Tucker Cobblepot

Tucker Cobblepot
General Information
Real name:	Tucker Cobblepot
Affiliation:	Esther Cobblepot (wife) Oswald Cobblepot (son)
Portrayed by:	Paul Reubens
Appearances:	Batman Returns

Tucker Cobblepot was the father of Oswald Cobblepot, who terrorized Gotham City as The "Penguin" in adulthood.

Biography

A prominent District Attorney, little else was known of Tucker Cobblepot, although it was assumed that the Cobblepot Family was very wealthy, either as wealthy or had almost as much money as the Wayne Family.

Abandoning Oswald

Tucker's first son was Oswald, who was treated poorly on account of his deformity and violent behavior. Tucker and his wife, Esther, had trouble accepting Oswald and did not believe that Gotham's high society would welcome him. Oswald's abuse of the family cat confirmed Tucker's and Esther's minds that Oswald had the mannerisms of a feral animal and they got rid of him by pushing his baby carriage into a drainage stream into the sewer. Tucker and Esther then looked with sorrow after they dumped Oswald. The carriage then floated to Arctic World of the Old Zoo, where Oswald was discovered by Emperor Penguins and was raised by zookeepers, presumably.

Mysterious Death

"I think he knows who his parents are. There's something else."

―Batman to Alfred

Tucker, along with Esther, died at a relatively young age, under mysterious circumstances.

Oswald later made a public show of placing roses on Tucker and Esther's gravestone in order to show that he had forgiven them both. Whether or not Oswald truly had some depth of feeling during that charade was unclear. The public ate it up, but Batman started to see through Oswald and speculated that he knew who his parents were all along.

Behind the Scenes

The name Tucker originated from the script, as well as his occupation as a D.A. It was implied that Oswald may have returned and murdered Tucker and Esther years earlier.

Trivia

• Tucker's name was seen on his headstone and was bylined on newspaper props.
• Penguin's Father was not identified in most comic continuities, and Tucker was an original character for Batman Returns.
• Diane Salinger played Esther Cobblepot. That marked the second time in a Tim Burton production that Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger played a couple. The first time was in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, when Reubens played Pee-Wee Herman and Salinger played Simone, the truck stop waitress.
• Paul Reubens reprised the role of Penguin's Father in Gotham, for two episodes in the second season. That version was called Elijah Van Dahl.
• Burgess Meredith, who played Penguin in the 1960s Batman series, was considered to play Penguin's Father, but his illness prevented him from it.