Margot Robbie has revealed a surprising bit of Birds of Prey history: the first draft of the script actually pitched Oswald Cobblepot, better known as The Penguin, as the film’s main villain. Robbie shared the tidbit in conversation with Colin Farrell, her co-star in the upcoming project A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, whose own Penguin is fresh in audiences’ minds from The Batman and its HBO miniseries.
According to Robbie, scriptwriter Christina Hodson initially wrote Penguin into Birds of Prey, but director-writer Matt Reeves stepped in and decided to pull Penguin from the project to use him in his own Batman story. The result was a shift to Black Mask, played by Ewan McGregor, as the antagonistic force around Harley Quinn and her allies. Robbie noted that this pivot gave Birds of Prey its own distinct vibe separate from Reeves’ Batman universe, and she hinted that the early Penguin draft remains a fascinating “what could have been.”
Farrell was surprised to hear Robbie recount the tale and pressed for details on how Penguin was written into Birds of Prey. Robbie, who still has a copy of the original script, told Farrell she would share it with him, making him one of the few people outside the writers’ room to glimpse an alternate path for the film. The exchange underscores how fluid DC’s shared universe plans were during development, with different directions explored before a final lineup of characters settled in.
The backstory also touches on a broader DCU timeline. Before The Batman became Reeves’ standalone iteration, there was talk of a version of Batman led by Ben Affleck, with Deathstroke as the principal villain and Birds of Prey allowed to court Penguin without competing for screen time. That plan dissolved when Affleck exited, paving the way for Reeves’ reboot and the eventual placement of Black Mask as Birds of Prey’s primary foe. In hindsight, the swap helped give Birds of Prey a standalone identity while still leveraging the wider DC ecosystem’s interplay.
For fans eager to revisit these heroics, Birds of Prey remains available through HBO Max. And for those following Robbie and Farrell beyond Gotham, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey arrives in theaters on September 19, while Farrell is set to reprise The Penguin in The Batman: Part II, slated for release on October 1, 2027.
A quick takeaway: Birds of Prey benefited from a villain swap that preserved its own tone and introduced Black Mask to live-action audiences, while keeping Penguin’s future in a separate strand of DC storytelling. Robbie’s reveal adds a layer of what-ifs to the film’s already intricate production history, illustrating how flexible and evolving superhero cinema can be as studios refine their shared universe.
Summary: The Birds of Prey team almost faced Penguin as their nemesis, but a creative pivot to Black Mask helped cement the film’s distinct identity within the DC lineup, with Penguin later returning to the broader DC tapestry through Reeves’ Batman projects. Positive potential remains for both the Birds of Prey universe and the ongoing Batman saga as new projects unfold.