Black Mask (Roman Sionis) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, the character debuted in Batman #386 (August 1985). He 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. The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including the animated series The Batman, the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, and the Batman: Arkham video game series. Black Mask made his live-action debut in the 2014 television series Gotham, as Richard Sionis, portrayed by Todd Stashwick; this version of the character was later integrated into comics in the 2016 relaunch DC Rebirth as The Mask, depicted as the Black Mask's father. Black Mask also appears in the 2020 DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Birds of Prey, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, and the second season of the Arrowverse series Batwoman, portrayed by Peter Outerbridge. Fictional character biography Origin story 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