It is a weird role, isn't it? Oswald Cobblepot is basically a short, round man with a bird obsession and a lethal umbrella. Yet, for some reason, the question of who played the penguin on batman is one that pops up every time a new director decides to tackle Gotham City. It’s a legacy role. It carries weight. You can't just throw a tuxedo on a guy and call it a day; there has to be a specific kind of theatricality or, more recently, a terrifying sense of grounded realism.
Back in the 60s, the Penguin was a cackling prankster. By the 90s, he was a literal monster living in the sewers. Now? He’s a mid-level mobster trying to claw his way to the top of a crumbling empire.
Honestly, the evolution of this character tells you more about the history of cinema than almost any other comic book villain. We have seen four major live-action iterations on the big and small screen, and each one reflects the era it was born into. If you grew up with the campy "Biff! Pow!" energy of the 1960s, your Penguin is wildly different from the guy someone born in 2005 recognizes.
The Icon Who Started It All: Burgess Meredith
When people ask who played the penguin on batman during the silver age of television, there is only one name that matters: Burgess Meredith. He didn't just play the role; he defined the very mechanics of it. That "waugh-waugh-waugh" quack he used? That wasn't in some deep lore manual. Meredith actually developed that specific laugh because he had a hard time dealing with the smoke from the character’s signature cigars. He was a non-smoker, and the smoke irritated his throat, so the quacking was a way to mask his coughing.
It stuck.
Meredith appeared in 21 episodes of the 1966 series and the spin-off feature film. He brought a peculiar, high-society menace to the role. He wasn't scary in the modern sense—nobody was in that show—but he was undeniably charming. He made the monocle and the top hat look like a uniform of war. Before he was Mickey in Rocky, he was the primary foil for Adam West. It’s hard to overstate how much his performance influenced the comics; for decades, the Penguin in the panels looked and acted exactly like Meredith.
The Nightmare Fuel of Danny DeVito
Then came 1992. Tim Burton was at the height of his "gothic weirdness" phase, and he decided to turn the Penguin into something out of a German Expressionist horror film.
In Batman Returns, Danny DeVito took the character to a place that frankly still feels a bit uncomfortable to watch. This wasn't a gentleman thief. This was a "deformed" man-beast who ate raw fish and had black bile leaking from his mouth. DeVito’s Penguin was abandoned as a baby, tossed into the Gotham River, and raised by actual penguins in an abandoned zoo. It is high-octane weirdness.
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"I'm not a human being! I'm a brute! A savage! A monster!"
That line from the film basically sums up the 90s take. While some fans of the original comics hated how far it strayed from the "gentleman of crime" trope, you can’t deny the impact. The makeup alone, designed by Stan Winston, took hours to apply every single day. DeVito was so committed he stayed in character between takes, terrifying the crew. If you want to know who played the penguin on batman with the most visceral, haunting energy, it’s DeVito, hands down.
Robin Lord Taylor and the Gotham Renaissance
Television changed things again in 2014. The show Gotham acted as a prequel, and it needed a younger, hungrier Oswald Cobblepot. Enter Robin Lord Taylor.
When he was cast, he was a relatively unknown actor. By the end of the first episode, he was the breakout star. This version was "The Penguin" before the name even really fit. Taylor played him as a sensitive, bullied, yet sociopathic underdog. He started as an umbrella boy for Fish Mooney and slowly, violently, worked his way up the ladder.
What made Taylor’s performance so unique was the vulnerability. You actually felt bad for him sometimes, which is a wild thing to say about a guy who murders people for minor insults. He brought a "skinny-suit" punk rock aesthetic to the character that appealed to a whole new generation. He proved that you didn't need a fat suit or a prosthetic nose to be the Penguin; you just needed the right limp and a terrifyingly sharp intellect.
The unrecognizable transformation of Colin Farrell
We have to talk about the current king of the hill. When Matt Reeves announced The Batman in 2022, the internet went into a frenzy trying to figure out who played the penguin on batman this time around. When the first trailer dropped, nobody could find Colin Farrell.
They saw a scarred, heavy-set Italian-American mobster who looked like a cross between Tony Soprano and Fredo Corleone. But they didn't see Farrell.
