Black Mask (comics)
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Black Mask is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. A foe of Batman, he first appeared in Batman #386 (August 1985). Black Mask was created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Dark beginning
Roman Sionis was born into one of Gotham City’s elite families, to parents who were wealthy and utterly self-absorbed, caring more about their social status than their son; moments after his birth, his mother carelessly dropped him on his head. Roman's parents were less concerned about their son's well-being and more concerned about covering up the entire incident out of fear of how their wealthy friends would react to the news of their son's injury.
A similar incident would occur as a child, when he was bitten by a rabid raccoon while at his family's country estate. The incident was covered up and Roman was forbidden from mentioning it to anyone, out of fear that it would make his parents look irresponsible.
Further adding to the cauldron was his father's "friendship" with Thomas Wayne; both of Roman's parents disliked the Waynes and were quite vocal about it in private with their son. However, to their son's dismay, they continued to associate with Thomas and Martha Wayne and pretended to be friends with the couple, to the extent of literally forcing him to become friends with their son, Bruce. His parents' hypocrisy had a deep impact on him, who hated and resented them and the "masks" they wore in public.
When he graduated from high school, Sionis was given a high ranking position inside Janus Cosmetics, the cosmetic company his father ran. It was here that he met Circe, a young working class secretary that he fell in love with. His parents disliked her and made it clear to their son that they wanted the romance ended. Enraged, Sionis took matters into his own hands and burned down his family's mansion, killing both of his parents.
He inherited the family fortune, as well as the family's business. But he wasn't good with business and he began squandering his money, running the firm into the ground with a line of face-paint make-up. Desperate, he offered a large sum of money to the chemists on-staff to create a revolutionary product to save the company. One chemist came up with a water-proof make-up product, but needed desperately to test the product before he could authorize its use. When Sionis learned of it, he rushed the product out to market without any sort of testing for possible harmful side-effects. This would cost him dearly.
The water-proof make-up Janus Cosmetics released to the market quickly was exposed as a deadly toxin, disfiguring several hundred women who applied the make-up to their faces. Janus Cosmetics was ruined and, to add insult to injury, Sionis' fiancé Circe (now a successful model) dumped him in front of his entire staff.
However, there was a brief light at the end of the tunnel, as childhood acquaintance Bruce Wayne offered to bail out the company. But Wayne's help came with a price, as he demanded that Sionis must give up control over the company and allow Wayne to install his own board of directors. Sionis agreed, but was furious at the humiliation and dramatic loss of face he had suffered.
Enraged, he went to the family mausoleum and broke his mother's ebony coffin lid. Sionis had always been obsessed with masks, and the idea that when a person dons a mask, they become someone else. He took a large piece of the coffin and carved a mask from it, becoming Black Mask.
[edit] Becoming Black Mask
Sionis found he had an amazing aptitude for crime, and he soon had a large gang working for him. Calling them the False Face Society, the one requirement was that all members must select a mask from his collection and wear it at all times when on the job and in his presence. They were successfully gaining power in the Gotham underworld, until Black Mask decided it was time to take his revenge on Bruce Wayne. He began kidnapping Wayne Enterprise executives, putting masks on their faces that were coated in the deadly make-up once made by Janus Cosmetics. He also targeted Circe and forcibly disfigured her with the chemicals in order to force her to reunite with him. Circe would ultimately kill herself, leading Black Mask to replace her with a mannequin, to whom he would talk as if it was a real person.
These kidnappings drew Batman's attention, and he began hunting down the False Facers. He slowly began to dismantle the organization until he finally found Black Mask in the ruins of the Sionis Family home. Black Mask lit the wreckage on fire trying to escape, but was caught in the burning house. Batman was able to save him, but the mask had been burned onto his face and left him disfigured.
