Character Analysis Penguin: Why I Absolutely Despise Him

There are villains you love to hate… and then there’s Oswald Cobblepot. A man who drowned his own brothers, betrayed his mother, and strangled the only person who ever truly cared for him. This isn’t just a villain’s origin story—it’s the rise of a monster. And I despise him

F**** The Penguin

This character analysis has a SPOILER WARNING  

We follow Oswald after The Batman, clawing his way to the top of Gotham’s underworld. But I’m not here to recap his rise—I’m here to expose the three lives he destroyed on the way up.  

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1) Francis Cobb – His Mother

At first, their relationship seems beautiful. He says he cares for her as she wastes away from illness, and she knows almost everything he’s done. But what kind of mother supports a monster? The kind who raised one.  

Oswald had two brothers. And when Francis showed them love, Oswald couldn’t stand it. So he turned a game of hide-and-seek into murder—locking them in a flooding tunnel, lying to his mother, and letting them drown. When she found out, she had a choice: let him die… or let him live, hoping he’d care for her.  

It was a lose-lose.  

By the season’s end, Oswald is given one last chance: tell the truth, or she loses a finger. And what does he do?

This man would keep his mouth shut and let his own mother lose her finger than say what he did. How pathetic. Everybody already knew the truth, yet even then, He proves that the woman he claims is to love means nothing.  

Towards the end of the series, Francis begged him for one thing—not to live as a vegetable. And what does Oswald do? He stuffs her in a penthouse, frozen and helpless, a single tear rolling down her cheek, not of jot buy of sorrow… but because he broke his promise

Oswald says he did it all for her. But Oswald is a liar. He showed it again and again and again throughout the series. What he really wanted was revealed in Episode 1—a conversation with Alberto Falcone that ends in blood. And that blood sparks the rage of this story’s true hero.  

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2) Sofia Falcone

Sofia was a good person. She ran a foundation for depressed women, honoring her mother—who supposedly hanged herself. But Sofia knew the truth. The women in her father’s club all died the same way. And on the day her mother died? Scratch marks on his neck.  

She was right to question everything.  

But Oswald? He was her driver. And he snitched—telling her father she met with a reporter and her own family branded her "The Hangman" and threw her in Arkham.  

Years later, she learns Oswald killed her brother—the only person who ever loved her. She wants revenge. Not by hurting those he claims to care about—no, she wants to teach him. But how can you teach a man that doesn’t learn 

Her mistake? Trying to leave Gotham before killing him. Because Oswald frames her for burning Maroni’s wife and child, spinning a fake gang war. And just like her father… he sends her back to Arkham.  

Oswald destroyed her life twice—all for his own ambition.  

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3) Victor Aguilar

Victor had a family. A girlfriend. Hope. But after The Batman (film) he lost everything—forced into thieving just to survive.  

Then he met Oswald.  

Penguin strong-arms him into hiding Alberto’s body, then almost kills him—until Victor begs for his life, offering to help. Oswald "generously" gives him money, shelter, even kindness. He shows Victor his life—how he cares for his mother, talks about changing their futures.  

Victor buys into the lie. He stays. He believes.  

And when Oswald rises to power? Victor becomes his right-hand man. To Victor, Oswald is family.  

But we know what Oswald does to family.  

He chokes him to death.  

Why? Because Oswald doesn’t want weakness. He saw it in Maroni, in Sofia… and when Victor called him family, all Oswald heard was a flaw to erase.

The Penguin isn’t just a villain origin story. It’s the making of a man who had every chance to do the right thing—to tell the truth, to spare a life, to accept love. And he chose power instead.  

He manipulated Victor, giving him family before taking it away while he pleade, slowly dying. He has the chance for redemption with Sofia and gives her the same punishment that ruined her mind. Finally, he did lt love and care for his mother, he had coddled her with a knife, slowly killing her with emotional pain.

That’s why, no matter how high he climbs… Oswald Cobble will always be a monster.  

And thats why I’ll always hate The Penguin