Penguin (DC Comics)

The Penguin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The Penguin is one of Batman's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.

The Penguin is a Gotham City mobster who fancies himself the number one "Gentleman of Crime". He is most often seen wearing a monocle, top hat, and morning suit while carrying his signature umbrella. The character appears most times as a short, fat man with a long nose. Penguin uses high-tech umbrellas as different tools. His umbrellas have been used as guns, gas, swords/knives, a mini-helicopter and many other unconventional tools. The Penguin owns and runs a nightclub called the Iceberg Lounge which provides a cover for his criminal activity. Batman sometimes uses the nightclub as a source of criminal underworld information. Unlike most of Batman's rogues gallery, the Penguin is completely sane and in full control of his actions, giving him a unique relationship with Batman. According to his creator Bob Kane, the character was inspired by the advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes in the 1940s; a penguin with a top hat and cane. Co-creator Bill Finger thought that the image of high-society gentlemen in tuxedos was reminiscent of emperor penguins. His main color is usually purple.

The Penguin has repeatedly been named one of the best Batman villains and one of the greatest villains in comics. Penguin was ranked #51 in IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. The character has been featured in various media adaptations, including feature films, television series, and video games. For example, the Penguin has been voiced by Paul Williams and David Ogden Stiers in the DC Animated Universe, Tom Kenny in The Batman, Nolan North in the Batman: Arkham video game series and Elias Toufexis in Gotham Knights. His live-action portrayals include Burgess Meredith in the 1960s Batman television series and its spin-off film, Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, Robin Lord Taylor in the television series Gotham, and Colin Farrell in the film The Batman, as well as the character's upcoming eponymous television series.