Who is Victor Aguilar in The Penguin? Everything to know about this DC character and its origin

Victor Aguilar, played by Rhenzy Feliz, is a character introduced in the HBO series The Penguin. Based on the universe created by Matt Reeves's The Batman, the character is a teenager from a lower-income background. He was orphaned due to the Riddler's flooding of Gotham City and ends up becoming The Penguin's protégé.

Victor Aguilar is an original character created for the series and currently has no counterpart in the original DC Comics. By contrast, The Penguin was originally introduced during the earliest Batman runs, with Bill Finger introducing him in 1941 as a thief and a crime lord.

---

Victor Aguilar’s journey from an orphan to a crime lord’s protégé

Victor Aguilar becomes Oz Cobb's protege. (Image via HBO)

Victor Aguilar is an original character created specifically for HBO's The Penguin series. His backstory, however, ties heavily into Matt Reeves's The Batman film. In it, Gotham was terrorized by Edward Nashton, or The Riddler, who started out on a murderous crusade against Gotham City's corrupt elite.

However, after Batman deduced his identity and had him arrested, the Riddler revealed that his true plan was far more ambitious and deadly in nature.

Unbeknownst to Gotham's law enforcement, the Riddler had raised a following of terrorists and planted car bombs around the city that would destroy Gotham City's seawall and cause the city to be flooded.

This act of terrorism targeted the entirety of Gotham's citizenry indiscriminately, and many innocent people lost their lives in this disaster, including Victor's own parents.

In HBO's The Penguin, Victor Aguilar becomes The Penguin's protege. This occurs after Victor and a crew of thieves attempt to swipe the tires off the crime lord's car, causing him to kidnap Victor and hold him hostage.

From that point, the two begin to transition into a mentor-student relationship, as Oz Cobb aka The Penguin realizes that Victor could be a useful pawn in his schemes, and Victor realizes he could learn a lot from Oz.

While Victor Aguilar is not directly based on any preexisting DC Comics character, there are parallels between his story arc and that of Jason Todd.

---

The Penguin's Victor Aguilar may be inspired by Jason Todd

Jason Todd was the second person to serve as Robin in the Batman comics. And just like Victor Aguilar, he was introduced trying to steal the tires of the man who would become his mentor, in this case, Bruce Wayne.

Victor Aguilar's relationship with The Penguin is a lot darker, given the latter is a criminal who coerces Victor into disposing of a body. The path Victor Aguilar is on will also likely be a much bloodier one compared to that of Jason Todd, given the world he's now been roped into.

Nonetheless, the parallels between Victor Aguilar and Jason Todd are striking, and it remains to be seen whether Victor will develop into a dedicated sidekick or henchman in a similar manner to how Jason Todd developed into the second Robin.

Given that Matt Reeves's The Batman featured the titular character operating alone without any dedicated partners, there has also been considerable speculation about whether or not this Batman universe will have its own version of Robin, and whether or not he turns out to be Victor Aguilar himself.

In any case, despite Victor's status as an original character, his character arc parallels that of preexisting DC characters, making his journey forward something to watch out for.

---

The Penguin airs every Sunday, 9 pm EST, on HBO.