If Penguin Lived

[Paul (ral)]

wasn't the toxic waste "in the back"

I gotta whole lagoon of this crud in the back

[The Dark Knight]

A fall that high would smash you up big time, especially your insides.

There could have been traces of toxic waste in there that flowed out I suppose...but maybe not as much as 'out the back'.  

A combination of the fall and traces of waste perhaps.

[Azrael]

Needless to say how much it would take away from the "drama" of the film if the Penguin lived, I would be pissed off as well.

I can't think of any "what happens next" that makes sense, the film works only with the Penguin dying in the end. After all, the Penguin was almost re-invented from scratch by Burton and Co., had virtually nothing to do with the comics version (apart from certain quirks and the umbrella/top hat thing) and functioned perfectly as a a one-off "villain" whose birth and death bookend the film.

[The Dark Knight]

functioned perfectly as a a one-off "villain" whose birth and death bookend the film.

Perfectly said.

IF he survived, Penguin would have been fit as a fiddle and I think Batman would have been under fire from the umbrella gun. He'd duck the assault, wait until the firing stopped, and would take Penguin down.

After that...I don't know.

[Joker81]

I didnt think the penguin fell into the toxic waste. Didnt the penguin say the toxic waste was "out the back".
I thought it was the fall that killed him too.

Though it would be ironic if he did die from the toxic waste lol, after he threatened to kill the first born and Schrek in it lol

[thecolorsblend]

IF he survived, Penguin would have been fit as a fiddle and I think Batman would have been under fire from the umbrella gun. He'd duck the assault, wait until the firing stopped, and would take Penguin down.

After that...I don't know.

Burton set up a pretty ruthless Batman.  One way or the other, the Penguin wasn't going to walk out of there, Batman's new found outlook on trials and prisons notwithstanding.  The Penguin was too dangerous to be left alive.

Batman would've taken him down and then taken him out.  Permanently.

[The Dark Knight]

Though it would be ironic if he did die from the toxic waste lol, after he threatened to kill the first born and Schrek in it lol

Indeed. Tragic irony or poetic justice?

Penguin did motion to the water in his lair, directly underneath where Max was in the cage. So, I'm sure that's where the kids were going to be thrown in.

The line to Max about him going to jail possibly hints that his outlook has changed since the previous events of the film....but I agree colors. Keaton's Batman probably would have killed Penguin. If he's going to kill his goons ala the strongman, he's going to kill the man behind the madness.

[Joker89]

He would have teamed with Mr. Freeze to turn Gotham City into a giant ice box.

[Tarzan1941]

If The Penguin had lived, and gone to trial, he would have walked since the only key witness to all of his shenanigans was Batman, and we all know, he isn't going to show up in court to testify.  Think about it. 

All of his Goons either leave him or they are dead.  So there goes their testimony.  Max Shreck is dead.  And even if he wasn't, do you think he could afford being on the stand while a defense attorney brought up the mysterious case of his disappearing partner, Fred Atkins?  Or better yet, all of those plans to build a new power plant.  Yeah, Max is sitting this one out. And you can forget about Chip Shreck.  He's too busy arguing with lawyers and relatives he never knew he had over his daddy's will.  Selina Kyle/Catwoman, she only has two lives left, so she is going to take it easy and plot her revenge against Halle Berry for that horrible impression of her.   What about the un-ruly crowd that threw fruit and vegetables at Cobblepot at his speech?  Well that's easy: self-defense along with the usual anti-communism slur should get those charges dropped pretty quickly.  So that leaves all the people at Max's party.   Any half-wit lawyer could pick apart their testimony on the simple fact that the booze was flowing and almost all of them where indeed wearing masks, which obstructed their vision.  So how could they be sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that is was Oswald Cobbelpot that crashed the party with a yellow duck through the floor?!  Oh, and let's not forget all the nannys and baby sitters.  Well, well, well.  It's was the 1990s you see and for those of us that remember, we all learned that the rich don't pay taxes on their hired help; so to avoid any legal problems of their own, they decided to hush them up with the promise of bringing in some of their family members from their respective homelands.

Therefore, the death of the Ice Princess, the kidnapping of Max Shreck and even the kidnapping of all the first borns cannot be pinned on dear old Penguin.  After the trial, Penguin walks free and ironically is awarded a giant hug from the city commissioner for saving the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for taking care of that pesky old zoo problem.

Six months later, Penguin wins his primary for the school board.  The Gotham City Council begins to implement a strict neon lighting scheme all through out the city.  Bruce Wayne, along with Alfred's help, contemplates the pros and cons of placing nipples on the Bat-Suit and enlarging the cod piece.

[Paul (ral)]

Insightful!