The Batman (2022)

With the clown henchmen of the Joker.

Okay, sure Penguin usually isn't as deformed as the Burton version but his looks have usually been a point of mockery even in his very first story by other regular mobsters. Like sure he's one of Batman's rogues that isn't insane according to Gotham law and generally goes to blackgate but he's usually portrayed as not being accepted by normal mobsters in his debut stories and in other media, and is portrayed as part of the Supervillain generation generally even if he's the most normal one compared to the rest.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 15th 2021 at 11:02:33 AM

What is hilarious about burton is that his version of catwoman can easly be remade into harley queen more than catwoman, her psychotic break of reality, her introduction doing backflip and just blowing up a store, her "I dont know what Im anymore" feel mostly what a harley story should be since burton catwoman have a air of melacholy and sadness about her that is endering and harley now is....female deadpool.

But that is just me anyway.

To be fair to Deadpool, even he has his melancholic moments a plenty.

The Gerry Duugan saga ended really emotionally brutal for him.

I like Penguin’s original characterization as kind of a wannabe-Gentleman Thief, but has neither the look or the class to pull it off. That’s basically what he is in BTAS. Penguin as just a mobster is boring.

I've always liked it whenever he was a thug with a Cockney accent trying but failing to look like an upper class dude, mostly with the Arkham games.

It’s pointed out in the Arkham games by mooks that he shouldn’t even have an accent to begin with.

He grew up in Gotham meaning he purposely picked up the accent to sound more cultured than he actually is.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 15th 2021 at 9:19:19 AM

Isn't that accent considered lower class, anyway? It really adds to the joke, anyway.

Edited by Blueace on Mar 15th 2021 at 1:21:55 PM

I remember The Batman (the animated show) had Penguin have some family blood-feud with Alfred or something like that. Was that ever a thing in the comics, or just made up for that show?

The Arkham and Tell Tale Penguin did go to boarding school in England. And probably skipped classes to hang out with lower class criminals with cockney accents so that’s presumably where he picked it up.

It’s very Penguin, trying to be upper class and refined while showing off how little he knows and what a boor he really is at heart. Even the Animated series had that to a lesser extent, where he acted smarter than he really was.

That's another reason why I can't see Penguin being part of the traditional mob, he usually has this element to his character that makes him an outsider to to groups he really wants to fit in, like high class society in the Animated series or the mob like in Arkham.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 15th 2021 at 1:07:36 PM

If I had a nickel for every time we got "sexy skinny Penguin" in an adaptation, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, it's weird that it happened twice.

Also I forgot to address this, but in Long Halloween, it wasn't the Joker who was leading the Supervillains, it was Two-Face. And it was him who killed Falcone, cementing the fall of the traditional mob and the rise of the freaks. And Two-Face still leads the Supervillains in Dark Victory.

Joker didn't do much in Long Halloween except during Christmas and New Years. And I still laugh at him robbing a random family of their presents. But he was still letting Two-Face run the show.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 15th 2021 at 1:12:43 PM

"To be fair to Deadpool, even he has his melancholic moments a plenty. The Gerry Duugan saga ended really emotionally brutal for him."

I guess even memetic koozy chararter need to be serious because there is a limit of how much a goofball can be before getting annoying.

What is intersting is how harley devopment turn from dark to.....let not said lighthearted but more escapist that anything, when harley is with the joker, there is also a required moment were he beat her or remind us he is abusive monsters, when she is along, suddenly the plot and DC world turn a lot silly, meta and zany, to the point you kinda forget she was and absuve victim.

I wonder if this tone shift happen because of it.

Anyway, what is the most intersting arc of the pinguin? I feel he is a bit secondary chararter at best.

For Penguin stories, I've enjoyed Joker's Asylum: Penguin, the whole Emperor Penguin storyline, Penguin Pain and Prejudice, and Penguin Triumphant if you want to see him interact with Bruce Wayne.

That is the undercurrent of Penguin as a character, even Burtons' version was attempting to pass as high society and cultured elite but in reality was a nasty monster. Unfortunately, I don't think Penguin has ever quite locked in as a consistent threat to Batman, a character in search of a story. He has the whole "Tries to become mayor of Gotham" recurring plot, but I personally think him being Gotham's Arms Dealer is the more interesting and distinctive approach that is never really explored that much.

I personally mildly disagree with Known in that I think Penguin always had a unusual appearance angle to him, it just varied in regards to the extent. It goes from just "unusual", like his classic self who was just a portly guy with stubby limbs and a elongated nose (so a weird-looking man broadly speaking, but not exactly monstrous), to full on "grotesque" as he is in Batman returns with the filed teeth and flippers. The thing is that the Penguin's characterization is one of the most inconsistent of Bats entires rogues gallery, so I've always felt Returns was Burton picking up on his main and most consistent broad traits (he's a unusual-looking man who traverses in high society airs but is in fact a thug) and putting that front and center.

Personally I like when they go for a blend and portray him as looking grotesque and ill-fitting with his appearance but with Man of Wealth and Taste mobster airs who is clearly trying to fit in but fails to do so. I like the Penguin best when he has that dichotomy of being a misfit trying to traverse the halls of general power of the establishment in a fool's errand to be accepted, like high class society (as in the BTAS episode "Birds of a Feather") and politics. And always being driven to rage at his folly.

People talk a lot of that skewing close to Killer Croc, but Croc is almost always portrayed as not giving much of a damn what society thinks, acting as a lone wolf and more of a Fully-Embraced Fiend. As I picture him, Penguin is more Croc's counterpoint (i.e the freak trying to fit in, while Croc gave up that pretense a long time ago). They'd in fact make a great villainous pair for a story.

Man Croc can make a great tragic antagonist.

With hopefully better make-up than the one in Suicide Squad.

Iirc, a recent Suicide Squad comic had it that Croc never actually ate people but someone spread that rumor about him so he just ran with it.

I thought Suicide Squad won an award for makeup and costume design. That said, the only knowledge I have of the movie is I Hate Everything's Search for the Worst video on it. I don't recall him ever covering this topic.

That run also had him in a surprisingly fulfilling and healthy relationship with June Moon/Enchantress and even helping her further her career as novelist.

Helps that the artist Stjepan Šejić drew him rather attractive for a large crocodile man, which made the moments when they were in bed together pretty sexy.

Yeah, croc in suicide Squad is not that bad is probably with diablo as the best(I mean will smith is good but he just play will smith and he cant play villians to save is life and harley is full on Harleypool), in that he is annoyed what people think of him but he seen to think of himself as beautifull.

Wait what?

Killer Croc, sexy?

I think my brain shut down.

Imagine how June feels.

She’s the one banging the croc who’s more than twice her height and 5 times her musculature.

I can’t tell if it’s like having sex with a Turian or a Krogan.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 16th 2021 at 3:15:46 AM

She'll need magic to walk normally again.

Sometimes I think writers just write this stuff because they know the Internet will get a great conversation out of it.

C'mon, Croc is pretty hot. Have you seen him in a suit?