Max The Penguin isn’t the first television series to capitalize on Hollywood’s fascination with Gotham City’s seedy underworld, but it’s perhaps the one that tries hardest to avoid any whiff of Batman or Arkham Asylum’s rogues gallery. Case in point: Even Arkham’s sole patient, Sofia Falcone, aka the Executioner, is straight out of Batman’s great mafia fiction.
[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for The Penguin’s premiere episode, “After Hours.”]
Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery
The Penguin introduces Sofia Falcone, the daughter of the Falcone family, played by actor Cristin Milioti, as perhaps the scariest player vying for the Falcone crown. Sofia could be a surefire candidate for the role, which follows her father’s death in 2022. The Batman and the death of her brother in The PenguinBut her path is hampered by the general sexism of the Mafia, as well as the perception that she is not mentally suited to the role of boss.
Sofia, penguin tells us that she has just been released from Arkham Asylum and that she committed a series of murders in a previous life. But who did she kill and why did that earn her the nom de guerre “the Executioner”? The Penguin has not yet given its own answers to this – but the DC Comics stories from which Sofia comes have.
A little about Sofia Falcone in DC Comics
Sofia first appeared in Batman: The Long Halloweena 1996 miniseries by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale that is one of the best Batman crime stories ever put to paper and arguably one of the most influential modern Batman comics in cinema. Long Halloween followed Batman and other characters as they searched for the true identity of Holiday, a serial killer who targeted members of Gotham’s mafia elite. Sofia comes into play about halfway through the story, right after she’s released from prison.
Regular Prison, not Arkham Asylum. Instead of being the pariah of the family, Long HalloweenSofia is Carmine Falcone’s beloved daughter and best enforcer. She is also a total asshole nicknamed “Sofia Gigante”.
Image: Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale/DC Comics
Sofia would only get her reputation as a serial killer Long HalloweenContinuation of Batman: Dark Victorywhere she turned out to be the mysterious serial killer Hangman. This is a gigantic Spoilers for Dark Victorybut, well, guilt The Penguinnot us.
Who did the executioner kill?
As an executioner, Sofia preyed on cops and other law enforcement officers (mostly corrupt ones, because this is Gotham City), surprising her victims with a noose and leaving them hanging in plain sight, with her calling card pinned to her chest: half-finished executioner games scribbled on papers she’d taken from Harvey Dent’s desk before he turned villain.
The point of it all was revenge: At the climax of The long HalloweenHarvey (as Two-Face) had executed her father Carmine Falcone, and all of Hangman’s victims were people who had helped Harvey build his career. Sofia, who had survived a fall from Carmine’s penthouse roof in late 1945, Long HalloweenFor most of the story, she evaded suspicion by pretending that the fall had left her paralyzed from the neck down.
The Penguin is not the first “grounded” Batman TV series to put Sofia in the spotlight – Crystal Reed (Teen Wolf) she played for several seasons of Gotham. She is a perfect fit for a series that plays with the succession in the Falcone family and deals with a more traditional type of supervillain based on true crimes. Sofia dies at the end of Dark Victoryso that their comic presence remained limited and The long Halloween.
They are not just mystery stories and they serve as origin stories for Two-Face and Robin, Long Halloween And Dark Victory asked the question: “But how exactly did Gotham City transition from the mafia-dominated underworld Batman: Year One to the chaotic, theatrical crime sprees of a loose community of costumed killers?” Part of that transition, Loeb and Sale say, was that the scions of Gotham’s major crime families themselves took to serial killing and calling cards.
But is The Penguin interested in following this particular transition, or will she stick to her commitment to staying away from Batman’s nicknamed villains? The rest of the miniseries’ episodes will tell us that.