Black Mask spent some time in Arkham Asylum, but escaped when Bane assaulted the facility in Knightfall and subsequently restarted the False Facers. He took on a new second-in-command, called Tattoo (whose face was covered in a tattoo mask pattern), and he began burning down Wayne properties. This time he also kidnapped Lucius Fox, CEO of Waynetech and friend of Bruce Wayne. Batman infiltrated the gang and was able to save Fox from Black Mask's torture, and even brought in Tattoo, but Black Mask escaped.
[edit] Cult leader
Some time later, Black Mask reappeared as a mob-boss/cult figure who had given up his vendetta against Bruce Wayne. Furthermore, his facial disfigurement was changed completely from his previous appearances; his head was now a black skull, ala the Marvel Comics villain the Red Skull. Making allegiance with the Penguin at some times, working alone at others, he controlled much of Gotham's underworld until the city was destroyed by an earthquake and declared by the government to be a 'No Man's Land." Sionis discarded the ebony mask, believing his scars to be a sign of his strength and determination to survive. By now completely insane, he led a cult whose trademark was ritual scarring, killing anyone who refused to join. He led a powerful group until Batman and Huntress broke it up. He was imprisoned in Blackgate Penitentiary, but managed to escape before the city was made a part of the country again.
[edit] Relentless
Black Mask had lost much of his power base, and it took him some time to rebuild his empire. He began a drug trafficking ring and decided to move his organization into Gotham's East End, drawing the attention of Catwoman, who had sworn to protect that area of the city.
Catwoman interfered in Black Mask's plans, stealing money from him and giving it to the poor, and injuring many of his men. Black Mask decided he wanted to remove the problem, and so found an old friend of Selina Kyle's, Sylvia Sinclair, who was working in the Gotham mobs. She revealed Catwoman's secret identity to him, and he began a campaign of terror against her. He blew up the new youth center she had endowed with the stolen money, hounded her, and kidnapped her sister and brother-in-law. Black Mask tortured Catwoman's brother-in-law brutally in front of her sister, and then made the woman eat pieces of her husband's corpse.
Catwoman arrived to find her brother-in-law dead, her sister insane, and her friend Holly on the verge of being tortured. She attacked Black Mask, and the two of them fought across his penthouse. At the end of the battle, Black Mask fell from the top of the building, leaving everyone to assume he was dead.
[edit] War Games
When Tim Drake quit his role as Robin in order to honor a promise to his father, Batman chose Stephanie Brown, aka Spoiler, to replace him. Batman quickly discovered that her lack of focus and self-absorption made her a danger to herself and others, and fired her. Desperate to prove herself, she took one of Batman's contingency plans and set it into action with the intent of shepherding it to a successful conclusion. The plan was to get all of Gotham's crime lords under the control of Orpheus, an agent of Batman, and therefore under the control of Batman himself. The plan failed because Spoiler was unaware that a key contact with the crime lords, Matches Malone, was actually another alter ego of Bruce Wayne. When "Matches Malone" did not appear as expected, the tension at the meeting accidentally degenerated into a firefight, leaving many dead and wounded. This created a power vacuum that quickly erupted into a brutal gang war on the streets of Gotham.
Desperate to rectify the situation, Spoiler sought Orpheus, believing that if she could enlist his help there might still be a chance to bring the plan to some sort of successful conclusion. As she finished telling Orpheus his role in the plan, Black Mask murdered him by slitting his throat in front of Spoiler. He then tortured Spoiler for the rest of information on the plan.
Black Mask assumed Orpheus' identity, using face putty and padding, (as seen in 'Batman: War Games, Act 2') managing to fool even Batman and Onyx. As Orpheus he fanned the flames of the crisis, driving Gotham's criminal element into a bloodthirsty, destructive mob seeking to kill any member or associate of the Batman Family. He then returned to torture Spoiler for his own enjoyment only to find that she had escaped. Black Mask soon tracked her down again and they fought. Spoiler managed to overcome Black Mask and get away, but was left with severe internal injuries.
Black Mask then infiltrated Oracle's Clocktower in an attempt to expose her to the criminal mob. Batman attacked him in a blind rage and Oracle, fearful for Batman's life, was forced to activate a self-destruct device in the tower to get Batman to save her.
