Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Penguin episode 82024’s The Penguin included one of the most brutal scenes in a DC Comics adaptation – all without a single death. Spinning off from Matt Reeves’s 2022 film The Batman, The Penguin centers on Oswald Cobb as he murders and manipulates his way to the top of Gotham City’s criminal element before the events of the upcoming The Batman – Part II. The series is gritty, psychological, and violent – all to be expected in a series focusing on a Batman villain – yet one of its most brutal moments comes entirely from a harsh interrogation scene with no deaths.
Oswald “Oz” Cobb is introduced as a realistic new interpretation of The Penguin in 2022’s The Batman, though he retains core characteristics of his comic counterpart. With Cobb and his characterization placed front-and-center in The Penguin, his complexities (and similarities to his comic counterpart) are further expanded upon, making him perhaps the darkest and most disturbing iteration of The Penguin yet. Naturally, the intense finale of The Penguin includes some of the most brutal moments in any live-action Batman adaptation.
The Penguin Was DC’s Most Brutal Live-Action Release Yet
HBO’s Critically Acclaimed Show Made Matt Reeves’ Gotham Even Darker
The Penguin delves into not only the twisted history of Oswald Cobb himself but also that of Gotham’s criminal element itself. Despite this, the series presents an incredibly naturalistic and, at times, seemingly likable version of The Penguin. Oswald Cobb is shown to be an extremely insecure man who is prone to violent and impulsive outbursts when having his image or aspirations mocked. Cobb wishes to become a respected crime kingpin like Rex Calabrese and the catalyst for The Penguin’s main narrative comes from Cobb’s murder of Alberto Falcone – who makes the fatal error laughing at this endeavor.
In the Batman comic mythos, Rex Calabrese (also known as The Lion) is a crime boss introduced in the post-Flashpoint continuity. Before a more recent retcon, he was the father of Selina Kyle – Catwoman.
On the way to a grim finale that sees the end of Oz’s sidekick Victor Aguilar, The Penguin also shows Oz meting out revenge against the Maronis (headed by Clancy Brown’s crime-boss Sal), burning both his wife and son to death. And in the penultimate episode shows that Cobb’s worst tendencies began at a young age. Cobb’s jealousy towards his older and younger brother – and unwillingness to share his mother’s affection with them – led him to lock them in a sewer tunnel during a rainstorm, leaving them to drown.
The dark moments keep coming until the show’s most heart-wrenching moment when Cobb eventually rids himself of his attachment – and potential vulnerability – to his loyal criminal protégé Victor by murdering him. But The Penguin went further than that earlier in the same episode, capturing easily DC’s harshest live-action moment during Oswald and Francis Cobb’s interrogation by Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti).
Sofia’s Torture Of Oz & Francis Was Incredibly Difficult To Watch
The New Gotham Crime Queen Took Her Mission Of Vengeance To Its Crescendo
In The Penguin’s finale, Sofia Gigante and Doctor Julian Rush kidnap both Oswald and Francis Cobb, with the latter reliving memories of the days following Jack and Benny Cobb’s murder. Francis reveals that she discovered that Oswald killed his brothers and planned to have Rex Calabrese murder Oswald for it, but changed her mind when considering Calabrese’s belief that Oswald’s murderous tendencies could be useful to her. Sofia has Francis reveal this to Oswald – along with her hatred for him – and tries to coerce Oswald to admit that he murdered his brothers under threat of mutilating Francis.
Oswald, disturbingly, does not admit to killing Jack and Benny. He stubbornly adheres to his lies and is even willing to let Rush mutilate Francis rather than take responsibility for his actions. The interrogation shatters much of what Oswald holds dear. Cobb strives to please his mother and earn her affection, and learns that she loathed him ever since he killed his brothers. Oswald wishes to become a renowned crime boss like Rex Calabrese, only to find out that his idol nearly murdered him. Without any deaths, this proves to be one of The Penguin’s most uncomfortable moments.
Francis’ Breakdown Was More Cruel Than Killing Her Or Oz
There Are Worse Things Than Death In The New Gotham
Sofia could have simply had Francis and Oswald executed, but she chose to torture the latter in the worst way possible instead. The Penguin shows that Oswald’s idealized images of his future as the next Rex Calabrese and his relationship with his mother are invaluable to him, so Sofia attacks both ideas upon discovering what Oswald did to his brothers – and how his mother and Rex almost killed him for it. What Sofia did not anticipate, however, is that Oswald values himself more than anything, and he continues to selfishly uphold his delusions in the final scenes of The Penguin.
Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022’s film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family’s empire.
