HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY Concept Art Reveals Comic Accurate And Weird Takes On Black Mask's Mask

In some brand new concept art from Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, we get to see a number of different takes on the villainous Black Mask, some of which are comic accurate, while others are downright bizarre!

By JoshWilding - Feb 13, 2020 08:02 AM EST

Filed Under: Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) features one of the best DC movie villains to date in the form of Ewan McGregor's sinister Roman Sionis.

After learning that Harley is no longer under the protection of The Joker, Sionis decides to take Harley out due to a long list of grievances from the past and ultimately dons a "Black Mask" as he looks to put her down once and for all. It's a great moment in the movie, and McGregor really comes into his own once he dons that mask and gets into playing a classic comic book bad guy!

Now, thanks to concept artist Kyle Brown, we have a number of alternate takes on the character.

From a comic book accurate version of the mask to ones which are a little more grounded or just totally different to what ended up on screen, it's fascinating to see what might have been.

To check out this concept art, just hit the "Next" button below to scroll through the gallery!

During a recent interview with Men's Journal, McGregor was quoted as saying that Sionis is the perfect villain for "the Time of Trump." He added that, "[He is] an absolute narcissist spoiled in his upbringing to the point of having no contact with what life or people are about, who has a skin this thin and wants nothing more than to be the center of attention."

His co-star Chris Messina (who plays Victor Zsasz) agrees. "He’s an incredible villain because he’s so likable and he’s so seducing. You’re like, I like him, he’s cute, it’s fun being in his world. And then he’ll bite your leg off. He has these incredible turns of violence, this ferocious quality. There are a couple of moments in the movie where he rages that he really went there, and you could hear a pin drop. Then he would turn on a dime and then go back to the charm of the character."

As for why Black Mask targets Harley, McGregor explains: "He has to be in absolute control. He’s insane when he’s not in control. We only see him in his club, in his car, in his apartment–or at the end when he’s running around. But really I feel like we only ever see him in places he controls. And then Harley comes into this world and she’s uncontrollable. It drives him mad. He hates it."

"It plays into the exploration of misogyny in the film," the Birds of Prey star continues. "He’s only ever put up with Harley because she was Joker’s girlfriend. So that was the only reason he ever put up with her, because [Joker] was all-powerful. But as soon as [Roman] realizes that Harley’s man is out of the picture, she becomes a problem. That makes him a true misogynist."

"Harley is trying to find her freedom–the emancipation of Harley Quinn, right?" McGregor notes. "She’s trying to find her voice. She’s not getting her power from her partner anymore."

As for what attracted him to the movie, McGregor previously told Premiere that, "Misogynists in movies are often extreme: they rape, they beat women. And it is legitimate to represent people like that, because they exist and they are obviously the worst. But in the Birds of Prey dialogues, there is always a hint of everyday misogyny, of those things you say as a man you do not even realize, mansplaining. All it’s in the script in a very subtle way. I found that brilliant."

"What interested me with Birds of Prey is that it’s a feminist film," the Obi-Wan Kenobi star explained when asked to elaborate on what jumped out at him in the DC Comics movie. "It is very finely written, there is in the script a real look on misogyny. And I think we need that, we need to be more aware of how we behave with the opposite sex. We need to be taught to change."

It's really interesting seeing how much these designs differ to what ended up on screen, but there was clearly always a plan in place for how Black Mask's mask should look in Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.

This is more of a helmet than a mask which is more in line with the comic books. Of course, the most noteworthy takeaway here is that it's not really black and is actually silver in appearance.

That doesn't make him "Silver Mask," though, as Brown was clearly looking to find a silvery black colour which would pop off the screen more than a straighforward, pure black mask for the villain.

The most important thing for Warner Bros. must have been making sure that Black Mask didn't just look like a slightly different version of Red Skull, something that is the case in the comics!

One of the best villains we've seen thus far in the DC Universe, you have to hope that future DC Comics movies will continue to explore Gotham City despite The Batman being on the way.

