The Dark Knight Rises Black Mask

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I would still like to see this character considered.

 

[Project862006]

i feel the riddler brings more depth to the story of batman and gives you more to play with

 

[Malone]

He plays a pretty big part in the war games saga.

Thanks, Bud.

 

[Mastodon123]

Just because a character may be lacking a little depth, doesn't mean the Nolans could re-invent the Black Mask character. I'm for using Black Mask as the main villian, or at least a secondary villian. I think Benicio Del Toro should be cast as Black Mask, he would do great.

 

[RakuMon]

Rakumon, I do enjoy your idea, it just doesn't sound like a Black Mask thing really. Agree totally about bringing in Leslie Thompkins somehow though!

I myself would go with Black Mask as a Mob boss though. It would go well with the whole Mob vs Freaks concept used in TDK. But with a twist in that he's a hybrid of the 2.

The Black Mask as torture fetishist comes straight out of the Catwoman: Relentless TPB actually. That's where my idea came from.

 

[spideyman101]

Hmm... nice... except one thing... how do you expect to explain

Spoiler

Two-Face magically rising from the dead to be the main villain? I'm supposing you've not seen The Dark Knight...

 

[Laderlappen]

I would like to see Black Mask as a secondary villian like Scarecrow.

 

[Katsuro]

Honestly I hate Black Mask, mostly because of his comic look though. The skull mask/face cliche' bothers me to no end.

"Hey I have this character whose kinda weak, how should we make him cool?"
"Give 'em a skull for a head".

For me the Red Skull will be the definitive "skull for face" villain, and really there don't need to be many more than that. It's just redundant.

He wasn't always like that. Originally he just wore a wooden mask. Then it was like burned onto his face or something. For a movie, i'd like them to just avoid that last part, and stick with just a wooden mask.

 

[Mach2Infinity]

Here's my plot treatment :-

Regarding the Black Mask, I think he could work very well into the story. Batman's an outcast, a pariah; he's been fully denounced and ostracised by the authorities (personified by Commissioner Gordon). This means that there's been a lull in activity by the Batman. Crime has flourished once again and it seems Gotham's the victim of a new type of criminal, the hybrid (part freak/part traditional criminal). Who've taken advantage of the power vacuum through the loss of such figures as Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni. Enter Black Mask, he's seeking to make a name for himself and to assert himself in a new Gotham - to his eyes this is the new frontier, fresh for takeover and expansion. He plots to kill all those that stand in his way, which means amassing followers/a crime family and disposing of any rival gang/mob leaders. Perhaps this involves making deals with certain leaders, he'll let them in on the drugs and weapons trade if they agree to follow him. This could even involve the creation of an ad-hoc alliance, not a council but a consortium of the top criminals, chiefly headed by the Black Mask.

He's looking to destabilise Gotham further so that he can take advantage of the situation and of course gain more power, more money and solidify his position. Word on the street is that a new criminal is in charge and is looking for candidates to take on a 'special assignment' (the 'purge'). One of these is the Riddler, wanting to make a name for himself as a criminal mastermind. The Riddler approaches the Black Mask with a proposition, to cause total and utter confusion amongst the Gotham authorities. So he with the help of some minions starts perpetrating crimes. Killing uncooperative mobsters and authority figures 'not on the take'. As this unfolds his crimes become more complex, more disturbing and more perplexing. He starts knocking off police figures, judges, businessmen etc which greatly alarms Gordon, the mayor etc. Gordon is increasingly desperate to involve Batman but simultaneously is overcome with guilt in allowing Batman to take the sole blame for Harvey Dent and the five killings. The Riddler even goes as far as to leave the Joker's cards and Two-Face's coins at various crime scenes, something which completely bewilders and baffles the police.

The Riddler, continuously seeking greater challenger and enthralment starts to implicate Batman in various killings. Leaving behind such items as improvised batarangs, even painting Batman symbols with question marks behind them. Gotham finds itself in greater peril, all the good work that Batman, Gordon and Dent made starts to be undone, the very fabric of Gotham is being assaulted and decimated. Perhaps the greatest straw is when the Black Mask attempts to bully Bruce Wayne into giving money, weapons etc (through Wayne Enterprises) - perhaps realised in a scene where he gate crashes a 'gala ball' for Gotham, held by Bruce Wayne. Up until this point, Bruce decided to abandon the guise of the Batman. And purely use Wayne Enterprises to fund various community schemes, job programmes, homeless shelters etc. However his hand is forced and he once again dons the suit of the Batman. Lucius Fox quips "welcome back Mr. Wayne". Where we find fox having worked on all kinds of high-tech top secret designs for Bruce.

