Why Colin Farrell’s Penguin Is Already Better Than Danny Devito’s

When news first broke that Colin Farrell was set to play Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, reactions were… mixed, to say the least. This always happens when an “outsider” is cast to play a notorious role from Batman’s legendary Rogues Gallery. Remember when they got the guy from Brokeback Mountain to play The Joker in The Dark Knight? Crazy, right?

Still, the thing about The Penguin is that everyone with even the most entry-level knowledge of the Dark Knight knows that only one actor could ever play the part in a live-action role: Danny DeVito. 1992’s Batman Returns featured DeVito in a Penguin that was as close to the comics as humanly possible. For decades, DeVito was The Penguin.

Let’s be honest – as much as we adore Danny DeVito’s twisted turn as The Penguin, even the most diehard Batman Returns fans have to admit The Batman is the superior film overall. Once you peel back the layers of nostalgia, the harsh truth emerges that Returns, for all its merits, gets a bit too campy at times. It never reaches the sheer unintentional comedy of the franchise-killing Batman & Robin, but it’s getting there.

The result was a set of characters that felt ripped straight from the comic book pages – which arguably worked both for and against them. For every wonderfully exaggerated DeVito moment, you missed out on the psychological depth and nuanced storytelling we now expect from modern DC Comics.

DeVito’s Penguin was undeniably a tragic figure, but his arc offered only a surface-level exploration into the complexities of Oswald Cobblepot’s villainy. Sure, it hit the campy notes, but it leaves you craving more from the classic Batman adversary.

What Tim Burton and Daniel Waters did in Batman Returns was create an original take on Cobblepot from the ground up, taking only some core elements of who The Penguin is in the Silver Age comics. Instead of the ruthless mob boss, this Penguin is more of a misunderstood monster that eventually becomes a full-on beast when he plots to kill Gotham’s firstborns. Yeah, it was a bizarre plan. But this is, after all, a Tim Burton movie.

Fast forward three decades, and we have Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Grittier, darker, and definitely not as campy as Burton’s films, the movie took inspiration from the acclaimed Batman: Earth One comics.

In this version, we have Colin Farrell as a new and assuredly more “human” version of The Penguin. One thing that The Batman does exceptionally well is how it focuses on character development. The film expertly handles not just Batman’s origin story but also Catwoman’s, The Riddler’s – and, of course, Oswald Cobblepot’s.

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Farrell imbues this Penguin with a menacing aura – even if he’s still far from being the feared kingpin that Gotham knows and fears. That’s where Farrell’s performance goes from “good” to “brilliant” – Cobblepot’s jealousy and inferiority complex in The Batman is almost palpable. From his limited screen time, you can understand why this Penguin behaves the way he does and why he seems to have a vendetta against everyone in Gotham’s criminal underworld (Batman included).

Of course, this is not a direct adaptation of Earth One – The Penguin dies at the end of that one. This is, hopefully, the beginning of one of the most compelling live-action Batman villains we’ve had in a long while.

Danny DeVito’s Penguin will always be an icon for Batman fans, as much as Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Michael Keaton’s Batman. But, when it comes to narrative complexity, you simply can’t beat what Colin Farrell did with the character and it’ll be interesting to see how he takes it further with Max’s The Penguin series. In the meantime, check out what we had to say about Farrell’s Apple TV+ noir series Sugar.

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