The modernized look of Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot aka "The Penguin" in The Batman overcomes the difficulties that previous movies have faced when adapting comic book characters to live-action. Matt Reeves' The Batman is doubling down on the gritty, grounded aspects of Batman's mythos years after the success of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. But this time, Gotham and its inhabitants look much more sinister. Besides the new eerie redesign of Paul Dano's Riddler and Batman's menacing look, The Batman has also revealed an updated version of the crime boss-slash-Batman-supervillain, Oswald Cobblepot.
The Riddler's new appearance deviates a lot from Edward Nygma's classic green suit and fedora - and even more from the visually dramatic portrayals of the character - but Colin Farrell's extreme transformation into the Penguin under heavy layers of makeup is perhaps the most shocking visual change in the movie. The Penguin still has his trademark pointy nose, large frame, and balding head, but he lacks the monocle, top hat, and tuxedo that most other versions of the character usually and conventionally wear. This allows him to fit into The Batman's realistic depiction of Gotham more easily.
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One of the biggest obstacles Batman movies have had to face in the past is striking a balance between realism and comic accuracy. While movies like Aquaman and Shazam! can feature characters and costumes that are extremely faithful to the comics and still feel believable, Batman movies always risk introducing characters that feel out of place. The clearest examples are the Riddler, Two-Face, and Mister Freeze in Batman & Robin and Batman Forever. Jack Nicholson's Joker and Danny DeVito's Penguin are iconic portrayals of two of Batman's most famous villains, but they are still hard to take seriously if viewers aren't immersed in the stylized world of Tim Burton's Gotham.
The Dark Knight trilogy got this right for the most part, but some still considered Scarecrow and Bane to be a bit too absurd to belong in Christopher Nolan's Gotham while others considered them too watered-down to be faithful iterations of the villains. Colin Farrell's take on the Penguin in The Batman, on the contrary, is a good sign for the realism of Matt Reeves' movie and its potential sequels. It proves that comic book adaptations don't have to be tied down to a specific look to be appealing.
The Batman uses the role every character has within the story as the baseline for their design instead of the audience's expectations. Therefore, as the Penguin is a member of the criminal underworld, he has no reason to wear a monocle or a top hat. And since the Riddler goes after Gotham's corrupt figures, it's only logical that he hides his face and doesn't wear any extravagant attire. Future sequels might run the risk of turning classic characters into unrecognizable people if they're as different from the source material as the Riddler. However, the Penguin's design already promises to be one of the best aspects of the world of The Batman. No wonder why the Penguin already has his own spinoff in the works.
