Tim Burton reimagined the Penguin in Batman Returns with a similar trick to his version of the Joker in 1989’s Batman. The Tim Burton Batman film double-bill was beloved and influential, but both films made significant changes to key characters from DC’s comics, including Batman and his villains. In the case of both the Penguin and the Joker, Burton rewrote their origin stories, lending them a degree of sympathy and making their horrendous killing sprees a rationale.
By the late 80s, Batman was an American pop culture icon whose presence went beyond the comic book medium (due in large part to the Adam West TV show from the 60s). Naturally, his first feature film was a massive commercial success. Easily one of the superhero genre’s most influential movies, 1989’s Batman is partially responsible for the superhero tentpole blockbusters that have dominated the film landscape for the past decade. While perhaps quaint by today’s standards, Batman and Batman Returns helped mold the superhero film genre into what it is today.
Tim Burton created a unique interpretation of the Batman mythos in his films, centering his narratives on the supervillains more often than Bruce Wayne and his supporting characters. Burton notably made major adjustments to the backgrounds of the films’ main villains. In 1989’s Batman, the Joker was given a real name (Jack Napier) and a full origin story as the second in command of Gotham’s most powerful crime lord, Carl Grissom, before becoming the Joker. The Penguin, a.k.a. Oswald Cobblepot, was made into the grotesque leader of the Red Triangle Circus Gang after having been left for dead by his parents for his deformed appearance. While both villains differed from their comic counterparts, Burton made iconic new versions of the classic villains with more sympathetic origins. Ultimately, this repetition of the reinvention serves to make both films successful in their own right, away from the continued popularity of the comic narrative.
In contrast to Burton's films, the original characters have significantly less empathetic origins. The classic comic version of the Joker has no concrete origin story. An unnamed criminal fell into a vat of chemicals during a confrontation with Batman, leaving his skin bleached, his hair dyed green, and his mind broken. Stories like Batman: The Killing Joke establish that the Joker invents numerous potential origins for himself, perhaps with elements of each being true or all of them being fabricated, making his true origin and motivation a mystery. Similarly, the Penguin was a posh, cultured, socialite who became a feared crime boss, thanks to his brilliance and penchant for hiding weaponry in his umbrellas.
In 1989’s Batman, Napier was already a murderous criminal well before he became the Joker, but the film still gave him a minuscule amount of sympathy by showing his “one bad day” driving him insane. The Penguin, on the other hand, is framed as a tragic figure whose rejection and near-murder at the hands of his birth parents left him ruthlessly hellbent on revenge. Cobblepot could have easily grown up to become a kinder person, had he been shown kindness and acceptance by at least his family.
In both cases, Burton’s films were the subject of controversy, especially by a contingent of die-hard comic fans, for making such drastically different versions of these iconic villains. Burton was never interested in making faithful comic adaptations, however, and he simply used the comic books as the inspiration for a pair of artistic action films that anybody can enjoy, even if they’re longtime Batman comic readers. By rewriting the Joker and Penguin as more tragic and sympathetic characters, Burton created new and iconic versions of the classic supervillains in Batman and Batman Returns.
