WhenMatt Reeves’The Batmanhit theaters back in 2022, fans were blown away by the artistry put into this superhero detective thriller. Combining issues of serial killers, organized crime, and the Dark Knight’s (Robert Pattinson) own desire to lift Gotham City out of darkness, the film did a wonderful job at opening up this greater universe. But withThe Penguinnow airing on Max, Gotham’s underworld is more exposed than ever.Since it’s been a while, a refresher on who exactlyJohn Turturro’s character, Carmine Falcone (played now byMark StronginThe Penguin), is in relation to the greater Batman universe might be in order, especially now thatClancy Brownhas shown up as Salvatore Maroni. Who are the Falcone and Maroni crime families? What is their history with Batman? Where does the Penguin factor into their story? The answers may surprise you.
‘The Batman’ Universe Pulls Directly from the Original Comics (and Hollywood Gangster Pictures)
It should come as no surprise that many of Gotham’s mobsters were modeled after, at least in part, characters from the gangster classicThe Godfather. From what we’ve seen inThe Penguinseries, there’s some clearSopranosinfluence there as well. But just because these notable crime dramas inspired the way Reeves and company interpreted Gotham’s underbelly, doesn’t mean those are the only major influences at play. Of course,both Carmine “The Roman” Falcone and Sal “The Boss” Maroni have appeared in various Batman film projects, both live-action and animated, given that they’re pre-existing characters from the DC Universe.Christopher Nolan’sBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knight, the Fox seriesGotham, and the animatedBatman: Year OneandBatman: The Long Halloweenhave all showcased the Falcones and Maronis previously.
Though there’s much more to their vast comic book histories than some of these adaptations have led on, previous adaptations are a good place to start. Yet, besides possibleGotham(which really took its time in establishing Gotham’s underworld),The Batmanand certainlyThe Penguinpaint the clearest pictures of who these crime lords really are. But what does their comic book history tell us about how they fit intoThe Batmanuniverse? To answer that question, we have to dive deeper into where they come from and why they hate one another…
The Falcones and Maronis Maintain a Historic Blood Feud
The Falcones and the Maronis have been sworn rivals in Gotham City for decades. Years ago, a mobster named Vincent Falcone rose through the ranks in Gotham’s underbelly, eventually founding the Falcone crime family. He would father two children, Carmine Falcone and Carla Viti (played byAleksa PalladinoinThe Penguin), both of whom would go on to pursue lives of crime.The Falcone family would control most of Gotham’s criminal activity, though their claim to Gotham didn’t go undisputed for long. Eventually, Vincent’s rival, Luigi “Big Lou” Maroni, started his own crime operation in Gotham, which included his son, Sal, hoping to crush the competition. In an effort to gain the upper hand, “Big Lou” orders a hit on Vincent’s only son, leaving him at death’s door.
In utter desperation, Vincent brings Carmine to the home of Gotham’s greatest medical doctor and philanthropist, Dr. Thomas Wayne (Luke RobertsinThe Batman). Fearing for his son’s life, Vincent refuses to take his son to the hospital, imploring Wayne to perform a home operation to save Carmine’s life. Unbeknownst to Wayne, his young son Bruce witnessed the event from the shadows as his father saved the boy. This event only strengthened the feud between the Falcone and Maroni families and sent Gotham into even more chaos, priming the city for Batman’s eventual crusade.
The war between the Falcones and the Maronis would only get worse, and after the death of the Waynes, Gotham became a cesspool. At his parent’s funeral, a young Bruce Wayne is confronted by Carmine Falcone, who, after acknowledging his father’s kindness, offers Bruce a favor if he ever needs one. Not long afterward, Vincent Falcone died, with Carmine taking over as head of the Falcone family, now nicknamed “The Roman.” This would eventually lead to “Big Lou’s” retirement, with his son Sal taking over as “The Boss” of the Maroni operation. In the years following, Falcone and his wife would have two sons, Alberto (played byMichael ZegenonThe Penguin) and Mario, and a daughter, Sofia Gigante (played byCristin MiliotionThe Penguin).
But like any crime family, the Falcones were bound to have their own secrets… For some undisclosed time, it’s been suspected that Falcone and his wife Louisa may have had another child, one whom they would seemingly abandon:a young woman named Selina Kyle(Zoë Kravitz).The Batmanproves this to be true, but the comics have traditionally been less clear about the idea. The Maronis kept busy as well, as Sal would eventually father two sons of his own, Pino and Umberto. Like Falcone, Maroni chose to break up his nuptials and, in a shocking turn of events, eventually became the secret lover of Falcone’s own daughter, Sofia.