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The transformation is, frankly, one of the greatest feats of prosthetic makeup in movie history. Mike Marino, the makeup artist, created a look that was so convincing that Farrell's own co-stars didn't recognize him on set. Jeffrey Wright, who plays Jim Gordon, reportedly walked right past him.
Farrell’s take is grounded. He’s "Oz," a guy who runs the Iceberg Lounge and hates being called "Penguin." He’s a mid-level lieutenant for Carmine Falcone who sees an opportunity when Batman starts shaking up the city. This version was so successful it spawned its own HBO spin-off series, The Penguin, which dives even deeper into his rise to power after the flood of Gotham.
It’s a masterclass in physical acting. Farrell changes his gait, his voice, and even his breathing patterns. It’s a far cry from the quacking of the 60s, but it feels incredibly dangerous in a way that fits our modern obsession with gritty crime dramas.
Why the Penguin keeps coming back
Why do we care so much about this guy? Unlike the Joker, who is pure chaos, or Catwoman, who is a moral grey area, the Penguin is about ambition. He’s the ultimate "outsider" who wants to be an "insider."
Whether it’s Meredith’s high-society snobbery or Farrell’s street-level hustle, the core of the character is a man who wants respect. He uses his physical oddities as a weapon rather than a weakness. It’s a classic trope, but in the hands of these specific actors, it becomes something more.
A Quick Recap of the Main Lineup
- Burgess Meredith (1966-1968): The campy, quacking classic.
- Danny DeVito (1992): The tragic, grotesque monster.
- Robin Lord Taylor (2014-2019): The calculating, youthful climber.
- Colin Farrell (2022-Present): The gritty, prosthetic-heavy mob boss.
Other Mentions: Voices in the Dark
We can't ignore the voice actors. For many, the "real" Penguin isn't on screen at all—he’s in their ears. Paul Williams voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series in the 90s, giving him a sophisticated, aristocratic tone that balanced the DeVito version perfectly.
Then you have Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob!) who gave a very different, more high-pitched and frantic energy to the character in The Batman animated series from 2004. Even Nolan North, famous for playing Nathan Drake in Uncharted, voiced a particularly brutal, Cockney-accented Penguin in the Arkham video game series. Each of these performers added a layer to the character's DNA.
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Common Misconceptions
People often think the Penguin has always been a mobster. That’s not really true. In the early days, he was more of a "gimmick" thief. The whole "organized crime boss" thing really took off later in the comics and was solidified by the Arkham games and the Gotham TV show.
Another big one? The physical deformity. In the original comics, he was just a short guy who looked a bit like a bird. The "deformed" webbed fingers and sewer-dwelling origins were almost entirely an invention of Tim Burton for the 1992 film. Before that, he was just a dude who liked birds and expensive umbrellas.
How to explore the Penguin’s history yourself
If you're looking to dive deeper into these performances, there's a specific "watch path" that makes sense. Start with the 1966 film to see where the archetype began. Then, jump straight to Batman Returns to see how much the 90s changed the game.
Once you’ve seen the extremes, watch The Batman (2022) followed by the HBO series The Penguin. It’s a fascinating study in how a character can be completely dismantled and rebuilt for a new audience.
The Next Steps for a Batman Fan:
- Watch the HBO Series: If you haven't seen Colin Farrell's solo outing as Oz, do it now. It’s less of a superhero show and more of a Sopranos-style crime epic.
- Check out the Arkham Games: If you want to see the Penguin at his most ruthless, play (or watch a walkthrough of) Batman: Arkham City.
- Read "Penguin: Pain and Prejudice": This comic miniseries by Gregg Hurwitz is widely considered one of the best deep dives into the character's psyche and his troubled childhood.
Understanding who played the penguin on batman isn't just about a list of names. It's about seeing how four different men took a character who could have been a joke and turned him into a legend. From the quack to the limp to the mobster's growl, Oswald Cobblepot remains one of the most versatile roles in Hollywood.
Regardless of which version you prefer, the character is clearly here to stay. He’s survived the camp of the 60s, the gothic horror of the 90s, and the gritty realism of today. That’s a pretty impressive feat for a guy who fights a bat with an umbrella.