Arthur Penn

Arthur Penn
Full name	Arthur Penn
Alias	Ventriloquist Scarface Mr. Penn Beetle (by Harvey) Arnold (by Penguin)
Affiliation	Cobblepot crime family (formerly) Falcone crime family (formerly) Scarface
Occupation	Accountant (formerly) Spy (formerly)
Status	Deceased
First	"A Dark Knight: Pax Penguina"
Appeared in	10 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by	Andrew Sellon

"You worked me to the bone, forced me to be your puppet, well no more."

—Arthur Penn to Oswald Cobblepot^[src]

Arthur Penn, also known as the Ventriloquist and Scarface, was an accountant working for Carmine Falcone, Oswald Cobblepot and Sofia Falcone, former high-ranked member of the Cobblepot crime family. He was shot and killed during the events of No Man’s Land.

Biography

When Carmine Falcone was still the ruling crime lord of Gotham City, Mr. Penn used to work for the Don for many years up until his retirement to Miami.

After Jim Gordon arrests a criminal carrying one of Penguin's licenses, Arthur Penn visits Bullock at his office. Penn tells Bullock that Penguin worries about Jim being compliant, but Bullock assures him that the GCPD will honor the licenses.

A few weeks later, Sofia Falcone came to Gotham, whereon Don Falcone called Mr. Penn and asked him to keep an eye on his daughter. However, Sofia found out shortly after and threatened to kill Arthur if he refuses to provide her with inside information about Cobblepot's criminal empire.

Arthur Penn informs Penguin that 14 percent of crimes are happening outside of his Pax Penguina. Sofia Falcone comes in and asks Penguin to come with her to lunch. Sofia tells him that it would show everyone that he has the support of the Falcone family, which could help to get him 100 percent compliance.

Jim comes into The Iceberg Lounge, to see if Penguin has any leads on Officer Dave Metzger's murder. Arthur Penn informs Jim that a man named Wally Clarke recently applied for a burglary permit for a butcher shop called The Pork Barrel. Later, Zsasz and Penn present Penguin with evidence that Sofia seems to be up to something behind his back. Penguin tells Zsasz they will "visit" Sofia immediately and find out what she's doing.

The Sirens raid the Iceberg Lounge at the time when Arthur Penn was waiting for Cobblepot to send further instructions. Tabitha Galavan tortures Penn on where Cobblepot is. She is unable to get any information out of him.

While looking for something they can use on Sofia Falcone, Harvey Bullock meets with Carmine Falcone's former Scandinavian hitperson Agnes who directs them to Arthur Penn. When encountering Oswald Cobblepot on the streets after Edward Nygma helped him escape from Arkham Asylum, he informs them that Arthur Penn tends to frequent a resort called the Spa Bo'sh Sumka outside of Gotham City near the Tricorner island. As Gordon and Bullock head there, Sofia gets word from Victor Zsasz and Headhunter that Arthur Penn is at Spa Bo'sh Sumka causing Sofia to lead them and some Falcone crime family members there. Gordon and Bullock find Arthur Penn there amongst the baby-dressed patrons. Penn states that he used to work for Carmine Falcone before his retirement. When he worked for Cobblepot, he had to also work for Sofia Falcone when he was threatened by her. In addition, Penn mentioned that he was the one who told Carmine what his daughter was doing. Just then, Sofia shows up with Zsasz, Headhunter, and some unnamed Falcone crime family members. Headhunter, Zsasz, and Sofia end up in a gunfight with Gordon and Bullock. While Sofia fought Gordon, Headhunter and Zsasz chased after Bullock and Penn. After the two of them escaped in Lee Thompkins's car, the Zsasz and Headhunter gave up pursuit and went to get smoothies when they saw the police cars come into view.

Penn during Cataclysm

No Man's Land

After the Cataclysm, Penn stayed in Gotham serving Oswald Cobblepot, counting the reserves and managing the organization. After not wanting to feed his people enough, Oswald's employees, including Penn, escaped to Haven in the GCPD.

False Death

Penn falls into unconsciousness, before being declared dead.

When the gangs betrayed the Penguin, they wanted to sacrifice Penn since Oswald previously sacrificed two Street Demonz thugs. Oswald objects and unties Penn, but the leader of the gang shoots Penn in the chest. As he lay dying, Penn revealed to Oswald that everyone had left him because they hated him, before passing out in Oswald's arms due to trauma, falsely assumed to had died. He later woke up confused in the morgue.

