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Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobb in The Penguin

Wait, Is Oz Cobb Just Gotham’s Tony Soprano?

Continuing the story of 2022ā€™s The Batman, the HBO original series The Penguin focuses on Oz Cobbā€™s rise to power in Gotham Cityā€™s criminal underworld. However, in his journey, Cobbā€™s story resembles another iconic HBO fictional mobster, The Sopranosā€™ Tony Soprano. Hereā€™s how Oz Cobb and Tony Sopranoā€™s arcs compare.

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Is Oz Cobb Gothamā€™s Tony Soprano?

Tony Soprano stands with his crew

More than just being a story about organized crime and the rivalry between mobsters and their respective syndicates, there are some personal similarities between Oz Cobb and Tony Soprano that are apparent from the first episode of The Penguin. Oz and Tony are both protagonists caught up in a criminal profession while also possessing deeply rooted personal insecurities that affect their trajectory in their respective series. This usually manifests itself in pathological trust issues or the occasional impulsive spurt of violence, usually stemming from perceived threats to their competence or stature within their social hierarchies.

Beyond their criminal activities, so much of Oz and Tonyā€™s insecurities are informed by dysfunctional relationships with their mothers, both of whom are still alive at the start of their respective series. Francis Cobb and Livia Soprano are overbearing women who constantly belittle and ostracize their sons, always ready with a toxic critique or other methods of emotional abuse. So much of how Oz and Tony carry themselves in their stories can be traced to how they were raised by their mothers, albeit in different ways and against very different antagonists.

Related: The Penguin: Why Was Sofia Falcone in Arkham Asylum?

How Oz Cobb Is Different Than Tony Soprano

Oz Cobb lounging in a chair in The Penguin

While their backgrounds, temperance, and illicit professions are certainly similar, Oz is on a very different journey in The Penguin than Tony Soprano was for much of The Sopranos. For most of the series, Tony is the de facto boss of the DiMeo Crime Family in New Jersey, with Junior Soprano named as the official head of the family as a means to quell Juniorā€™s ambitions and distract law enforcement attention away from Tony. Throughout The Sopranos, Tony is very much at the top of his game within the New Jersey organized crime scene, with the conflict primarily coming from rival families and crooks, especially the New York crime syndicates.

Comparatively, The Penguin is about Ozā€™s rise to power, with the wayward mobster not heading any major syndicates of his own but rather discarded by the Falcones after the death of their own criminal patriarch Carmine, as depicted in The Batman. Given his lowly position and being rightfully suspected of murdering Alberto Falcone at the start of the series, Oz resorts to pitting the Falcone family against their longtime rivals the Maroni crime syndicate out of self-preservation and opportunity. Tonyā€™s journey in The Sopranos is about staying on top, while Ozā€™s journey in The Penguin is about staying alive and taking what he believes belongs to him.

The Penguin is currently streaming on HBO and Max, with new episodes dropping Sundays.


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Author
Image of Sam Stone
Sam Stone
Sam Stone is a longtime entertainment news journalist and columnist, covering everything from movies and television to video games and comic books. Sam also has bylines at CBR, Popverse, Den of Geek, GamesRadar+, and Marvel.com. He's been a freelance contributor with The Escapist since October 2023, during which time he's covered Mortal Kombat, Star Trek, and various other properties. Sam remembers what restful sleep was. But that was a long time ago.
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