Penguin (Batman Returns)

* Danny DeVito portrayed The Penguin as the main antagonist in Batman Returns. While this Penguin retained many trademarks, such as a variety of trick umbrellas and the use of a monocle, he was given a dramatic visual makeover. Where the comic version varies between a balding head of short cropped hair and varying degrees of thinning, this Penguin is still bald at the top but with his remaining length of hair long and stringy. His hands are flippers with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. An unidentified thick, dark green bile-like liquid sometimes trickles from his nose and mouth. Instead of a tuxedo, he wears a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit with ajabot as opposed to a bow tie. In certain scenes, he also wears black boots, a dickey, and a union suit. However, Burton's design maintained the top hat seen in the comics along with a monocle and a cigarette in some scenes. He also has penguin-like appetites, as shown in a scene where he devours a raw fish. Director Tim Burton, inspired by the filmThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, re-imagined the character not as an eloquent gentleman of crime, but a deformed, psychopathic killer who holds a homicidal grudge against the aristocrats of Gotham City. The film provides him a backstory in which his wealthy parents Tucker and Esther Cobblepot (Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger), who feared he would become a menace to society after watching him attack their cat, threw him into the sewer as a baby, but he survived and was raised by penguins. He resurfaces as an adult to run for mayor of Gotham with the help of corrupt businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). Meanwhile, he plans to kill every first-born son of Gotham's elite, and teams up with Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) to frame Batman (Michael Keaton) for murder. Batman foils his scheme and the Penguin dies following a climactic duel with the Dark Knight where he succumbs to the wounds sustained from the fall from his ceiling. His penguin family carries out a makeshift funeral, pushing his body into the water.
Category:Batman Villains
Category:Villains
Category:Super Villains
Category:Humans
Category:Comic monsters
Category:Leaders
Category:Males
Category:Live Action Villains