Despite the flood of headlines declaring that Robert Pattinson is absolutely playing the next Batman, this has yet to be confirmed. So until Warner Brothers or Matt Reeves makes an official statement, let’s just take this as a maybe.
Now further rumors have surfaced in reference to Reeves’ script for ‘The Batman’, specifically that it pits the fledgling Dark Knight against Catwoman (Selina Kyle) and The Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot), the same combo featured in 1992’s ‘Batman Returns’.
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Back in February, it was reported that ‘The Batman’ would feature multiple villains, possibly as many as six, but that some would be background or minor characters. So there may be more villains announced before shooting starts. Collider reports hearing that The Riddler could be in the mix.
It was heavily rumored that DC wanted The Penguin featured in an upcoming film, with ‘The Batman’ and ‘Birds of Prey’ being the likely choices. But ‘Birds of Prey’ features Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), so it looks like this is where this jailbird landed.
In the 1966 ‘Batman’ film, Burgess Meredith portrayed The Penguin, while Lee Meriwether played Catwoman, teamed with The Joker and Riddler to take over the world. Meredith also played the role on the ‘Batman’ TV series.
In ‘Batman Returns’, Danny DeVito played a more grotesque version of The Penguin, while Michelle Pfeifer’s Catwoman seemed supernaturally gifted with nine lives. Most recently, on ‘Gotham’, Robin Lord Taylor brought to life a much more complex (and skinny) Cobblepot, while Camren Bicondova portrayed a teenage Selina Kyle.
Anne Hathaway depicted a sophisticated Selina in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, although her character was only referred to as “The Cat.” Other actors that have played the role include Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt on the ’60s TV show, and Halle Berry in the 2004 box office flop, although that was essentially Catwoman in name only.
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Reportedly Reeves won’t start the casting process for the villains until ‘The Batman’ deal is finalized, but supposedly, that will happen any day now. Also according to reports, Pattinson has not read a script, because Reeves is still fine-tuning it.
Filming will possibly begin late this year. ‘The Batman’ is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
