Salvatore "Sal" Valestra is the overarching antagonist of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the first animated film based on Batman: The Animated Series.
He is a mob boss who ruled Gotham City with an iron fist before Bruce Wayne took the mantle of Batman. Due to ordering the Joker to murder Carl Beaumont, Valestra isn't only indirectly responsible for creating Batman, but also of the Phantasm's creation.
He was voiced by the late Abe Vigoda, who also played Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather.
Prior to Batman's war on crime, Valestra was the most powerful mobster in Gotham City, with Chuckie Sol and Buzz Bronski as his enforcers. Valestra loaned money to wealthy businessman Carl Beaumont, only to find out that Beaumont was stealing from him. He meets with Beaumont and threatens to kill him and his daughter Andrea unless he pays the money back, with interest. Terrified, Beaumont and Andrea flee Gotham City and settle in Europe.
Determined to demonstrate that he was not to be trifled with, Valestra bribes Beaumont's former assistant Arthur Reeves to reveal Beaumont's location, and then sends his personal hitman there to kill Beaumont.
Years later, Valestra has lost his grip over Gotham's criminal underworld to new criminals such as The Penguin, Two-Face, The Riddler, and Valestra's former hitman, now known as The Joker. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are also both causing problems for Valestra, as they are beginning to crack down on all the mob bosses of Gotham City. Valestra also suffers from respiratory problems from years of smoking cigars, and uses an oxygen tank.
After Chuckie and Buzz are murdered by a mysterious vigilante believed to be Batman, Valestra becomes paranoid that the Dark Knight will kill him, too. (Unbeknownst to Valestra, the killer is actually Andrea, who is avenging her father's murder as Phantasm.) Valestra reluctantly turns to the Joker for help, meeting with him in the abandoned Gotham World's Fair. Valestra offers the Joker $5 million to kill Batman, but the Joker is not interested. Angered, Valestra grabs the Joker's collar and tells him it is only a matter of time before Batman kills him, too. The Joker initially threatens Valestra, but seconds later, in one of his characteristic mood swings, cheerfully agrees to help.
Nevertheless, the Joker later kills Valestra by putting his Joker venom in the mobster's oxygen tank, leaving him with a ghastly post-mortem grin. When the Phantasm arrives at Valestra's house to kill him, the Joker sees through the video camera he had installed in Valestra's house that the killer is not Batman as he suspected. The Joker then detonates an explosion planted on Valestra's corpse that destroys the house, and presumably Valestra with it.
Personality[]
Salvatore Valestra is very similar to fellow animated Batman villain Rupert Thorne; they are both crime bosses who present themselves as legitimate businessmen, and both are willing to kill innocent people to enrich themselves and keep their hold on power.
He is not without some scruples, however. In the unfinished DCAU storyline, it was revealed that Valestra, Sol, and Bronski took orders from Carl's wife Victoria Beaumont, who was their boss. Victoria faked her own death in order to protect her husband and daughter. When Carl became involved with the Valestra mob, Valestra never told Carl about his wife's involvement with the organization.
Trivia[]
- Valestra was nicknamed "The Wheezer" for his lung condition, presumably the results of his chain-smoking when he was younger.
- As the Joker's former boss, Valestra may have been the last person who knew the Joker's real name and identity. This may be an added reason for the Joker's decision to kill him.
- Valestra was likely named after Salvatore Tessio from The Godfather, another mobster who was also played by Abe Vigoda, Valestra's voice actor.
- Valestra is the overarching antagonist of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm because if he hadn't sent the Joker to kill Carl Beaumont, Andrea wouldn't have become the Phantasm.
- It is possible that (similar to Roland Daggett who was based on Batman Returns villain Max Shreck) Sal Valestra was inspired by the Burtonverse character of Carl Grissom from the 1989 film. Both characters are aging crime-lords who were Gotham's kingpin in their prime and employed Jack Napier before he became the Joker. Additionally, both Valestra and Grissom are murdered by the criminal, after his tranformation.
- Valestra's first name being Sal is possibly an allusion to the character of Sal Maroni, a prominent Gotham gangster who is responsible for the creation of Two-Face. In Batman: The Animated Series, this role was given to Rupert Thorne.
- Valestra is briefly mentioned in the Elseworld story Batman: White Knight, where his gang is one of many taken over by Jack Napier in his political-scheme to make Gotham City a better place.