Sofia Falcone, later Falcone-Gigante, also known as the Hangman, isn’t one of Batman’s most famous villains. This is mainly because she only makes a prominent appearance in two different comics. But as it so happens, both of those comics remain among the best Batman comics ever published—Batman: The Long Halloween, and Batman: Dark Victory. Yet despite these few appearances, she appeared in the TV series Gotham, the animated Long Halloween adaptation, and now, on HBO’s The Penguin, played by the incredible Cristin Milioti. This relatively minor player has gone on to have a long shelf life outside comics.
Batman: The Long Halloween Introduced Sofia Falcone
Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by the late Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween was an epic 13-issue crime mystery series that came out back in 1997. It dealt with a serial killer who murders only on the corresponding holiday of every month. However, it was also a thematic bridge between the Godfather-like crime world of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, and the carnival of freaks that populate most Batman stories taking place later in his career. The Long Halloween explains what ultimately became of Carmine Falcone’s crime family from Year One, before the clowns and assorted weirdos ruled Gotham City.
Jeph Loeb introduces Sofia Falcone into the story when her father Carmine pulls strings and gets his daughter out of prison early. Once free, her father gives her the job of discovering the identity of the mysterious Holiday Killer, and bringing him down. Yet she ultimately can’t track him down. Eventually, the Holiday Killer (apparently) murders Sofia’s brother, Alberto Falcone. Eventually, they reveal that Alberto faked his own death, and was himself the Holiday Killer. Alberto goes to Arkham Asylum, but in the chaos that follows, Two-Face kills Carmine Falcone, and Sofia finds herself paralyzed in a battle with Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman.
In Batman: Dark Victory, Sofia Falcone Becomes The Hangman
In the sequel Dark Victory, Sofia Falcone takes over her father’s criminal empire. But not long after, a second serial killer emerges in Gotham, one targeting police officers. Particularly, cops with connections to Harvey Dent/Two-Face. This serial killer would always leave a noose behind, and Hangman puzzles as clues. Because of that, the Gotham press quickly labeled this killer as The Hangman. Batman believes that Two-Face is the Hangman, but it wasn’t actually Dent. It was Sofia Falcone herself who was the Hangman, hiding her crimes behind her disability. She murders her brother Alberto, thinking of him as a weakling and not worthy of the Falcone name. Eventually, Two-Face kills Sofia just as he did her father, and the Falcone crime family empire crumbles.
Sofia Falcone in Gotham, and the Animated Long Halloween Film
Despite her limited comic book exposure, Sofia Falcone has crossed over into other media a few times. The TV series Gotham introduced Sofia in season 4, portrayed by actress Crystal Reed. In the series, Sofia is a crime boss who takes down the Penguin’s own criminal empire. She’s much more conventionally attractive than her comic book counterpart, and was James Gordon’s former lover. (But who wasn’t on that show?) Sofia also appears in the animated Long Halloween adaptation, voiced by Laila Berzins. However, it is her current role on The Penguin, where she’s played by Cristin Milioti, that we think is really going to elevate Sofia into A-list Gotham baddie status.
The Penguin Gives Us the Ultimate Version of Sofia Falcone
The Penguin has changed Sofia Falcone’s backstory significantly from the comics, as well as from Gotham. In the HBO series, she went to Arkham Asylum ten years prior, after she was accused of serial murders as the Hangman. However, in this version, the Hangman killed several women, not cops. Suffering horrific abuse in Arkham, Sofia finally gets out after her father’s death in The Batman. After this decade-long incarceration, she’s clearly a broken woman, shattered by her experiences. What does sustained trauma like that do to someone? In Batman’s world, it tends to make you one dangerous villain. We think Oz Cobb is about to discover just how dangerous.