Nobody Respected The Penguin | The Batman (2004)

[00:00:00]One of the reasons why Batman and his villains have endured for so long is their adaptability. When you look over the long history, you can see a clear pattern of characters growing and developing. They rarely remain static.

[00:00:11]And while it's true that some characterizations don't stick around forever, I still miss Paul Dini's private detective version of the Riddler. Some changes are stickier than others. Case in point, let's look at the Penguin. Now, when it comes to the Penguin, no one has been more influential on the character than director Tim Burton. He took the waddling bird-obsessed bank robber from the comics and the 1960s TV series and turned him into a disturbing mutant penguin man living in Gotham sewers.

[00:00:36]While not everyone loved that [music] tonal shift, the Batman: The Animated Series version begrudgingly aligned with Burton's design until they were free to do their own thing. Their successor, 2004's The Batman, took Burton's ball and ran with it. But before getting to that, let's first talk about the Penguin's history just so you can see how malleable the character has been.

[00:00:56]The Penguin debuted in Detective Comics number 58, published in 1941. He was introduced as a mysterious short, plump criminal genius in a tuxedo. He was more of a parody of oddball high society figures initially. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot went by a number of aliases and feared what might happen if his well-to-do family found out about his criminal escapades. Driven by his physical limitations, he relied on wits and a deadly array of weaponized umbrellas that sprayed [music] poison gas or liquid fire or contained hidden blades. In the late 1950s, when DC softened their output to placate regulators, the Penguin's gadgets shifted to less deadly forms like nets [music] or hypnotizers. This version of the character was popularized by Burgess Meredith in the 1960s TV show, as well as cartoons like 1968's The Adventures of Batman and 1977's The New Adventures of Batman. While these adaptations were accurate to the comics of the time, they're not widely considered to be the best version of the Penguin.

[00:01:50]Everything changed for him in 1992 when Batman Returns was released, though.

[00:01:53]Director Tim Burton reimagined the Penguin as a grotesque, tragic fairy tale figure, the Penguin man of the sewers. He was absolutely repulsive and about as far as you could get from what had come in the comics before. And when Batman: The Animated Series went into production around the same time, they originally wanted a classic, cerebral, Golden Age Penguin with mother issues.

[00:02:12]However, Warner Brothers executives mandated that the cartoon must synergize with Danny DeVito's grotesque mutant flipper-handed look. Not wanting to rock the boat, they complied. But as a result, they were reluctant to give Penguin Now, because of the movie hype, freelance writers flooded the studio with sub-par quaint bird-themed robbery scripts like I've Got Batman in My Basement and about a dozen others like it that were rejected. The issue with their Penguin was that he lacked clear, emotionally deep motivations compared to tragic titans like Two-Face or Mr. Freeze. Their Penguin worked best when he was a tertiary character among other rogues like in Almost Got 'Im and The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne. With the reduced screen time, the writers didn't need to worry about fleshing him out too much and just focus on what he brought to the plot. Having said that, there was [music] one Penguin episode that attempted to make him a more sympathetic figure. Birds of a Feather connected the Penguin to a major underlying theme of the show, how society creates its own monsters by rejecting anyone who doesn't conform to prevailing beauty standards.

[00:03:09]See also Killer Croc, Baby Doll, Clayface, Calendar Girl, Two-Face, and so on. I did a whole video about this episode which I've linked to in the info button, so add that to your watch later list if the subject interests you. But in short, it called back to the Penguin's high society roots and how he was desperate to be part of the it crowd. Obviously, things went horribly wrong, but if you want to hear more, check out the linked to video. By the time of The New Batman Adventures in 1997, years after Tim Burton had departed, the crew were free to redesign the Penguin and get him back to how they had originally wanted him to look. He was a wealthy club owner that moonlit as a fence, selling stolen goods or smuggling weapons. Though visually and conceptually great, he was strictly relegated to a supporting villain rather than leading any stories of his own.

[00:03:49]>> [music] >> Now, when The Batman began airing in 2004, the writers practically decided to do the opposite of Batman: The Animated Series. That show was intended to be a challenging, dark show that pushed [music] boundaries. Meanwhile, the producers on The Batman wanted to make a fun adventure cartoon that small children could enjoy without having to think too much. That lighter baseline meant that when they did delve into heavier topics like Detective Ethan Bennett's tragic descent into Clayface, the emotional gut punch had more impact.

[00:04:19]But that aside, one of their brightest ideas was to take the mutant version of the Penguin that The Batman crew had rejected and fully embraced him.

