him stand out in the acting world. Cobblepot made him an offer of a magical piece of clay he had gotten his hands on in exchange for Karlo acting as one of his henchmen. Karlo agreed, and the piece of clay transformed him into the Gotham criminal Clayface.
Once again, during Batman's second year, Penguin became entangled in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles" between the Joker and the Riddler for the right to kill Batman. The Joker, seeing an opportunity to commandeer Carmine Falcone's operations to bolster his own army, ousted Gotham's strongest crime lord and sent him into retirement. With Falcone's cronies now all belonging to the Joker, Penguin, among them, became a member of the clown's army against Riddler.
Penguin, as well as Joker, Riddler and Catwoman, was contacted by the Designer - a new criminal in Gotham who volunteered to make their wildest schemes a reality. Penguin, buying into it, asked the Designer for an army of assassins and a mayoral campaign - so he could rule Gotham politically as well. However, the Joker caused the whole deal to fall apart and seemingly killed the Designer, and the villains burned down his base to leave no trace.
After the death of Batman's second Robin, a boy named Tim tried to get Batman's attention and become his new sidekick. To do so, Tim pursued the Penguin, but in doing so, he caused Cobblepot to target Tim and his family. Though Tim successfully caught Batman's attention and was eventually trained to become the hero Red Robin, he and his family were forced into witness protection to avoid the Penguin's ire, with Tim using his middle name as his last name - Drake.
Not long after the grand reopening of the Iceberg Casino, Cobblepot began a new scheme by reaching out to new villains in Gotham who were willing to pay to work with him. Penguin decided to use the money to fund corrupt Mayor Sebastian Hady's re-election campaign and bribe other officials into backing out. However, with such a large sum of money on the line, criminals Jill Hampton and Snakeskin made a play to steal it from Penguin, double-crossing each other and making separate deals with Penguin, only to have the entire operation stopped by Batman. As a result, Cobblepot's reputation was damaged.
On the Night of the Owls, Cobblepot was among the list of important Gotham citizens to be assassinated, as determined by the Court of Owls. The Talon that had been assigned to kill him ambushed Penguin in his office in the Iceberg Casino, only to discover that, coincidentally, Cobblepot had the assassin's missing antique knife in his collection - having purchased it because it was bird-themed. The assassination attempt was stopped by Catwoman, who, again coincidentally, planned to rob the Penguin that night and saved his life. For this, Penguin offered her one free favour she could cash in whenever she wanted.
When the Joker returned to Gotham wearing his own severed face skin as a mask with the intention of getting all of Batman's rogues together to kill the Dark Knight's allies, the Penguin was among the first criminals he contacted. The Joker tricked the Penguin and his men into going to a remote church outside Gotham, where the clown had murdered an extensive collection of lieutenants from the Penguin's rival gangs using the man's own gun umbrella. The Joker threatened to blame all the murders on Penguin if the crimelord refused to play into his scheme. Oswald hesitantly agreed and was assigned the position of "bishop" in Batman's court of villains - because Penguin was the indisputable leader in the "religion of organised crime" in Gotham.
While he was indisposed with the Joker's plan, the Penguin left his operations under the control of his long-time and most trusted lieutenant, Ignatius Ogilvy, who used the opportunity to betray the Penguin, declare him dead, and announce himself as the new leader of the Penguin's empire under the name "Emperor Penguin".
Once he was done with the clown's scheme, which ultimately failed to kill any of Batman's allies, the Penguin returned to the Iceberg Casino to discover the coup. Furious, the Penguin attacked Ogilvy but was caught by Batman before he could reclaim his place. Ogilvy ran the empire for a time, with one of his plots releasing Kirk Langstrom's Man-Bat Serum on a district of Gotham, turning a group of citizens into man-bats. To counter Batman himself, Ogilvy also took the serum, with additional experimentation by Poison Ivy, transforming him into a blue monster. With his new powers, Ogilvy managed to defeat Batman in a one-on-one fight, and the Bat was only saved by Penguin's intervention. The bat and the bird forged a temporary alliance, defeating Ogilvy, allowing Penguin to reclaim his place at the top of the underworld.
