The Penguin Is Telling a Sly Coming-of-Age Villain Story With Victor Aguilar

The following memoir contains minor spoilers for The Penguin.

FROM THE VERY jump, what we’re seeing in HBO’s The Penguin is amazingly obvious: OuncesCobb, also often known as The Penguin (Colin Farrell), is making strikes to upward thrust in energy, taking on Gotham City’s prison underworld. Or no longer it’s also obvious that there are going to be folks in his path—appreciate Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone—who he have to restful rep on his aspect, or threat having a prime reveal, pondering about her consolidated energy and psychopathic murderous trends. But did anyone realize that The Penguin was as soon as going to be telling a make of villainous coming-of-age memoir?

To boot to to all the pieces surrounding our titular persona’s scheming, plotting, and planning to steal withhold an eye on of a prison empire, there might be also a more sympathetic memoir at play. That comes into play early on in The Penguin‘s very first episode, as Ouncestakes a baby named Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) below his hover, in the foundation the negate of him to dispose a dull body sooner than finally sparing his body and making him his driver and unofficial henchman/sidekick/protégé.

Yes, his protégé! Now we possess viewed every form of sidekick and sidekick-adjacent characters via the years, from the obvious Robin to anyone appreciate Jimmy Olsen, on the opposite hand or no longer it’s rare to glimpse anyone appreciate Victor; a reputedly-green child who learns the ropes from a seasoned broken-down, if “the ropes” are cease and rep away with murder and a entire lot of assorted illegalities.

The relationship between Ouncesand Victor becomes core to The Penguin, even supposing, as Ouncesbrings Victor in on a huge selection of aspects of his life, including assembly his mom and coffee take care of ardour. Victor finally comes via, getting Ouncesout of a jam by environment a unhealthy crime household up for murder. All in a days work! The two revel in their success in a much less-than-gruesome manner by having slush domestic canines. But that’s all in the first episode of The Penguin; we might maybe per chance fair additionally be definite issues are by no manner going to be that uncomplicated, and or no longer it goes to be a bumpy highway for every and each Ouncesand Victor—and we’re going to be taught out of the ordinary more about each and each of them, too.

But for now, let’s dive into some more recordsdata about this relationship, and what The Penguin will likely be setting up.

Circulate The Penguin Right here

Is The Penguin‘s Victor Aguilar in holding with Victor Zsasz or any varied Batman or DC Comics persona?

There isn’t any persona named Victor Aguilar in the DC Comics or Batman canon; Victor Aguilar would appear to be an fully customary creation for The Penguin and Matt Reeves’s The Batman universe.

But that would not mean there are no longer some capacity hints for a route issues might maybe per chance trip. For example, one of basically the most valuable Batman villains is a sadomasochistic murder named
Victor Zsasz, valuable for carving a tally into his body for every person he murders (and he’s purchased a huge selection of tallies). Zsasz was as soon as beforehand played by Barry‘s Anthony Corrigan in Gotham and Chris Messina in Birds of Prey, and while that is also the route issues are finally going, it would not significantly appear to be the case right here. As is the truth that Batman’s notorious adversary Mr. Freeze (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman & Robin) is in actuality named Victor Fries; that also would not appear to be entirely in play.

Whereas the title Victor would not advance in play, it makes more sense to glimpse against the starting establish memoir of Jason Todd—who was as soon as Batman’s second Robin, after Dick Grayson—in Batman #408.

In that reveal, Batman links up with a young man named Jason Todd after he finds him making an strive to steal the perimeters off of the Batmobile. Sound acquainted? Jason Todd has a prolonged bustle as Batman’s sidekick, but not like Dick Grayson, the Jason Todd Robin was as soon as stuffed with anger and rage, upset with the area and his role interior it. In the raze, Jason is killed by The Joker (in Jim Starlin’s “A Loss of life in the Household,”) and finally returns as a vigilante named Crimson Hood. Or no longer it’s a total thing!

But or no longer it’s animated to glimpse at Jason’s starting establish in contrast with what we’re seeing with Victor Aguilar and The Penguin. The two hyperlink up in the particular same blueprint as Batman and Jason, and while Victor looks to be a tiny bit more pure-at-heart and first charge than Jason, he is also clearly open to doing a entire lot of of the Penguins bidding, whether that’s casting off our bodies, utilizing him around, or framing mafiosos for murder.

In that blueprint, permits truth be seeing no longer finest OuncesCobb’s upward thrust to the tip of the prison underworld, but additionally Victor Aguilar’s transformation accurate into a shapely villain. Confidently Victor’s path would not flip slightly so dim—but we would no longer assign apart the rest previous this dim, gritty drama.

Victor Aguilar is played by Rhenzy Feliz

The Penguin is one of the best-profile job but for actor Rhenzy Feliz, 26, on the opposite hand or no longer it’s in actuality no longer his first main superhero present. He beforehand played Alex Wilder in Hulu’s Runaways, in holding with Brian Okay. Vaughan’s notorious Marvel Comics sequence of the same title; he was as soon as the de facto lead for every and each seasons of that present.

Feliz has appeared in about a varied roles that which that you may maybe per chance fair possess viewed, including leading an episode of Ryan Muprhy’s American Fright Tales anthology sequence and acting in George Clooney’s film The Mushy Bar alongside Ben Affleck. He also lended his utter to Disney’s hit animated film Encanto.