Batman has faced countless villains as The Dark Knight of Gotham City, so much so that he relies on the Bat-Family as reinforcements. Many villains have tried to defeat Batman and his family, Joker being the most famous example, but only one villain ever succeeded in defeating the Bat-Family entirely by accident.
The Bat-Family is home to some of the most powerful and capable vigilantes on Earth, from Tim Drake, who is an ace detective and a computer genius, to Dick Grayson, an amazing acrobat and leader, to Cassandra Cain, one of the most skilled hand-to-hand combatants on the planet. This isn’t even to mention other absolute powerhouses such as Barbara Gordon’s Oracle, Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl, and Duke Thomas (The Signal).
Many villains have tried their hand at taking down the Bat-Family, though on one occasion, a villain almost killed every single member without even trying. Oswald Cobblepot, also known as the Penguin, accidentally unleashed Armageddon on the Bat-Family when he framed Batman for his death, as seen in Chip Zdarsky’s and Jorge Jiménez’s Batman #125. With Batman publicly blamed for the death of the Penguin, an android named Failsafe is activated within the Batcave, created to hunt down and destroy the Batman should Batman ever go too far and kill someone. Failsafe manages to not only beat Batman senseless, but it also defeats Nightwing, both Batgirls, The Signal, and Tim Drake’s Robin. Failsafe is such an overwhelming physical danger that the Bat-Family ends up having to call in Superman to help.
Penguin Inadvertently Almost Ended The Bat-Family By Dying.
It’s not every day that a villain’s plan causes such destruction that the Bat-Family has to call for outside help. Even Joker never got Batman to call Superman for help. The most impressive part though is that Penguin caused all of this completely unintentionally. In the backup storyline for Batman #127, “Two Birds One Throne,” by Chip Zdarsky and Belén Ortega, readers see that Penguin is entirely alive and well in Metropolis. He even states, “Oh, please. A little final fun. As if he won’t bounce back from that, we’re all just thorns to him.” This quote shows that Penguin is completely unaware of the absolute chaos he unleashed on the Bat-Family or the extent of the actual damage he’s done, far more than any other villain has managed.
Batman and the rest of the Bat-Family have been barely hanging on against Failsafe. For as much damage and chaos as other villains have caused the Bat-Family, like Joker, none have required Superman to come to the rescue. As such, the Penguin is the only villain to almost defeat Batman completely by accident.
