Red Triangle Circus

The Red Triangle Circus is fictional circus gang first featured in the 1992 film Batman Returns. Formerly a traveling circus act, the Red Triangle were a street gang who served as the Penguin's henchmen. Most of the members of the gang were clowns.

Role in Batman Returns
The Red Triangle first appears at Gotham City's annual Christmas treelighting ceremony. They in the process, interrupt a speech being delivered by the ambitious but ruthless business tycoon Max Shreck. Although Batman is summoned and is able to restore order, Shreck is kidnapped amidst the chaos and is brought to their leader, a short, deformed man known as "The Penguin". When the Penguin (or his given name, Oswald Cobblepot) was a child, his wealthy parents (whose hatred for their child was kept from the comics) tried to get rid of their son. However, the Cobblepot child survived and, after floating down Gotham's sewers and under the city zoo, he was taken in by a group of penguins and, eventually, joined a circus freak show (otherwise known as "The Red Triangle Circus Gang").

In the midst of the Red Triangle wreaking havoc at the treelighting ceremony (and their initial battle with Batman), their leader managed to become a hero to Gotham City when he rescued the mayor's infant son from a member of the gang (who, of course, was working for the Penguin all along). This was all a scheme by Max Shreck to present the freakish criminal as a sympathetic public hero and back his run for mayor, thus installing a mayor who would allow him to build his power plant. The next time the gang appears, Batman finds himself also fighting a costumed vigilante going by the name "Catwoman" (who's in reality, Max Shreck's once timid secretary, Selina Kyle now seeking revenge against Shreck) for whom, the Penguin had unrequited lust for.

Their third appearance occurs when they help the Penguin kidnap and kill the firstborn sons of Gotham's most prominent families. This "secret plan" was all in a twisted act of revenge against what was done to him. This all came about after his campaign to recall the current mayor was quickly destroyed when Bruce Wayne played selected comments he stated while controlling the Batmobile. He was recorded insulting the people of Gotham, and this audio was played over the sound system at a rally. Eventually, Bruce as Batman, attacks Penguin's Red Triangle Circus goons, and puts a stop to the kidnappings.

Members
*Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito)
*Organ Grinder (Vincent Schiavelli)
*Sword Swallower (John Strong)
*Tattooed Strongman (Rick Zumwalt)
*Poodle Lady (Anna Katarina)
*Acrobat Thug One (Gregory Scott Cummins)
*Knifethrower Dame (Erika Andersch)
*Fat Clown (Travis McKenna)
*Thin Clown (Doug Jones)
*Terrifying Clown #1 (Branscombe Richmond)
*Terrifying Clown #2 (Anthony De Longis)

Additional notes
*One of the Red Triangle Circus Gang clowns in Batman Returns has a time bomb attached to himself, but it is removed and later used by Batman before it detonates.

Trivia

*During the scene where Penguin's henchmen are wrecking a shop, there is a reprise of the "Making Christmas" theme from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which Danny Elfman also composed.

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See Also

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