Who Is Salvatore Maroni In The Penguin? Explained

The Penguin continues the story of 2022’s The Batman, expanding upon Matt Reeves’ version of Gotham City, including the various crime families. One such is the Maroni Crime family, led by Salvatore Maroni. So, who is Salvatore Maroni in The Penguin?

Who Is Salvatore Maroni In The Penguin and Batman Lore?

Salvatore Maroni is portrayed by Clancy Brown (John Wick Chapter 4) in The Penguin, and the character is the incarcerated head of the Maroni Crime Family. The Batman provided insight into what led to Maroni’s imprisonment, in that the head of the Falcone crime family, Carmine, made a deal with top city officials to expose Salvatore Maroni and his illegal drug operation. In exchange for critical information on Maroni, Falcone would get free reign on the Drops drug trade, and city officials would look the other way.

Salvatore Maroni is never shown in The Batman and is only ever referenced as being the one taken down in the biggest drug bust in Gotham City history. The Riddler would go on to expose the lie of this false advancement in city safety, leading to the events of The Penguin.

Clancy Brown finally provides a face to the character, and promotional material for the series shows Maroni still in prison. With all the corrupt individuals responsible for putting him in prison being dead, it stands to reason that Maroni sees this as an opportunity to make a power play for control of Gotham’s criminal underworld.

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Salvatore Maroni was previously portrayed by Eric Roberts in The Dark Knight, where he is also an influential crime lord following Falcone’s downfall in Batman Begins. In nearly every iteration of the character in movies, television, and comics, Maroni is a rival to Falcone. The violence that floods the streets of Gotham is usually due to those two power figures butting heads, with Batman traditionally caught in the middle. Overall, Clancy Brown’s Salvatore Maroni will more likely than not be one of the main opposing forces to Oswald Cobb’s grab for power in The Penguin series.

Being in prison will probably not stop Maroni from making moves of his own. While The Batman had Carmine Falcone at the center of a sinister criminal conspiracy, there is a chance that Maroni is set up to become a part of the supporting cast of The Batman universe of films and shows should he survive the events of this eight-episode series.

The Penguin is scheduled to premiere on HBO and Max on Thursday, September 19, and new episodes will air every Sunday after that.