We may be about to get a new take on The Penguin in Matt Reeves’The Batman,but Danny DeVito would still happily step back into the flippers of the iconic villain he played with delightful wickedness in Tim Burton’s sequelBatman Returnsback in 1992. While the character met his end in the movie, DeVito clearly still has a lot of love for the vicious iteration of the birdlike bad guy having returned to the character for a newGotham City Villainsone shot anthology series, and declared that he would definitely play the character again if Tim Burton asked him to.
Danny DeVitohas been a metaphorical giant of Hollywood for decades, with performances spanning generations with his 80s comedies being accompanied by turns in the likes ofMatildaandJumanji: The Next Level,as well as his long-term stint inIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. For many though, his portrayal of Batman villain The Penguin in Tim Burton’s Gotham City based sequelBatman Returnsstands as one of the most memorable, especially if you were one of those who were around when the movie was released just short of 30 years ago.
While there had at one point been a third Tim Burton adventure lined up for the Dark Knight, the demise ofPenguinat the end of the second movie means it was unlikely that he would have featured after having such a central role inBatman Returnsalongside Michael Keaton’s Batman and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, however we all know now that Tim Burton’s time with the Caped Crusader didn’t progress any further and instead the Batman franchise began to head into its lull period.
Speaking in an interview withForbes, DeVito said that he would have no issues at all returning to play the character of the Penguin again if Tim Burton were to return to bring to a real conclusion his Dark Knight trilogy of movies. The actor commented:
“I feel like it’s not out of the question that The Penguin will return someday, but this is all up to Tim, whether or not Tim wants to do this. I would say that could be in the cards because we ain’t dead yet (laughs). We could do a continuation of what we had in the past because that was truly a brilliant movie. They afforded me that opportunity and I feel very grateful and would I like to revisit it? Why not! It was a really great moment in time for me.”
Of course it would be easy to say that is never going to happen, but considering we would have said the same about seeingMichael Keaton suiting up again as Batmanjust a few years ago, it is definitely a time in the world of movies to say that anything really is possible. With multiverses, reboots, and skewing timelines that discount numerous sequels, there could certainly be an interest in seeing Tim Burton’s Batman world making a full return, and while DeVito’s Penguin was seen to collapse and die in the movie, who is to say that he could not have been revived by his aquatic army.
For the moment, we will see the Penguin next inThe Batman,played by Colin Farrell as a grittier gangster type iteration that is closer to his comic book origins.The Batmanhits theaters in March 2022.