Sidenote, the possible inclusion of the League of Shadows could work, given that Gotham City is newly infested by a different kind of crime, perpetrated by freaks who are more desperate.

 

[LightningFlash]

ok, yeah you are right, we don't "know" which characters will be returning. But we pretty much know that the villians will be Two-face & Joker. Over 99% certain. And Catwoman night be in it too(hopefully). And Catwoman is much more interesting than Black-Mask.

99% certain, huh?

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I also like the idea of Roman Sionis in the next Bat flick, but I wouldn’t make him a mob boss. I’d stick with the wealthy, corporate CEO angle though. In my sequel, Sionis, the young head of Sionis Holdings, is very similar to Bruce Wayne: he’s young, handsome, and filthy rich. Though they are contemporaries, they aren’t the best of friends. Unlike Bruce though, Roman is known in the press as a kind-hearted philanthropist. He donates millions of dollars to charities across the city. As the movie opens, Sionis has just invested heavily in Gotham’s downtrodden East End section. In fact, he recently poured millions of dollars into a battered women’s shelter that’s run by Dr. Leslie Thompkins. What the public doesn’t know, however, is that Sionis has a dark side, a very twisted dark side. There has been a series of abductions of young women in recent weeks. These crimes have been going on for years (it’s one of GCPD’s cold cases) but the frequency of these occurrences has increased. Women who have survived these abductions in the past have told horrific stories of torture and rape. But the only identifiable characteristic they can remember is that “he wore a black mask.”

It turns out that Roman Sionis has a sadistic fetish for torture. His latest victim is a young social worker at the East End Battered Women’s shelter named Maggie Kyle. Needless to say, Sionis gets outed by the Batman but he also invites the wrath of Maggie’s sister, Selina, a professional cat burglar.

That comes off sounding more like a CSI episode than an entire Batman movie.

 

[Laderlappen]

99% certain, huh?

It was. But unfortunetly...

 

[ThePoisonPuppet]

At the end of Dark Knight, even though the sonar machine was gone, I sorta got the impression that Fox was resigning anyways just because he felt like Batman was getting into too deep for him and well if thats the case........

I was thinking maybe it would be cool if Roman Sionis was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who went through with business school and graduated with top marks, making Wayne see him as a good choice as a replacement CEO. Anyways, of course Sinois would take the job, seeing this as the perfect opportunity for him to destroy Bruce Wayne from the inside out. He could even try to push Bruce out of the company and looking through old files discover he is Batman....Just some thoughts.

 

[TimidationGame]

At the end of Dark Knight, even though the sonar machine was gone, I sorta got the impression that Fox was resigning anyways just because he felt like Batman was getting into too deep for him and well if thats the case........

Close, but your missing what is really going on here. Everything that goes haywire is as a direct result of Bruces actions, not going to go in to all of that here. Bruce interfered with Wayne Enterprises to setup the sonar machine, as a result almost got Lucious/Wayne Enterprises in trouble. Bruce also stripped Lucious of plausible deniabilty by getting him involved in using the machine...this crossed the line since Lucious told him he did not want to know what he was doing and didn't want to lie if asked. This all helps setup silent/watchful protector/gaurdian and most likely leads to him having the computers in the batcave. This also reinforces the "being alone" mentioned. It also helps setup Bruces technical ability which he will need for the computers and what not. Oh, yeah, and you were on the right path but barked up the wrong tree. He was going to resign becasue this is the actual part, not the feigned part where Bruce became the criminal, but faith was rewarded. I'm guesing, you replace Lucious with Gotham, and Bruce with Batman, and that is what needs to happen to be back in good graces...reward faith.

 

[ThePoisonPuppet]

Close, but your missing what is really going on here. Everything that goes haywire is as a direct result of Bruces actions, not going to go in to all of that here. Bruce interfered with Wayne Enterprises to setup the sonar machine, as a result almost got Lucious/Wayne Enterprises in trouble. Bruce also stripped Lucious of plausible deniabilty by getting him involved in using the machine...this crossed the line since Lucious told him he did not want to know what he was doing and didn't want to lie if asked. This all helps setup silent/watchful protector/gaurdian and most likely leads to him having the computers in the batcave. This also reinforces the "being alone" mentioned. It also helps setup Bruces technical ability which he will need for the computers and what not. Oh, yeah, and you were on the right path but barked up the wrong tree. He was going to resign becasue this is the actual part, not the feigned part where Bruce became the criminal, but faith was rewarded. I'm guesing, you replace Lucious with Gotham, and Bruce with Batman, and that is what needs to happen to be back in good graces...reward faith.

