Batman Returns Star Danny DeVito Open to Returning to DC as Penguin

In last month’s The Flash, audiences saw Michael Keaton reprise his role as Batman for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns, and now his costar Danny DeVito has confirmed that he’d be open to potentially reviving his Oswald Cobblepot to bring The Penguin back to the big screen. In Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Colin Farrell brought Cobblepot to life, with the actor now reprising that role for a TV series on HBO, so while we can’t see an authentic return of the character from DeVito on the horizon, if DC continues to explore multiversal stories, audiences would be excited about the potential comeback.

“I would definitely consider doing it, yeah,” DeVito confirmed with SFX Magazine, per GamesRadar, if he would be open to a return to the franchise. “Batman Returns was a great part, it was operatic. You could just pull out all the stops. There were so many motivating things, so many things churning up inside of him. Being the odd man out — the odd bird out — brought the character out of me. It was an emotional experience for me because I felt it was an opportunity of a lifetime to play Oswald Cobblepot with [director] Tim’s [Burton] vision and design. Tim is a genius to me.”

Both the first Batman and Batman Returns were directed by Burton, who embraced his whimsical and gothic style to bring the adventures of the Caped Crusader to life. When subsequent films Batman Forever and Batman and Robin attempted to replicate those styles, the films were disappointments with fans, resulting in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and Reeves’ Batman taking more grounded and gritty approaches to the character.

Similarly, Farrell’s Penguin is more grounded than DeVito’s monstrous take on the figure, but the actor still offered praise to what the newcomer accomplished with the part.

“I thought Colin did a great job,” DeVito told TheWrap last year. “Certainly a different milieu. I think it was a more edgy, serious, gangster-y Batman. Of course, there’s three Italians who are bad guys in it, the Falcones. But I feel like, in terms of the performances, I thought Colin — who is a good buddy of mine — I think he did a great job in that. You take your hat off to anybody who sits in the makeup chair that long. I did it with the Penguin and loved it.”

He added, “My feeling of comparing the two movies, I’m like a Tim Burton fan … I like the whimsical, the operatic, the disaffected Pee-wee Herman throws me off a bridge. That makes me smile.”

Stay tuned for details on the future of the DC universe.

Would you like to see DeVito reprise the role? Let us know in the comments!