Earliest exploration- closer to original source material

What do you guys think about these alternate takes on Black Mask in Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts on that in the comments section below!

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39 Comments

rabid - 2/13/2020, 8:30 AM

Too bad they didn't use it. He should have never taken it off. Instead he wore it for ten seconds.

L0RDbuckethead - 2/13/2020, 8:48 AM

@rabid -

dragon316 - 2/13/2020, 1:35 PM

@rabid - it was more then ten seconds

GhostDog - 2/13/2020, 8:34 AM

It felt like he wore it for a good 30 seconds at best...

MyCoolYoung - 2/13/2020, 8:40 AM

As a character he was cool, but as a villain I don't believe he did much at all

regularmovieguy - 2/13/2020, 9:11 AM

@MyCoolYoung

He [frick]ed up that family pretty bad. The scene at the club where he freaks out was pretty tense too.

MyCoolYoung - 2/13/2020, 9:17 AM

@regularmovieguy - it just felt like we got him in glimpses. Didn't Victor do all the leg work there as well? I loved his personality. He'd go from someone you thought was cool to flipping out in a second. I just feel like we should've spent more time with him

KWilly - 2/13/2020, 8:43 AM

I saw a video explaining Black Mask's origin and everything. Jesus Christ, is he messed up.

Batman has some brutal villains, but Mask is pure evil.

And I remember when Gotham did Black Mask (the father of Black Mask, not the son we all know). They did it pretty well for a one-off episode.

geekarchitect - 2/13/2020, 8:47 AM

Are there really no plans to remove the Next button? It's sad.

L0RDbuckethead - 2/13/2020, 8:49 AM

Get that "next" shit out of here.

AnimatedTdot - 2/13/2020, 9:09 AM

@L0RDbuckethead - lol

TheGrayGhost - 2/13/2020, 9:14 AM

So how's the "search" going for a way to get the View All button back?

BoW - 2/13/2020, 12:04 PM

@TheGrayGhost - Use your browser’s reader mode. It shows all the content without the bloat or need to click “Next”

TheGrayGhost - 2/13/2020, 1:07 PM

@BobbyW - What browser are you using? When I try that it still only displays page one.

BoW - 2/13/2020, 9:48 PM

@TheGrayGhost - Sorry for the late reply. I’m on Safari and the trick works on both my laptop and my phone.

Jimster - 2/13/2020, 9:24 AM

One of the best parts of the movie. Figured they cop-out on him wearing the mask longer but when he did it looked great.

Super12 - 2/13/2020, 9:45 AM

Well i sure enjoyed that one picture, too bad the others are on the "Next" page. I'll never see those ones.

BoW - 2/13/2020, 12:04 PM

@Super12 - Use your browser’s reader mode. It shows all the content without the bloat or need to click “Next”

Nightwing1015 - 2/13/2020, 11:36 AM

Why even bother with all these? Arkham Origins had it perfect:

dragon316 - 2/13/2020, 1:38 PM

Masks with details on forehead look better they look more natural skull like all others look like metal skulls one in movie was good to

Tufasrox - 2/13/2020, 1:48 PM

I like all these designs except for maybe one of them. My biggest grief was the fact that he literally wore it for like 2 mins in the entire movie?!

boogiefett - 2/14/2020, 4:42 PM

The movie is absolutely trash ! Save your money kids!

TheJester - 2/18/2020, 7:32 AM

@boogiefett - I wouldn't call it "trash", but I def found it a little flat, like the all female Ghostbusters remake. the jokes were not all that funny, very standard one liners, but at least a step in the right direction compared to the other DCU movies.

rabid - 2/14/2020, 8:46 PM

I just counted. It was 12 seconds. He put it one for one speech, 11 seconds screen time. And they flashed it for one second at the beginning.

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HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY Concept Art Reveals Comic Accurate And Weird Takes On Black Mask's Mask

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