The Batman’s Arrival in Gotham Changes Everything
About another decade or so would pass before the events ofFrank Miller’s epicBatman: Year One, which saw Falcone at the height of his power in Gotham, holding the mayor, police commissioner, city council, and countless others in his iron grip. “The Roman” ruled over Gotham, which, along with the deaths of his parents, led to Bruce Wayne’s turn to vigilantism, becoming the Batman. As Batman, Bruce, with some help from Detective Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), slowly dismantles Falcone’s empire, even crashing one of “The Roman’s” dinner parties to remind them that their days in Gotham are numbered. He humiliates Falcone by stripping him to his underwear and tying him down on his bed, only to be found helpless. Enraged,Falcone orders a hit on Batman, but to no avail. Eventually, Falcone’s grip over Gotham loosened after Batman, Gordon, and the young district attorney named Harvey Dent began meddling in his affairs.
It’s also around this time that Selina Kyle, now the thief known as Catwoman, returns to Falcone’s life, though not as her civilian self. As Catwoman,Selina tries to steal some of Falcone’s most precious valuables. Batman eventually saves Catwoman from Falcone’s men, but not before Selina has the chance to permanently scar “The Roman” straight across his face. This caused Falcone to hate Catwoman personally, though he had mixed feelings about the woman under the cat mask. While Falcone deals with all this bat-trouble, Sal Maroni begins lending money all over town, including to the crazedDr. Hugo Strange(and with a name like that, what more would you expect?). After a while, Maroni tries to get Strange to repay his debt, which Strange attempts after robbing one of Maroni’s own fronts for the cash. Displeased, Maroni sent his men in to rough Strange up, which only made the delusional mad scientist all the angrier.
Having to save Maroni from Strange’s genetic experiments, Batman forces “The Boss” to forgive the debt of a man named Norman Madison, the father of Bruce’s then-girlfriend, Julie Madison. What Batman didn’t count on was that Norman would still try to make good on his debt, which Maroni refused to take in fear of how the Dark Knight would retaliate. Instead, Norman gives the cash to Falcone, which only serves to humiliate “The Boss,” solidifying his hatred for Batman in the process. Of course,we have yet to see any of this onThe Penguinor anywhere else inThe Batmanuniverse, but the backstory is helpful to better understand who these villains are.
Things Get Especially Crazy During ‘The Long Halloween’
Afterward came the events ofJeph Loeb’sThe Long Halloween, the Batman story that the Falcone and Maroni families are most well-known for. Now that the Falcone family’s grip on Gotham had been weakened, a serial killer known only as “Holiday” began taking out members of the family. Naturally, Falcone believed that this was the work of the Maroni family. Things would only get worse for Falcone after his warehouse full of cash was found by Batman and Harvey Dent, who then burn it to the ground to send a message (in a moment reminiscent of the Joker burning the cash inThe Dark Knight). Desperate and angry, Falcone begins to hire various “costumed freaks”, such as the Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Solomon Grundy to take Batman head-on in the coming month. During this time, Holiday’s targets switched from the Falcones to the Maronis, including “Big Lou,” who was killed on Father’s Day.While Sal Maroni originally believed that Falcone was behind the hits, “The Roman” convinced him (through his daughter Sofia) that they have a common enemy in Harvey Dent, whom he then believed to secretly be the Holiday killer.
After Maroni was taken to jail by the GCPD, he is persuaded by his lover, Sofia Gigante, that Dent was behind it all. After Falcone arranged for Maroni to get his hands on some acid, “The Boss” attempted to murder Harvey Dent during his trial. He only half-succeeded though, as Dent survived, now permanently scarred and his psyche fractured. Not long afterward, Maroni was murdered in his cell by Holiday, who revealed himself to be Falcone’s youngest son, Alberto, who was simply trying to make a name for himself outside the Falcone shadow. Because of his physical and psychological trauma, Harvey Dent went insane, becoming the supervillain Two-Face. Along with the other “costumed freaks,” Two-Face stormed Falcone’s home and shot him directly in the head as revenge for ruining his life. Because of this, Sofia Gigante, who was also critically injured during this attack, and her brother Mario would struggle to take over the Falcone crime family,with Sal Maroni’s two sons, Pino and Umberto, pledging their allegiance to Sofia.
