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Javaman

(62,531 posts)
Fri Oct 5, 2018, 08:47 AM Oct 2018

The origin of Super Villains: Black Mask

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mask_(comics)

Black Mask (Roman Sionis) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.[2] Created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, he made his first appearance in Batman #386 (August, 1985).[3] The character is commonly depicted as a brutal and ruthless crime lord in Gotham City who has a fixation with masks and derives sadistic pleasure from the act of torture. Black Mask is one of the most enduring enemies of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.[4]

The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including the cartoon television series The Batman, the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, and the Batman: Arkham video game franchise. Black Mask will make his live-action cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe film Birds of Prey.

Black Mask's origin story was established in his first appearance. Roman Sionis was born to wealthy and utterly self-absorbed parents, who cared more about their social status in Gotham City than their own son. Moments after Roman's birth, the doctor carelessly dropped him on his head, and his parents covered up the entire incident so that their high society friends would not find out. Years later, he was attacked by a rabid raccoon at the Sionis family country estate, and his parents forbade him to mention the incident to anyone. Despite their dislike for fellow socialites Thomas and Martha Wayne, Roman's parents continued to associate with them to maintain their social standing, and forced Roman to befriend their son, Bruce. His parents' hypocrisy had a deep impact on Roman, and he grew to resent them and the "masks" that they wore in public.

After graduating from high school, Roman was given a high-ranking position in his father's company, Janus Cosmetics. There, he met and fell in love with working class model Circe, though his parents did not approve of the relationship and forced him to break it off. Enraged, Roman burned down his family mansion, killing both of his parents and inheriting their fortune and business. However, Roman lacked his father's business acumen and eventually ruined Janus Cosmetics by funding a failed line of face-paint make-up. Desperate, Roman had the staff chemists create a product that was rushed to the market without proper testing, disfiguring several hundred women. Circe, now Roman's fiancée, then broke up with him in front of his entire staff.

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