When Hugo Strange got his hands on Batman's secret identity in Steve Englehart's lauded Strange Apparitions arc, it came as something as a shock. Few, if any, supervillains had managed to accomplish what he had, and with an elaborate scheme set up whereby the bald-headed loon would auction off Bats' identity to the highest bidder put into place, who else but Gotham's most lavish criminal would make an appearance?
Surrounded by the likes of the Joker and Rupert Thorne (and even Two Face in BTAS' adaptation of the comic), Penguin goes all out to attain the knowledge of The Dark Knight's identity, only to fail once Strange 'dies' during the auction's proceedings.
Yes, the feathered felon didn't actually harm anyone this time around, but it did show how he was willing to splash the cash to get his hands on Batman. Goodness knows what he'd have done with him after the fact.
Oswald might not have found out for himself, but the fact he came so close to doing so more than shows how much of a threat Penguin is when he's at his most determined.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
