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Real name Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot (véritable identité)

The Penguin or Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger introduced the character in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941). 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 depicted as being short and portly, and he is known for his love of birds and his specialized high-tech umbrellas. A mobster and thief, he fancies himself as being a "gentleman of crime"; his nightclub business provides a cover for criminal activity, which Batman sometimes uses as a source of criminal underworld information. According to Kane the character was inspired from the then advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes – a penguin with a top hat and cane. Finger thought the image of high-society gentlemen in tuxedos was reminiscent of emperor penguins.

Burgess Meredith portrayed the Penguin in the 1960s Batman television series and its movie. Danny DeVito played a darker, more grotesque version in the 1992 film Batman Returns. Subsequent Batman animated series featured him in depictions that alternated between deformed outcast and high-profile aristocrat. The former interpretation appeared in comics, most notably in the miniseries Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequel Dark Victory. He made a cameo appearance at the end of the Long Halloween with no lines. He had a slightly more notable role in Dark Victory – this incarnation included elements of Meredith's interpretation. Robin Lord Taylor currently portrays a young Penguin in the TV series Gotham. The Penguin has repeatedly been named one of the best Batman villains, and one of the greatest villains in comics and, paradoxically, has also been described by others as among the least convincing. Penguin was ranked #51 in IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time.

Unlike most of Batman's rogues gallery, the Penguin is in control of his actions and perfectly sane, features that help him maintain a unique relationship with the crime-fighter. His latest characterization has him running a nightclub and casino that is popular with the underworld. Batman comes to tolerate his operations so long as the Penguin remains one of his informants. The entrepreneurial Penguin often fences stolen property or arranges early prison furloughs for a hefty fee.

Biography

Born Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin was bullied as a child for his short stature, weight, and beak-like nose. Several stories relate that he was forced as a child to always carry an umbrella by his overprotective mother due to his father's death from pneumonia after a drenching. His mother owned pet birds that Cobblepot lavished with attention, and served as his only friends growing up. His love for birds would eventually lead him to obtaining an Ornithology major in college. In some versions, Cobblepot turns to crime after his mother dies and the birds are repossessed to pay his mother's debts; in others, he is an outcast in his high society family and their rejection drives him to become a criminal. In keeping with his origins, the Penguin pursues his criminal career with class: He prefers formal wear such as a top hat, monocle, and tuxedo.

Pre-Crisis
Originally known only by his alias, the Penguin first appeared in Gotham City as a skilled thief, sneaking a priceless painting out of the museum by hiding the rolled-up canvas in the handle of his umbrella. The Penguin later used the canvas as proof of his intellect to a local mob, which he was then allowed to join. With the Penguin's help, the mob pulled off a string of ingenious heists, but the mob's leader and the "be-monocled bird" eventually fell out, leading Cobblepot to kill him with his umbrella gun. The Penguin became leader of the mob and attempted to neutralize Batman by framing him for theft. The Penguin's plans were eventually thwarted, but the bandit himself escaped.

The Penguin was a persistent nemesis for Batman and Robin throughout the Golden and Silver Ages, pulling off ploy after ploy, such as teaming up with The Joker, attempting to extort money from a shipping company by pretending to flash-freeze a member of its board of directors, and participating in Hugo Strange's auction of Batman's secret identity.

The Penguin made his last appearance during the last appearance of the Earth-One Batman. After he and a multitude of Batman's enemies are broken out of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison by Ra's al Ghul, the Penguin carries out Ra's' plans to kidnap Batman's friends and allies. The Penguin, along with the Joker, the Mad Hatter, Cavalier, Deadshot and Killer Moth, lay siege to Gotham City Police Headquarters, but are infuriated when the Joker sabotages their attempt at holding Commissioner James Gordon for ransom. A standoff ensues, with the Joker on one side and the Penguin and the Mad Hatter on the other. The Joker quickly subdues both with a burst of laughing gas from one of his many gadgets.

Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis rebooting the history of the DC Universe, the Penguin was relegated to sporadic appearances, until writer Alan Grant (who had earlier penned the Penguin origin story "The Killing Peck") and artist Norm Breyfogle brought him back, deadlier than ever. Within the era of the Tim Drake Robin, the Penguin forms a brief partnership with hypnotist Mortimer Kadaver, who helps him fake his own death as a ploy to strike an unsuspecting Gotham. The Penguin later kills Kadaver, after plugging his own ears with toilet paper so that the hypnotist no longer has power over him.

