Following his hilarious Oscars appearance opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Keaton, Batman Returns star Danny DeVito says he’s open to reprising The Penguin in another if Tim Burton is at the helm.
“If Tim Burton was directing it, I’d be there in a second,” DeVito said to ScreenRant when asked about reprising the Batman supervillain or any other DC Universe character. “Oswald Cobblepot is my favorite. I had a good time. It’s operatic. I like every once in a while going big, and so I’d do that in a second. We had a ball doing that.”
Convinced by friend and former Joker actor Jack Nicholson to lobby for the part, DeVito beat out the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro for Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin in 1992’s Batman Returns. Unlike the heavyset, big-nosed Gotham City crime boss from the comics, DeVito’s Penguin was re-conceived by Burton as a deformed circus freak hellbent on kidnapping Gotham’s firstborn sons. DeVito’s Burtonesque makeup was kept under wraps for months to the extent that the actor could not tell anyone in his family about it.
Despite the worldwide success of Batman Returns with a $266 million box office tally, the sequel to the blockbuster 1989 classic polarized critics as well as parents who were disturbed by the darker tone. McDonald’s infamously pulled their promotional tie-in with the sequel while Kenner Toys opted not to use DeVito’s likeness in the action figure line and did a repainted Penguin from the ’80s DC Super Powers line.
Danny DeVito’s Penguin short story for DC Comics
Though DeVito never played the Penguin following Batman Returns, the actor returned to the world of DC when he wrote a Penguin short story for Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1 in 2021. Teaming with artist Dan Mora on “Bird Cat Love,” DeVito capitalized on the Penguin’s unrequited crush on Selina Kyle/Catwoman, originally played by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns.
“I’ve never done anything like that before, but I’ve always been a big fan of DC,” DeVito said. “From the time I was a kid, I had giant collections of all kinds of comics. I love The Penguin, I love Oswald. And of course, doing the movie with Tim [Burton] was one of the highlights of my career. I love that character so much. It was thrust upon me at a time when I’ve always been in love with Catwoman. Not only Oswald being in love with Catwoman, but Danny being in love with Michelle Pfeiffer. I jumped on the opportunity and the first thing that came to mind was the romance.”