☂︎ Demonic Physiology
☂︎ Qi Absorption
☂︎ Claws
☂︎ Fangs
☂︎ Superhuman Durability
☂︎ Superhuman Strength
☂︎ Transformation
☂︎ Fangs
☂︎ Superhuman Strength
☂︎ Talons
☂︎ Wings
☂︎ Flight
✦ Abilities
☂︎ Animal Training
☂︎Business Management
☂︎ Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic).
☂︎ Leadership
☂︎ Interrogation
☂︎ Intimidation
☂︎ Multilingualism
☂︎ Tactical Analysis
☂︎ Gadgetry
☂︎ Genius Level Intellect
☂︎ Firearms
☂︎ Swordsmanship
✦ Other Characteristics
☂︎ Mental Disorder
☂︎ Monstrous Appearance
main alias. The Penguin
affilations. Formerly League of Villainy, Secret Society of Super-Villains
base of operations. Metropolis, New York
gender. Male
height. 5' 2"
weight. 175 lbs (79 kg)
eyes. Blue
hair. Black
‣ Penguin's History
Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot was born to Tucker and Esther Cobblepot in 1970. Oswald was born with a birth defect that gave him a uniquely beak-like nose that horrified his father so much that the man dropped him on the ground moments after birth. Tucker Cobblepot would go on to hate his son for his appearance for the rest of his life, despite Esther showing unconditional love.Before Batman's first official appearance in Gotham, Cobblepot was a rising crime lord; one of his specialties was weapon deals, which he conducted on his personal blimp. Becoming a good business partner with Luca Falcone, Cobblepot became a weapons smuggler.
During Batman's first year in Gotham, Cobblepot was working as a bartender for Carmine Falcone and wanted to move up in Gotham's underworld. He approached Batman in hopes of becoming an informant to help him bring down the Falcone empire. After a year of working together, Batman managed to deal a severe blow to Falcone's operations. After Falcone was arrested, Oswald purchased the bar he worked at and converted it into the Iceberg Lounge. After Oswald murdered one of his bouncers, Batman began to suspect that Cobblepot was using their relationship against him. When Batman found proof that Oswald had committed the murder, he confronted Cobblepot and the two fought. After Cobblepot spent a few months in Arkham, Oswald hired The Help to figure out Batman's identity, which he ultimately deduced once he reviewed bank records connected to Bruce Wayne.
During the second year of Batman's career, Penguin was still not the master of Gotham's underworld he would one day become. A lieutenant in Carmine Falcone's operation, Penguin was contacted by the actor Basil Karlo for a less-than-legal edge he could use to make him stand out in the acting world. Cobblepot made him an offer of a magical piece of clay he had gotten his hands on in exchange for Karlo acting as one of his henchmen. Karlo agreed, and the piece of clay transformed him into the Gotham criminal Clayface.
Once again, during Batman's second year, Penguin became entangled in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles" between the Joker and the Riddler for the right to kill Batman. The Joker, seeing an opportunity to commandeer Carmine Falcone's operations to bolster his own army, ousted Gotham's strongest crime lord and sent him into retirement. With Falcone's cronies now all belonging to the Joker, Penguin, among them, became a member of the clown's army against Riddler.
Penguin, as well as Joker, Riddler and Catwoman, was contacted by the Designer - a new criminal in Gotham who volunteered to make their wildest schemes a reality. Penguin, buying into it, asked the Designer for an army of assassins and a mayoral campaign - so he could rule Gotham politically as well. However, the Joker caused the whole deal to fall apart and seemingly killed the Designer, and the villains burned down his base to leave no trace.
