THE PENGUIN Producer Addresses Controversial Decision To Change Title Villain's Name To "Oz Cobb"

THE PENGUIN Producer Addresses Controversial Decision To Change Title Villain's Name To "Oz Cobb"

The Penguin producer Dylan Clark has addressed the divisive decision to change Ozwald Cobblepot's name in the upcoming spin-off series, justifying altering it to simply "Oz Cobb." Read on for details...

By JoshWilding - Sep 16, 2024 02:09 PM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

We're just a couple of days away from The Penguin premiering on HBO/Max and, while the DC series has received glowing reviews from critics, there's one creative decision which is bugging a lot of fans. 

In the comics, The Penguin is also known as Ozwald Cobblepot. It's a pretty over-the-top name, yes, and The Batman shortened it to "Oz" for the sake of realism given what a grounded world filmmaker Matt Reeves has created for his Dark Knight. 

However, in The Penguin, it's confirmed that the villain's new name in this "Bat-verse" is simply Oz Cobb. That's not just a shortening of the full version either; it's a completely different name for the character. 

"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," producer Dylan Clark said in the latest SFX Magazine"By doing that they grounded the character."

"We had a lot of conversations with DC Comics and with Jim Lee [President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer]," he continued. "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."

Writer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc added, "Matt's created new canon in his film, and I'm creating new canon in this show. We have characters you're familiar with but there's a different spin on them."

"It felt like in the Gotham City that Matt created in his film, Cobblepott 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."

The justification is hard to argue with but is it a necessary change? That's what fans on social media are now debating, with the majority seemingly arguing that it's a silly alteration and one which goes against the comics in a way a lot of people don't appreciate. 

A new critics TV spot for The Penguin has also been released which you can check out below.

The Penguin's cast includes Colin Farrell (Oz Cobblepot), Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo), and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro.

Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves' 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer.

The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on September 19.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 9/16/2024, 2:39 PM
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lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:31 PM
@harryba11zack - notice they never asked Gunn who, along with his co-head, never approved it. I'm glad Penguin is getting rave reviews, but Ozz Cobb is the dumbest f'n name change ever.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/16/2024, 2:40 PM
Oswald is over the top? Theres a guy called the batman.
newhire13
newhire13 - 9/16/2024, 2:58 PM
@Malatrova15 - Cobblepot is. Someone like him preferring to go by Oz rather than Oswald makes sense.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/16/2024, 3:42 PM
@Malatrova15 - This is so [frick]ing hilarious to me, how they need to "ground" elements like a [frick]ing name or an accent or personality, lol. Oswald is a real name. It's grounded already, Matt! And Todd Phillips? The Brooklyn accent is a real accent.
Meanwhile Gotham City is not a real city. They're grounding things that exist in the real world but then a guy dresses like a Bat and protects a fantasy metropolis that doesn't exist in the real world.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/16/2024, 4:11 PM
@newhire13 - say that to my Sussex born butler..mofo refused to rename himself Jones or something.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/16/2024, 4:13 PM
@ObserverIO - i mean ..this gangstet stuff is already groundef too....James Gandolfini died from excess of Gabagool for realz
The1st
The1st - 9/16/2024, 4:32 PM
@ObserverIO - Exactly...Nigma wasn't a name, it was a pseudonym. They really think we're dumb. Subversion of expectations.

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lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:35 PM
@Malatrova15 - 100%....i HATE the name change
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:36 PM
@newhire13 - yeah, gotta disagree. The wonderful Land of "OZ?!"
Ozwald sounds like a real name in a family of riches.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:38 PM
@ObserverIO - 100% agree on the Oswald name. Just a bunch of hacks trying to be "different" than iterations before. However, they end up being dumba$$ decisions.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 9/16/2024, 7:04 PM
@ObserverIO - You're really going to be upset when you learn that The Penguin in this show is in the children's clothing racket instead of normal gangster stuff.

From what I've heard, after the events of The Batman The Penguin gives up on normal gangster activities and gets children's clothing because it's a market with no gangster competition.

He starts his own clothing line called "Oz Cobb Bagosh".






.....I'll see my way out
McMurdo
McMurdo - 9/16/2024, 9:04 PM
@CorndogBurglar - well it was a valiant effort.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 9/16/2024, 11:16 PM
@McMurdo - lol
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 9/16/2024, 2:41 PM
I get it's grounded but that seems a bit much.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 9/16/2024, 2:44 PM
Grounded aka ashamed of the character’s goofy real name. You’ve got a guy named Batman running around too. Oz Cobb sounds just as goofy as Cobblepott
LeoAtrox1
LeoAtrox1 - 9/16/2024, 3:23 PM
@MisterBones - It does. But I could buy this change if they were to say that he didn't want to go by "Cobblepott" because it sounded too English, and the Italians don't like it. So, he chooses to go by "Cobb" instead. I can get behind that.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/16/2024, 4:15 PM
@LeoAtrox1 - he might as well call himself "The Pingu" ...noot noot nutha[frick]a ..bang
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:40 PM
@MisterBones - sounds worse
MisterBones
MisterBones - 9/16/2024, 7:41 PM
@LeoAtrox1 - that would’ve made more sense
NightEagle3
NightEagle3 - 9/16/2024, 2:44 PM
The funny thing about this is Oswald Cobblepot sounds grounded and Oz Cobb sounds like fantastical comicbooky nonsense. Jesus what a dumb decision.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/16/2024, 2:48 PM
@NightEagle3 - I don’t think one is more or less comicbooky then the other

