One of the most iconic villains in Batman's rogue's gallery has been Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin. There have been many iconic interpretations of the character in live-action and animation. Colin Farrell is the latest actor to don the tux and chomp on the cigar as one of Gotham's foremost mob bosses in Matt Reeves' upcoming The Batman. In an interview with GMA News, Farrell revealed his excitement at becoming a part of a franchise that he has grown up with.

"It's all exciting. To be a part of that universe and just there are certain words that are part of my internal lexicon: Gotham City, Penguin, Joker, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, all these things. Tim Burton's Batman was kind of my, no, I watched the Adam West TV show growing up actually as well. So Batman as a kid, yes very much, not in comic book form but the TV show I watched ardently when I was a child. And then in my teens I saw Burton's version and loved it."

"And then obviously I was a huge fan of what Chris Nolan did with that world and how he brought it back to life and gave it an immediacy and a contemporary significance. So just to be part of, again that folklore, that mythology, is again really cool."

It seems Colin Farrell is deeply aware of Batman's various live-action iterations, from the campy Adam West show, to the gothic Tim Burton adaptation, to Christopher Nolan's gritty and realistic reimagining of the franchise, and loves every one of them. The actor hopes to return to filming The Batman soon, even if he is not a constant presence in the movie.

"I had only started it and I can't wait to get back. The creation of it, the aesthetic of the character, has been fun and I really am so excited to get back and explore it. And I haven't got that much to do. I have a certain amount in the film. I am not all over it by any means. But there are a couple of some tasty scenes I have in it and my creation and I can't wait to get back. Yeah, I totally feel like it is something that I have not had the opportunity to explore before. It feels original and fun. But I am only at the start of the journey so I can't wait to get back and really get into it."

So it seems Penguin will play a supporting role in the upcoming film, rather than being the main villain, who, going by the rumors circulating around the movie, is The Riddler, played by Paul Dano. This will an interesting inversion of the dynamic between the two characters that was established by their most recent live-action show, Gotham, which had Penguin as the main villain, and Riddler being a secondary character for the most part.

Interestingly, Farrell was once in the running to play Batman opposite Jude Law's Superman in an early 2000s live-action Batman/Superman crossover movie, as recently revealed by Akiva Goldsman. Instead, we will soon get to see Farrell as Penguin taking on Robert Pattinson's Batman when the movie gets completed and released, however long that might take. This update comes from GmanNetwork.com. The topper art comes from John K Regan on Instagram.