The Penguin
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Real Identity: Oswald Cobblepot
Affiliations: Metropolis High School
Appearances (Episodes): #EmperorPenguin, #TheWarriorAndTheJester, and #CruzControl
Powers/Skills: Organized Crime
Voiced By: Alex Polinsky
Oswald Cobblepot runs a racket at Metropolis High School, promising to be able to get anything in exchange for a favor. It was all part of his blackmail ring. Cobblepot compiles dirt on his victims and forces them to do his bidding until he's done with them. During state finals in football, Barbara Gordon revealed she planned to buy Hal Jordan a pair of Lombard XLXs as a gift when Metropolis High won but they were limited editions and sold out. Harleen Quinzel told her about Cobblepot. Gordon went to meet with him. Cobblepot noted they were difficult to come by then produced a pair in the box. Gordon was thrilled and offered her money. Cobblepot wrote down his price but it was too high so she offered to do something else.
Cobblepot told her to be at a specific location at 3:55 pm that day and he would give her the shoes. Gordon waited at the spot and swapped texts with Cobblepot to confirm she was there. A boy ran out of class and shoved a piece of paper into her hands then tried to run off but Mr. Chapin confronted him. He claimed to be ignorant of having any paper on him. Chapin warned him he had his eyes on him then returned to the classroom. A boy in a beanie took a photo of Gordon holding the paper then took it and gave her the XLXs. She realized she was used to steal test answers. Gordon tried to return the shoes but Cobblepot had the incriminating photo of her holding the stolen test answers then stated he ran the school, from test answers to vending machines to elections. He planned to install his goon as the next class president and boasted his phone was always recording and had dirt on everyone. He led her outside, put the shoes back in her hands, and told her he would be in touch.
In Algebra class, Gordon got a text telling her to make a distraction during a lecture on experimental decay. Gordon pretended to choke and fell out of her seat. While everyone gathered around her, a girl stole a hall pass out of the teacher's desk then gave it to Cobblepot later on. Gordon was then told to put an out of order sign on the vending machine. Students would be then forced to buy snacks from Cobblepot at a premium. That night, Batgirl infiltrated the school and hotwired the vending machine. The next day, Gordon tapped her wrist band and the vending machine started shooting out free snacks. On the day of school elections, Gordon swapped the ballot box with an alternate box provided by Cobblepot. None the wiser, Chapin took it to his office and kept it there overnight. Batgirl sneaked in and stuffed the box with votes for Jimmy Olsen. The next day, Chapin declared Olsen the new class president. In the audience, Cobblepot glared at Gordon but she feigned innocence.
Cobblepot was getting irritated with Batgirl's interference but pressed on and gave Gordon her last task: steal Hal Jordan's lucky socks and she would be free of him. Gordon was at a loss. Cobblepot revealed he bought up Garfield High merchandise and planned to sell it at marked up prices in anticipation of Jordan blowing the game without his socks. Gordon asked him what to do about Batgirl. He told her to figure it out on her own or he would expose her to the school. On the day of the game, Gordon handed over a sack containing the lucky socks to Cobblepot. He was pleased but she felt terrible. Things went according to Cobblepot's plan but Gordon had enough. She slipped away from the band, changed into Batgirl, and stole the socks back then threw them like a football to Jordan. He put them on then called out the Zap-39 right Gallagher watermelon on three. The tide turned and Jordan made completion after completion. It was 35-31 in the final seconds of the game. Cobblepot became nervous.
Jordan ran the ball into the endzone himself and scored, winning the game for Metropolis High. Cobblepot was furious and kicked his cooler and threw his folding chair. Gordon admitted Batgirl was too good. He prepared to reveal she stole test answers but his phone was missing. Gordon held it out. As he tried to jump and grab it, he blurted out he couldn't blackmail anyone without it. He was projected on the school's big board. Gordon then deleted everything on the phone to everyone's relief. Cobblepot sulked in his room, stuck with all the Garfield High merchandise.
After Jessica Cruz delivered her speech for her bid to be class president, the lights in the gym suddenly turned off then the score board lit up. Oswald Cobblepot twirled his umbrella and made his bid for president by making impossible promises like making teachers take pop quizzes and free taco dispensers in the cafeteria. Electricity formed his surname above him. He busted out a shirtzooka and shot free campaign T-shirts to the student body. Cruz was not worried but the bleachers cleared out except for her, the girls, and the freshman girl that supported her. Cruz was confident in 24 hours the polls would show the students were too smart to be wooed by a bunch of empty promises and cheap T-shirts. Cobblepot was way ahead of Cruz in the polls. Barbara Gordon and Karen Beecher's commercial, Zee Zatara's image overhaul, and Superman's endorsement put her ahead. Cobblepot watched it on a laptop in his lair and couldn't believe he was losing to such a sap. He thought the stage show spectacle would seal the deal.
Leslie Willis pointed out people trusted Cruz. He got an idea and wanted to use her talents once again. She replied it was about time. He clarified he wanted one of her specialty videos. Willis agreed to but reminded him she still needed to be paid for the stage show. The girls watched the video in shock as it painted Cruz as someone forcing vegetables on the school, doing the opposite of how Metropolis does everything big namely with the carbon footprints, and scheming to take everyone's freedoms away. Most of the class fell for it. She overheard Cobblepot in his lair and eavesdropped. He decided to make the school's carbon footprint even bigger after he won the election just to spite her. She heard enough, tore one of his posters off the wall, and vowed to go big. Lois Lane represented the Daily Planetoid school paper and presided over the final debate on the day of voting. Hammy was the student-selected moderator much to her chagrin. Oddly, Cruz was late. Cobblepot declared she chickened out.
Cruz abandoned her integrity and made a flashy entrance, being there the whole time crouched down on the gym floor into the shape of a green hump. She yelled out asking who was ready to rock the school. The girls were stunned. Zatara was quick to state she didn't sanction what she was wearing. She topped Cobblepot's previous play and shot 10 free shirts to everyone along with sunglasses. A pair landed on Hammy. Lane asked the first question to Cruz and Cobblepot, "what can you promise to do to make this school a better place?" Cobblepot brought up his promise of free taco dispensers in the cafeteria but Cruz butted in and she promised free taco, burrito, and burger dispensers in every classroom, valet student parking, optional attendance for all classes, and a performance by Up Past 8 at the prom. Everyone chanted Cruz's slogan. Cobblepot decided it was time for Plan B. Students cheered Cruz on to make more promises. Cruz saw her freshman supporter take her campaign button off. She apologized and stated she couldn't promise any of those things but she got so desperate to win, she forgot why she ran in the first place. She declared she could only truly promise she would work tirelessly and honestly to make their school the very best it could be.
Cobblepot tried to sway votes to him by staging an incident in which Livewire kidnapped Hammy. Cobblepot pretended to pummel Livewire then took back Hammy in triumph. Livewire listlessly played along. However, Cobblepot only paid her to take a fall and didn't pay her for everything else. He flipped Lane's microphone into her coffee cup and an errant bolt of electricity landed on Livewire's hair. Cruz quickly shot out constructs to protect the student body from Livewire's electricity as they cowered. She made an umbrella over two girls and a shield over a freshman girl. Livewire formed an unstable electrical field around Cobblepot, Lane, and Hammy as payback then fled the gym. The students overheard her and realized Cobblepot was a fraud. Cruz saved the day and used her shirtzooka to turn off the electrical panel which dissipated the field.