Oz Cobb has always been a little tight-lipped about his siblings in The Penguin, and in Episode 7, we find out exactly how they died — and it’s gruesome.

penguin has already changed a few things about the iconic Batman villain. To begin with, his name is not Oswald Cobblepothe doesn’t wear a monocle and a top hat and, unlike in the comics, he had two brothers: Jack and Benny.

At the beginning of the series, Oz told Victor that they were “lost to the city”, implying that they were killed in the Riddler’s attacks. However, he bit Victor’s head off when he spoke to his mother about his siblings, telling her he “has no right”.

In other words, there was clearly a story to be told about their fate, and Episode 7 takes a look back in time to the day they died.

The penguin killed his brothers

HBO

As a child, Oz sealed his siblings in an underground sewer during a storm. As the rain poured down on Gotham, the sewers filled up and no one could hear them scream before they drowned.

Oz was the middle child (Jack was 15 and Benny 10 when they died). However, it is clear that he always felt like the more responsible brother of the three; more specifically, he cared about his mother the most and wanted to spend all his time helping her. He also idolized Rex Calabrese, the neighborhood gangster.

Oz’s mother asks her three boys to go outside while she works in the apartment, and they see Rex and his men beating up a guy in the street. He gives Jack a $50 bill and asks him about Francis, but in Jack’s eyes, Rex is not a good person – something Oz strongly disagrees with (remember, in the first episode, he told him Alberto Falcone how much he admired Rex and wanted to be known as someone who helped people like he did).

Before going home, they play a game of “flashlight tag” in underground railway tunnels. Oz is first, so he counts to 10 and tries to find them. He finds them hidden in the sewers, but can’t get down because of his pillar leg. “Damn, you guys know it’s hard for me to get there,” he yelled.

Jack tries to apologize, but Oz isn’t listening. Instead, it closes the door to the sewers…which cannot be opened from the inside. He goes home alone, and when his mother asks where his brothers went, he lies and says they went to the movies.

He sits with Francis and watches a movie, occasionally glancing at the rain dripping from the window, knowing that his brothers are still trapped underground. Meanwhile, Jack and Benny slam the door, begging Oz (or whoever) to let them out.

Their cries fall on deaf ears. Their screams are eventually drowned out by the sound of them gargling underwater and soon the sewer is silent.

The death of Oz’s brothers proves that he is a monster

HBO

The Penguin painted Oz as a mildly tragic, no doubt villainous character; he has a limpeveryone doubts him and makes fun of him and all he wants is to be THE guy everyone respects and supports his mother.

He also did (sort of) nice things for people. Vic tried to steal his Maserati rims and instead of retaliating gave him more money, power and purpose than he ever had. He takes care of all the people who work for him and maintain his Bliss operation. I also think he would have happily teamed up with Sofia if he hadn’t been trashed by Salvatore’s wife.

But here’s the difference: Oz is a bad person capable of good things, and Sofia is a good person capable of bad things. Sofia killed people (including her entire family), but they betrayed her and left her to rot in Arkham while protecting the patriarch, who happened to be a serial killer.

She captured Oz’s mother in episode 7, and while she was definitely tempted, she didn’t hurt her. Once she learned of Francis’ condition and visited her cousin Gia at Brookside, she saw the error of her ways—to a degree.

Oz, at his core, is broken and resentful. No peak is ever high enough and no deal is ever set in stone. Even when Salvatore dies of a heart attack, he proclaims that he “beat” him and riddles his corpse with bullets out of spite.

It didn’t start after his brothers died. It’s not his mother’s fault. He’s been a clinical backstab from the start, and while I’m sure he regrets his brother’s death, that doesn’t change who he is: a villain.

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