The Giant Penny is a fictional trophy featured in comic books published by DC Comics. It relates to the Batman family of comic titles and first appeared in World's Finest Comics #30 in September, 1947. The giant penny is one of the most iconic pieces of memorabilia found in the Batcave along with the Giant Joker Card and the Mechanical T-Rex. In almost every iteration, the Penny is a memento from Batman's encounter with the Penny Plunderer.
When a criminal who called himself Penny Plunderer started operating in Gotham City, Batman deduced that he would strike at the local coin exhibition. The Plunderer was obsessed with Pennies and in the exhibition, there was a giant-sized penny, which was the Plunderer's target along with the first one-cent stamp in history. Batman confronted the Plunderer and used the giant penny to defeat the criminal and his henchmen. It is yet unrevealed how exactly Batman acquired the Penny, but after his victory over the Plunderer, Batman took the giant coin to the Trophy Room of the Batcave, where it has become one of the main features of the place.
Shortly afterwards, a criminal called Wolf Brando broke into the Batcave and confronted Batman and Robin. Crushed Penny The villain used some of the trophies in the Batcave to his advantage and he tried to crush Robin using the mechanical dinosaur. Batman was forced to act fast and he used the Giant Penny to stop the giant robot from crushing Robin. Because of this, both the dinosaur and the penny were seriously damaged. However, both trophies were repaired and back on their places in a short time.
The Giant Penny was later used as a jamming signal disruptor during the week in which Batman wasn't allowed to set foot in Gotham City and he started operating from a flying Batcave. The Penny was stored in the small trophy room of the flying Batcave and it proved useful in their crime fighting from the air.
The Giant Penny was removed from the Batcave along with all the other trophies when a criminal threatened to locate the Batcave and use it as his hideout. The Penny and all the other objects were placed on a temporary location which served as a Batman Museum until Batman captured the criminal and he was able to move the Penny and all the objects back.
The giant penny was eventually moved along with other trophies to the second Batcave, which was located underneath the Wayne Foundation building. In this location, the Penny was used against Batman during a confrontation in the Batcave with the Pi-Meson Man.
When Bruce Wayne decided to move back to Wayne Manor, he took all the trophies from the second Batcave and moved them back to the original place, including of course, the Giant Penny.[8] When a common thief started using the Catman costume, he stumbled upon the Batcave while looking for his hidden loot. The crook then confronted Batman and used the Giant Penny against him. Batman was able to avoid the attack using the T-Rex and the penny became stuck in one of the cave's walls.