Warning: Spoilers for The Penguin #1 ahead! When considering DC's greatest villains, the list tends toward bombastic, world-ending threats, including figures such as Darkseid, Parallax, and Superboy-Prime. But with a new series exploring the legacy of his criminal enterprise, Gotham City's Penguin shows he has enough clout to terrify DC's most unflappable figures.
Tom King, Rafael de Latorre, Marcelo Maiolo, and Clayton Cowles' The Penguin #1 is a breathtaking exploration of Oswald Cobblepot's character. Bookended by scenes of the Penguin and Batman slowly dying in a sinking Batplane, the issue flashes back to Cobblepot's life in Metropolis after faking his death and ceding his criminal empire in Gotham to his children. His routine is interrupted when he is detained by Amanda Waller and Agent Nuri Espinoza, who blackmail him into returning to Gotham and taking up the Penguin mantle once more — but now with them in charge of the entire operation.
Despite Waller's incredible track record of keeping her cool, she's notably nervous when she has Cobblepot in custody, thinking "I have had gods, literal gods, kneel before me [...] I am not easily impressed." She still has to try to keep the fear and awe of her prisoner out of her voice.
The Penguin Is One of the Few People Amanda Waller Fears
Agent Espinoza elucidates further, clarifying Waller's stance: "Batman was smart enough to defeat crisis after crisis...and still...the Penguin thrived." Amanda Waller is infamous for being one of the most ruthless and cutthroat characters DC has ever written. Not only is she the merciless head of the Suicide Squad program, her recent takeover of Earth-3 has shown her facing down the entire Crime Syndicate, including Ultraman — Earth-3's evil Superman — without ever breaking a sweat.
The Penguin #1 goes to great lengths to establish just how terrifying Oswald Cobblepot truly is. This is a man who, despite living in a world of superheros, ran a criminal enterprise that essentially gave him control of one of those hero's very cities; he is a man who managed to circumvent both legal and vigilante justice until he tired of the life and tried to leave it behind of his own accord. Completely ruthless and entirely unreadable, the Penguin is shown to be capable of acts of malice and savagery that are far crueler than mere brute force.
The Penguin Is Completely Unreadable
Cobblepot is one of DC's master manipulators — to the point that his criminal enterprise not only managed to simply exist in a world of godlike crusaders, but thrived despite their constant surveillance. Even Batman, drowning in the Batwing, is taken aback by what the Penguin is capable of; in his shock, he muses, "He's just the Penguin. How the hell did he do this?" The Penguin's cunning, ability to manipulate in the shadows, and completely unpredictable nature leaves DC's stone-cold figures like Amanda Waller and Batman mystified and terrified of him — a feat that even gods like Darkseid struggle to accomplish.
The Penguin #1 is now available from DC Comics.
