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The Penguin & Harley Quinn Came Close to Meeting Up in DCEU

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell discussed how Harley Quinn and The Penguin nearly met in Birds of Prey before Matt Reeves stepped in.



Article Summary

  • Margot Robbie revealed The Penguin was the original main villain planned for Birds of Prey.
  • Matt Reeves asked Birds of Prey creators not to use The Penguin since he had plans for the character in his own Batman universe.
  • Colin Farrell was surprised to learn of The Penguin’s initial role in the DCEU from Margot Robbie.
  • Birds of Prey ultimately replaced The Penguin with Black Mask as the film’s primary antagonist.

Before Matt Reeves introduced Colin Farrell's The Penguin in 2022's The Batman, we could have gotten another incarnation according to Margot Robbie, who plays the DCEU/DCU fan favorite Harley Quinn across three films, the two unrelated Suicide Squad films from 2016 and 2021, and the extensively wordy Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn in 2020. While promoting her upcoming film A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, she was joined by Farrell, who co-stars in the film, and asked if the two ever spoke about their DC journeys with the Barbie (2023) star dropping a bit of a bombshell.

The Penguin & Harley Quinn Came Close to Meeting Up in DCEU
Warner Bros

Margot Robbie Reveals to The Penguin Star Colin Farrell about "Birds of Prey's" Original Villain

During their interview with Entertainment Weekly, the subject of their DC characters came up. "Did we ever talk about Harley and the Penguin?" Robbie asked Farrell. "I don't believe so," Farrell responded. "I don't think it came up once. No, we never mentioned, never spoke about it at all." "We've done so much talking, and I don't think we've ever [discussed that]," Robbie continued. "That's so weird."

As Farrell started to talk about the various incarnations of the characters, Robbie dropped her bombshell (sorry, not sorry). "The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of 'Birds of Prey,' the villain was the Penguin," Robbie revealed. "No way!" a visibly shocked Farrell responded. "Really?" "And then [director/writer] Matt Reeves said, 'Don't use the Penguin. I'm going to use him in my thing,'" she explained. "And so, we swapped it to Black Mask [played by Ewan McGregor]."

The Penguin Star Colin Farrell on Oz's Uphill Battle to Start Season 2
Colin Farrell in "The Penguin". Image courtesy of Warner Bros/HBO Max

"Wow!" Farrell said before following up out of curiosity, "And how was her Penguin?" In a word, "Amazing," Robbie told him before revealing she might still have that draft saved on her computer and offering him on what could have been. While Robbie doesn't have any current DC projects up since James Gunn's DCU debut in 2021's The Suicide Squad, it would probably not be too far-fetched to reintroduce Harley since she was psychologist Dr. Harleen Quinzel before the Joker forever changed her and a certain former mafia donna, who fell from grace at the end of The Penguin season one, is currently a resident at Arkham. Are you listening, James?! Matt?!


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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I’ve been following pop culture for over 30 years with eclectic interests in gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV reading Starlog, Mad & Fangoria. As a writer for over 15 years, Star Wars was my first franchise love.
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