The Penguin Season 1 is set to come out pretty soon, and people are eager to watch a story centered around this titular Batman villain. However, The Penguin is not exactly a regular villain common to those Batman is usually seen fighting. The villains Batman is usually seen fighting are rather psychotic. At the same time, Penguin does not fit in with that description, The comics paint him as one of the, most intelligent villains Batman has stood against, and at his core, Penguin is a businessman who knows when to do the right thing. There are instances in the comic books where Penguin has shown us that he is not all bad but knows the logical and right thing to do at the right time and in this article, find out all about them!
1. Penguin Genuinely Tried to Leave the Life of Crime
Penguin’s identity has always been that of a criminal and one of the most prominent crime bosses in Gotham. However, he has tried to leave the life of crime on multiple occasions in the comic books and dedicate himself to an honest business and taking care of birds.
While other villains like Two-Face have also tried to do so, their attempts usually fail to bear fruit but in the case of The Penguin, some of his attempts to leave crime behind have stayed successful for quite some time. Even though he went back to it he deserves some credit for making an honest attempt.
2. Saved the Wayne Family’s Life
Now, you might think that being a villain, Penguin is all about killing Batman to make sure his businesses survive. However, the truth is quite the contrary. Even though Batman is a huge obstacle for Penguin and he has attempted to kill Batman on multiple occasions, he is a villain who has some ethics.
When the sinister six planned to kill off some members of Batman’s family, Penguin knew that it was certainly overkill so he gave this information to the Justice League, Justice Society of America, Birds of Prey, and the Teen Titans ultimately saving the day.
3. Kept Gotham’s Supplies Running During “No Man’s Land”
In the “No Man’s Land” storyline, Gotham was almost completely destroyed by a massive earthquake almost leveling the city for good. Even the US government cut off Gotham City and the survivors were left with the Bat family as their last line of defense against criminals running loose in the streets.
In this time of crisis, instead of wreaking havoc in the city, Penguin used his contact, who turns out to be Lex Luthor, to bring in a steady and ample flow of Supplies in Gotham City. Even though he was doing it for his own profit, Penguin was the only one who was helping the citizens of Gotham get by during this crisis.
4. He Saved Batman from the Man-Bat Virus
Batman is usually enough on his own to get himself out of any situation. However, there have been instances where he had needed some help, and out of all people you would not expect Penguin to be the one to save Batman. In one story, Emperor Penguin dethroned Oswald and took over his business, However, he crossed a line when he spread the Man-Bat virus in Gotham City and started hurting innocent civilians. Batman came in to stop him but he was captured and hung upside down on a tree so that he could watch Gotham fall and ultimately would be killed by Emperor Penguin.
However, Penguin, with his goons showed up to save Batman and cut him loose since he knew Batman was the only one who could stop Emperor Penguin and save the citizens of Gotham. However, along with these things, Penguin’s other motive was to get his power and place back in Gotham’s crime.
5. Became an Informant for Batman
Even though not exactly a good deed, Penguin once became an informant for Batman. Penguin once opened a club and became a club owner. However, his influence in the crime scene of Gotham started to diminish. So, he started giving out information to Batman about the crime bosses in the city so he could become the most influential villain in Gotham City. We can call it doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons but at the end of the day, he did help Batman take down criminals in Gotham.
So, is penguin good or bad? the answer to that is still the same, at his core, penguin will always be an extremely vengeful villain. There have been instances where he was held accountable for destroying people’s lives just because he thought they were mocking him. However, if you compare him to the rest of the villains Batman has stood against, after Bane, he is probably the only one who has genuinely helped out Batman even after trying to kill him multiple times. So, now that we have looked at the good deeds Penguin has done, let’s wait and see how the Penguin series turns out to be, and till then, stay tuned for further updates.
Aparna Ukil