After the death of Batman's second Robin, a boy named Tim tried to get Batman's attention and become his new sidekick. To do so, Tim pursued the Penguin, but in doing so, he caused Cobblepot to target Tim and his family. Though Tim successfully caught Batman's attention and was eventually trained to become the hero Red Robin, he and his family were forced into witness protection to avoid the Penguin's ire, with Tim using his middle name as his last name - Drake.
Not long after the grand reopening of the Iceberg Casino, Cobblepot began a new scheme by reaching out to new villains in Gotham who were willing to pay to work with him. Penguin decided to use the money to fund corrupt Mayor Sebastian Hady's re-election campaign and bribe other officials into backing out. However, with such a large sum of money on the line, criminals Jill Hampton and Snakeskin made a play to steal it from Penguin, double-crossing each other and making separate deals with Penguin, only to have the entire operation stopped by Batman. As a result, Cobblepot's reputation was damaged.
On the Night of the Owls, Cobblepot was among the list of important Gotham citizens to be assassinated, as determined by the Court of Owls. The Talon that had been assigned to kill him ambushed Penguin in his office in the Iceberg Casino, only to discover that, coincidentally, Cobblepot had the assassin's missing antique knife in his collection - having purchased it because it was bird-themed. The assassination attempt was stopped by Catwoman, who, again coincidentally, planned to rob the Penguin that night and saved his life. For this, Penguin offered her one free favour she could cash in whenever she wanted.
When the Joker returned to Gotham wearing his own severed face skin as a mask with the intention of getting all of Batman's rogues together to kill the Dark Knight's allies, the Penguin was among the first criminals he contacted. The Joker tricked the Penguin and his men into going to a remote church outside Gotham, where the clown had murdered an extensive collection of lieutenants from the Penguin's rival gangs using the man's own gun umbrella. The Joker threatened to blame all the murders on Penguin if the crimelord refused to play into his scheme. Oswald hesitantly agreed and was assigned the position of "bishop" in Batman's court of villains - because Penguin was the indisputable leader in the "religion of organised crime" in Gotham.
While he was indisposed with the Joker's plan, the Penguin left his operations under the control of his long-time and most trusted lieutenant, Ignatius Ogilvy, who used the opportunity to betray the Penguin, declare him dead, and announce himself as the new leader of the Penguin's empire under the name "Emperor Penguin".
Once he was done with the clown's scheme, which ultimately failed to kill any of Batman's allies, the Penguin returned to the Iceberg Casino to discover the coup. Furious, the Penguin attacked Ogilvy but was caught by Batman before he could reclaim his place. Ogilvy ran the empire for a time, with one of his plots releasing Kirk Langstrom's Man-Bat Serum on a district of Gotham, turning a group of citizens into man-bats. To counter Batman himself, Ogilvy also took the serum, with additional experimentation by Poison Ivy, transforming him into a blue monster. With his new powers, Ogilvy managed to defeat Batman in a one-on-one fight, and the Bat was only saved by Penguin's intervention. The bat and the bird forged a temporary alliance, defeating Ogilvy, allowing Penguin to reclaim his place at the top of the underworld.
‣ Penguin's Abilities
✦ Penguin's Powers and Abilities consist of:☂︎ Demonic Physiology
☂︎ Qi Absorption
☂︎ Claws
☂︎ Fangs
☂︎ Superhuman Durability
☂︎ Superhuman Strength
☂︎ Transformation
☂︎ Fangs
☂︎ Superhuman Strength
☂︎ Talons
☂︎ Wings
☂︎ Flight
✦ Abilities
☂︎ Animal Training
☂︎Business Management
☂︎ Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic).
☂︎ Leadership
☂︎ Interrogation
☂︎ Intimidation
☂︎ Multilingualism
☂︎ Tactical Analysis
☂︎ Gadgetry
☂︎ Genius Level Intellect
☂︎ Firearms
☂︎ Swordsmanship
✦ Other Characteristics
☂︎ Mental Disorder
☂︎ Monstrous Appearance