Batman villains, just like the hero, shift and evolve to suit a wide variety of narrative tones. This leads to one character being portrayed countless different ways over the decades as comics, films, and TV evolves. One great example is the iconic Oswald Cobblepot AKA The Penguin.
The Penguin was introduced almost 80 years ago as a silly animal-themed thief and gang-leader, using trick guns and insurance fraud schemes to defeat Batman and Robin. The character's earliest iteration was comical, but often still menacing, employing silly methods to commit very severe acts of violence. As comic regulations got tighter, his character focused more on his obsessions with birds and umbrellas, less of a dangerous criminal and more of a comical slapstick villain. Eventually, things shifted the other way, and Penguin became a more monstrous figure, equal parts mob boss and bestial animal man. In his three existing and one upcoming live-action depictions, Penguin has shown off all sides of the character on screen.
The first on-screen appearance of The Penguin came in the 1960's Batman series, which served to introduce most Batman characters to live-action audiences. This version of The Penguin was portrayed by Burgess Meredith, an extremely accomplished and prolific actor with roles from Of Mice and Men in 1939 to four out of five Rocky films.
Meredith's Penguin is best known for his iconic squawking laugh and colorful outfits. He was a career criminal who committed all manner of crimes under the auspices of legitimate business. He led a small army of henchmen and used gadgets like explosive sea life to contend with Adam West's Caped Crusader. His motivations began with simple profit, but he was an extremely proud figure, at one point becoming furious that Batman would send him to a regular jail rather than a maximum-security prison. Like most of the 60s takes on the characters, Burgess Meredith's Penguin is fun and well-performed, but far from threatening.
After this fun portrayal, the time came for a darker take on the classic Batman mythos, and of course, the perfect person to craft that vision was Tim Burton. Burton's second Batman film, 1992's Batman Returns, brought Oswald Cobblepot back to the big screen after many years. Burton's Batman universe was gothic, stylized, erotic, bizarre, and macabre. It focused on the weirder elements of the story, so naturally, the villains took on new horrific forms. Batman Returns' take on The Penguin was a slimy monstrosity, who came across more like a man turning into an animal than a man with a fascination with an animal. His fingers were fused together into flippers, his outfit was an ill-fitted union suit, he routinely leaked a viscous green fluid and he would occasionally eat a whole fish raw. This is, without a doubt, the most visually striking Penguin committed to the screen yet.
Tim Burton's Penguin was portrayed by the one and only Danny DeVito. Now best recognized as the star of Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia, DeVito brings a kind of detestable joy to the character. He is a monster, but he's having such a great time that it's hard not to like the guy. DeVito's Penguin still wielded weaponized umbrellas and rode around in hilarious animal-themed vehicles, but his motivation had completely shifted. Meredith's Penguin lacked a backstory, and even a real name, but DeVito's was much more complex. Oswald Cobblepot was the son of wealthy parents, abandoned to the sewers of Gotham for his freakish appearance, leaving him with a violent grudge against the rich and their children. As the Penguin, he intends to become mayor of the city and begin slaughtering the firstborn children of Gotham's elite. This Penguin eschews realism but embraces the darkest form of the character. He is intensely menacing, yet still extremely fun to watch.
Finally, the most recent live-action portrayal of The Penguin comes in the well-received pre-Batman series Gotham. Oswald Cobblepot, portrayed in this series by Robin Lord Taylor, is the absolute breakout character of the series. Over the course of five seasons, this series depicts Cobblepot's gradual journey toward becoming The Penguin. The visual depiction of the character is much younger, in significantly better shape, and dressed with a more restrained fashion sense, befitting his earlier stage in life. This is perhaps the most significant role Penguin has ever played in a Batman property, his rise to power is one of the central thrusts of the narrative. It's also the closest thing to realism an on-screen Penguin has accomplished thus far.
Gotham's Oswald Cobblepot starts off as a small-time gang member who is constantly angling to move up in the business. He is hobbled by a boss after being caught snitching, leaving him with a characteristic hobble that brands him with the nickname Penguin. Over the first season, Cobblepot manipulates his way to leadership of Gotham City's criminal underworld and finds himself in and out of that position over the following seasons. His relationship with fellow supervillain The Riddler is a groundbreaking and fascinating direction for the character. Fans of The Penguin might see differences from the source material, but this is one of the best showcases for Oswald Cobblepot in any medium.
Every on-screen version of The Penguin has been iconic, for outstanding performance, or striking design, or brilliant storyline. Matt Reeves's upcoming film The Batman is set to see Colin Farell take the role, here depicted as an upcoming crime lord with serious disfigurement. With such a staggering pedigree, 2022's Penguin has a massive tuxedo to fill.