The Penguin’s Nonsensical Name Change Was to Try and Make It More Grounded

The Penguin arrives this week on HBO, expanding the gritty crime world of Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie into a spin-off series focused on Colin Farrell’s villainous character. Though his rogues’ gallery moniker remains the same, the Penguin’s real name was changed in the 2022 movie from Oswald Cobblepot, his name since his 1941 Detective Comics debut, to “Oz Cobb.” At long last, we have some details about why that happened.

As reported in SFX Magazine (via Comic Book Movie), “Oz Cobb” should not be interpreted as the character having shortened his admittedly sort of goofy last name.This guy is Oz Cobb, full stop. Speaking to the magazine, producer Dylan Clark explained what happened, pointing first to an earlier Batman villain name change as a precedent. “They never got around to changing his name in the comics like they did with the Riddler, going from Edward Nigma to Edward Nashton, from an unreal name to a real name. By doing that they grounded the character,” Clark said.

The Penguin team got what sounds like an enthusiastic go-ahead from DC Comics boss Jim Lee. “They had thought about changing his name at some point but had never done it. Matt asked, ‘Can I call our character Oz Cobb?’ And Jim said, ‘Absolutely!’ So we got a blessing from the king himself. That small change of the name allowed us to look at this character in a grounded way.”

Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin showrunner and creator, explained that like The Batman, the show is “creating new canon,” bringing its own flavor to familiar characters. “It felt like in the Gotham City that Matt created in his film, Cobblepot seemed less of a real person in the way that Cobb is a real last name. He’s a gangster and it just kind of felt more correct.”

“Cobb” may roll off the tongue a bit more sharply, but isn’t it actually more terrifying to have a ruthless guy after you who answers to “Cobblepot”?

DC Comics fans will get to know a lot more about Farrell’s breakout character when The Penguin, which also stars Cristin Milioti (as Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (as Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (as Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (as Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (as Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (as Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (as Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (as Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (as Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (as Eve Karlo), and Theo Rossi (as Dr. Julian Rush), arrives September 19 on HBO.

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