Top 10 Scary Black Mask Facts Black Mask is an interesting one.
He’s not really one for superpowers aside from in a few rare instances, so he’s more
of a traditional gangster villain with a facial gimmick.
But that doesn’t make him any less creepy or intimidating.
So let’s count down our top ten Scary Black Mask Facts.
10.
He Killed his Parents Black Mask was originally known as Roman Sionis,
the heir to a cosmetics company known as Janus Cosmetics.
At the age of 21, he became it’s vice president, and fell in love with a model named “Circe.”
His parents did not approve of Circe, and sought to fire her, however, Roman pretended
to accept their decision, and proceeded to kill both of his parents in a mysterious fire.
So it just goes to show, treat your children well, lest they grow up to be supervillains
in which case you’re their first target.
9.
He Was Dropped on His Head At Birth
So, if Black Mask actually had half decent parents, this would be the most terrifying
thing that could ever happen for the parents of a newborn child.
But seeing as they were pretty much garbage human beings, shortly after his birth, Black
Mask was dropped on his head.
It’s hard to say if it was this, or the years of abuse that lead to Black Masks complete
lack of empathy, but at the very least, it was one more strike against humanity.
His origin story quotes “People forever after said there was something strange in
his eyes, a certain dullness which never fully concealed the burning.”
Which, between this and everything else that’s going to happen to the character, yeeeah,
lets just say he had a rough life from the very start.
8.
Face-Melt
So despite the fact his name is Black Mask and not Black Skull, that mask is actually
fused to his face.
After a battle with Batman and Robin, Roman tripped into the fire he himself set, and
the mask permanently melted into his skull, making it a permanent fixture upon his face.
Geez, that’s a goosebumps level nightmare.
So take that as a lesson kids.
Pyromania doesn’t pay off.
I mean unless you’re murdering your parents, that seemed to go okay for him.
7.
He Takes Pleasure in Torture While Black Mask is more of a gangster than
a supervillain, what really sets him apart from the other gangsters is his fascination
in torturing his victims.
Black Mask himself has stated he views it as an art, and finds something appreciative
in causing another pain.
The origin of this concept came about after he read about the Spanish inquisition.
And he knows no relent.
Black Mask once kidnapped the sister and brother-in-law of Selina Kyle, and after torturing the brother
in law to death, forced her sister to eat his remains, driving her insane.
Geez, I wonder who got inspiration from who, Black Mask or Cartman.
6.
He was Bitten By a Raccoon As a boy, Roman was mostly ignored by his
parents, falling into stereotypical bad rich parents behaviour.
As a boy he ran into the woods and started chasing a raccoon, as he felt kinship with
“this creature which was also trapped in a lifelong mask.”.
However, when he approached the racoon, it was found to be rabid and attacked him, causing
him to fall through the woods and develop a rabid fever.
And while he ultimately recovered from the rabies, he felt that day was the day he was
dragged into hell.
Not a bad origin story.
In another universe he’d have been Raccoon man, so this is a preferable alternative.
5.
Mind Control Powers
In the reinvention of the character for the New 52 lineup, Black Mask possessed a split
personality, with Roman as one entity, and Black mask as the other.
The Black Mask however had some kind of magical powers.
After Arkham Asylum is attacked by the Talons during the Night of Owls storyline, Jeremiah
Arkham gives Roman his black mask so he can control the inmates, and force them to defend
the asylum so Arkham could then hide.
Pretty intimidating power!
Or at least it would be, but it only works on weak willed people, so Batman was basically
immune.
Ah well, this dude doesn’t need to powers to be evil and creepy anyway.
4.
He Killed Robin (Sort of)
Yeah, Black mask actually killed a Robin.
SORT OF.
In the War Games storyline, Black Mask actually did Kill Stephanie Brown, the fourth robin.
Black mask tortured her and eventually shot her.
While she made it to a hospital, she ultimately did not survive.
Or at least, she was thought to have not survived.
It turned out in Robin Spoiler Special #1, that Stephanies death was faked so she could
keep what she knows to herself.
So at least, Black mask THINKS he killed a Robin, and was willing to kill someone so
close to Batman, and lets face it, that takes some guts.
3.
The Founder of Arkham Asylum was once Black Mask
The founder of ARkham Asylum, Jeremiah Arkham, actually became the second black mask for
a short period.
During the time when Bruce Wayne was thought to be dead and Dick Grayson was Batman, Jeremiah
Arkham appeared as another black mask and blew up Arkham Asylum, partially attributed
to him developing schizophrenia.
As Black Mask, Jeremiah would employ explosive chips inserted into his inmates to control
them, however, this was promptly stopped by Grayson-Batman and lead to Jeremiah being
captured inside Arkham Asylum.
So a Schizophrenic Insane Asylum Operator was using the asylum to build a criminal empire
while taking another villains identity.
Yep sounds like a batman Villain.
2.
He Controlled Bizarro In Red Hood and the Outlaws Volume 2 Issue
5, Black mask utilizing a technorganic virus and is able to control the mind of Bizarro.
Almost.
This could have been pretty dangerous had it not been for his inability to control the
mind of Bizarro and eventually the virus overwhelming him, leaving him in a catatonic state.
Like, literally a catatonic state.
It basically destroyed his mind.
Kind of a lame way to lose your fight against Red Hood but, what can ya do.
He did have a pretty powerful pawn for a while at least and had the potential to be dangerous,
so he was scary for like twenty minutes.
1.
He Controlled All of Gotham
This was pretty much the apex of Black Masks achievements.
After discovering that the War Games plan was designed to unite all of the criminals
under a single leader, Black Mask announced that it would be he who be taking over Gotham
City.
And despite ultimately losing his fight with batman, the criminals still heralded Black
Mask as their leader.
No other villain in the batman universe has ever achieved this, so Black mask actually
pulled off something pretty noteworthy here!
Not bad considering the last item on this list.
And that concludes our top 10 scary black mask facts.
This dudes creepy on all kinds of levels.
What’s your favourite black mask story?
And what do you think of Ewan McGregor portraying him in the upcoming Birds of Prey movie?
I’m just hoping the movie is good after what happened with Suicide Squad.
Anyway, that’s all for now.
Take care and have good one!