‘Birds of Prey’ May Have Black Mask as its Villain
DC’s Birds of Prey is looking to be a departure from previous team-up films: at a modest budget (planned to be around $75M) and with a potential R-rating, the movie is worlds apart from the likes of previous PG-13 offerings Suicide Squad ($175M) and the heavily-reshot Justice League ($300M). And from the sound of things, this new movie will move away from having CGI-heavy antagonists in favor of going with a more practical kind of villain.
Enter Roman Sionis, better known as Black Mask. At a young age, Sionis murdered his own parents, who were so focused on their statuses as Gotham City socialites that they completely neglected him, which led him to have a psychological fixation on the concept of the masks that people wear to conceal their true nature. While he inherited their fortune, he ran their company into the ground to the point where Wayne Enterprises had to buy it out, leading him to completely snap and carve a mask out of his parents’ gravestones and seek revenge on the Wayne for his own failures. The mask he made – a black skull – would eventually be grafted to his face after an accident, and Sionis eventually found more success as a brutal crime lord.
According to The Wrap, Black Mask will be the central antagonist of Birds of Prey – fitting, as Sionis is known for having a particularly misogynistic streak to his crimes. The birds that Black Mask will prey upon include Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and several new characters, such as Black Canary, Huntress, Cassandra Cain, and Renee Montoya. Commonly serving as the archnemesis to Catwoman, Black Mask could have a future in later DC Films projects, such as Gotham City Sirens (a film where Catwoman and Harley Quinn are both expected to appear, should that project be made). Furthermore, the decision to have a villain be almost completely practical in terms of design (essentially a gangster in a nice suit and a head-covering mask) could prove to be a smart move after previous DC movies have been criticized for lacking in that field.
Birds of Prey, directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, does not yet have a release date. It is expected to begin filming early next year.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
