Up until now obviously, news on Matt Reeves' take on 'The Batman' has been thin on the ground - presumably because the script is being worked upon by Reeves.
Given the disarray which the DCEU finds itself in post-'Justice League' and how 'Wonder Woman' is the only one to be successful commercially and critically, there's a lot riding on 'The Batman' to turn things around for it as the character's an established brand already. Per a couple of tweets from Variety reporter Justin Kroll, Matt Reeves has locked down the villain for the Caped Crusader and he's pretty well-known.
Take this with a grain of salt as things are constantly changing in the DCEU but I'm hearing the Penguin is possibly the choice to play the main villain in THE BATMAN. Sources add even if Reeves decide to go another route the studio could then make him the main villain in BOP
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) May 30, 2018
Reeves is still working on the script, so that could always change but of the multiple BIRDS OF PREY scripts submitted, one does have the Penguin as the main heavy. Either way, it seems WB wants this character cast in the universe sooner rather then later.
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) May 30, 2018
Penguin was memorably brought to life by Danny DeVito in Tim Burton's 'Batman Returns' and was also a character in the TV series 'Gotham', so he's definitely a character that's ripe for this kind of treatment. What'll make or break the character is who steps into the role. Were he still alive, Philip Seymour Hoffman would be the most obvious candidate and there were plenty of rumours way back when that he would play the role under Christopher Nolan's direction.
Sadly, that turned out not to be - but there's plenty of actors out there who could easily take on the role. If, however, it turns out to be Josh Gad, that's it for the DCEU. Nothing against Josh Gad, just that's the most lazy and unoriginal casting decision you can make. Our choice for Penguin?
Fat Matt Damon, like he was in 'The Informant!' and you don't even need to worry about the makeup either.