The One Rule Danny DeVito Has For Playing The Penguin Again

Sometimes, when actors find themselves the focus of a particularly passionate fandom, they reject it. Look at Harrison Ford constantly playing down the importance of "Star Wars" or Robert Pattinson and his open disdain for the "Twilight" series. Which is why it's nice when an actor shares in fans' joy for a particularly beloved performance. Case in point: Danny DeVito and his role as Penguin in "Batman Returns."

Tim Burton's 1992 expressionist masterpiece remains the best Batman movie ever made, and DeVito is a big part of that legacy. The "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" star delivered a stunningly committed performance as Oswald Cobblepot aka the Penguin, managing to make the deformed "penguin man of the sewers" so wretchedly evil and yet, at times, sympathetic. The abandoned son of a well-to-do couple commits some truly heinous acts throughout "Returns" and yet you still feel a pang of sadness for the old boy. Of course, it helped that DeVito went all out with his portrayal, swinging for the fences with a truly operatic performance. In fact, the actor was a little too committed to his role as Penguin, eating raw fish between takes and remaining in character to the extent that he freaked out co-star Michelle Pfeiffer.

What makes his performance even cooler, though, is that to this day DeVito is just as fond of his part in the film as his fans. He proudly shows off the fact he still has an umbrella from the "Batman Returns" set and has said he believes his performance as Penguin is better than Colin Farrell's in "The Batman." It's not surprising, then, that the actor would reprise the role in a heartbeat — though he has one big stipulation.

As Tim Burton movies go, "Batman Returns" is at the top. Sure, many argue that "Ed Wood" is the director's finest film, and there will be countless '90s kids whose childhoods were shaped by "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands." But nothing the director has ever done has felt so all-enveloping as "Batman Returns," and that's saying something considering the filmmaker is known for creating immersive worlds with effortlessly captivating atmospheres. 

Back in 2021, Danny DeVito spoke in awed tones about the film, calling it a "brilliant movie" and revealing he'd gladly return to the role of Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin as long as Burton was in the director's chair. At the time, he claimed that such a threequel "could be in the cards because we ain't dead yet," though it's worth noting his Penguin character literally dies at the end of "Returns."

Despite his character's demise, however, the veteran star is once again talking about his desire to bring back Oswald Cobblepot in a future Batman film. Speaking to ScreenRant, DeVito said:

"If Tim Burton was directing it, I'd be there in a second. Oswald Cobblepot is my favorite. I had a good time. It's operatic. I like every once in a while going big [Laughs], and so I'd do that in a second. We had a ball doing that."

Just how a third Burton Batman movie would explain Oswald's rise from the watery depths of his sewer hideout remains to be seen. But it seems highly unlikely we'll ever actually find out.

Last year's "The Flash" featured the return of Michael Keaton's Batman in what was a box office bomb of super-heroic proportions. As such, Warner Bros. probably isn't eager to revisit any more Burtonverse characters in the near future. That plus the fact that Danny DeVito's Penguin died in "Returns" doesn't bode well for the actor's triumphant return to the role he so loved. But, that doesn't mean there isn't a chance, slim though it might be, that we won't see anything else from Tim Burton's Batman universe.

When news of Keaton's return in "The Flash" broke, there were some concerns. Bringing back this particular iteration of Batman without Burton seemed misguided, as the character was so of a piece with the worlds created by the director and production designers Anton Furst ("Batman") and Bo Welch ("Returns"). Keaton's Dark Knight was so suited to those fantastical, wonderfully gothic on-screen universes that he almost seemed like he could have organically sprouted from the mesh of industrial grime and urban decay realized by Furst and Welch. Without that, there was a risk that his character just wouldn't make much sense. When "The Flash" finally debuted, it turned out that was pretty much the case.

So, Danny DeVito's insistence on Burton helming a third movie in the Burtonverse saga is yet another reminder that the man has a real appreciation for "Batman Returns" and the world created by his director. Without Burton, none of this works. That said, it's not as if the director has been producing work of the same quality as "Returns" of late.

Bringing back Tim Burton for a third Batman movie doesn't necessarily mean it would be a success. In fact, such a development would be more than a little concerning. The director hasn't exactly been churning out classic material recently, and many view Burton as having peaked during the mid-'90s. But there are still those of us holding out hope that the upcoming "Beetlejuice 2," aka "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," will signal a return to form for a filmmaker that has inarguably left an indelible mark on Hollywood — though there are plenty of reasons to be worried about this legacy sequel, too.

"Beetlejuice 2" will also mark Burton's return to Warner Bros., having last worked with the studio back in 2012 for "Dark Shadows." It was 1988's "Beetlejuice" that originally convinced Warners to hand him the reins to 1989's "Batman." So, if "Beetlejuice 2" does prove to be a hit, then perhaps the impossible might happen and a third Burton Batman movie could, by some miracle, materialize. That still seems very unlikely, but if it happens, DeVito will probably be as thrilled as the rest of Burtonverse fans, whether the Penguin appears in it or not.