Sal Maroni

Publication history

Sal Maroni first appeared in Detective Comics #66 and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Pre-Crisis/Earth-Two

Maroni's first Pre-Crisis appearance was in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) as Boss Moroni, a mobster on trial for the murder of a man named "Bookie" Benson. Harvey Dent (here named "Harvey Kent") is the prosecutor at the trial. He calls Batman as his first witness. During Batman's testimony, Moroni calls Batman a liar, leading Dent to show his proof: Moroni's lucky two-headed silver dollar found at the scene with Moroni's fingerprints on it. Enraged, Moroni throws a vial of acid at Dent, horribly disfiguring his face in the way that visibly depicts his eventual identity as the insane gangster Two-Face, who eventually shoots Moroni dead and then surrenders and goes to prison.

Bronze Age/Earth-One

During Bronze Age recountings of Two-Face's origin, Maroni's role was unchanged, but his name was changed to Morelli. Harvey Kent's surname was altered to Dent, which has become that character's permanent name.

In this version, Batman is present at the trial and tries to prevent the mobster from throwing the acid, but Dent is still disfigured.

Prior to COIE, Maroni appeared in DC Superstars #14 and Batman #328 to #329. He survives an assassination attempt by Two-Face in the first story, but his legs are left paralyzed. In the latter story arc, he undergoes plastic surgery and changes his name to Anton Karoselle to avoid attention. He kills Two-Face's former wife Gilda's new husband, Dave Stevens, as retribution against the former DA. By the story's end, Two-Face murders him.

Post-Crisis

In the graphic novel Batman and the Monster Men, Maroni lends money to Norman Madison (father of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Julie Madison) to cover his debts, and to Professor Hugo Strange for his genetic experiments. After Maroni sends his henchmen to put pressure on Strange, the mad scientist responds by sending one of his creatures to massacre one of his gambling establishments and stealing the money they would need to pay Maroni off. When Maroni realizes Strange might be responsible of the attacks, he sends enforcers to further pressure and intimidate him. Strange decides to get rid of Maroni once and for all, and sends one of his creations to kill him. Maroni is saved by Batman, who as a favor to Julie Madison, forces him to call off her father's debt.

In the sequel, Batman and the Mad Monk, Norman tries to pay off his debt to Maroni, unaware of Batman's intervention on his behalf; Maroni refuses it, terrified that Batman would visit him again. Norman instead gives the money to Carmine Falcone, which humiliates Maroni. Later, near the end of the story, Norman tries to kill Maroni, whose thugs gun him down.

Maroni is featured prominently in Jeph Loeb's maxi-series Batman: The Long Halloween, which retells Two-Face's origin. In this version, Salvatore Maroni is the scion of the Maroni crime family, headed by his father Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni. He is the most powerful mobster in Gotham next to Carmine Falcone and was shown to have Tony Zucco as a henchman. Both Sal Maroni and Carmine Falcone believe that the serial killer Holiday (so named for assassinating mobsters on holidays) is working for the other. Their business relationship becomes strained as a result. When his father is killed by Holiday, Maroni makes a deal with Dent to reveal all of Falcone's criminal activities, in exchange for leniency.

However, Falcone's daughter Sofia — Maroni's secret lover — visits Maroni in jail, where she convinces him that Dent, not Falcone, is responsible for the killings and his father's death. Dent's assistant Vernon Field provides him prior to court with "stomach medicine" for a supposed ulcer. During the trial, Maroni throws acid into Dent's face, disfiguring him. Maroni gets into a scuffle with a bailiff who shoots him twice in the chest. He survives, however.

When he is moved out of his cell, Maroni is finally killed by Holiday. The killer is revealed to be Alberto Falcone who acted out against the family to make a name for himself. His sons Pino and Umberto later offered their services to Sofia Falcone and are later killed in the Columbus Day Massacre orchestrated by Two-Face.

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Sal Maroni met with Mr. Haly at Haly's Circus. When it was mentioned that his son CJ helped Dick Grayson back to Haly's Circus, Sal offered that he would be indebted to the circus should they ever need help.

Family

The following are relatives of Sal Maroni:

Elseworlds

Sal Maroni appears in the Elseworlds story, "Citizen Wayne" which was published in 1994. Set in the 1930s, the story depicts Maroni as an Al Capone-like crime lord who is involved in bootlegging, and who lures his enemies into a trap when they are led to believe that they can get him for tax evasion (Capone was eventually jailed for tax fraud). In this version Maroni scars Harvey Dent's entire face with acid. This leads Dent to assume the Batman mantle and break up Maroni's operations before finally killing him. Bruce Wayne is a newspaper publisher and fierce critic of Batman who, following Maroni's death, goes after the Caped Crusader; he feels that Batman has overstepped the mark. The pair are killed during the fight and, much like Citizen Kane, their story is told in flashback as a young Assistant District Attorney interviews their friends and acquaintances, including Maroni's henchmen.

Batman '66

Maroni, renamed "Boss Moroni", snapped during a trial conducted by Harvey Dent and threw acid in Dent's face, causing the DA's transformation into Two-Face.

Television

Film

Video games