‘Birds of Prey’ Almost Included an Iconic Batman Villain

Harley Quinn almost went up against a very different villain in her film Birds of Prey.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Birds of Prey star and producer Margot Robbie revealed the film’s main villain was originally going to be the Penguin, not Black Mask.

“The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of Birds of Prey, the villain was the Penguin. And then Matt Reeves said, ‘Don’t use the Penguin. I’m going to use him in my thing [The Batman].’ And so we swapped it to Black Mask,” Robbie explained.

Robbie’s chat was a joint interview with her A Big Bold Beautiful Journey co-star Colin Farrell, who just so happened to play the Penguin/Oswald Cobb in Reeve’s 2022 noir crime-action film The Batman, as well as its Emmy-nominated HBO spinoff show The Penguin.

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Robbie added that the early Birds of Prey script featuring the Penguin was “amazing.”

“We’ve done so much talking, and I don’t think we’ve ever [discussed playing Batman characters]. That’s so weird,” she told Farrell, who in turn admitted he’d “love to” read the early draft featuring the Gotham City crime lord.

Released in 2020, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) sees Harley on the run after her breakup with the Joker makes her vulnerable to all the enemies she’s made in the criminal underbelly of Gotham City. As vicious crime boss Black Mask, played by Ewan McGregor, turns his attention to her, she teams up with a group of unexpected allies to take him down for good.

Following her most recent appearance in 2021’s pre-DCU film The Suicide Squad, Robbie’s future as Harley Quinn remains unclear. However, earlier this month DC Studios co-head James Gunn hinted that Robbie’s potential role in the new DCU “will be revealed down the line.”

As for Farrell’s Penguin, the mobster will return in The Batman – Part II, which is set to begin filming in the spring of 2026.

There’s no word yet on whether or not HBO’s The Penguin spinoff show will receive a second season, though it’s unlikely as it was billed as a limited series.