Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Batman
The Batman from director Matt Reeves is a bold reimagining of Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, and its villains. This includes John Turturro's Carmine Falcone, one of the city's biggest crime bosses, who receives the perfect changes to his backstory, tying him even closer to the legacy of Batman and his family. As such, the new take on Falcone is the most dynamic villain change in The Batman (going beyond the Penguin or Riddler).
The Batman takes quite a bit of inspiration from the classic storyline The Long Halloween from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. As such, much of Falcone's backstory is pulled straight from this comics series, including an event, years prior, where he was shot by the rival Maroni crime family. Fearing that they would finish the job if he were to be taken to the hospital, Falcone's father took Carmine to Thomas Wayne, one of Gotham's best doctors who saved his life (with young Bruce secretly witnessing the whole thing). While this was referenced in a tense conversation between Falcone and Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne in The Batman, the mob boss' ties to the Waynes go much further than the comics ever did.
One of the biggest changes to Falcone's history is that his relationship with Thomas Wayne didn't end after he saved his life. Years later when Thomas was running for mayor, a journalist threatened to expose his wife Martha and her history of mental illness. Wanting to protect his wife, Thomas desperately asked Falcone to intimidate the journalist when he wouldn't accept hush money. However, Falcone took it too far and killed the reporter. This led to Thomas' immense guilt and desire to confess what had happened to the police. Fearing exposure, Falcone allegedly had Bruce Wayne's parents murdered, a shocking revelation that rocks Batman to his core as the Riddler exposes Gotham's darkest secrets and truths.
Matt Reeves' deeper exploration of Falcone and his new ties to the Wayne Family make him one of The Batman's most dynamic villains, especially when combined with the concrete confirmation that Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) is indeed his illegitimate daughter (something the comics only hinted at with circumstantial evidence). These new details make Carmine extremely important to Gotham, even more so than past depictions. Likewise, the impact of his death at the Riddler's hands is far larger as well.
While it affected the entire trajectory of Gotham and its criminal elements just like in the comics, Falcone's demise was far more meaningful to both Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle on a personal level thanks to these additional details seen in this new film. While there were dynamic and significant changes made to Penguin and Riddler as well, neither had the same level of significance on such a large scale. As such, the new take on Carmine Falcone is The Batman's best villain change by far.
