As Tim Burton movies go, “Batman Returns” is at the top. Sure, many argue that “Ed Wood” is the director’s finest film, and there will be countless ’90s kids whose childhoods were shaped by “Beetlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands.” But nothing the director has ever done has felt so all-enveloping as “Batman Returns,” and that’s saying something considering the filmmaker is known for creating immersive worlds with effortlessly captivating atmospheres.
Back in 2021, Danny DeVito spoke in awed tones about the film, calling it a “brilliant movie” and revealing he’d gladly return to the role of Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin as long as Burton was in the director’s chair. At the time, he claimed that such a threequel “could be in the cards because we ain’t dead yet,” though it’s worth noting his Penguin character literally dies at the end of “Returns.”
Despite his character’s demise, however, the veteran star is once again talking about his desire to bring back Oswald Cobblepot in a future Batman film. Speaking to ScreenRant, DeVito said:
“If Tim Burton was directing it, I’d be there in a second. Oswald Cobblepot is my favorite. I had a good time. It’s operatic. I like every once in a while going big [Laughs], and so I’d do that in a second. We had a ball doing that.”
Just how a third Burton Batman movie would explain Oswald’s rise from the watery depths of his sewer hideout remains to be seen. But it seems highly unlikely we’ll ever actually find out.