After Batman foils this particular endeavor, the Penguin embarks on one of his grandest schemes in the three-part story "The Penguin Affair". After finding Harold Allnut being tormented by two gang members, the Penguin takes the technologically gifted hunchback in, showing him kindness in exchange for services. Harold builds a gadget that allowed the Penguin to control flocks of birds from miles away, which the Penguin utilizes to destroy radio communications in Gotham and crash a passenger plane. This endeavor, too, is foiled by Batman, who finally hires Harold as his mechanic.

The Penguin resurfaces during Jean Paul Valley's tenure as Batman as one of the few to deduce that Valley is not the original Caped Crusader. To confirm this theory, he kidnaps Sarah Essen Gordon, places her in a death-trap set to go off at midnight, and turns himself in, utilizing the opportunity to mock her husband Commissioner Gordon as midnight approaches. An increasingly infuriated Gordon is nearly driven to throw him off the police headquarters roof before Valley shows up in the nick of time with a rescued Sarah. As Valley left, he commented, "There's nothing the Penguin can throw at me that I haven't encountered before." The Penguin reluctantly agrees with this sentiment, accepting that he has become passé.

Subsequently, the Penguin turned his attentions to a new modus operandus, operating under the front of a legitimate restaurant and casino known as the Iceberg Lounge. Though he is arrested for criminal activities several times during the course of his "reform", he always manages to secure a release from prison thanks to his high-priced lawyers.

During the storyline "No Man's Land", when Gotham City is nearly leveled by an earthquake, the Penguin stays behind when the US government closes down and blockades the city. He becomes one of the major players in the lawless city, using his connections to profit by trading the money that nobody else in Gotham could use for goods through his outer-Gotham contacts. One of these connections is discovered to be Lex Luthor and his company, LexCorp, with Penguin's information helping Luthor's scheme to gain control of Gotham's property records, although he is dismissed from the scheme when his attempts to blackmail Luthor backfire.

The Penguin is swept up in the events of Infinite Crisis. In the limited series' seventh issue, 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, is bowled over at the surprise appearance of Bart Allen.

One Year Later, while the Penguin is away from Gotham City, the Great White Shark and Tally Man kill many of the villains who had worked for him, and frame the reformed Harvey Dent. Great White had planned to take over Gotham's criminal syndicate and eliminate the competition, the Penguin included. Upon his return to Gotham, the Penguin continues to claim that he has gone straight, and reopens the Iceberg, selling overpriced Penguin merchandise. He urges the Riddler to avoid crime, as their new shady but legal lifestyle is more lucrative.

The Penguin was featured as a prominent figure in the Gotham Underground tie-in to the series Countdown. He fights a gang war against Tobias Whale and Intergang while supposedly running an "underground railroad" for criminals. As the Penguin conducts his affairs, Two-Face enters the club and demands to be let in on his underground railroad project. The Penguin tells him to meet him after hours and subsequently brings him into a meeting with several of Gotham's most notorious villains, including Hugo Strange, Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter. Batman, in the disguise of Matches Malone, spies on the meeting from behind a darkened alcove. Suddenly, the Suicide Squad bursts into the room and attacks the assemblage of villains. It is revealed that the Penguin is involved with the Suicide Squad, and that he had set up the other villains to gain the favor of the Squad. The Penguin later meets up with Tobias Whale in order to negotiate with him. The Penguin and Spoiler had assembled gangs like the Bat Killers, who were based on Batman's enemies; the Dead End Boys, based on the Suicide Squad; the Femme Fatales, based on female villains; the Five Points Gang, based on the Fearsome Five; the L.O.D., based on the Legion of Doom to which the Penguin himself had once belonged; and the New Rogues, based on the Rogues. The Penguin and Tobias Whale fight each other as Robin, the Huntress, Batgirl, and the fourth Wildcat all get involved. Even though the Penguin gets the upper hand, Whale reluctantly calls a truce with him to stop Johnny Stitches and Intergang. Johnny Stitches sends the Penguin a package containing the Riddler's glasses and Mr. Jessup's dismembered body. Johnny tells the Penguin that Tobias Whale was no longer on his side. Johnny also mentions that he had threatened the families of those fighting on the Penguin's side, and that he is giving him one day to get out of town. The Intergang then attacks the Iceberg Lounge, only to be foiled by Batman. In return for his help, Batman makes the Penguin become his informant.

