Warning: Contains spoilers for Penguin #1!
Oswald Cobblepot — more commonly recognized as the Penguin — isn’t a Batman rogue often associated with love, relationships, or family. That’s all changing now, as Penguin’s children fight for control of his criminal empire. Truthfully, love has always been a major factor in Oswald’s life, and he values it enough to walk the straight and narrow — at least for a while. His baser nature tends to win out in the end, and that may spell doom for Gotham City.
In The Penguin #1 by Tom King, Rafael de Latorre, Marcelo Maiolo, and Clayton Cowles, Cobblepot is enjoying his life with his fiancée, Rita Wells, after his supposed “death” at the hands of Batman. He appears committed to not engaging in any violent acts even when provoked. The narration states that he is “finally freed from the burden of his boundless gluttony,” but it doesn’t last long. Oswald is taken into custody by Agent Nuri Espinoza, who is on Amanda Waller’s payroll. Espinoza lays out their expectations: he must return to Gotham as an inside government agent, and they’re holding Rita as collateral.
It’s enough to get Penguin to wordlessly agree, but his relationship history likely means Rita’s life won’t keep him compliant for long.
The Penguin Loves Hard but Plays Harder
Waller and Agent Espinoza’s reliance on Penguin’s relationship with Rita Wells is a slippery slope, as she isn’t the only woman he’s fallen for. In Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #3 by Greg Hurwitz, Szymon Kudranski, John Kalisz, and Rob Leigh, he strikes up a relationship with a woman named Cassandra. Cassandra can’t see, and Oswald hides his appearance and his villainous dealings as a result. He doesn’t entirely set his life of crime aside for the sake of his new love, but he does shield her from it. When she eventually reaches for his face to see the man she loves, Penguin kills her for it, wrongfully assuming that the truth will make her hate him. His love for her was not enough to overcome his own insecurities and instincts, just as his love for Rita Wells is unlikely to get Waller and Espinoza what they want.
Gotham isn’t short on villains with semi-sympathetic stories, and Penguin has been mocked, underestimated, and passed over until deciding that his only recourse was to build a criminal empire that intimidates even the likes of Waller. His experiences hardened him, and he is capable of immense cruelty beyond even physical violence. However, he is also capable of actual love, and he seems to crave it. His feelings for Rita are genuine, — as is his desire to retrieve his confiscated house and wealth — but even love is not enough to keep Oswald subservient to anyone.
The Penguin Values Himself More Than Anything
Though Oswald assures Rita that he doesn’t miss anything about his old life, being sent back to Gotham puts Penguin in a prime position to return to the gluttony and greed he supposedly left behind. The Penguin is returning to the nest just as his two remaining children are ready to settle into it. Catwoman suspects that Cobblepot expected his children to kill one another, so neither love of family nor of his fiancée is enough to keep him in anyone’s clutches but his own. The only one with true control over the Penguin is himself, and love won’t save Rita Wells, Gotham, or Batman.
The Penguin #1 is available now from DC Comics!