After the Holiday Killings, the Falcone and Maroni Empires Crumble
Afterward, the sequels toLong Halloween,Batman: Dark VictoryandCatwoman: When In Rome, would occur at the same time, crossing over near the end of each. Here, Selina travels to Italy for more information on the Falcone family and her potential heritage and, after finding something about Sofia Gigante, delivers the information to Batman. Though she still lacked concrete evidence that she was a Falcone by birth, she would continue to believe that it was true.The Falcone family turned on itself duringDark Victory, which focused a lot on Gotham’s criminal transition from organized crime to crazed supervillains. Most of this story revolves around Joker, Two-Face, and other members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery slowly taking down their competition with the mob, pulling Gotham into further chaos. All the while, a mysterious serial killer known only as “the Hangman” begins killing corrupt Gotham cops and police personnel, only to eventually turn on the Falcone crime family as well.
Though many suspected Two-Face was behind these attacks, he adamantly denied it, even with all the evidence against him. Eventually, after killing her brother Alberto, claiming he wasn’t a “true Falcone,“Sofia Gigante was revealed to be the Hangman killer before Two-Face mercilessly killed both her and Maroni’s two sons. It’s also worth noting that Maroni’s old enforcer, Tony Zucco, killed Richard and Mary Grayson, the parents of Dick Grayson, during this time in a mob hit, which allowed Bruce Wayne to adopt Dick (and eventually train himto become the first Robin). It’s later revealed that Two-Face had stolen the body of Carmine Falcone to cause discourse within the family, and naturally, he succeeded.Dark Victoryends with Mario Falcone burning down his family’s estate, driving the Falcone crime family straight into the ground. After years of running Gotham’s underworld, the Falcones and Maronis are finally finished, with Batman’s rogues' gallery now the main threat to Gotham. Other white-collar criminals like Penguin and Black Mask would eventually take root, but even they didn’t have the kind of influence these Italian gangsters had once boasted.
Of course, this brings us back to the world ofThe Batman, which establishes that Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone has already been outed as a serial killer who spent some time in Arkham by the timeThe Penguinstarts. Though the Sofia of the comics is a bit more strategic in her plot to resume control of her family’s illegal operations, Milioti’s interpretation is a bit more unhinged, especially after Oz Cobb aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell) kills her brother Alberto. It seems as ifThe Penguinis moving away from some of the general story points first established in DC Comics lore, but is generally doing a fine job at retaining the personalities of the most important Falcone and Maroni gangsters.
New Continuity, New Life
While Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni, and their respective crime families effectively ended, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t return. After DC Comics rebooted their mainstream comic continuity with “The New 52,” and later “DC Rebirth,” the infamous crime families reappeared in a more limited capacity, with both “The Roman” and “The Boss” now alive and well. Carmine Falcone reappeared inBatman Eternal(a 52-issue series that celebrated 75 years of Batman throughout 2014-15) to reclaim his criminal empire after Commissioner Jim Gordon was falsely framed for murder. It seemed like much of his history fromYear One(including the scar Catwoman gave him) was intact, though here his main rival for power in Gotham wasn’t Sal Maroni, it was Oswald Cobblepot, also known as the Penguin. This is likelywhereThe Penguin(likeGothambefore it) is taking some inspiration, as Oz Cobb is fighting to gain control of Falcone’s operation now that “The Roman” is killed by the Riddler (Paul Dano) inThe Batman.
But as far as the comics go, eventually, the GCPD arrested Falcone for his crimes and took him to Blackgate Penitentiary. Sal Maroni, on the other hand, has only returned to current continuity in a brief appearance in theNightwingseries, which reveals that his son C.J. (a new addition to the Maroni family) and Dick Grayson were actually childhood friends. While it’s unclear if the Falcone or Maroni crime families will make their way back into any of the Bat-books full-time, it’s obvious that they’ve made their mark on Batman history. This makes their part in Matt Reeves' ever-growingThe Batmanuniverse as important as ever, and their complicated comic book history certainly contributes to the way we see them inThe Penguinespecially. But if we can learn anything from their part in the DC Universe, it’s thatthe Falcones and Maronis days are numbered. With Batman, and other “costumed freaks” like him, beginning to appear throughout Gotham, it seems more likely that the Penguin’s rise to power will usher in a new age forThe Batmanuniverse. How the Caped Crusader will handle Oz remains to be seen, but we know that eventually, his empire, too, shall fall.
The BatmanandThe Penguinare available to stream on Max.
The Penguin
It follows the transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.