In the end, the Spoiler died due to the injuries inflicted on her and the willful negligence of Leslie Thompkins. (Although a recent retcon states that Black Mask "tortured and killed" Stephanie Brown in current continuity.)
Black Mask then rose to become the overlord of the Gotham underworld.
[edit] War Crimes
Allied with reporter Arturo Rodriguez, Black Mask began a campaign to discredit Batman. While Rodriguez slammed Batman in the press, Black Mask committed a series of murders disguised as Batman. This plan was complicated by the arrival of the Joker. Black Mask was intent on killing the Clown Prince of Crime and framing Batman for it, but the Joker wanted to kill Black Mask, because he robbed him of the opportunity to kill another Robin. The two nearly killed each other before Batman intervened. Batman eventually exposed Rodriguez and finally managed to capture Black Mask. However, while being taken to jail, he managed to kill the escorting officer and escape again.
[edit] Death
Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, approached Black Mask offering him a place within The Society. Eager to strengthen his increasingly tenuous grip on the underworld (Batman and the new Red Hood had both been targeting his operations), he accepted, and Captain Nazi, one of the Hyenas, and Count Vertigo were sent after Batman and Red Hood. However, these villains were defeated, and Batman ultimately prevented the Society from securing a foothold in Gotham. In an attempt to "improve himself" after this debacle, Black Mask threatened the most important people in Catwoman's life, from Slam Bradley to Holly. Still thinking that she adhered to a strict no-kill rule, Black Mask was caught by surprise when Catwoman retaliated by shooting him in the head and blowing off his jaw.
This was Selina Kyle's last act as Catwoman, passing the mantle down to her friend Holly. Unfortunately, not soon after she had become Catwoman, Holly was arrested for the death of Black Mask.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Batman Adventures
Black Mask never made an appearance in Batman: The Animated Series. He is, however, spotlighted in Batman Adventures #5-8. Criminals in his employ are:
- Deadshot
- Firefly
- The Phantasm
- Eel O'Brian (before he goes straight as the superhero Plastic Man)
- Black Spider
- Bronze Tiger
- Sportsmaster
- Matches Malone (Batman undercover)
[edit] The Batman
Black Mask has made a debut in an animated series when he appeared in The Batman in November 2006, in the episode "The Breakout". He is voiced by James Remar.[1]
This version of Black Mask is a powerful crime boss with a right-hand man, Number One, and a vast organization of henchmen with high-tech weapons. He manages to steal a powerful shockwave generator, and holds Gotham City hostage, unless his ransom demands are met. To assert the city-and specifically, Commissioner Gordon, who is dealing with his demands-he is not bluffing, he arranges a demonstration of the powerful device, which ends up destroying several blocks from its activating point. While dealing with Comissioner Gordon, he battles Batman, is defeated, and taken to Gotham PD for questioning by Gordon, since his organization and device are still on the loose. However, Number One and the henchmen try to break him out of jail, first by filling Gotham PD with sleep gas, from which Black Mask escapes unaffected thanks to his mask, and when Batgirl and Robin knock Black Mask unconscious, lock him in a cell and seal the precint from Black Mask's army's siege, they start entering by the elevator shafts and destroy the blast doors sealing the PD.
Number One and the henchmen surrounded the police building, and eventually managed to break Black Mask free. However, the furious crime boss kills Number One, and gets on a helicopter, ready to activate the generator, and destroy Gotham, However, Robin and Batgirl battled him, while Batman deactivated his device. At the end, he was once again arrested.
This incarnation of Black Mask differs in the fact that though he wears a mask made of some black material over his face, it is unremovable, and functions as well as a gas mask and presumably has other functions. He has no noticeable fingerprints or any other distinguishing features either, so it is impossible to identify him.
[edit] Video Game Appearance
Black Mask appeared as a boss in the Batman: Dark Tomorrow game.
