A Deep-Cut Batman Villain Named Magpie Proves Useful in The Penguin

The following story contains some spoilers for episode 4 of The Penguin, “Cent’Anni.”

HBO’S THE PENGUIN has been fantastic, compelling television from the get-go. But its fourth episode, “Cent’Anni,” takes things to an entirely new level, as we finally get the chance to dive deep on the character of Sofia Falcone (played wonderfully by the fantastic Cristin Milioti). Part of the episode picks up just after episode 3’s big cliffhanger, when Sofia discovered that Oz (Colin Farrell) was attempting to play both sides of the Falcone-Maroni Gotham crime cold war, and after Vic (Rhenzy Feliz) rammed his car into the spot where Sofia and Oz were being held at gunpoint, causing chaos and allowing Oz to escape.

But the majority of the episode actually takes place ten years prior to The Penguin‘s present-day events, instead focusing on a younger Sofia as she’s framed for murder by her father, crime lord Carmine Falcone (played by John Turturro in The Batman and now played by Mark Strong in flashbacks). Sofia spends much of the episode fighting for her innocence in Arkham Asylum, and, in a heartbreaking manner—after undergoing all sorts of electroshock therapy and other kinds of torture—learns she’s not going to get a trial. Sofia snaps, murdering an inmate out of a fit of paranoia and rage. Sofia wasn’t always the psychotic, cold-blooded killer that we met at the start of the season and who Gotham law enforcement claimed her to be—but the betrayal of her family (with the exception of her brother, Alberto) sure turned her into that.

“Cent’Anni” is a stunning episode of television, and probably one of the best single hours in the history of comic book adaptations on the small screen (we’d have to imagine its in conversation with some stuff like HBO’s Watchmen). And on top of its effectiveness as both a chapter of The Penguin and in building out the Sofia Falcone character, it also managed to make a sly nod to past Batman comics and media. That prisoner who Sofia killed? That’s Magpie, a minor Batman villain who’s nonetheless been sticking around the character for decades and decades and decades at this point.

Magpie is just a piece of Sofia’s story in The Penguin, someone who helps her reach a breaking point that eventually defines her character. But there’s more to know about the character, and where she fits into the history of Batman and the DC Comics universe.

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Who is Magpie in The Penguin?

We first meet Magpie—real name “Margaret Pye”—almost immediately after Sofia gets situated in Arkham State Hospital (colloquially known in all of Batman media as Arkham Asylum). It would be hard to blame you if you had the quick thought that perhaps The Penguin was introducing some kind of Harley Quinn figure; Magpie talks with this kind of baby talk that isn’t super far off from the way most Harley’s would say “Mista J.” But that’s quickly corrected—it’s Magpie, who is a minor villain in Batman lore, and a minor-but-important character in The Penguin.

Magpie appears throughout Sofia’s time at Arkham, and while she’s Sofia’s self-proclaimed “friend,” she becomes most important in her role sitting next to her in the mess hall. Magpie is seen taking the drugs that the orderlies/guards give her, and immediately glossing over; Sofia does not partake. But as Sofia is slowly tortured by the Arkham doctors (with the exception of Dr. Julian Rush, who really is on her side) with electroshock therapy and other sorts of psychological warfare, Magpie remains the same way.

Eventually, after Sofia is denied a trial, Magpie tells her that they can be friends, and Sofia snaps; she accuses Magpie of spying for the hospital and her father, and beats her to death. While Sofia was innocent of the “Hangman” murders she was convicted of—her father is responsible for those one way or another—the experience has, indeed, turned her into a killer capable of anything. We see that here with Magpie for the very first time, and we see it in the Falcone home at the very end of the episode.

Is Magpie a villain from Batman or DC Comics?

Yes! Magpie is far from one of Batman’s most famous villains, but she has certainly been part of the DC Comics lore for a long time. Her first appearance came in 1986’s Man of Steel #3, which was the issue that famously depicted Superman and Batman’s first meeting after the DC-wide reboot that followed the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. While Superman and Batman were at odds at first, they wind up working together to take down a villain who turns out to be Magpie.

In the comics, Magpie has a pretty typical villain origin story: she was a museum curator who was driven mad by the things around her in the museum, knowing she could never have them. She eventually became a jewel thief (only stealing jewels with bird-themed names) and replaced them with deadly, explosive replicas. After the Superman/Batman duo defeated her, she then appeared in Batman #401, and has shown up, been rebooted, and died multiple times through the years since then. Her look even changed a bit in 2011 with DC’s “New 52” line.

Magpie has also appeared in other kinds of Batman media, including the Beware the Batman animated series, The CW’s Batwoman series (where she was played by Rachel Matthews), and in an episode of Gotham, where she was played by Sarah Schenkkan.

Magpie is played by Marié Botha in The Penguin

Magpie is played by actress Marié Botha, who is a relative newcomer to film and television, in The Penguin. Botha’s primary credits to this point are in short films, but she did also guest star in an episode of Apple TV+’s Dickinson alongside Hailee Steinfeld and play a leading role in the 2022 feature film Highway One.

Botha also recently figured into HBO’s documentary Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. where she appeared as herself. She was a part of playwright Jeremy O. Harris’s original workshop of Slave Play while at Yale.