Black Mask isn't Batman's most well-known adversary but he's grown up a lot. These comics helped establish him as a true adversary for Batman.
One of many underrated Batman villains, Black Mask is one of the most powerful crime lords in DC Comics. A great example of Gotham's unique villains, Black Mask is a combination of a mob boss and a vicious super villain. With these combined elements, Black Mask has as much influence on Gotham as people like Carmine Falcone and is almost as threatening as a villain like the Joker.
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Gaining popularity since making his live-action debut in the 2020 film, Birds of Prey, Black Mask is outgrowing his B-list status. Historically, Black Mask hasn't gotten as much recognition as legendary villains like the Joker or the Riddler, but he has put Batman and his teammates through a lot of trouble.
Written by Doug Moench, one of Batman's most influential Batman writers, with art by Tom Mandrake, Batman #386 is Black Mask's comic debut. The comic portrays Black Mask's origin, starting with his young life in a wealthy family. Unfortunately, Roman Sionis was dropped on his head as an infant, and the head injury affected him adversely.
Throughout his childhood, Roman was forced by his parents to try to fit in with society, which he saw as wearing a mask to hide his true self. Eventually becoming the head of his father's business, Janus Cosmetics, Roman ran the business into the ground. This left him with no other option but to sell the remainder of his family's legacy to the Wayne Foundation. Turning to a life of violent crime afterward, Black Mask was immediately introduced as a villain with a personal vendetta against Bruce Wayne.
A three-issue story arc in Catwoman Vol 3, issues 50 through 52, "Backwards Masking" is written by Will Pfeifer with art by Pete Woods. The storyline illustrates Black Mask's villainous nature, as the entire story revolves around his desire for revenge. The story starts with Gotham police interrogating Angle Man about a recent attempt to kill Catwoman.
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A mystery of sorts, this story eventually relates how Black Mask hired the powerful mercenary to hunt Catwoman. The story shows off Black Mask's influence and his ability to cause chaos without leaving his desk
Set during the early days of Dick Grayson's tenure as Batman, "Life After Death" is a six-issue storyline by Tony S. Daniel and Sandu Florea. Following Roman Sionis' death in the aforementioned Catwoman storyline, a new Black Mask emerged after causing a massive breakout at Arkham Asylum, which led to the formation of a gang called the False Faces.
While this story doesn't feature Roman Sionis, it's a great example of Black Mask's relentlessness, how he always seems to keep pursuing his goals, no matter the obstacle. At the story's end, it's revealed that the new Black Mask is Jeremiah Arkham, the director of Arkham Asylum, demonstrating how Sionis' influence is so great it can strike Gotham's greatest families from beyond the grave.
Another tremendous Black Mask story written by his creator, Doug Moench, and drawn by Tom Grindberg, "Warpaint," is a one-issue story that occurred in Batman #484. In the comic, shortly after Bruce realizes that he's lost some of his physical edges, Black Mask reappears in Gotham and orders attacks on Wayne-owned companies.
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Infiltrating Black Mask's gang, Batman works to stop Black Mask at the root, destroying his entire gang in the process. However, about a quarter of the way into his infiltration, Batman realizes that his friend, Lucius Fox, was kidnapped by Black Mask's gang. While Black Mask initially debuted as an evil guy with a masked gimmick, when he kidnapped Lucius Fox it made readers realize how far he was willing to go to hurt Bruce Wayne.
A massive crossover event that occurred within the pages of five different Batman-related titles, "War Games" was written by numerous writers, including Bill Willingham, Andersen Gabrych, Devin Grayson, Dylan Horrocks, and Ed Brubaker.
Considered by fans to be the event that modernized Black Mask and pulled him into the limelight, "War Games" details Black Mask's most cunning plan, infiltrating the Bat Family. Black Mask is able to kill Orpheus and capture Stephanie Brown, demonstrating this ruthless criminal at his most cunning and effective.
Written by Doug Moench, with art from Klaus Johnson, "The False Face Society of Gotham" is a one-issue story from Detective Comics #553. The story revolves around Batman shortly after Black Mask declares himself the chief crime lord of Gotham City.
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Expanding his gang, the False Face Society, Black Mask orders the death of a board member of Janus Cosmetics, the company Bruce Wayne bought in Batman #386. Only his 2nd appearance in DC Comics, this comic showed fans that one defeat at the hand of Batman was not enough to deter Black Mask.
A fourteen-issue series by Scott Snyder, with art from the legendary John Romita Jr, All-Star Batman is considered among the best Batman comics written by Scott Snyder. Serving as the kick-off title for Batman in the DC Rebirth era, All-Star Batman features a long list of great Batman villains.
Included in that list is Black Mask, who forms a gang with Penguin and Great White Shark called Black and Whites. The villains are a constant presence throughout the series, but they serve as the primary antagonists in three of the last four issues. The comic exemplifies Black Mask's ability to adapt and shows that he's still dangerous even when he doesn't have an army of thugs at his side.
A six-issue arc written by Scott Lobdell, with art from Dexter Soy, "Dark Trinity" is the first storyline in DC Rebirth's Red Hood and the Outlaws. Featuring a wild team-up with Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizzaro, "Dark Trinity" centers around this group as they try to stop Black Mask's plans to destroy the neighborhood Jason grew up in before meeting Bruce Wayne.
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Fed up with Batman's methodical approach to crime fighting, Red Hood decides to confront Black Mask by jumping through the windshield of his car. Thrown off his game by a puzzling question from Black Mask, Red Hood ends up in a violent adventure that could've been completely avoided if Black Mask hadn't confused the impetuous antihero from the start.
Considered by Batman fans to be among the most important Batman comics ever made, "Under the Red Hood" was created by Judd Winick and Doug Mahnke. A comic that tells a critical story in the Batman mythos, "Under the Red Hood," is a sixteen-issue story arc in Batman issues 635 through 650.
Batman faces a new challenge in this story when a mysterious figure named Red Hood violently joins the Gotham crime scene. Taking out Black Mask's gang members, Red Hood forces Black Mask to take notice of him. Angered by Red Hood's taunts, Black Mask recruits the help of villains like Mr. Freeze and Deathstroke to take down the emerging criminal.
A six-issue story arc set during the events of "War Games" and "Under the Hood," respectively, "War Crimes" was created by Andersen Gabrych and Bill Willingham. Taking place across three different titles, "War Crimes" shows the aftermath of "War Games" and how the people of Gotham effectively blamed Batman for the underworld conflict.
The story delves into former Robin Stephanie Brown's death after Black Mask tortured her, making the high-stakes conflict between the Bat and the Mask intensely personal. It also highlights Black Mask's role as an interloper in Gotham's supervillain scene when he's targeted by the Joker for "copying" Joker by killing Robin.
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Jared is a writer and game player based in Long Island, New York. He's worked as a video content creator and editor in the past, making video game videos for youtube, and now works as a list writer for CBR. Jared graduated from Rutgers University in May of 2020, where he studied cinema and creative writing. In his free time, Jared enjoys playing basketball and watching movies.
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