Abilities

• Accountancy: Penn is an incredibly skilled accountant, able to keep track of the finances and transactions of whole criminal empires. He was also given the task of assembling the crime licenses during the Pax Penguina.
• Triple agency: Arthur managed to secretly work for three powerful crime lords at the same time, namely Oswald Cobblepot, Carmine Falcone and Sofia Falcone. He was mainly Penguin's accountant, but also informed Don Falcone about Sofia's actions when she came to Gotham. However, Sofia found out and only let Arthur live when he offered her to be her informant in Cobblepot's crime family. However, Penn was still loyal to Carmine and Penguin, since he informed Don Falcone about Sofia's connection with Professor Pyg and advised Oswald to order a hit on Sofia.
• Network: Due to his history as the accountant of several mob bosses over the course of many years, Arthur has access and connections to various crime families and gangsters. He was the one who put Sofia Falcone in contact with professional contract hitman Lazlo Valentin.
• Survival expert: Penn has wide knowledge of how to stay alive in the mob business, as shown when he offered Sofia to be her informant in the Cobblepot crime family, knowing that she would accept this offer and keep him alive for that task. He is also aware of the fact that a bearer of bad news often gets blamed by crime lords and becomes a victim of 'shooting the messenger', therefore he quickly leaves as soon as he delivers unpleasant information.
• Master tactician: He was capable of hiding his affiliation with Sofia Falcone from experienced crime bosses Carmine Falcone and Penguin. Penn also cleverly tried to eliminate Sofia by proxy by advising Cobblepot to have her killed by Victor Zsasz.
• Leadership: Arthur has at least some rudimentary leader skills, as shown when he managed to organize the remaining henchmen at the Iceberg Lounge during Penguin's absence and ordered them to wait for Cobblepot to send further instructions.
• Ventriloquism:

Appearances

Season 4 "A Dark Knight: Pax Penguina" "A Dark Knight: The Blade's Path" "A Dark Knight: Hog Day Afternoon" "A Dark Knight: Stop Hitting Yourself" "A Dark Knight: Let Them Eat Pie" "A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight" "A Dark Knight: The Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause" Season 5 "Year Zero" "Penguin, Our Hero" "Nothing's Shocking"

Notes

• Arthur Penn is the show's version of the Batman villain "The Ventriloquist." Prior to FOX giving Gotham Season 5 two extra episodes, producer John Stephens stated that the Ventriloquist and Scarface were cut from the season and will only be alluded to via easter eggs. The extra episodes allowed them to use Ventriloquist.
• In the DC Comics, the Ventriloquist is a legacy name used by multiple supervillains. The original and most recurring is Arnold Wesker, a gangster with a dominant split personality that he associates with his puppet Scarface. While Wesker is a meek, quiet man, his Scarface personality is a ruthless criminal mastermind who commits violent crimes and treats Arnold as his servant. The character was created by Alan Grant, John Wagner and Norm Breyfogle and first appeared in Detective Comics #583. (February 1988).
  • The second Ventriloquist is Peyton Riley, who took over the mantle and appropriated the Scarface puppet after Wesker's demise. Wesker's death was subsequently retconned by The New 52.
  • The third Ventriloquist is Shauna Belzer, a member of the Secret Six and enemy of Batgirl. She is a sickly telekinetic that is obsessed with her physical appearance and is a fangirl of serial killers. She is portrayed as more deranged than her predecessors and has romantic relations with her puppet Ferdie.
  • Penn appears to be mostly inspired by Arnold Wesker, as they are both portrayed as meek accountants with connections to the mob. At one point in "Nothing's Shocking," Penguin accidentally called Arthur by "Arnold."

Trivia

• The fact that Mr. Penn was allegedly murdered by the Street Demonz leader might be a reference to the comics in which Ventriloquist and the Street Demonz are mortal enemies, even leading to a brutal gang war for territory in one storyline.
• Arthur Penn is one of several original characters to take on a pre-existing mantle from the comics. Others include Francis Dulmacher, Griffin Krank, Jason Skolimski, Bridgit Pike, Butch Gilzean, Theo Galavan and Nathaniel Barnes. Pike, along with Richard Sionis (the precursor to Black Mask), would go on to be introduced in the comics themselves.
• Andrew Sellon, the actor for Mr. Penn, is a ventriloquist in real life, something of which the producers weren't aware of when he was hired for the show.