Penny Plunderer
The Penny Plunderer (Joe Coyne) is a fictional criminal in the DC Universe, and an adversary of Batman. He first appeared in World's Finest Comics #30 (September–October 1947).[1][2] The story was written by uncredited Bill Finger; the art was credited to Bob Kane.[3]
Fictional character history
Joe Coyne began his career selling newspapers, but he was soon caught stealing pennies. He now commits crimes which center around pennies.[4] In "The Penny Plunderers", he leaves Batman and Robin in a deathtrap shaped like a giant penny, with a penny each as a token of their worth - just two cents. Batman turns the tables by using the coins to make a battery and signal for help.[5] The giant penny often shown in the Batcave is a trophy of Batman's defeat of the Penny Plunderer.[6]
Though he is a classic adversary of Batman, he has recently been ret-conned out of Batman's rogue gallery. The giant penny has also been the focus of a ret-con and is now canonically known as an item that Two-Face attempted to use to crush Batman. The Penny Plunderer's last known whereabouts were at death row in Arkham Asylum. He wore a green suit and had black hair. He made only one appearance.
In Scarecrow/Two Face: Year One, Penny Plunderer makes a cameo appearance. He is robbing a bank with the underground approval of the Penguin. Again he has a green pin-striped suit. He is attacked by Two-Face, who is waging his own vigilante war. The Batman confronts them both. Two-Face destroys the supports on the classic giant penny, which is inside the bank being robbed. It crushes Penny Plunderer, killing him[7] and almost killing Jim Gordon. Batman stops the coin.[8]
In other media
- The Penny Plunderer appeared on promotional artwork released for Harley Quinn.[9]
- The giant penny makes an appearance in the Titans episode "Barbara Gordon" in the Batcave.
References
- ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 290. ISBN 9780345501066.
- ^ Michael L. Fleisher; Janet E. Lincoln (1976), The encyclopedia of comic book heroes, vol. 1, ISBN 9780020800903
- ^ "Grand Comics Database". Retrieved 2012-01-17.
- ^ Keith Phipps (June 1, 2005), Rogues' Gallery Runoff
- ^ Scott Beatty; Chuck Dixon; David Hahn (2005), The Batman Handbook, ISBN 9781594740237
- ^ Douglas P. Felter (Feb 1994), "Skeleton Keys: Teaching the Fiction of Narrative Truth", The English Journal, 83 (2): 43–47, doi:10.2307/821153, JSTOR 821153
- ^ "The Batman Files"
- ^ Two Face Year One #2 (2007)
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 21, 2017). "'Harley Quinn': DC Digital Service Orders Animated Series About Comic Book Villainess From 'Powerless' Trio". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.