HBO’s latest gritty DC series, The Penguin, kicked off explosively last night. While most eyes will be on the incredible transformation of Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobb, one of the key characters in this story is Sofia Falcone.
Played by Cristin Milioti, this DC villain has a rich history and backstory. We’ve already been given some teasers as to how she fits into the world of The Penguin’s Gotham, while the source material can perhaps be a tease of what’s to come.
If you want to know more about the Hangman, we’ve got what you need. We’ve seen all eight episodes of The Penguin – you can read our glowing review here.
What has The Penguin revealed about Sofia Falcone so far?
The first episode reveals that Sofia is a formidable opponent. She pays attention to fine details and knows how to put pressure on people. She was also fiercely close to her brother, Alberto Falcone.
She makes her debut in the show as a ghostly white figure, standing over Oz’s shoulder as he tries to cut a new drug trade. We discover that she’s come out of Arkham, after being “rehabilitated”.
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
She pushes Oz on the whereabouts of her brother. The Penguin starts to spin a web of lies, as unbeknownst to Sofia he shot and killed the new head of the Falcone family in a fit of rage and has hidden the body.
Despite his evasion, she spots a gunshot mark on the hood of his car and notices his nerves, but at first allows him to slip by due to his alibi. She also remarks that she’s been dubbed as ‘the Hangman’ with some disbelief.
Eventually, she captures Oz, stripping him naked and torturing him to give him a taste of what she went through in Arkham. Sofia laments that Alberto visited her every week and helped her hang onto the last parts of herself.
To try and get Oz to admit his crime, she shoots a teenage witness – claiming that this is what the Penguin wanted, to have her “reputation proceed her, even at the cost of someone’s life”.
Just as she comes close to cracking him, a car crashes outside – this is driven by Victor, who makes a getaway before he’s discovered.
When she opens the trunk, the rotting corpse of her brother greets her, with a missing finger and the word ‘payback’ scratched into the door, putting the blame on a rival gang – the Maronis (even though the whole thing was orchestrated by Oz). Sofia lets out a blood-curdling scream.
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
Who were The Falcones in The Batman (2022)?
Sofia did not appear in the 2022 film The Batman, but her father did. Carmine Falcone (played by John Turturro) was a crime lord in Gotham, who blackmailed numerous politicians and businessmen. He also managed to get his biggest rival, Salvatore Maroni, arrested.
The Riddler discovers these links and begins to kill those involved in Falcone’s corruption circle, leaving cryptic messages behind to cause mass panic and gain a group of loyal followers.
Eventually, Bruce Wayne has Carmine arrested. As he’s being taken away, things become heated between him and The Penguin. Then, Carmine is shot by The Riddler, robbing anyone else at a chance of revenge. That means he’s dead by the time we meet Sofia in The Penguin.
One huge part of Carmine’s story in The Batman was that he had an affair with a waitress called Maria Kyle, who he later murdered. However, before she died, she had a daughter – Selina – who tried to kill him at one point during the movie.
That of course is Catwoman, played by Zoë Kravitz. That makes her Sofia Falcone’s half-sister.
This has not yet been revealed to Sofia in the show, and we can only continue to watch to see if it will be a pivotal point in the story.
What is Sofia Falcone’s story in DC comics?
Sofia Falcone made her debut in the comics in 1996, in The Long Halloween arc. During that run, she is let out of prison by her father to help unmask the Holiday killer. This is later discovered to be her brother, Alberto. She then falls out of a window after being attacked by Catwoman.
The arc Dark Victory seems to have closer ties to The Penguin. In this, she is a serial killer who evades suspicion by pretending to be paralysed. Her murders earn her the nickname ‘the Hangman’, as she kills policemen in Gotham with a noose.
We don’t yet know if this origin story is the exact same as in the HBO series, but we do know that Sofia did something to earn her that infamous nickname.
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
Macall Polay/HBO
The Penguin is out now on HBO and Max in the United States and on Sky and Now in the United Kingdom. Episode 2 drops on Sunday 29 September 2024, and weekly thereafter.
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