Colin Farrell’s casting as The Penguin in Matt Reeves’ The Batman raised almost as many eyebrows as Robert Pattinson’s reveal as the new Bruce Wayne did before it. As one of a number of villains taking on the Dark Knight in the new iteration of the character, the Penguin has always been a fan favorite since Burgess Meredith played the squawking bad guy in the 60s TV series and became even more of an icon following Danny DeVito’s amazing transformation into the flipper-handed birdman of Gotham in Batman Returns thirty years ago. When it comes to transformations, new images from The Batman have reminded us that Colin Farrell’s take on the character is going to be both exciting and comic-accurate.
Starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, The Batman will also see Zoe Kravitz in the role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Paul Dano as The Riddler and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. There are still a number of rumors as to whether a secret Joker could be waiting in the wings, but with so many bad guys already, and an almost guaranteed sequel coming in the next few years, that will likely be nothing more than a short tease if it does happen. One thing that is certainly happening though is Colin Farrell’s Penguin being, by his own admission, almost a bit part in the movie, so considering the work that has clearly gone into making his character look this good it is not a surprise that he will also be starring in a Penguin spinoff series on HBO Max.
In newly released images, Farrell’s Penguin, or Oswald Cobblepot as he is also known, is seen as the smartly dressed, dapper-suited character that he has most often been seen as in the comic books, and for that Reeves’ movie will certainly get some kudos from fans who love a bit of comic-accuracy, even if it seems that they won’t yet be getting to see the best of him on screen in his limited role.
Colin Farrell Says The Penguin Only Appears For Nine Minutes of The Batman
While we have seen numerous trailers, exclusive clips and still images from The Batman, with more being released and linked to the Riddler’s secret website, the plot itself is somehow still very much under wraps, so how Farrell’s Penguin will link into the story is something that we don’t yet know. Considering Farrell confirmed in a previous interview that his role is not a prominent one in the film, with only around nine minutes of the over two-hour runtime involving the character, it seems that it is likely this will be acting as an introduction to this take on Cobblepot, which will be taken forward and developed in the subsequent series.
The extreme transformation to make Farrell unrecognizable is something that has had fans talking since the first images were released last year, and the new shots clearly show that Reeves has taken this movie as seriously as anything that came from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. For fans of the Caped Crusader, that is a very good sign, as there is a strong belief that Batman works best when he comes with a certain level of grit and realism that was lost in the later entries of the 90s. Having turned around public opinion since the movie and its leading man were first announced, it looks like 2022 could well turn out to be the year of the bat in a big way.