Oz Cobb has always been a bit cagey about his brothers in The Penguin, and in Episode 7, we find out exactly how they died – and it’s horrific.
The Penguin has already changed a few things about the iconic Batman villain. For starters, his name isn’t Oswald Cobblepot, he doesn’t wear a monocle and top hat, and unlike in the comics, he had two brothers: Jack and Benny.
Earlier in the series, Oz told Victor they were “lost to the city,” hinting they were killed in the Riddler’s attacks. However, he bit Victor’s head off when he spoke to his mother about his brothers, telling him he “didn’t have the right.”
In other words, there was clearly a story to be told about their fate, and Episode 7 glances back in time to the day they died.
The Penguin murdered his brothers
When he was a child, Oz sealed his brothers in an underground sewer during a storm. As rain poured on Gotham, the sewer filled up, and nobody could hear them scream before they drowned.
Oz was the middle child (Jack was 15 and Benny was 10 when they died). However, it’s clear he always felt like the more responsible brother of the three; more specifically, he cared about his mother the most and wanted to spend all of his time helping her. He also idolized Rex Calabrese, the neighborhood gangster.
Oz’s mother asks her three boys to go outside while she does work in the apartment, and they see Rex and his men beating a guy up on the street. He gives Jack a $50 bill and asks after Francis, but in Jack’s eyes, Rex isn’t a good person – something Oz strongly disagrees with (remember in the first episode, he told Alberto Falcone how much he admired Rex and wanted to be known as someone who helped people the same way he did).
Before they go home, they play a game of “flashlight tag” in the underground railway tunnels. Oz is ‘it’ first, so he counts to 10 and tries to find them. He finds them hiding in the sewer, but he can’t climb down because of his clubfoot. “Screw you guys, you know it’s hard for me to get down there,” he shouts.
Jack tries to apologize, but Oz doesn’t listen. Instead, he closes the door to the sewer… which can’t be opened from the inside. He walks home alone, and when his mom asks where his brothers went, he lies and says they went to the movies.
He sits with Francis and watches a film, occasionally looking at the rain trickling down the window, knowing his brothers are still trapped underground. Meanwhile, Jack and Benny slam on the door, begging Oz (or anyone) to let them out.
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Their cries fall on deaf ears. Their screams are eventually muffled by the sound of them gargling underwater, and soon, the sewer goes silent.
The death of Oz’s brothers proves he’s a monster
The Penguin has painted Oz as a slightly tragic, undoubtedly villainous character; he’s got a limp, everyone doubts him and makes fun of him, and all he wants is to be the guy that everyone respects and support his mother.
He’s also done (sort of) nice things for people. Vic tried to steal his Maserati rims, and instead of getting revenge, he gave him more money, power, and purpose than he’s ever had. He looks after all of the men who work for him and keep his Bliss operation running. I also believe he would have happily allied himself with Sofia if he hadn’t been rumbled by Salvatore’s wife.
But here’s the difference: Oz is a bad person capable of good things, and Sofia is a good person capable of doing bad things. Sofia has killed people (including her whole family), but they betrayed her and left her to rot in Arkham while protecting the patriarch, who happened to be a serial killer.
She captured Oz’s mother in Episode 7, and while she was definitely tempted, she didn’t hurt her. Once she knew about Francis’ condition and visited her cousin Gia at Brookside, she saw the error of her ways – to an extent.
Oz, at his core, is broken and resentful. No peak is ever high enough, and no deal is ever set in stone. Even when Salvatore dies from a heart attack, he proclaims that he “beat” him and litters his corpse with bullets out of spite.
It didn’t start after his brothers died. His mother isn’t to blame. He was a clinical backstabber from the beginning, and while I’m sure he regrets his brother’s deaths, it doesn’t change who he is: a villain.
Keep up to date with our The Penguin release schedule, find out more about Magpie, if Robert Pattinson is in The Penguin, and why Dr Julian Rush may be a secret Batman villain, and read our list of the best superhero movies of all time.