Absolute Batman Just Created the Perfect Blueprint for a DCU Movie Black Mask

Absolute Batman #5 took readers on quite a ride. Absolute Batman has been a wild book so far, and this issue shows off a sinister new version of Black Mask. As leader of the Party Animals, Black Mask has been Batman’s first target since the series began. This issue sees the two of them seemingly coming to a deal — one that literally goes up in flames thanks to Batman’s use of Black Mask’s two hundred million dollars as part of the Bat-Signal — and ends in bloodshed for both sides. Everyone but Black Mask takes quite a pounding, with Batman brutally beaten and thrown off the top of a building. And then things get interesting.

Black Mask tells a story of his childhood in a broadcast to Gotham City, revealing he worked on a farm helping slaughter pigs and occasionally hitting them in the portion of the brain that floods the pig with pleasure before they die. This becomes the heart of his newest attack, and it makes Black Mask a much interesting character, one that could be the cornerstone of an excellent DC movie.

Absolute Black Mask Is More Fiendish and Intelligent Than the Main DCU

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The key to this Black Mask that makes him different than the mainline version is that he isn’t a mob boss, not really. Even though he does lead the Party Animals, and he’s just as brutal as his DCU counterpart, this Roman Sionis feels completely different from the other Black Mask. This sort of difference is the hallmark of Absolute Batman, and this issue uses it expertly. Instead of using overwhelming muscle to try and take over the city’s underworld, he’s more concerned with causing as much chaos for the elites of Gotham City as he can. That’s actually the entire point of his speech about the pig slaughtering.

After telling the city about this specific spot in a pig’s brain, and how humans have one too, Black Mask begins to talk about the plight of the common Gothamite — really the common human being in general — they work and work, never getting ahead while the wealthy keep getting richer because of their labor. He shows off a nihilistic side at this point, telling everyone that “progress is dead, history is dead, truth is dead.” All hope is gone, and the only thing that can be done is to live in the pleasure center, lashing out in orgiastic rage against the establishment. To make this happen, Black Mask has deposited millions of dollars worth of weapons all over the city, ready for the taking. The choice is up to the people.

Absolute Black Mask Would Be Perfect in Matt Reeves’s “Batman Epic Crime Saga”

The Batman focused on the disparity between the haves and have nots through its version of The Riddler. He was lashing out at the city’s wealthiest families, using populist rage against the people who victimized him, and the Black Mask in Absolute Batman #5 is definitely cut out of the same mold. Instead of a crime boss trying to take control of the city, he’s a master of chaos wanting the people to revolt, to be truly alive with pleasure as they get their revenge against the people who have held them down for so long, all wrapped around a lust for power. This Black Mask would easily slot into the universe that Matt Reeves has created.

This version of Black Mask could also make for an intriguing solo movie like 2019’s Joker. Absolute Batman has been serving readers a heady brew, and Black Mask’s new persona is one of the more underrated aspects of the comic. The Black Mask of the mainline DC universe is dangerous, but he’s largely a cliche mobster. Black Mask really shines when he can more than just a run of the mill criminal, like Ewan McGregor’s fey but insane portrayal in the Birds of Prey movie. This Absolute Black Mask is exactly the kind that could anchor a film, one that dealt with the trials and tribulations of the modern world. Absolute Batman has given the character a new chance for stardom, and hopefully, Matt Reeve and James Gunn are paying attention.

Absolute Batman #5 is on sale now everywehere comics are sold.