10 Things DC Wants You To Forget About The Penguin
9. He Had To Convince His Aunt He Wasn't A Criminal
In the years following Batman's introduction, he changed from a dark and murderous vigilante to a much more colourful and friendly hero. The same was true for a lot of his villains, Penguin included.
Originally, Penguin was portrayed as a murderous criminal, happy to use his trick umbrellas to shoot or stab anyone in his way. However, by the time he appeared in the 1946 Batman newspaper strip, he had been turned into the kind of bumbling thief that makes the Wet Bandits look like masterminds.
In the strip, the Penguin was caught trying to steal a letter for Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, only to reveal that was his actual name. Then things got goofy.
The letter turned out to be from Oswald's aunt who believed that he was a legitimate businessman in charge of an umbrella corporation (the kind that makes actual umbrellas instead of zombies). The Penguin then roped Batman and Robin into a wacky scheme to convince his aunt that he was actually a law-abiding citizen when she came to visit.
Yes, it took only a few years for Batman to go from throwing criminals out of windows to engaging in sitcom style hijinks. The real tragedy though is that this plot wasn't adapted for the Adam West Batman TV show.