Black Mask (Arkhamverse)

Black Mask is referenced in Batman: Arkham Asylum, appears briefly in Batman: Arkham City and will appear in Batman: Arkham Origins.

Batman: Arkham Origins
Black Mask is set to appear in Batman: Arkham Origins as the main villain and antagonist, having placed a bounty of $50,000,000 on the Dark Knight himself and bringing in eight of the world's most deadliest assassins, including Bane, Deathstroke, Deadshot and Copperhead, to Gotham for one night on Christmas Eve to kill Batman.

At this point in the Arkham Continuity, Black Mask is by far the most powerful crime lord in the city, possessing immense wealth and resources, having most of the Gotham City Police Department on his payroll, and controls Gotham's criminal underworld with his massive gangs.

Having wiped out most of the competition and begun consolidating his power, Black Mask issues forth a crime wave with his gang to capitalize on his reign over the city. Additionally, it appears that Black Mask's actual mask is not yet attached to his face, but rather a disguise he wears as part of his persona when heading his criminal activities. This allows the villain to publicly run his company as Roman Sionis and keep himself from being connected to any crime, while also using his businesses as a front for drug trafficking.

It is unknown what Black Mask's true motivation is for suddenly targeting Batman, aside from keeping the hero from interfering with his rise to power, but it has been hinted to be on a more deeper level and serves as one of the story's primary mysteries that will become more clear over the course of the game.

Road to Arkham
According to Oracle in the Road to Arkham prequel oneshot, Black Mask was involved in a gang war and retreated to Bludhaven, home of Nightwing.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
While Black Mask does not appear in Batman: Arkham Asylum, his original wooden mask is mounted on the wall of Dr. Young’s office in the old Arkham Mansion. A newspaper clipping about Roman Sionis before he became Black Mask also appears on a bathroom cabinet in the Patient Observation room of Arkham Asylum's Medical Facility. Black Mask is referenced in the game in many of the Penitentiary cells, for example, in the cells is a drawing about a little boy and a house on fire, and then the devil rises up and takes the remains, and the boy is happy.

After Arkham
Black Mask was one of the final criminals to be incarcerated to the prison, attempting to stay on the run and leave Gotham until the flames died down. Unfortunately, his family's steel mill was seized by Joker's forces, much to Roman's anger, and was later driven out of his own land by Quinn and her hyenas. Black Mask also briefly appeared as a juror member in Two-Face's trial against Joker, where, in his anger for stealing his land, voted guilty. Later, Penguin's crew forced him to blow the steel mill sky-high to kill the clown prince, but instead decided to use the explosives given to him by Penguin to blow a hole in the perimeter wall and escape. While operating outside of the prison, Sionis reunited his old gang, including Firefly as his right-hand man, and plotted a raid on all of TYGER's military weapons and to hop a train out of the city as he originally planned. After Lynns disappeared, Roman and his crew were apprehended by Robin and Nightwing and escorted back to Arkham City, now rigged with sentry guns to kill anyone who approached the wall.

Batman: Arkham City


As Bruce Wayne was being admitted to Arkham City, Black Mask was seen as one of the criminals being transferred into the cell block, having finally been recaptured by Tyger Forces. Sionis was busy fending off the TYGER forces with a chair; however, he was eventually detained. Using this to his advantage, the Joker was able to capture Sionis Industries and it was quickly modified into Joker's Funland, Joker's base of operations in Arkham City.

With the growing violence in Arkham City, as the three primary gangs (Joker's, Penguin's and Two-Face's gangs) fighting for control over the city, Black Mask secretly allied himself with the Riddler and slowly built up his forces for his plans to retake Arkham City in the confusion, although he was eventually stopped by Robin. Because of his earlier detainment, parts of his Skull mask were broken off, revealing brown hair underneath.

Challenge Maps
As the Dark Knight was preoccupied with his investigation into Protocol 10, Robin infiltrated Arkham City to investigate Black Mask's activities. After some work, Robin was able to determine the location of Black Mask's hideout and set out to take down Sionis. Robin fought against Black Mask's forces giving him time to escape from Robin aboard a freight train. While in pursuit of him, Robin was forced to fight his way through stray thugs belonging to the various gangs and Mister Hammer of the Abramovici Twins.

In time Robin was able to locate Black Mask and took him into custody.

Psychological Profile (by Dr. Young)
Black Mask

Real Name: Roman Sionis

CANDIDATE FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH?

Psychological Profile: A mild psychopath, Sionis has narcissistic tendencies but the main malady he suffers from is resentful obsession with, of all people, billionaire Bruce Wayne. Sionis is fixated on Wayne possibly due to childhood traumas that he has projected onto the idle playboy. It is difficult to say whether the two actually knew each other as children, or if this is Sionis's invention. However, it is Sionis's criminal activities, and the role playing that resulted in the black skull-like mask accidentally burnt into his skin, that resulted in his committal to Arkham.

Additional Notes

I'd question whether Sionis is actually insane, if not for the choice of his obsession; I can't imagine being interested in (much less stalking) such a pointless personage as Bruce Wayne.

Trivia

 * When Bruce Wayne sees Black Mask when entering Arkham City, it is likely that this is Black Mask's second time entering Arkham City, as Black Mask was the first and only inmate to ever escape, as revealed by a riddle that unlocks an Arkham City Story. Therefore, the Robin DLC is most likely a second escape attempt.
 * The Penguin may have Sionis's first mask or a replica in his Iceberg Lounge, indicating that Black Mask may at one point have been his main rival.
 * Black Mask's forces are oddly absent during the events of Batman: Arkham City, likely because Sionis was re-entering Arkham City during the game and had no thugs under his control.
 * The small part of his mask that is broken shows an undamaged forehead and some hair, suggesting that either his face had healed at some point or his mask is actually removable.
 * Black Mask has been confirmed to appear as the main antagonist in the upcoming title, Batman: Arkham Origins, with the character being showcased in some screenshots in the Gameinformer issue revealing the game's development. Set as a prequel story, Black Mask is shown wearing a full skull mask along with his henchmen, implicating that this is set before his mask had been grafted onto his face. His attire, a white suit complete with a white vest underneath, also seems to be heavily inspired by his own character design from the animated television series The Batman.

Game Over Lines
thumb|300px|right|Black Mask's game over screens.
 * "First you fall, then Gotham."
 * "What? Did you think you could beat me? Me?!"
 * "No one goes up against the Black Mask and lives."