10 Things DC Wants You To Forget About The Penguin
3. He Used To Control Birds
Back in the days of the Silver Age of comics, it was an unspoken rule that any villain built around a theme could only commit crimes related to it. It's why Catwoman only stole cat statues, Two-Face robbed Second National banks and Joker was completely obsessed with Batman's "boner".
Things got a bit more awkward when it came to the Penguin though. His whole theme was based around dressing like a rich person, but "robbing the wealthy" isn't exactly a novel approach to crime. Instead the writer's just decided to have him commit bird-related acts like stealing avian related jewellery.
To go with that, Penguin also got a goofier addition to his stable of gimmicks, trained birds that he would use as part of his heists and to fight Batman. They even made it into The Penguin Affair, Oswald's plan involved using a machine to control every bird in the city and have drop the toxin all over Gotham.
The comic tried to justify it by explaining that Oswald had kept pet birds as a child and had majored in ornithology, but that doesn't change the fact that it is incredibly silly to see Batman struggle against a flock of angry ravens like he's an extra in Birdemic.