It was recently revealed that FOX’s new series Gotham, which focuses on a young James Gordon, will feature origin stories of some of Batman’s most famous villains. The Riddler, Catwoman and the Joker are all in line to make appearances, as well as some of the more lesser known characters. Now, according to Latino Review, we know that the first villain to show his face in Gotham City will be Oswald Cobblepot, more commonly referred to as The Penguin.
The Penguin has always been an interesting adversary of Batman’s. While most villains of the famous Rogues Gallery center their crimes around maniacal themes – Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze – The Penguin is simply a thug. He’s an aristocratic mob boss interested in controlling Gotham’s criminal underworld and he happens to resemble a penguin.
Another interesting thing to note is that he belongs to a prominent family of Gotham, the Cobblepots, who are longtime rivals of the Wayne’s. That rivalry adds an extra dimension of conflict for both Batman and Bruce Wayne – as The Penguin has it out for both of them simultaneously – and will, in my opinion, probably play a significant role in the series. Seeing as how Gotham will feature the young Bruce Wayne well before he ever dons the cape and cowl, it makes sense then that The Penguin’s foray into crime might be in the form of an attack on Bruce and the Wayne legacy.
Personally, I think that The Penguin would be a logical first villain for them to go with, probably more so than any of Batman’s other adversaries. As mentioned above, he is a relatively sane criminal, free of wild concepts, and would work well within the tone of a crime drama. It’d make for a nice ease into the series before we get into the more wild stories of characters like Two-Face and The Joker.
Tell us, who would you like to see as Gotham‘s first villain? The Penguin, or someone else?