With The Penguin streaming now all eyes are on Colin Farrell's scheming Oz Cobb. While the new series is not a part of James Gunn's relaunched DC Universe, it is a spin-off of Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman, centred on the infamous supervillain and criminal mastermind – you can read our The Penguin review here.
But as anyone who has seen the first episode will tell you, there's another character in this series who is arguably even more pivotal to this dark tale...
Cristin Milioti plays Sofia Falcone, the daughter of deceased criminal overlord Carmine Falcone. When her world is rocked by a murder in the first episode, she sets out to get revenge. But there's another shadow hanging over Sofia – her fearsome reputation as the Hangman, a notorious serial killer, who has already served time in Arkham Asylum.
Like the Penguin himself, Sofia/Hangman is a character from the DC comics. Her history on the show, however, is quite different to her previous origin. We'll get into both after the jump, but first a warning: this feature includes spoilers for both The Penguin episode one, and particularly for the Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory comic books, which we'll be getting into in detail. Capeesh?
The Hangman in Batman comics
Both The Batman and The Penguin owe a considerable debt to two specific Batman stories: The Long Halloween and its sequel, Dark Victory.
Published between 1996 and 1997, The Long Halloween, by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale, is rightly considered one of Batman's greatest ever stories thanks to its gripping mystery, moody atmosphere, and Sale's incredible art. It's also the comic that introduces Sofia Falcone to the world, in the very first panel of The Long Halloween #6, as she is released from prison early to help mob boss Carmine Falcone find out the identity of the Holiday killer, who has been picking off members of his family.
Sofia cuts an intimidating figure throughout The Long Halloween, both intellectually and physically – she towers over Carmine and the other gangsters – but she doesn't feature as prominently as in The Penguin, where Milioti is one of the lead actors. And while there are similarities to the characters, such as Sofia being released early from prison, these are very different stories. In The Long Halloween, for instance, Carmine is still alive and while Sofia's brother Alberto is a consequential character in both the show and the comic, it's for extremely different reasons.
In The Long Halloween #13, an enraged Sofia fights Catwoman, but ends up falling from her penthouse. That was not the end of the character, however...
The Long Halloween was such a hit that it quickly spawned a sequel. Batman: Dark Victory was published between 1999 and 2000, and revealed that Sofia had survived her fall and now leads the Falcone crime family, despite being physically paralysed. A new killer is stalking the streets of Gotham City, murdering people connected to the old Holiday case by hanging them. Given the nature of this article, you can probably guess who that killer turns out to be...
Yes, towards the end of Dark Victory it's revealed that Sofia Falcone is, in fact, the Hangman. While she really was terribly injured, she has faked her paralysis and has been murdering her enemies with the intention of getting revenge on Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Just as she's about to make him the last of the Hangman's victims, however, Batman intervenes and the two fight. But before Bruce can turn her in, Two-Face shoots her in the head and hangs her body.
The Hangman in The Penguin
There's going to be a lot to say about Sofia over the course of The Penguin, but for now we can only touch on what happens in episode one, suffice to say that this version of the character is a very intriguing addition to the mythos.
We meet Sofia halfway through the first episode. While Cristin Milioti may not have the same physical height as the character in the comic, she radiates pure menace, especially in her interactions with Oz – it's clear that the two have a lot of murky history.
We learn that Sofia is known to the world as a notorious killer who has served time in Arkham Asylum for the Hangman killings – though we don't really get any details about these crimes in the first episode. She talks of being humiliated and hints at some clear resentment to the rest of the Falcone clan, apart from her brother Alberto, but initially seems open to reconnecting with Oz.
It's a ploy, of course. At the end of the episode she captures Oz and shoots dead one of the teenage thugs that tried to steal his car, purely to intimidate him. Clearly this Sofia is every bit as deadly as the original. Of course, Oz gets his own back when she finds the body of Alberto stuffed in the trunk of a car, a crime he has expertly rigged to look like a revenge killing by the rival Maroni family.
And that's where we leave episode one... Like we say, there's a lot more to say about Sofia over the coming weeks, but until then The Penguin is streaming now on Sky and NOW in the UK and on HBO in the US. For more gripping drama check out our guide to the best upcoming TV shows and if you're looking to sign up to HBO Max, check out our deals page.