His first name is still Oswald but he’s just shortened it to Oz as a nickname while Cobb is indeed an actually last name which is where the grounded argument works imo
NightEagle3
NightEagle3 - 9/16/2024, 4:02 PM
@TheVisionary25 - yeah. My problem with the last name was it sounded grounded for a man who's family history was rooted in riches and wealth like the Waynes. Cobblepot sounded just like how I feel a snobby, old money type family's last name to be. But hey, maybe with this reinvention, Oz doesn't come from old money so Cobblepot wouldn't fit? I don't know, I'm still watching say one though lol
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/16/2024, 4:09 PM
@NightEagle3 - I actually said the same thing below

I feel in context that reasoning makes more sense then just making it grounded for the sake of it.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:40 PM
@NightEagle3 - greed completely
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:41 PM
"agreed...."
1stDalek
1stDalek - 9/16/2024, 6:25 PM
@NightEagle3 - That's exactly it, this version doesn't come from old money. He's from a working class family. I just don't get why he's not using that as the reasoning rather than the weird "grounded" argument.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/16/2024, 2:49 PM
I could better understand if his name were Pen Guin! This seems a tad bit petty but...OK!
URCOMMENTSUCKS
URCOMMENTSUCKS - 9/16/2024, 2:49 PM
The Batman stans seething and coping, now that they have no arguments to defend the franchise which was OBVIUSLY striving to be even more so grounded and realistic than the Nolan movies, at which they like to take pot shots at. I don't get why they were coping to begin with, given that The Riddler was a dead giveaway that Reeves doesn't want to bring the world of Batman comics on screen in an accurate way.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:46 PM
@URCOMMENTSUCKS - dude, the Riddler looked completely stupid and was playing a character he's not.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for the Jim Carrey version or outfit, but....damn. find a middle ground. The Riddler in "The Batman" was like 10% representative of the true character.

I mean, when the show "Gotham's" Riddler is better, and wasn't exactly that great to begin with, your Batman's film/series has problems.
RichardGrayson
RichardGrayson - 9/16/2024, 2:51 PM
This change is [frick]ing stupid. I’m actually mad about it, such an unnecessary change. Idiots in charge at DC. Who even [frick]ing cares about this show? Nobody ever wanted a Penguin show… wtf… also Burgess Meredith and Devito were wayyyy [frick]ing better than this cheap Tony Soprano/Montana impression that Farrell’s doing. Character feels nothing like Penguin and is literally just a boring generic mobster. Reeves takes on the villains have been universally awful. Riddler was hilariously bad.
newhire13
newhire13 - 9/16/2024, 3:00 PM
@RichardGrayson - You feel better now champ?
RichardGrayson
RichardGrayson - 9/16/2024, 3:04 PM
@newhire13 - yes! It’s ok to complain about things! Not every complaint has to be about something super important.

Also, [frick] you
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:47 PM
@newhire13 - he should because he's 100% correct
YouCray04
YouCray04 - 9/16/2024, 2:58 PM
Not a huge deal, but they should have gone with Oswald Cobb, and just had people call him "Oz" for short.
LibraMatter
LibraMatter - 9/16/2024, 5:31 PM
@YouCray04 - Isn’t that what they are doing? His name is Oswald but his Nick name is Oz? I don’t think his actual name on his fake birth certificate would be Oz. It would be Oswald Cobb.
YouCray04
YouCray04 - 9/17/2024, 9:54 AM
@LibraMatter - Not according to the article:

"However, in The Penguin, it's confirmed that the villain's new name in this "Bat-verse" is simply Oz Cobb. That's not just a shortening of the full version either; it's a completely different name for the character."
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 9/16/2024, 3:03 PM
See, it’s this type of shit that puts me off. They’re entirely ashamed of the character and it shows.

And “Oz Cobb” sounds even more ridiculous, let’s be honest.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 9/16/2024, 4:48 PM
@FireandBlood - been posting that for weeks but getting all kinds of sh1t for it.

I'm 100% on your side.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/16/2024, 6:01 PM
@FireandBlood - I don't think you'd care as much if they changed something else as pointlessly. But I'm not into this myself, similarly.
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