Matt Reeves Reveals Which Batman Games Influenced The Penguin

The Penguin is a new and thrilling retelling of Oswald Cobblepot’s origins. Set in the same world as Matt Reeves’ The Batman, The Penguin takes plenty of inspiration from DC comics, but a Batman video game also had some influence on the character.

The HBO miniseries is a spin-off featuring Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb, a character first introduced in Reeve’s 2022 superhero film. The catch is that Oz is not yet the criminal kingpin he’s known for being in DC comics, with The Penguin charting the character’s journey as he goes up against rival crime lords, Sofia Falcone and Sal Maroni. The design of Farrell’s costume and makeup is certainly unique but also similar enough to the Penguin’s character in the comics that he fits perfectly into Reeves’ gritty Gotham world.

When it came to perfecting that look, Reeves drew inspiration from a variety of sources. The Penguin has been depicted in many different ways over the years, whether it be Danny DeVito’s character in Batman Returns, his many appearances as part of Batman’s rogues gallery, or in more than a few Batman video games. In an interview with Andy Serkis for Interview Magazine, Reeves explained how he came up with the Penguin’s design for his version of Batman’s world. “We really arrived at [the Penguin’s look] in an unexpected way,” Reeves said. “… In my deep dive into the comics, I found that all of the major Rogues Gallery characters make themselves in reaction to Batman.”

Reeves revealed he had doubts about whether Farrell could be transformed into the look required for The Penguin, but one Batman game helped convince him. “There was a version of the Penguin character in the video games called Telltale who physically looks a little bit like Colin. He’s handsome, except something happens to his nose in an altercation, and it looks beak-like. I was looking for that vulnerability.”

“To answer your question in terms of the look, we never thought that Colin was going to look like that. Colin came from doing a movie. He deliberately had put some weight on, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ Also, there was a version of the Penguin character in the video games called Telltale who physically looks a little bit like Colin. He’s handsome, except something happens to his nose in an altercation, and it looks beak-like. I was looking for that vulnerability. Colin is so handsome, so the idea was, ‘How can we mess up his face to show that vulnerability?'”

Telltale released two episodic series of point-and-click Batman games in 2016 and 2017. The game splits time between playing as Batman and Bruce Wayne, focusing on choice-based gameplay and detective skills. Penguin appears in the Telltale game as one of the main antagonists in a group named Children of Arkham, although one twist the game brought to the Batman lore is that Oswald Cobblepot was actually a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. Jason Spisak (Arcane) voiced the character in the Telltale series and, as Reeves pointed out, the character design of Oswald differs greatly from the typical design. Telltale’s Penguin is depicted as a young man without a limp or top hat, providing an alternative take on the character.

If anything, the game proved that there can be multiple takes on the same character, and convinced Reeves that Farrell could do the part, something that ended up being a perfect choice. While many fans (and even his castmates) didn’t recognize Farrell under his Penguin makeup, there can be no doubt the actor has made the role his own to great success.