[00:04:29]And they clearly loved that version of the Penguin, and they used him in over a dozen episodes. He was the second most used villain right after the Joker. So, he's pretty high-profile, but it does mean that there isn't time to discuss every single episode he was used in in this video. I'd be here all day. Now, the first great idea they had was to take inspiration from a rockhopper [music] penguin. Their version of the Penguin is a portly, grotesque figure, but he has actively trained his body into top fighting form. Oswald Cobblepot is presented as a reflection of Bruce Wayne, someone with a wealthy background, one of Gotham's elites, but his family squandered their fortune.

[00:05:02]What's more, Alfred's [music] grandfather served the Cobblepots in England, raising Alfred on stories of their cruelty. When Oswald returns to Gotham after years in exile, he comes with his pair of silent Kabuki [music] twins who act as his bodyguards. Now, I have to assume that these characters were added to provide an additional layer of threat and menace with their razor-sharp claws hidden under their kimonos.

[00:05:23]After returning to Gotham broke, Oswald crashes a Wayne Manor charity event to steal a high-society guest list. He wants to find a list of targets to rob to restore the Cobblepot family fortune, but completely misses the point that stealing to become rich is a pretty crash thing [music] to do. Although, looking back at history, most of the aristocracy got their wealth by stealing, enslaving, or double-crossing other people, so maybe that's perfectly in keeping with of lineage. While other rogues target Batman, [music] Penguin's true venom is primarily aimed at Bruce Wayne, who is a constant reminder of the popularity, looks, and respect that Oswald could never have. And he's deeply ashamed of his lot in life, although he takes no blame for it. It's always someone else's fault that he fails.

[00:06:01]Oswald has no code of honor compared to the Btas version. When he teams up with villain, he almost always double-crosses them. When he paired up with Catwoman, he pretended to be besotted with her just to get her to underestimate him so that he could more easily betray her. In a later episode, he recruits Firefly, Killer Croc, Ragdoll, and Killer Moth after the Joker and Riddler rejected him, and ultimately leaves most of his crew to be caught by Batman. All he cares about is power and being in control.

[00:06:27]Despite his diminutive stature and his unique appearance, he has a very high opinion of himself, and frankly, it's unjustified. He's far from a criminal mastermind. He's actually kind of dim-witted and gets caught up in his own ego more often than not. While he sometimes pairs up with more high-profile villains like the Joker, at the end of the day, he envies them. Deep down, he must know that at his core, he is a seal-tier villain at best. He likes to think of himself as the boss, as someone that other rogues can look up to, but ultimately, he doesn't have the necessary intelligence or charisma. And this is perfectly demonstrated in The Batman vs. Dracula, [music] where Penguin accidentally revives Dracula in a desperate attempt to get lost treasure before the Joker does. Comically, he is easily hypnotized into becoming Dracula's servant while Joker has to be turned into a vampire before falling under Dracula's control. It's very funny to watch him running around as this version of [music] Dracula's Renfield, pottering around only concerning himself with his master's every whim and desire.

[00:07:22]Ironically, at the film's conclusion, he is one of only four people in Gotham alongside Bruce, Alfred, and Vicki Vale to remember the truth of the vampire invasion, and no one [music] will believe him. Instead, they blame him for everything and cart him off to Arkham.

[00:07:33]He is Gotham's villainous [music] punching bag, trapped in a cycle of cosmic irony where he suffers all the consequences of the city's darkest threats, but receives absolutely none of the respect. For all of his personal flaws, he is arguably the most versatile villain of the show. Across the five seasons, his stories involve hunting for lost treasure, hypnotizing Man-Bat with a sonic device, accidentally wielding a Green Lantern ring, getting trapped by Poison Ivy, and fighting alongside the GCPD, Joker, and Mr. Freeze to shoot down alien invaders during the Joining.

[00:08:03]While older audiences, myself included, might prefer the dark gravity of Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman succeeded where most other shows failed.

[00:08:13]It took a villain the BTAS writers openly admitted they hated writing for, gave him a direct personal link to Alfred, a bitter psychological rivalry with Bruce Wayne, and a lethal physical presence. By leaning into the stylized action-heavy tone of a cartoon meant for a new generation, The Batman stopped treating the Penguin like an [music] embarrassing bird gimmick afterthought, and finally made him a premier, unforgettable threat.

[00:08:38]But, where do you stand on the great Penguin debate? Do you prefer the sophisticated club-owning criminal fence from The New Batman Adventures, or do you have a soft spot for this high-kicking, aristocratic punching bag from 2004? And hey, maybe some of you absolutely love BTAS's version of the Penguin, and you know what? More power to you. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Special thanks, as ever, to my people, my channel members.

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