Carmine Falcone
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Carmine "The Roman" Falcone is a fictional character, a villainous Mafia don in Gotham City, who made his debut in the four part story Batman: Year One, written by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, in 1987. Falcone's nickname was "The Roman," referencing at least once to his control over Gotham City's mob as "The Roman Empire." Falcone later appeared in a major role in the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale mini-series Batman: The Long Halloween. Falcone was the last old-style crime boss in Gotham City before Batman's familiar Rogues Gallery took over. His appearance and mannerism in Long Halloween seems to be based on The Godfather's Vito Corleone.
[edit] History
In the story Batman: Year One, Falcone is a major gangster with the Police Commissioner under his influence. However, his power base comes under attack by the new mysterious vigilante, Batman. Despite Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb's assurances that the new opponent may be a long term benefit, Falcone was still worried about him. That concern was justified by Batman's bold assault on a dinner party attended by himself, the commissioner and other corrupt high society members of the city to announce that they will be delivered to justice.
After that incident and despite Commissioner Loeb's desperate attempts to stop him, Batman's attacks on Falcone's organization become even more brazen such as one time when Batman had his car was dumped into the river, invaded his home, assaulted him, stripped him to his underwear, and left him hogtied to his bed. That humiliation prompts Falcone gives orders to have Batman killed, but he is too elusive, and Falcone is later assaulted by Catwoman with some assistance by the caped crusader.
Finally, Falcone orders the notoriously honest police detective, Jim Gordon's wife and child kidnapped to bring him to heel, but the plot is in part foiled by the Gordons while Batman rescues their child. The act of saving his wife and baby is what convinces Gordon that Batman is truly on his side. Eventually, Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon's investigations, with some secret assistance by Batman, yield results which lead to Loeb being forced to resign, Gordon being promoted to Lieutenant, and Falcone's power being put under threat by the new opposition he now faces.
The plot of The Long Halloween involves a serial killer named Holiday targeting Gotham's crime families, with particular attention paid to the Falcone family. While fighting the criminal justice system, Falcone is desperately trying to get a grip on his once-powerful empire, and he resorts to hiring "freaks" in the form of what becomes Batman's Rogues Gallery. Falcone's son, Alberto, confessed to all of the Holiday killings, as he wanted his father to accept him into the family business, but it is important to note Harvey and Gilda Dent are at least somewhat responsible for them. Harvey Dent was in fact the initial suspect, and the suspiscions directed toward him were in part responsible for the accident in which he became Two-Face. While Falcone played a large role in The Long Halloween, he was killed in the end, shot in the head by Two-Face.
In Batman: Dark Victory, Falcone's grave is robbed and his body goes missing. His finger is cut off and sent to his daughter, Sofia Gigante, the new boss of the Falcone Family. This action is described as an "old style message", signifying that someone is out to take everything away from the Falcone Family, crushing them both as a public, business organization in the crime world as well as literally killing members of the family. Not until the end it is revealed that Two-Face has Falcone's body, having frozen it using Mr. Freeze's cryogenic technology.
[edit] Batman Begins
Carmine Falcone was also featured in the 2005 film Batman Begins, played by Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson.
In the film, Falcone all but controls Gotham City, flooding it with drugs and crime. He is above the law, with most of Gotham's politicians and police on his payroll (examples being two councilmen, a union worker, Judge Faden, James Gordon's partner Detective Flass, and an unnamed Policeman). He has Joe Chill, the man who murdered Bruce Wayne's parents, killed for threatening to testify against him, depriving Wayne of the chance to take his own revenge. Wayne confronts him, but he dismisses the young billionaire as a harmless nuisance, having him beaten up to teach him a lesson.
Years later, Falcone goes into business with The Scarecrow and (unknowingly) Ra's al Ghul, smuggling a fear toxin into Gotham inside toy rabbits. As a form of payment, Scarecrow, who as Dr. Jonathan Crane runs Arkham Asylum, diagnoses Falcone's henchmen as insane when they are arrested so they can avoid prison. Wayne, who by now has become Batman, discovers and foils the plan and knocks Falcone unconscious, leaving him tied to a searchlight for the police to find. The trussed-up mobster, surrounded by a tattered overcoat, projects a bat-like shape into the sky; this impromptu calling card would later evolve into the Bat-Signal.
While in prison, Falcone tries to blackmail Crane into allowing him a part in the upcoming fear toxin project. Crane instead puts on the freakish scarecrow mask he uses in his experiments on the asylum's inmates and gasses him with the fear toxin. After Crane literally terrified his former partner-in-crime out of his mind and left in an apparently permanent state of psychosis, he was permanently incarcerated in Arkham and hasn't been seen since Ra's al Ghul's men released all of the inmates at Arkham Asylum.
Its been rumored that Falcone might return in the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight (which supposedly will be loosely based off of The Long Halloween), though due to the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of his now genuine madness and his fall from the power structure of Gotham's underworld, this may be unlikely to happen. However, Tom Wilkinson has said that he would definitely return to the new Batman franchise, so long as they can fit him in. Since a cure for the Scarecrow's fear toxins was mass produced by the police, it is possible that he still could return in a sequel, but many believe that his role in the criminal underworld will be taken by Black Mask or the Penguin.
| Batman | |
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| Creators: | Bob Kane and Bill Finger • Other writers and artists |
| Supporting Characters: | Robin (Tim Drake) • Nightwing (Dick Grayson) • Batgirl • Batwoman • Alfred Pennyworth • Lucius Fox • Barbara Gordon • Commissioner Gordon • Harvey Bullock |
| Villains: | Bane • Catwoman • Clayface • Harley Quinn • Joker • Killer Croc • Mr. Freeze • Penguin • Poison Ivy • Ra's al Ghul • Red Hood (Jason Todd) • Riddler • Scarecrow • Two-Face • Other villains |
| Locations: | Arkham Asylum • Batcave • Gotham City • Wayne Enterprises • Wayne Manor |
| Miscellanea: | Batarang • Batmobile • Batsuit • Popular media • Publications • Storylines • Alternate versions of Batman |
