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 �.