Warning: major spoilers ahead for Batman/Superman #17!
DC Comic's new Penguin is transformed into an actual bat-eating monster in the newest issue of Batman/Superman. This comic has asked questions like what would happen if Batman and Superman never met and what if Lois Lane never met Superman. It also addresses what new threats Batman and Superman could face in their own alternate realities.
The Penguin is one of Batman's most well-known villains. Debuting in Detective Comics #58 in 1941, Oswald Cobblepot has always been a subject of mockery to people. His height, nose, and build have caused him to be bullied, eventually causing him to become a villain. The Penguins often uses money as an influencing power and has even tried to run for mayor. He is the kind of villain who always wants respect and strives toward upward mobility after the degradation he dealt with in his youth. The character is easily recognizable though Batman/Superman #17 has created a new iteration.
Batman/Superman #17 by Gene Luen Yang and Ivan Reis takes the Penguin, and a couple of other villains, and turns them into experimental monsters. In Batman's reality where Superman never made it to Earth, Penguin is still locked up in Arkham Asylum, with a couple of cellmates. Not having Superman around didn't change the villain's fall into crime, but it does change the people who are able to have access to him. The inmates of Arkham Asylum are under the watch of a man known as the Warden, who is none other than Lex Luthor himself. Luthor cloned Penguin and his cellmates, using them to experiment on. Now, in this issue, they are making their villainous - and monstrous - debut. As a result of Luthor's experiments, a more menacing version of the Penguin has been created.
This version of the Penguin is a massive monster whose sole purpose in the issue is to fight Batman when the Dark Knight and his companions reach the Spider's Nest - Spider Lady's headquarters. He has been turned into a hulking mass with horrifyingly enhanced penguin-esque features. His hair has grown out from his head to his back, making him look more like his namesake bird. His beak-like nose appears even larger and sharper in proportion to his face. His teeth are larger, though not sharpened, which is only a small relief. His three-fingered, webbed hands have also been enlarged. Penguin has become a behemoth of evil ready to devour his usual foe - Batman.
While it is no surprise that the Penguin would still be a prominent villain in a world where Batman is the main hero, it IS surprising that Superman's absence had an effect on Batman's rogues gallery. Due to Metropolis becoming a crime-ridden cesspool, it is easier for some characters to reach new levels of villainy - like in the case of Lex Luthor. Superman is still his obsession, but in a different way, and now he has new resources for his schemes. He found the spaceship that Superman was in, but the Kryptonian didn't survive the trip.
Instead of building himself power suits and robots, Lex Luthor has a different focus and arguably more evil aspects. Without Superman, Batman's villains are not their usual selves - they are tools to be turned into more grotesque versions. Batman doesn't have a better handle on his villains either, since they're being duplicated in the one place that serves as their prison. DC Comics has lots of new tricks up their sleeves with this Batman-only alternate reality where even the Penguin can't escape Superman's existential influence.
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