Was it really Oswald who killed Salvatore in The Penguin? Details explored

HBO's Emmy-nominated crime drama series The Penguin dropped on September 19, and after eight episodes, it wrapped on November 10, 2024.

Developed by Lauren LeFranco and led by Colin Farrell, this series is a spin-off of the 2022 Robert Pattinson-starring movie The Batman. It delves into the life of The Penguin, aka Oswald Oz Cobb, the former gang member of the crime boss Carmine Falcone, and his eventual rise to power in Gotham City.

The penultimate episode of The Penguin, titled Top Hat gave one of the most shocking moments of the series.

In the episode, Salvatore Maroni finally corners Oswald, dishing out a brutal beating with every ounce of rage he'd been holding since Oz murdered his son and wife. But despite the blood, golf clubs, and gasoline, the final blow didn't come from Oswald. Salvatore Maroni died of a heart attack in the middle of their fight-leaving Oswald in shock.

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Did Oswald kill Salvatore in The Penguin?

The answer is no, Oswald did not kill Salvatore Maroni in The Penguin Episode 7. Turns out, Sal suffered a heart attack during their brutal face-off. So what happened in Episode 7?

Episode 7 of The Penguin wastes no time plunging Oswald into absolute chaos. After a brief flashback of their childhood, when Oswald returns home, he finds his mother missing, and Victor informs him that she had been taken away by Sofia Falcone. In between Sal and his men, storm Crown Point.

What follows is a mobster's fever dream- Oz plummed with a gold club and dragged through the tunnels that hold his drug empire. Sal isn't simply playing mob politics. He wants to avenge his son's and wife's deaths.

Every move screams personal vendetta. At this point, Sal doesn't care about alliances or territory; he wants Oz to feel pain. For a while, it looked like Oz had given up. Then, Gotham delivers its cruel twist, inside an abandoned trolley car, Sal falters. He clutches his arm, gasps for air, and collapses. He suffers a deadly cardiac arrest. Stunned, Oswald mocks him,

"Come on, you bastard. Let's go. Come ON. Come ON. Sal, look at me, look at me. I beat you, Sal. I beat you. I win."

At a point, it almost feels like Oswald didn't want Sal to die. He utters,

"Come on, Jesus Christ you were supposed to destroy me Sal. You wanna show what a big man you are huh I got you. I f**king got you. You filthy, stupid prick, F**k you. You trying to steal from me trying to take what's mine."

What happens next is pure Oswald.

Furious, humiliated, and unwilling to let fate write the ending, he empties his gun into Sal's corpse and rips the ring from his finger. He wanted to establish that it was he who killed Sal. But deep down, Oswald knew the truth. The man he hated was dead due to natural causes, and he had no role to play. Gotham's underworld may believe Penguin killed Salvatore Maroni, but the truth doesn't change.

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Clancy Brown on Salvatore Maroni's death in The Penguin Episode 7

Clancy Brown, who plays the role of Salvatore Maroni in The Penguin, reveals what went through Salvatore's head at that point and how he was fuming to seek revenge. He told Variety,

"At this point, Sal has tunnel vision. All he wants to do is kill Oz. If he could shoot Oz in the head, and then somebody shot [Sal] in the head, he would die a happy man. He is just is so full of rage and hatred for Oz Cobb at that point, I don’t think anything else exists."

He even shared how they wanted the confrontation to look as real as possible. Brown further noted that the enmity between the characters was so much that initially, the makers wanted to portray Sal's plan to burn down Oz. But unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.

Instead, during a brutal face-off when Oz was almost losing, Sal held on to his left arm and gasped for air, and finally collapsed. Salvatore Maroni died of cardiac arrest, and not the way Oz would have wanted him to die.

Speaking about Salvatore Maroni's unfortunate death due to cardiac arrest and not as a result of the brutal face-off, Brown said,

"I thought it was a great joke. That’s in there to add another little layer of frustration onto Oz. Oz is a beast like Sal, and he needs to kill in a way that is satisfying for him. And that was very unsatisfying.”

Also read: Colin Farrell reveals that The Penguin will not have a major role in The Batman Part II

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