‘The Penguin’ reveals the backstory of Oswald Cobb’s limp

The Penguin is only one episode in, but its premiere promises to explore Oswald Cobb’s (Colin Farrell) disability more deeply.

In The Batman, Farrell’s Oswald (a.k.a. The Penguin) was a relatively minor villain. However, he was playing his cards right, waiting for the perfect moment to come forward and exert his power over Gotham. The Penguin takes place after the death of Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and sees Oswald attempt to take Falcone’s place as Gotham’s criminal Kingpin.

Now that viewers are seeing him front and center for the first time, they’re learning there’s a lot more to him than The Batman captured. While it’s clear that he’s a brutal and calculated villain, there’s also a vulnerable side to the character. Slapped with the insulting nickname “Penguin,” Oswald is far from being hailed as a Kingpin in Gotham and is often the subject of mockery instead.

Meanwhile, a large part of the reason he faces so much mockery and holds so much insecurity is because of his disability, which causes him to walk with a limp.

What happened to the Penguin’s foot?

In the comics, the Penguin never had a foot disability, which raises the question of why he walks with a limp in The Batman universe. The first episode of The Penguin answered this question by revealing that Oswald has clubfoot. At one point in the episode, Oswald takes off his shoes, revealing his foot, which appears extremely painful. In order to walk on his foot, he wears a metal brace on his shoe, which gives him an awkward gait.

Clubfoot is actually pretty common, affecting about 1–4 of every 1,000 people. The defect can affect either one or both feet. The affected feet are noticeably rotated inward and downward and may be smaller than an unaffected foot. Clubfoot is most commonly seen in babies because most individuals with this condition receive treatment within the first few weeks of birth. It’s often easily treatable without surgery, with braces and stretching. However, if it is left untreated, the condition can worsen, causing arthritis, chronic pain, and difficulty walking. In The Penguin, it appears that Oswald never received treatment for his clubfoot.

The fact that his foot was never treated provides additional insight into his childhood. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained that the fact this highly treatable condition went untreated reflects Oswald’s humble beginnings. She stated, “He grew up with very little money. He didn’t come from anything, and his mother didn’t decide to spend the money on a surgery like that.” However, she also noted it may be more than a money issue due to his mother not seeing his clubfoot as a “disability” or a “problem,” but something that can push him to “strengthen himself.”

Her attitude towards his clubfoot may also be part of the reason why Oswald has chosen not to correct it as an adult. The lingering effects of his disability are testament both to the financial hardships he faced as a child and his mother’s attitude towards his condition.

While it’s not uncommon for parents to refrain from labeling their child’s differences as “disabilities,” this situation is a little different since clubfoot is something that can actually cause chronic pain and impact one’s quality of life. One can’t help but feel sympathetic for Oswald, given that a big source of pain and discrimination in his life could’ve been avoided if he’d only had financial stability and support as a child.