Oswald Cobblepot's Monocle

Owner	Oswald Cobblepot
Use	Monocle

The monocle is a circular corrective lens owned by Oswald Cobblepot. He wore it after a fatal injury he received during the final days of the No Man's Land crisis left his right eye permanently dilated and discolored.

History

On day 391 into No Man's Land, the Penguin participated in a dangerous battle to defend Gotham City from Bane and his invading forces. During the massive battle, a grenade thrown by the enemy landed on the barricade right in front of Cobblepot and the Riddler. In order to protect his friend, Oswald shielded Nygma from the explosion. However, when the grenade went off, it shot sharp shrapnel into Penguin's right eye and additionally shattered the red sunglasses he was wearing. Penguin's eye was pierced by glass and metal fragments, causing him to scream in pain.

Cobblepot's right eye never healed properly following the fatal injury. His pupil was now left permanently dilated and the iris became discolored, now appearing in bright blue instead of its original green color. After the war for Gotham was over and the city rejoined the mainland, Penguin from now on required a monocle to see properly, which he would wear along with a new top hat. Six months after the defeat of Bane's forces, Cobblepot and the Riddler were arrested by the GCPD under the authority of Commissioner Gordon. Nygma was sent to Arkham Asylum as a new permanent inmate, while the Penguin was imprisoned at Blackgate Penitentiary for the next ten years. When Cobblepot's sentence finally came to an end, he was given back all the items he wore when he arrived at the prison a decade before, including the top hat and his purple suit. He also put on the monocle before being released from Blackgate and would continue to wear it permanently in order to compensate for his weakened eyesight.

Appearances

Season 5

• "Legend of the Dark Knight: The Beginning..."

Notes

• In DC Comics, the monocle is a significant item worn by the Penguin. He has used the monocle in the comics and other media since his very first appearance in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941).
• This is the third live-action version of Penguin's monocle, following the 1966 TV series Batman and the 1992 film Batman Returns.
• Oswald's father Elijah Van Dahl once used a monocle to see the fabric on one of his Italian suits in the episode "Wrath of the Villains: Prisoners".
• Penguin's monocle was previously foreshadowed in the episode "A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness". During his sentence at Arkham Asylum, a crescent-shaped wound was inflicted on Oswald's face right underneath his right eye, which looked visually similar to the monocle he would later wear on the same eye.

Background information

• Robin Lord Taylor has described the monocle as his favorite piece of costume he got to wear on the show. He commented, "The monocle in particular I loved because, again, it's iconic to the Penguin. I got to collaborate with them, John Perkins, our makeup guy head, and I talked about it. One thing I love about this iteration of the Penguin is that all of those characteristics, quirks that make up who he is, such as the limp and the monocle, are actual injuries that he has received from other people. He's been damaged by others, rightfully so in some circumstances. [...] So it was just this little piece of who he is and classic iconography of the Penguin."
• Before the airing of Season 5, Robin Lord Taylor explained at the New York Comic Con 2018 that he wanted to make sure that the origin of Penguin's monocle was portrayed on Gotham before the show's end. He noted, "I wanted to make sure that when we tell that story that it's not just some affectation, it's not just some weird stylistic choice. You know, in one of the stories it's an actual injury that he receives and I told John Stephens [when] he walked me through at the beginning of the season [...] vaguely where we're going. And he was like, 'Do you have anything that you really need?', and I was like 'Can we please when we do the monocle make it the injury?' Because it ties into this character, from the beginning having been beaten, and now he has the limp and he is somewhat handicapped. It's about how Gotham City itself is destroying this person, is cutting him down, is turning him into a monster. And that's such an important component of it I feel. The fact that he is now blinded in one eye, there is something about him now where one side of his body is damaged and the other side is not. It's like this duality that's always kind of been there with him, this sympathetic yet monstrous person. And I just thought that was so important. It will come into play."
• Following the injury he received in the episode "Legend of the Dark Knight: They Did What?", Penguin's right eye appeared permanently dilated and blue in the series finale, while his healthy eye still had its original green color. The different color of the right eye would indicate that Cobblepot replaced it with a glass eye or other kind of implant. However, Robin Lord Taylor clarified that it is not an implant but still intended to be Penguin's own natural eye that is left constantly dilated following the injury. To compensate for the weakened eyesight, Oswald therefore has to wear a monocle for the rest of his life. Taylor remembered, "We designed a contact lens so that you could see that his eye was permanently, the pupil was dilated permanently from the injury he received."
• The medical terms for Penguin's eye conditions would be Anisocoria and Heterochromia iridum. Permanent Mydriasis can be caused by eye injuries that damage the muscle and/or nerves responsible for the closing mechanism of the pupil. Similarly, heterochromia, the discoloration of the iris, can also be caused by serious trauma to the eye.