The Penguin later loses Batman's support after the latter's mysterious disappearance and Intergang's exploitation of the return of the Apokoliptan Gods. He appears in Battle for the Cowl: The Underground, which portrays the effects of Batman's disappearance on his enemies.

The Penguin's mob is absorbed by Black Mask II, who controls his criminal activities. The Penguin, with the aid of the Mad Hatter, abducts Batman and brainwashes him to assassinate Black Mask.

During the events of Brightest Day, the Birds of Prey discover the Penguin beaten and stabbed at the feet of the White Canary. The Birds rescue him and flee to the Iceberg. While recovering, the Penguin expresses his attraction to Dove. Eventually, the Penguin reveals that his injury had been a ruse, and that he is working with the White Canary in exchange for valuable computer files on the superhero community. He betrays the Birds and seriously injures both Lady Blackhawk and Hawk before the Huntress defeats him. The Huntress tapes him up with the intention of taking him with her, only to be informed by Oracle that she has to let him go due to a police manhunt for the Birds. The Huntress considers killing him with her crossbow, but ultimately leaves him bound and gagged in an alley with the promise that she would exact her vengeance on him later.

The Penguin is eventually attacked by the Secret Six, who kill many of his guards in an ambush at his mansion. Bane informs him that he needs information on Batman's partners, as he plans on killing Red Robin, Batgirl, Catwoman, and Azrael. The Penguin soon betrays the team's location, which results in the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Birds of Prey, the Justice Society, and various other heroes hunting down and capturing the criminals.

Around this time, a new super-villain, who called himself the Architect, plants a bomb in the Iceberg Lounge as revenge for crimes committed by the Penguin's ancestor. Though Blackbat and Robin are able to evacuate the building, the Lounge is destroyed in the ensuing explosion.

The New 52
In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), the Penguin is a client of a criminal named Raju who was sent to offer gold to Dollmaker for Batman's release. While in his Iceberg Casino, the Penguin views a disguised Charlotte Rivers on his surveillance cameras and he tells his henchwoman Lark to make sure Rivers gets "a story to die for". During the Death of the Family crossover, the Penguin puts his right-hand man Ignatius Ogilvy in charge of his operations in his temporary absence. Ogilvy, however, uses the Penguin's absence to declare him dead, taking over his gang and killing those loyal to him. Under the alias of Emperor Penguin, Ogilvy takes over the Penguin's operations. Upon the Joker's defeat, Batman unsuccessfully attempts to imprison the Penguin in Blackgate Penitentiary only to be forced to release him later. Upon learning of Ogilvy's betrayal, the Penguin attacks his former henchman's new empire, but Batman intervenes and arrests him. The Penguin is found not guilty, however, thanks to the machinations of his ally Mr. Combustible. Meanwhile, Ogilvy releases Kirk Langstrom's Man-Bat serum on Gotham City, turning many of the citizens into the creatures. Langstrom discovers a cure, returning the citizens to normal. Ogilvy then takes the serum himself, along with additions made by Poison Ivy. Emperor Penguin then challenges Batman openly to a fight, defeating the masked vigilante with his newfound prowess, and leaving him to be rescued by the Penguin. The pair forge a temporary alliance, and defeat Ogilvy.

The Penguin also played a role in Black Canary's rebooted origin. In Birds of Prey vol. 4 #0, Dinah sought to land a job at Iceberg Lounge, knowing that a lead on the Basilisk organization which she was pursuing would soon spring up there. Unfortunately, the Penguin was not in the habit of taking job applications, so she decided to prove her worth by infiltrating the outfit by herself. When she arrived in the Penguin's bathroom, he was unimpressed. To prove her worth, she demonstrated her special ability: a sonic scream that could shake down the roof, if it were intense enough. Naturally the scream alerted Penguin's henchmen, and she made short work of them with her martial arts skills. Finally impressed, Penguin hired her, and dubbed her Black Canary in keeping with the ornithological theme.

During the Forever Evil storyline, Penguin is among the villains recruited by the Crime Syndicate of America to join the Secret Society of Super Villains. With the heroes gone, Penguin becomes the Mayor of Gotham City and divides the different territories amongst the inmates of Arkham Asylum. Bane retrieves Ignatius Ogilvy (now calling himself Emperor Blackgate) for the Penguin as part of their agreement. When he brings him to the Penguin, he tells Emperor Penguin that the Arkham fighters are not scared of Bane as he does not instill fear as Batman did.