Another point about whay I think Penguin should be very deadly.
In the Penguin story from the villians Secret Origins Special in 1990 ( I think)...
Penguin hunts down and captures Sharkey, the thug who bullied him him high school.
Penguin ties Sharkey up, tortures him, forces him to eat raw fish, and then welds Sharkey's metal teeth together with a blow torch.
I think we need to see the Penguin being used in a very deadly manner again. This whole foppish and buffonish way they have been doing penguin in the comics lately is absurd.
The Penguin was written by Bob Kane and Bill Finger as a brilliant and deadly criminal who murdered, who enjoyed killing people, and who out witted Batman all the time. In his first appearence, Penguin got away.
Penguin is not a physcial threat to Batman, but when it comes to intelligence, resourcefulness, and planning and executing successful crimes, I think that The Penguin is easily the most intellectually brilliant of Batman's villians. He is not as scary or crazy as the Joker, but he is just as intelligent.
Again....I am basing all of this on Penguins earliest appearances and his appearences in the late 80s and early 90s...when he was again portrayed as being very deadly.
In BR, I did love Burtons idea of having Penguin run for Mayor.