10 Things You Need To Know About Black Mask

The internet rumour mill has been abuzz ever since David Ayer, director of the Academy Award-winning (God help us) Suicide Squad announced that he would be directing a Gotham City Sirens movie.

To date, the only concrete information that's been revealed is that Margot Robbie would be returning as Harley Quinn. Apart from that, speculation has been running rampant as to what the plot will be and who else will be in it, including potential actresses for Poison Ivy and Catwoman.

Well now there's another log on the rumour fire thanks to a tweet form David Ayer. The tweet was a panel from the Batman comic 'Under the Red Hood' showing the crime lord Black Mask, providing a pretty heavy hint that he'll be the villain of the film.

The question on most people's lips though is who the heck is Black Mask? Like a lot of DC's best villains, he's a Batman foe. However, unlike the likes of the Joker or Mr Freeze, he hasn't been used much outside of comics, leading to most people's lack of familiarity with him.

Now if only there was some kind of helpful article to concisely explain everything you need to know about Black Mask in a list based format.

Roman Sionis was born to rich but distant parents who cared more for their own social standing then they did for him. For example, the day Roman was born, a doctor dropped him on his head. His parents however, refused to sue the hospital because they didn't want to have their family name embroiled in a lawsuit.

After both his parents died, Roman took control of his father's company Janus Cosmetics. Unsurprisingly for a company run by a man with potential brain damage, they soon went bust and were bought out by Wayne Enterprises.

Enraged, Roman went to visit his family crypt where he was struck by lightning and flung head first into a gravestone.

Rather than accepting the signs that the universe clearly hates him, Roman saw this as a sign of rebirth. He smashed apart his father's ebony casket with his bare hands and fashioned a chunk into a mask.

He then embarked on a life of crime as the Black Mask, to get revenge on Wayne Enterprises and take back what he felt he was owed, setting him on a collision course with Batman.

To be fair to him though, when you can walk off two counts of severe brain trauma and a lightning strike, you're probably not going to be that afraid of mixing it up with a man dressed as a flying mammal.