Batman has tons of physically imposing and sadistically dangerous villains; The Penguin has never really been considered as one of Batman’s more dangerous foes, at least in terms of their physical match-up. Oswald Cobblepot is short and overweight, with practically no muscle mass. It’s easy to see why people don’t consider him that big of a threat – but 2023 just proved how absurdly dangerous Cobblepot actually is.
Following his faked death, Penguin left Gotham City, allowing his children to take control of his criminal empire. This proved a short-term attempt at redemption, as his recent solo series, The Penguin found him pulled back into the world of criminals and vigilantes by DC’s other master manipulator, Amanda Waller.
The series has featured Oswald Cobblepot slowly putting together a team to take his empire back from his children and cement his control in Gotham City like never before. This grand return to form comes after a wild 2023 for Penguin that took him out of the game, only to bring him back center stage.
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The Penguin Frames Batman For His Death
The Penguin started off 2023 in a major way, by framing Batman for his death. This kicked off a series of chain reactions that Batman is still struggling to recover from a year later. With Batman believed responsible for killing Penguin, the android Failsafe activated and nearly destroyed the entire Bat-Family. This resulted in Batman unleashing the Zur-En-Arrh personality, which he’s still fighting currently. All the while, Penguin was running a flower shop in another city, completely oblivious to the chaos he had caused. Penguin even remarks in his solo series that his framing Batman was likely nothing more than a minor annoyance, showing him to be unaware of the chaos he’d unleashed.
Penguin then spent a period of time simply living in another city, running a flower shop. Penguin had met a woman and legitimately seemed to be settling down and making a new life for himself free of crime. Unfortunately, people like Penguin are never allowed to live normal lives, and he was eventually pulled back into the world of crime by Amanda Waller. Penguin started off the year by faking his death and leaving Gotham City. Now he’s poised to make a triumphant return, one that Batman isn’t going to be able to stop, as he’s still dealing with the fallout of Penguin’s actions at the start of the year.
Penguin Tried To Live A Normal Life
Comic book readers often write the Penguin off when it comes to ranking Batman’s major, most threatening villains, but it’s been shown that across the Multiverse, Penguin is often Batman’s most dangerous enemy – something 2023 proved. Penguin faked his death, nearly brought down the entire Bat-Family, ruined Batman’s relationship with the Bat-Family, and is now returning to take his empire back from his children and confront Batman if necessary. Penguin has gone through a lot, and it seems that 2024 will continue to prove just how dangerous this iconic Batman villain can truly be when he sets his mind to it.
