Danny DeVito is known for many things, not the least of which being his role as Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, in Batman Returns (1992). As with many other Batman villains, the Penguin has gone through as many iterations as the Caped Crusader himself, including Colin Farrell’s most recent take on the character in The Batman (2022), starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne. In DeVito’s opinion, however, his own performance as The Penguin outranks Ferrell’s more recent, moodier view on the role.
Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, is one of the most famous Batman villains, ranking among big names like the Joker, the Riddler, and Two-Face. Born to wealthy parents Tucker and Esther Cobblepot, Oswald is locked away as a baby because of a birth defect that gives him webbed fingers and a beak-like nose; after he kills the family cat, Tucker and Esther try to drown their infant son, but through a series of coincidences, Oswald ends up the Gotham City sewers and is raised by a group of penguins before joining a circus and eventually running for mayor of Gotham.
Danny DeVito vs. Colin Farrell as ‘The Penguin’
Danny DeVito portrayed the Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, recommended for the role by his friend Jack Nicholson, aka the Joker. According to ScreenRant, DeVito was the first actor to play the villain on-screen and, with a mix of Burton’s direction and his own initiative, plays the Penguin as a “freakshow character…who in his classic fashion makes the film’s bizarre and terrifying antagonist ultimately strangely sympathetic.”
In contrast to Danny DeVito’s classic portrayal of the Penguin, Colin Farrell played the role of a more “down-to-earth” Penguin under the leadership of director Matt Reeves. While Farrell’s performance may have fit with Reeves’ darker take on Batman, Danny DeVito is reportedly very sure that he played the iconic villain better.
For an August 25th interview with Vanity Fair, Danny DeVito and his daughter Lucy were hooked up to polygraph tests and asked a series of questions, including his opinion of Colin Farrell’s performance in The Batman, to which DeVito replied, “I love Colin. He’s a terrific guy. My Penguin was better.” It’s unknown what the polygraph thought of the statement, according to Variety, but Danny continues, “Was that the truth? It most certainly was. In my opinion.”