I appreciate your in depth analysis, but the reason I skimmed over the things about sonar machine was because the point of my post above wasn't so much to reflect on Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight, as it was to talk about how a void left by him at Wayne Enterprises might be filled by The Black Mask who would then in turn use it to try to do in Wayne/Batman.

 

[Doc Samson]

I think it could be very interesting. I would love to see a great actor tackle the role, talking to the mannequin of Circe. There's a lot of potential in the character for somebody to come in and deliver another great performance

 

[TwoOfAKind]

How about Eric Bana for Black Mask?

 

[TimidationGame]

I appreciate your in depth analysis, but the reason I skimmed over the things about sonar machine was because the point of my post above wasn't so much to reflect on Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight, as it was to talk about how a void left by him at Wayne Enterprises might be filled by The Black Mask who would then in turn use it to try to do in Wayne/Batman.

I apologize, I seem to suffer from not making my points very clear initially.

Wayne Enterprises/Lucious are important to Nolan to keep in place and relevant. Nolan also is going for views/takes not really used before in the films. So, I think it is safe to assume we can remove the story arcs already used/borrowed from Sionis.

1. Early storyline: family friends, resent the Wayne masks worn in public
borrowed in BB, by Racheal
2. Mid storyline: Sionis/Janus-toxin/Circe
Borrowed heavily in Burtons Batman
3. Nolan does not seem to want to go down route of Robin, so that takes out the later story arcs.

This leaves us pretty much with him as a mob guy...but this is my take on it. But I have to admit, Sionis absobing those who have been scorned by Wayne Enterprises...so far two, could lead to some interesting interactions between the two companys. But keep in mind, the threats to Wayne Enterprises have been releagated to very minor roles.

 

[nolan's roll'n]

Daniel Day Lewis or Javier Bardem.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

(Batman: ) War Games or just Matches Malone

The plot revolves around a gang war involving all the major criminal groups in Gotham. It starts with one of Batman's most ambitious contingency plans involving one of his aliases, Matches Malone. In preparation for a possible outbreak of uncontrollable gang violence, Batman developed an elaborate scenario that would unite all of Gotham's underworld under a single crime boss: Matches Malone.


Unfortunately, this plan was discovered by Viki Vale, who was investigating Matches Malone; she believed that Malone was an "employee" of Batman, now a wanted criminal. When Vale heard of Batman's murders, she attempted to seek out the truth believing that Batman was innocent. The charges could be cleared if the mob was to testify in court saying that Batman wasn't the killer. Viki attempts to team up with Matches and he tells her he doesn't need her help. Thus, Matches Malone was not present when vale assembled the leaders of all of the gangs into one place. The meeting ended disastrously, with all of the gangs in Gotham going to war with one another.
In the chaos of the city-wide gang war, The Black Mask prepared to seize control of all the gangs. To do this, he kidnapped Stephanie and tortured her for the information she possessed. With that knowledge, his plans succeeded, making him the ultimate crime lord of Gotham City. Stephanie would later die from her torture at Black Mask's hands, a tragedy that Batman holds himself responsible for.

Or instead of using Viki Vale, you could replace her with Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Where Selina Kyle is dating Bruce Wayne or Matches Malone, you take your pick and she discovers what's going on and uses the Catwoman persona to help Batman. But not that she dons the suit FOR Batman. She could already have donned a black jumpsuit to steal from Matches Malone or something.

Characters:
Batman
Alfred Pennyworth
Lucius Fox
Black Mask
Bane - As Black Mask's muscle or body guard
Scarecrow - Developing fear toxin for the Black Mask
Viki Vale or Selina Kyle/Cat Woman
Rupert Thorne

 

[ThePoisonPuppet]

Here is a poster I did for Black Mask. In the first one it's Joaquin Phoenix's eyes in the picture (For how little that matters)

And the 2nd one is just some guy. I like it because of the crazy look in its eyes, but I can't decide which one I prefer more.

 

[Laderlappen]

Josh Brolin for Black Mask

 

[Mach2Infinity]

How about Chiwetel Ejiofor :-

 

[zeptron]

I never really found Black Mask that interesting to begin with.

I mean, Riddler, Joker, Bane, Mr Freeze, Clay Face, Two Face, Poison Ivy, Scare-crow, Ras Al Ghul, ect, ect, are all so much more interesting.

He was just another crime boss trying to take over Gotham, like all the other faceless crime bosses. Except he had a black mask. blech.

Id take Hush over him. At least he had the crazy surgion thing going for him, even if i do hate his overly convoluted and laughable back story.

 

[Killing Joke926]

I'm still in favor for either Sean Bean, Richard Roxburgh, or Daniel Craig for Black Mask.