The Penguin: Who Is Salvatore Maroni?

The Penguin brings in a deep-cut DC character with Batman villain Salvatore Maroni, but who the heck is he?

By Spencer Perry

HBO's The Penguin may bring back a lot of familiar faces from The Batman, but it's digging deep into the coffers of DC lore for other characters. Two of the new additions include Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone and Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, but there's another elusive crime figure from DC Comics that appears in The Penguin, mob boss Salvatore Maroni. Longtime readers will no doubt now the name well, but newcomers should know that Salvatore Maroni isn't just a throwaway character brought into the show, he's a name that carries major weight in Batman lore. 

DC's Salvatore Maroni Comics History

Unlike Alberto Falcone and Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, who made their DC Comics debut the classic 1996 series Batman: The Long Halloween, Salvatore Maroni's debut predates them by decades. In fact, Salvatore Maroni was created by none other than Batman's own co-creators, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, with his first appearance happening in Detective Comics #66 way back in 1942, pre-dating the likes of The Riddler, Mister Freeze, and Poison Ivy. Despite this, his appearances are few and far between in the pages of DC's comics, appearing in just over 50 total issues across his eighty years of existence.

Though largely just a mafioso figure in DC Comics, Salvatore Maroni is most notable for being the figure responsible for disfiguring Harvey Dent and turning him into Two-Face with this act initially occurring in Maroni's first issue (back when the man he attacked was named Harvey Kent). This major element of Maroni's place in Batman lore has been recycled a few times as well, and is even shown happening again in the pages of Batman: The Long Halloween, a series where his death is also depicted. In recent years, with DC's big New 52 reboot, Maroni has only had sparse appearances in DC comics and has largely become an antagonist for Nightwing rather than Batman. As such his operations are mostly in Bludhaven rather than Gotham City.

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(Photo: dc comics)

DC's Salvatore Maroni in Live-Action

Unlike notable Batman villains like The Joker, who appear about as often as The Caped Crusader himself on the big screen, Salvatore Maroni's appearances in films and television are limited, but have grown in recent years. The character made his big screen debut in 1995's Batman Forever where he was played by actor Dennis Paladino (uncredited) for a scene where he was referred to as just "Boss Maroni" (a name attached to the character in his early comic book days). More notably, Eric Roberts played the part of Sal Maroni in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, appearing on screen in a few scenes, including a notable one with Heath Ledger's Joker. On television, Dexter star David Zayas played the part of Salvatore Maroni for eleven episodes on FOX's series Gotham. 

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(Photo: HBO)

Salvatore Maroni in The Batman Universe

As fans may recall, the world of The Batman arrived with a pre-established universe and cast. Even though Salvatore Maroni doesn't appear in the 2021 movie, his presence is felt throughout the movie (technically an uncredited extra plays him in a newspaper photograph). Not only is it revealed that The Batman's version of Maroni tried to use his vast criminal wealth tobribe Thomas Wayne during his mayoral run, but when Wayne refused his advances Maroni dug up dirt on Martha Wayne to derail his campaign. This lead to Thomas Wayne panicking and hiring Carmine Falcone to "handle" that situation. Falcone even speculates in a scene with Bruce Wayne that Salvatore Maroni had his parents killed. 

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In short, almost everything that happens in The Batman ties back to Salvatore Maroni in some way, which makes the fact that he's just an unnamed extra on a newspaper all the more bizarre. That said, The Penguin has fixed this side of The Batman lore by giving Salvatore Maroni a voice and a face. In The Penguin, Salvatore Maroni is played by fan-favorite character actor Clancy Brown. Based on what we already know about the character from the trailers and The Batman itself, Salvatore Maroni remains behind bars, but it's clear that he's at least on speaking terms with Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb. 

As revealed in the first episode of The Penguin, Oz pays a visit to Sal at Blackgate Penitentiary, revealing that he's done with the Falcone's and wants to work with the Maroni family. He lays out a full plan for him to swoop in and take over a major piece of the Falcone drug business, he calls it "the opportunity of a lifetime" for Maroni and offers to be his double agent inside to "tear down their empire." What becomes clear throughout the episode though is that Oz's ambitions are even bigger than this, but Sal Maroni knows this too, so he doesn't even believe Oz when he gives him this offer.

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