Sal Maroni

Salvatore Vincent "The Boss" Maroni is a fictional comic book villain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, usually as one of Batman's first enemies, and among the toughest gangsters in Gotham City. Maroni is most famous for being the one who scarred Harvey Dent, setting the stage for the young attorney's transformation into Two-Face.

History

Pre-Crisis/Earth Two

Maroni's first and only 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, (who was named Harvey Kent in his first appearance and Pre-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" remained the identity of the first Earth-Two Two-Face), is the prosecutor at the trial. He calls Batman as his first witness. During Batman's testimony Maroni calls Batman a liar, leading Dent to show his proof: Maroni's lucky two-headed silver dollar found at the scene with Maroni's fingerprints on it. Enraged, Maroni throws a vial of acid at Dent, horribly disfiguring him and transforming him into the insane gangster Two-Face.

Two-Face later shoots and kills him in revenge, after which Two-Face surrenders and voluntarily goes back into police custody.

ilver Age

During Silver Age recountings of Two-Face's origin, Maroni was left intact, but his name was changed to Morelli. In this version, Batman is there at the trial and tries to prevent the mobster from throwing the acid, but Dent is still left disfigured.

Prior to "COIE", Maroni returned in "DC Superstars" #14 and "Batman" #328 to 329. He survives an assassination attempt by a still-bitter 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. His first act is to murder Harvey's former wife Gilda Gold Dent's new husband Dave Stevens as part of his grudge against Dent sending him to prison in the first place. By the story's end, he is murdered by Two-Face.

Post-Crisis

Maroni also appeared and is featured prominently in Jeph Loeb's maxi-series "". As of 2006, he has been included further into Batman's early days in the form of a major role in Matt Wagner's "Batman and the Monster Men", where he has been involved in funding of Hugo Strange's experiments.

In this version, Salvatore Maroni is the scion of the privileged Maroni crime family, headed by his father Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni. In "The Long Halloween", Maroni is the most powerful mobster next to Carmine Falcone, and both believe that serial killer Holiday (so named for assassinating mobsters on holidays) is working for the other (although they also think that Harvey Dent has something to do with the killer). 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, Maroni really plots to scar Dent, believing he is responsible for 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, who is revealed to be Alberto Falcone, the rival crime boss' son who acted out against the family to make a name for himself.

Other media

Television

"Batman: The Animated Series"

Maroni does not appear in "", and most of his crimes are instead committed by Rupert Thorne, such as causing Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face.

"The Batman"

Also, Maroni doesn't appear on "The Batman" although a crime similar to Maroni causing Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face is being commited by the Joker, where he causes Ethan Bennett's transformation into Clayface.

Film

"Batman Forever"

In a scene in "Batman Forever", Bruce Wayne is watching a news story which features a man in a courtroom witness box throwing acid into the face of District Attorney Harvey Dent, the film's antagonist. The reporter refers to the man as "Boss Maroni". He is portrayed by Dennis Paladino.

"Batman: Gotham Knight"

Maroni is featured in two segments of ' (namely ' and "") voiced by Rob Paulsen. In these two stories, Maroni is at war with The Russian's Mob.

"The Dark Knight"

Eric Roberts portrays Maroni in the "Batman Begins" sequel, "The Dark Knight". [ [http://www.nypost.com/seven/05142007/entertainment/heroic_save_entertainment_michael_kane.htm?page=0. HEROIC SAVE - New York Post ] ] In the film, Maroni has taken over as boss of the mafia following Falcone's fall from power during Ra's Al Ghul's attack on Gotham, as referenced in [http://www.thegothamtimes.com/page1.htm The Gotham Times] . Prior to the events of "The Dark Knight", he has been embroiled in a violent turf war with rival gangsters Gambol and the Chechen, also referenced in the Gotham Times. He receives help from a Chinese mob accountant named Lau, who hides away his and other mob faction's money in Hong Kong. At the beginning of the film, Maroni is put on trial by district attorney Harvey Dent. However, there is not enough ammunition to put him in prison and he walks. Later, he meets with fellow Mob bosses to discuss the matter of their funds being jeapordized by Batman and the GCPD. The Joker himself appears and offers to kill Batman for half of their money, but the mob refuses.

The next time Maroni is seen is when he is being interrogated by Batman about the Joker's whereabouts, although he refuses to disclose any information to Batman, despite the vigilante breaking both of his legs by throwing him off a building.

Later in the film, Maroni realizes that joining forces with Joker has created more chaos than he can handle and tells Jim Gordon the Joker's location.

Even later in the film, Maroni is seen getting into his car, and is confronted by the recently scarred Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, who interrogates him as to the identity of the GCPD officer that led to Rachel Dawes's death. Maroni reveals that it was Anna Ramirez, but Dent still flips his coin to decide on his next course of action. He flips a coin to decide Maroni's fate, and it lands on heads, sparing Maroni, but Dent, still unsatisfied, flips the coin again for the driver's life, and it lands on tails. He shoots the driver and causes a serious accident in which the car literally flips over. Maroni is not seen again after this, and his ultimate fate is unknown, but Dent's survival gives some grounds that Maroni might still be alive.

Although he is not the guilty culprit for Dent's scarring, it can be inferred that he was indirectly responsible as the police officer in charge of escorting Dent to safety after the Joker's attempt to kill him was on Maroni's payroll, and it was this officer who brought Dent to the warehouse where he would eventually be burned and disfigured.

References