The Penguinjust introduced another Batman villain to Matt Reeves' Gotham City.The Batmanalready introduced iconic villains like Catwoman, the Riddler, and The Penguin while teasing The Joker. Meanwhile,The Penguinhas expanded thestreet-level gangsters from Batman’s Rouges gallery, including Sofia Falcone, Salvatore Maroni, and Alberto Falcone. While everybody eagerly awaits to know who will be the primary villain ofThe Batman - Part II,The Penguinjust revealed another supervillain from DC Comics. Was it Mr. Freeze? Man-Bat? Mad Hatter? No, it was in factMagpie!
If that name doesn’t ring any bells, well, that is because Magpie is a smaller name in terms of Batman’s villains. She certainly isn’t one of his famous supervillains, like Scarecrow or Two-Face, or one of Batman’s three main female villains that make the Gotham City Sirens, like Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. Yet Magpie, played by Marié Botha inThe Penguin, is a perfect fit for the Epic Crime Saga and also continues the trend of appearing in Batman adaptations that don’t have Batman.
Magpie’s Comic Book Origin
Magpie was created by John Byrne. The character did not debut in a Batman title but instead in a Superman comic. She first appeared inThe Man of Steel#3 in November 1986, part of John Bryne’s new relaunch of the Superman character following the aftermath ofDC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. This made Magpie a notable name in this new Post-Crisis DC timeline as her debut appearance established her asthe first villainthwarted by Superman and Batman teaming up.Superman originally traveled to Gotham to stop Batman, but saw Batman’s skills at tracking the villainous Magpie and decided that Batman was not a threat as the media reported, but, in fact, a hero. One would assume that bringing the combined might of Superman and Batman would imply that Magpie is a significant threat. But, interestingly,she is a normal human criminal.
The codename Magpie is a reference to English folklore, in which the bird Magpie collects shiny objects and other valuables, such as wedding rings, from people, seemingly like a thief. The name is a fitting moniker for a jewel thief.Her real name is Margaret Pye, and she is a jewel thief who specifically targets jewels named after birds while the replicas she leaves behind are booby-trapped.At first, she had no superpowers, as she was just an expert in hand-to-hand combat with a set of thieves' tools.She later gained the ability to extend her fingernails into talon-like claws.
Magpie eventually finds herself locked up in Arkham Asylum, where she becomes cellmates withfellow Batman villain Poison Ivy. Later, she is killed in a revenge scheme by the Batman villain Great White Shark. Magpie wasn’t even the one Great White Shark wanted revenge on; he was in a war with The Penguin, and Magpie had aligned herself with him. She was killed not out of revenge someone wanted to inflict on her but on someone else. Her last appearance in the Post-Crisis DC canon was duringBlackest Night, where she returns from the dead as a Black Lantern.
Magpie seemingly returned to life following the New 52 but wouldn’t get the spotlight until DC Rebirth nearly five years later. Batman and Catwoman took down Magpie during a period when the two were engaged. Magpie later found herself as amember of the Suicide Squad. Just like her pre-New 52 counterpart, Magpie dies, this time in her first Suicide Squad mission. While the character seemed doomed in the comics, her status as part of Batman’s rogue’s gallery but not being one of the big names made her a great candidate for adaptations that needed to round out their villain roster but couldn’t use the big guns like Catwoman, Joker, or others.
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Magpie in Adaptation
Beware the Batman
Magpie got her first major role in the spotlight as one of the villains on the short-lived DC animated seriesBeware the Batman.This version is a split-personality persona of a woman named Margaret Sorrow. Magpie emerged as a failed experiment to attempt to cure Margaret’s kleptomania, as the series delved into the thief aspect of the character. Magpie gained poisonous claws and the inability to feel pain.
From thief to claws, it felt like Magpie was the series replacement for Catwoman, and this is even down to the fact that the character seems to have a romantic fixation on Batman. DespiteBetware the Batmanonly lasting one season, it did introduce the character of Magpie to a young audience who would associate her as part of Batman’s rogues gallery, setting her up for more interpretations.
Magpie would later appear in the Fox seriesGotham, a story set before Bruce Wayne became Batman and acted as an origin story for many of his villains. Sarah Schenkkan plays this version of Magpie, who isvisually inspired by herBeware the Batmandesign. She appears in the episode “13 Stitches” during the series finale season and, like her comic book counterpart, is a thief. In keeping with her “bird” theme from the comics, she attempts to steal from Oswald Cobblepott/The Penguin. Fellow thief Catwoman tracks Magpie down for Penguin, where he gets his revenge on her and kills her.
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Magpie would appear in another Batman series without Batman, this time in The CW’sBatwoman. Played byHappy Death DayandUpgradedstar Rachel Matthews, this version of Magpie is named Margot and poses as a photographer to canvas her future heist locations. This version also has a sister named Reagan Pye, played by Brianne Howey. While Kate Kane is in a romantic relationship with Reagan, her superhero persona, Batwoman, attempts to stop her sister Magpie.
The series delves into Margot’s backstory, saying they grew up in poverty, but Margot became obsessed with shiny objects.She adopted the name Magpie and became a thief, developing a survival of the fittest mindset. She appeared inBatwomanSeason 1 in three episodes but did not appear after that, with a few brief mentions in Seasons 2 and 3.
The Penguin
Now Marié Botha plays Magpie inThe Penguin. This marksher third live-action appearanceand also the third time she has been featured in a Batman television series that does not feature Batman. In many ways, it speaks to the status of the character.She is part of his rogues gallery but isn’t big enough to warrant a cinematic appearance.
Yet, the television series needs villains, but it can’t touch the higher-profile villains, so Magpie is a perfect compromise. She is a villain with ties to Batman in the comics, but one that likely won’t share the screen with him, making her the ideal candidate for shows likeGotham,Batwoman, andThe Penguin, which can’t feature Batman. HadGotham Knightslasted longer than one season, she likely would have appeared on that series also.
Why Magpie Is the Perfect Fit for The Penguin
While Magpie might not be one of the big Batman villains, she is the perfect fit forThe Penguin. Magpie allows the writers ofThe Penguinto pull from the world of DC Comics, giving them a recognizable name to inhabit the world while not pulling from the top tier of villains.The Penguinexpands the criminal element of Batman’s universe. This is not a world of supervillains but mobsters, drug dealers, and thieves. That makes Magpie a perfect fit for this world, as it helps grow the history of Gotham City while not breaking the firm sense of reality the series has established.
Magpie is also a “supervillain” but a grounded one.She is essentially just a thief with a costume gimmick, which makes her easier to fit within the grounded aesthetic that Matt Reeves has set for Gotham. Ironically, her being a low-level jewel thief allows her to fit in withthis Gotham more than fantastical villainslike Killer Croc or Poison Ivy or even more gimmicky villains like Two-Face or Black Mask.
While we don’t expect Magpie to show up inThe Batman - Part IIor have a role beyondThe Penguin, her inclusion is a nice reference to the rich world of DC Comics. It also provides an exciting hint at the future, as this specific corner of the franchise could draw from more looked-over Batman villains like Hugo Strange, Calendar Man, and Clock King and give them terrifying new makeovers with their moment in the spotlight. Magpie shows that Gotham’s underworld has plenty of exciting names that could make a splash.Stream on Max.
