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Roman Sionis was the Black Mask, an agent of the Joker and leader of the Concierge, who directed the global Party Animals gangs in the destabilization of cities and nations on behalf of his employer.
History
Early Life
Born on a pig farm in a war-torn country[1][2], Roman Sionis was taught to kill the pigs with bolt guns when the time came, fascinated by their struggle against the inevitable and their screams of death.[2][3]
He would eventually grow up to be one of the most dangerous men on Earth, becoming the leader of a secret paramilitary group that freelanced for many of the world's most amoral plutocrats, becoming the ruthless and hedonistic Black Mask. He and his group, the Concierge, would eventually be hired by the mysterious Joker to command several groups operating on a global scale with the purpose of destabilizing countries and expanding a series of Black Sites prisons called Arks,[1] which secretly experimented on their prisoners, dubbed Party Animals.
The Zoo
Black Mask would be sent by the Joker to Gotham City in the United States of America to begin preparations for the construction of Ark M. Using the Party Animals, he would destabilize the city by raising the crime rate to 700%.[4] Roman would also become secretly involved in city politics, helping mayoral candidate Hamilton Hill in defeating his opponent James Gordon if it would help the Ark M project.[5] Unbeknownst to him, the activities of his Animals would bring him to the attention of the local vigilante, Batman, as well as the United Kingdom's MI6 via Agent Alfred Pennyworth.[4]
Three months into these activities,[4] Sionis held a meeting on his private yacht with local Gotham organized crime figures, Mr. Maroni of the Maroni crime family and Mr. Falcone of the Falcone crime family. While the mob duo attempted to threaten him into leaving Gotham, he had them eliminated by the Concierge.[4] When Batman made his debut in broad daylight by disrupting the Party Animals' attack on City Hall to assassinate Jim Gordon, he had them step up their attacks on the city and bring in more members.[5]
As Batman became aware of his connections to Hill and found private archives about Ark M on his office computer, Black Mask appeared on a large television screen and delivered a message to the night vigilante, informing him that he had tipped off the GCPD and that the Animals were all over the building, ready to attack, and that he looked forward to talking to him if he survived.[5]
Later, Sionis met with both Hamilton and GCPD Commissioner Harvey Bullock, lying about his involvement with the Party Animals and offering to provide the police department with the weapons necessary to fight both the Animals and Batman, a deal Bullock accepted. Black Mask would also later have a conversation with Batman, though unable to see his true identity, in which he accepted Sionis' offer of money to upgrade himself in exchange for ceasing his offensive against the Party Animals once he saw the scope of the Ark M project and what he was really up against.[1]
On the day of their face-to-face meeting, however, Batman would burn all the money he had been given with the Gotham Zoo Memorial Light, the event that led to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, and create a Bat signal in the sky to reveal that he had broken the deal. In response, Roman would retaliate by having the Party Animals attack Batman, even killing his own men to surprise and restrain him. Batman then revealed that he was recording their entire conversation and broadcasting it to all of Gotham's news channels. Undeterred, the Concierge would finish off Batman by throwing him off the skyscraper. Black Mask then broadcasted a live message to all of Gotham, inviting every citizen to join the chaos as a Party Animal, while his men placed several crates of Party Animal masks throughout the city for anyone to pick.[2]
As Sionis' plan was about to begin, with the citizens of Gotham grabbing their masks and preparing to wreak havoc, he and the rest of the Concierge returned to his private yacht, which housed the servers for the Party Animals' local network. The yacht would be intercepted and attacked by Batman, who would defeat the Concierge and throw them off the yacht as he planned to blow everything up. Roman would fight Batman, seemingly gaining the upper hand despite the brutalization he suffered, until the violent hero would use the ears of his cowl to stab him in the eyes and blind him. Batman would then throw him off the yacht, which would soon be blown up, ending the threat of Black Mask and the Party Animals.[3]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Notes
- Roman Sionis was created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, first appearing in Batman #386. However, the Absolute Universe version of Roman Sionis first appeared in Absolute Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.
- Due to Darkseid's interference in the Absolute Universe, Roman Sionis was not born a wealthy citizen of Gotham. Nor was he a self-made man, unlike his DC Universe counterpart.
Trivia
- Black Mask kept a collection of Death Masks of historical figures such as Socrates and Martin Luther, as well as more recent murders such as Salvatore Maroni.
Related
- 6 Appearances of Roman Sionis (Absolute Universe)
- 5 Images featuring Roman Sionis (Absolute Universe)
- 1 Quotations by or about Roman Sionis (Absolute Universe)
- Character Gallery: Roman Sionis (Absolute Universe)
Footnotes
  Batman Villain(s) |