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Every crime lord needs a right-hand man, and in the case of Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), the titular villain of HBO’s The Penguin, he’s got someone on his — pardon the pun — wing, young Victor “Vic” Aguilar, played by Rhenzy Feliz. Over the course of the first episode, Aguilar goes from teenage delinquent to seizing the opportunity to work on behalf of Oz, pushing the limits of what he’s willing to do for his new boss… and it’s not sweeping up what remains of the Iceberg Lounge. If you know the Penguin exclusively from the pages of DC Comics, or even from his portrayals in media — Burgess Meredith‘s campy take in the 1966 Batman series and Danny DeVito from 1992’s Batman Returns — you may not remember Victor. You’re not being gaslit: Victor hasn’t appeared before The Penguin.
Victor Aguilar Serves a Purpose in ‘The Penguin’
That’s right. While the series takes inspiration from the pages of DC Comics, more specifically storylines like Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, the character of Victor Aguilar is not one of them. So far, however, Aguilar has proven invaluable to Cobb and to the narrative as a whole, a character that serves a purpose. When a group of teenage no-gooders attempt to steal parts from his purple plum Maserati, Cobb scares them off with his gun but only manages to catch Aguilar. The Penguin isn’t renowned for his kindness but does find common ground with the young thug: Aguilar’s struggle with a speech impediment and Cobb’s own struggle with a clubbed foot. To this degree, Aguilar humanizes Cobb, showing that even the darkest of hearts can show mercy, and Cobb brings Aguilar on as his right-hand man. The decision to spare Aguilar and bring him into his world has already paid off in spades for the Penguin.
Aguilar is quickly introduced to the darkness of Gotham’s underworld, tasked with dumping the body of Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) in the trunk of a car, committing to the Penguin despite his initial hesitation. The pair engage in small talk as they drive around Gotham, like complaining about the number of pickles in their sandwiches, ever-so-slight moments that deepen their bond. And when Cobb is captured by Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) and tortured in the Falcone’s greenhouse, trying to get his confession to killing Alberto, Aguilar comes to the rescue. He executes the plan he and Cobb planned in case of such an event, sending the car with Alberto’s corpse crashing into the front lawn fountain, his pinky finger cut off, and “payback” keyed on the inside lid of the trunk. The plan perfectly deflects the suspicion of Alberto’s death off of the Penguin and on to the Maroni family. Freed, Cobb congratulates Aguilar on a job well done, although disappointed he didn’t go through with decapitating the corpse, leaving only the head and pinky finger behind. Aguilar is simply not able to go quite that far… yet.
‘The Penguin’s Victor Aguilar May Still Have a Connection to DC Comics
The Penguin‘s Victor Aguilar may not have a direct association with the pages of DC Comics, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. In fact, Victor Aguilar’s introduction in The Penguin closely mirrors that of a DC Comics character. Ironically, that character would be an associate of the Penguin’s arch-nemesis, Batman: Jason Todd, the second Robin. In the pages of Batman #408, Jason Todd is caught trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile, impressing Batman simply for having the cajones to try it. He takes Todd in and teaches him the tricks of fighting crime as Dick Grayson’s (Robin #1) replacement. Todd would famously be beaten to death by the Joker in the storyline “A Death in the Family,” a decision made by a fan poll.
Todd’s introduction in the comics skews very closely to Aguilar’s, who is first seen trying to take the tires off of Cobb’s Maserati. So closely that it jumps out of the “mere coincidence” box and right into the “this means something” category. Is it setting up Aguilar as Robin somewhere down the road in Matt Reeves‘ The Batman universe, or does he continue down this path to emerge as Penguin’s own anti-Robin, if you will? It’s too early to say, but there is precedent in the comics for the latter. Chick, a teen sidekick of the Penguin, was a member of the Super Foes who first appeared in Super Friends #1 in 1976 and disappeared after Super Friends #2; let’s hope Victor has a more successful run than Chick at least.
The Penguin is available to stream in the U.S. on Max, with new episodes released Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
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