Penguin - SCIFIPEDIA

Penguin

<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Batman Character
The Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot)
The Penguin during the Silver Age
Publisher	DC Comics
Gender	Male
Species	Human
Creator(s)	Bill Finger & Bob Kane
First Appearance	Detective Comics #58 (1941)
Profession	Career Criminal
Affiliations
Special Features	Uses an odd array of deadly weapons and devices hidden in trick umbrellas.

The Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot) is a fictional comic book super-villain owned by DC Comics, a recurring adversary of Batman.

Typically portrayed as short, round and with a beak-like nose and a facination with birds, Oswald has been called the "penguin" all his life. Wanting to appear a refined gentleman, he also sports evening wear (including tuxedos) and smokes using a long cigarette holder, all which also enhances his resemblance to the arctic bird. His famous laugh (Waugh Waugh Waugh) is also very bird like. This laugh was made famous by Burgess Meredith and his portrayal of the character in the Batman (1966 TV Series). When Danny DeVito portrayed him in the movie Batman Returns (1992), the character had deformed arms in the shape of flippers, which you will sometimes see in the comics and animated portrayals released around that time. This is not part of the current DC Universe continuity.

The Penguin began as a bizarre villain, planning and committing crimes that usually had some kind of bird theme. He developed an array of weapons hidden in trick umbrellas. The umbrellas are a holdover from his over-protective mother, who had him always carrying an umbrella for fear of him dying of pneumonia, like his father. Due to run-ins with Batman and Robin, Penguin ends up serving several stints in prison.

After one of these stints, the Penguin decides to become a legitimate stock trader. Even this doesn't work out well for him, and he is soon busted for insider trading.

This time, when he returns to the outside world, he decides to take on a legitimate cover. He opens a successful nightclub, and deals and profits with the underworld rackets instead of committing overt crimes. Eventually, he gets into arms dealing, and tries to become Gotham City's Crime Lord. Its at this point that Batman forces him to leave Gotham City.

He sets up shop in Bludhaven after its underworld boss, Blockbuster, is murdered by a vigilante. His goal now is to expand his arms trading business. There he comes up against Batgirl (Cassandra Kane) and Robin (Tim Drake), who have come to Bludhaven to replace the troubled Nightwing.

When Bludhaven is pretty much destroyed due to the events in the Infinite Crisis #4 (2006), The Penguin moves back to Gotham City, where he re-opens his nightclub, the Iceburg Lounge, and appears to have gone legitimate for the moment.