If one hero can be defined by their vast rogue's gallery, it has to be Batman. While many know that The Joker is Batman’s arch-nemesis, the city of Gotham is home to several other villains, from Two-Face and Poison Ivy to Mr. Freeze and Ra’s Al Ghul.

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Yet one of his oldest, long-running foes has to be The Penguin. Otherwise known as Oswald Cobblepott, The Penguin is a powerful crime lord in Gotham. After achieving fame on the hit DC show Gotham, the Penguin is a DC staple. Let’s take a look at 10 things fans should know about The Penguin.

10 Studied Ornithology

Oswald Cobblepott had a troubled life growing up. Born into the Cobblepott family, one of Gotham’s most influential families, Oswald found himself bullied greatly for years by his fellow students, who teased him for his short stature, weight, and beak-shaped nose.

His mother owned a bird shop, and Oswald spent his youth amongst the birds, with them becoming his only friends. This led to a fascination with birds that led to him going to college to study Ornithology, but soon he realized he knew more about birds than even his professors.

 

9 Multiple Origins Of Penguin Persona

There were a couple of different origins explain in the early days for Oswald’s descent into a criminal life. The first involved the loss of his mother. As a child his father had passed away from bronchitis, leading to his mother becoming overprotective of Oswald. After his years of college, Oswald’s mother passed away, and the banks seized their bird shop and funds.

This led Oswald to become a career criminal, making him bitter. However, in another version of his story, he was ostracized from his family, who viewed him as the black sheep of the family because of his unattractive appearance.

 

8 Started Out As Skilled Thief

Before Oswald became the leader of a vast criminal empire, he was simply known by his alias, The Penguin. He began his career as a skilled thief, who proved his worth by stealing a pair of priceless paintings. In 1941, the paintings were estimated at a value of $250,000.

He snuck the paintings out by hiding the canvases in his umbrella and sneaking out. He used this to move his way into a local mob boss’s territory, joining the mob in the process. However, when he and his boss fell out, Oswald ended him with his umbrella gun, taking over as the leader.

 

7 One Of Batman’s Most Frequent Early Foes

The Penguin arrived on the scene of DC Comics early on in Batman’s career. He became a notable foe of the Caped Crusader. At first, he tried framing Batman and Robin for the theft of a statue that The Penguin himself had stolen. Oswald owned the statue and wanted to frame the heroes so claim on his insurance policy.

After that failed, he attempted to stop the heroes many times. He worked alongside the Joker, where he attempts to extort money from a shipping company by flash-freezing the board of directors, and he even attended Hugo Strange’s auction for Batman’s identity.

 

6 Fought The Joker Pre-Crisis

The final appearance of the Penguin in the Pre-Crisis era of DC Comics was during Ra’s al Ghul’s assault on Gotham. After the master villain released all of the inmates at Arkham Asylum and Gotham State Penitentiary, The Penguin joined Ra’s and carried out his plans to capture Batman’s friends and all his allies.

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He was joined by Mad Hatter, Joker, and Deadshot, amongst others. However, when they lay siege to Gotham Police Headquarters, things took a turn when the Joker sabotaged their plans to hold Commissioner Gordon hostage. This led to a standoff between Joker and The Penguin and Mad Hatter, with Joker emerging on top.

 

5 Partners With Lex Luthor During No Man’s Land

One of Batman’s greatest storylines has to be No Man’s Land, where Gotham City suffered a major earthquake that led to the city being quarantined by the rest of the country. This left Gotham a lawless city and shaped Oswald Cobblepott into one of the city's major players.

He did this by collecting the money no one could use any more thanks to the breakdown of the law and traded it to outside contacts for goods. One of those contacts was Lex Luthor, who worked with Penguin to acquire Gotham property records, but the two had a falling out after Penguin attempted to blackmail Luthor.

 

4 Works With White Canary

During the Brightest Day event, one of the teams featured in the storyline was the Birds of Prey. The team discovered Cobblepott beaten and stabbed at the feet of none other than White Canary. The Birds of Prey took him to the Iceberg Lounge, and while he healed Cobblepott expressed an interest in Dove of Hawk and Dove.

However, it was soon revealed that Oswald was working with White Canary, hoping to gain access to important documents on the superhero community. He betrayed the Birds of Prey, injuring Lady Blackhawk and Hawk in the struggle. Huntress captured him but was forced to let him go when a manhunt for the team got too close.

 

3 Made Temporary Alliance With Batman

During the New 52 era of DC Comics, The Penguin had an interesting experience during the Death of the Family storyline. As the Joker waged his war, he left his second in command Ignatius Ogilvy in charge of his operations while he went underground. However Ogilvy, who called himself Emperor Penguin, faked Oswald’s passing to take over his empire.

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This led to many events, with Emperor Penguin eventually releasing a Man-Bat virus on Gotham and nearly defeating Batman in battle. However Oswald decided to save Batman, leading to a temporary alliance to stop Emperor Penguin and stop the outbreak.

 

2 Penguin Created Black Canary’s New Origin

A major surprise to the New 52 was Penguin’s role in the rebooted origin story of none other than Dinah Lance, aka The Black Canary. Before the rise of the Canary, Dinah had attempted to get a job at the Iceberg Lounge as she learned the organization she was pursuing, The Basilisk Organization, would be there.

Oswald refused her application, so she decided to infiltrate his organization and prove her worth to him, in order to infiltrate the Basilisk Organization. She broke into Penguin’s bathroom and used her sonic scream before taking out his guards, impressing him and leading to him dubbing her the Black Canary.

 

1 Becomes Mayor Of Gotham

One defining moment in recent years came during the Forever Evil storyline. When the Crime Syndicate of America took over and appeared to destroy the Justice League, Gotham was one of the cities most affected by the takeover. The Penguin joined the villains who supported the Crime Syndicate and was made the Mayor of Gotham City.

He managed to divide up the city into territories and gave the villains of Arkham Asylum each their own territory to control. Bane and Penguin reach edan agreement with one another, with part of the deal being the return of Emperor Penguin to The Penguin’s control.

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