The new animated Batman series just put a different spin on a classic villain. Turns out, Penguin is portrayed as a woman in Batman: Caped Crusader, but why? Here's what voice actress Minnie Driver had to say about the inspiration for this new Penguin iteration.
Where Minnie Driver Got Her Inspiration For Gender-Swapped Penguin
Shock came to fans when the premiere episode of Batman: Caped Crusader showed an older woman performing on stage as she donned the signature tuxedo the Penguin usually wore.
As it turned out, their guesses were right: meet Oswalda Cobblepot aka the Penguin sporting the purple coat and top hat on stage.
The animated series depicts Penguin aka Oswalda Cobblepot beyond being a villain, as she is actually a mother who has to balance the dark nature of her work while looking after her family.
This helped Our Flag Means Death star Minnie Driver in pinning down the identity of her voice.
"She's a very new character that so fits into the Batman oeuvre — it's a great reimagining," said the Penguin voice actress Minnie Driver during SDCC 2024, describing the villain as a "bizarre, strange, larger than life character" who is "genderless", which happen to be the essence of their identity.
Considering that the Penguin is a mother in Caped Crusader, Driver took this opportunity to take her own mother-in-law as her inspiration, "She has this iconic voice, I feel like her voice is from the '30s and '40s."
The accent of Driver's mother-in-law had a "very clipped, big, deep" voice that the actress admittedly "always loved" hearing, "It's definitely a homage to her but that was just the kicking off point."
While Caped Crusader showrunners Bruce Timm, Matt Reeves, and J.J. Abrams have yet to disclose why they decided to turn Penguin into a woman, it's likely a part of the animation's rebranding that this is not DC fans' typical Dark Knight story.
If anything, Minnie Driver would be "happy" to see the live-action Oswald someday and tell him, "I'm going to be like, 'Yo, I'm a Penguin, too. You have to find space for there to maybe two penguins on the show.'"
Besides, Oswalda is just as clever and ruthless a criminal as much as the original depicted Penguin is. The only difference is her life doesn't revolve around money and working, she also touched upon the arts as a cabaret singer.
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In the meantime, DC fans can check out all episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader streaming on Prime Video.
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