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Quote1 A father's love can be a terrible thing… Now he would be with her forever Quote2
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Sofia Falcone Gigante was a ruthless, vengeful, and manipulative Gotham City crimelord. The daughter of the infamous Carmine Falcone, she became a great enemy of the Batman, both as the head of the Falcone Crime Family and as the serial killer known as the Hang Man.

Early Life

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Sofia and her father

Sofia Falcone was born to Louisa and Carmine Falcone, head of the Falcone Crime Family. Carmine raised Sofia in a very tough manner, training her to be a manipulative criminal just like him. Sofia grew up to be manipulative, as well as incredibly strong and rage-filled, moving with violent aggression as opposed to her father's cold indifference. Despite Carmine's tough love approach to raising her, Sofia greatly admired and loved her father very much, and was the most loyal to him out of her siblings, Mario and Alberto.[1]

Sofia married Rocco Gigante as part of a much larger scheme, and fathered two children, Luigi and Vincenzo, before she was sent to jail.[1]

The Holiday Killings

 Main article: Batman: The Long Halloween

When the serial killer known as "Holiday" began killing members of Gotham City's most powerful crime families on holidays, the Falcones became one of Holiday's major targets, and Carmine freed Sofia from prison to get her help in taking them down. Some of Holiday's most notable victims included Alberto on New Year's Eve and her cousin Johnny Viti who threatened to testify against Carmine, on Halloween. The killings were being investigated by the Gotham City Police Department and the vigilante known as the Batman, but since they were also trying to take down the Falcones, Sofia was determined to find Holiday first.[1][2][3]

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Searching for Holiday

Over the course of several months, Sofia tried to get information from her aunt Carla, the Riddler, and the Gunsmith to stop Holiday, but she repeatedly came up with nothing, and the murders continued for nearly a year. Other notable victims included the city coroner Jasper Dolan and Big Lou Maroni, father of Carmine's greatest criminal rival, Sal Maroni. Lou's murder prompted Sal to attack District Attorney Harvey Dent with acid during a trial, scarring half of his face and fracturing his psyche, transforming him into the criminal "Two-Face". Holiday then shot and killed Maroni, and he was revealed to be Alberto, who faked his death on New Year's Eve.[1][4][5][6][7][8]

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After the fall

Holiday was captured and his reign of terror was ended, but Two-Face was still on the loose, and with an alliance of supervillains, attacked Carmine's estate and killed him. Witness to this murder and filled with rage, Sofia lashed out at Two-Face, only to be held back by the Batman's ally, Catwoman. The two fought, and Sofia accidentally fell through a window and plummeted to the streets below. She miraculously survived, albeit heavily disfigured and paralyzed. She was found by Angelo Mirti, who moved her to Italy and she was able to make an incredible recovery over many months with her brother Mario by her side. At the time, Sofia was apparently wheelchair-bound, but she slowly came to learn to walk again, something she kept as a secret from all around her.[9][10][11]

Becoming the Hang Man

 Main article: Batman: Dark Victory

Due to her still being in Italy, Sofia was unable to attend her own father's funeral, but she did manage to arrange a gathering at the Falcone crypt on her father's birthday, assembling some of Gotham's most feared and powerful gangsters, along with some of Carmine's most trusted friends including the likes of Sofia's godfather Bobby "The Don" Gazzo, Falcone associate Eddie Skeevers, and Sofia's cousin Lucia Viti. The gathering was interrupted by Batman and Catwoman, yet all the major mobsters managed to evade arrest.

Sofia resorted to hiring Salvatore Maroni's sons Pino and Umberto Maroni to kill Harvey Dent, considering that their father already did "half the job". The three met at Sofia's penthouse. Dent was currently residing at Arkham Asylum, where Sofia's brother Alberto was being kept. Sofia wanted to ensure that Alberto would not be harmed. Suddenly, Sofia's security system began to indicate that there was an uninvited guest. Mirti, who was now Sofia's bodyguard, later located a grappling hook inside the building. Sofia, Pino, and Umberto met again on Christmas Eve along with Tony Zucco, after a former police officer was found dead outside of a club owned by the Maronis. Just when the four gangsters were about to settle down and exchange gifts, Pino suggested that Sofia's father may still be alive (considering that Alberto faked his own demise), and Sofia promptly shot Pino in the arm.

Sofia was later again confronted by Catwoman who claimed that Carmine Falcone's body was missing, and she wanted one million dollars to retrieve it from whoever took it. Sofia later received a package containing her father's ring finger, a sign that someone wished to take everything from her. Enraged by this, Sofia became The Hangman, and began a killing spree that targeted police officers and city officials associated with Harvey Dent. She made the crimes appear to be the work of Dent himself, stealing case files from the office of Janice Porter to help her in the ruse. Sofia would hang her victims, and would then use the case files to spell out cryptic messages in the form of the word game Hangman. Hangman's first victim was Clancy O'Hara, Gotham's Chief of Police.

No one that was sane would imagine that a supposedly crippled woman would be the Hangman killer. However, The Joker theorized that Sofia was in fact capable of walking, and attacked her at her grandfather's estate where Alberto was living under house arrest. The Joker killed Mirti, and pushed Sofia down a flight of stairs. However, Sofia was saved when Alberto shot the Joker in the arm with the pistol he received from someone he believed was the ghost of Carmine Falcone. Shortly after, Batman arrived, knocked Alberto's gun away, and defeated the Joker.

Later on, Commisioner James Gordon formed a task force to attempt to stop the Hangman before anyone else was killed. However, with the aid of informant Laureen Wilcox, Sofia managed to kill every member of the task force (including Wilcox) with the exception of Gordon and Julia Lopez.

Later, Calendar Man (who was the one that gave Alberto his pistol) managed to infiltrate Vincent Falcone's estate, and attempted to kill Alberto. Calendar Man shot Alberto wounding him, but Sofia later arrived, brutally beat the Calendar Man, and broke his jaw. Sofia brought the wounded Alberto to the Falcone family crypt, where she scolded him for his incompetence. Sofia then suffocated Alberto to death, and set out to finish off her final victim: Two-Face.

Sofia set fire to Two-Face's underground hideout, and nearly killed him with a noose. However, Batman arrived and cut the rope, freeing Two-Face. Sofia managed to overpower Batman for a short amount of time, claiming that he still protected Dent, even though he betrayed him, and the entire city. Batman responded by saying that it wasn't about Dent, and it was about all the men and women that Sofia had killed. Suddenly, Two-Face shot Sofia in the head, finally putting an end to the Hangman killer.


Abilities

Other Characteristics

  • Restricted Mobility: Supposedly bound to a wheelchair and head-brace. Sofia was incapable of going anywhere without the aid of her bodyguard Angelo Mirti.


Related

Footnotes


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Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

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