The DCEU has finally come to an end, with Black Mask’s only big screen appearance being a hit-or-miss portrayal for fans of this iconic Batman-related character. Leave it up to the cosplay community to make up for it, however, because a new set of images has brought Black Mask’s more terrifying nature to light as the brutal underworld villain he is, making this the real-world design the live-action space needs to beat.
Shared on Instagram by the Black Mask cosplayer featured in the photos, Brad Johnson (@bradman.cosplay), as well as Soumik (@pixelens._), the digital artist who touched up the latter two images, these creative talents have produced something that fans of the Black Mask character can truly appreciate.
Most often cosplaying as The Dark Knight, Brad has also embodied the villains of Hush and Bane, Marvel’s Wolverine, Star Wars’ Darth Maul, and even a Santa Claus x Batman mash-up in collaboration with Soumik, a partnership that’s yielded more than a few great images in the past.
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Turning a ruthless and calculating underworld mobster into a similarly disturbed yet uncharacteristically showy and flamboyant supervillain, not all fans appreciated Ewan McGregor’s live-action take on Roman Sionis aka Black Mask, despite him eventually donning a comic-accurate mask to call his own. Black Mask was killed at the end of the very film he premiered in, 2020’s Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, but his appeal as a character can’t be denied, with this cosplay bringing an even more violent and deadly version of the villain to life.
Proving that he can pull off a Black Mask cosplay without the added benefit of Soumik’s photo editing, Brad’s take on the character gives Sionis a more dangerous and stylish design by visually leaning further into his organized crime roots. Wearing black gloves that match well with a white pinstriped suit, Brad brandishes a tommy gun while staring into viewers’ souls from underneath an onyx skull mask, a look enhanced by Soumuk’s impeccable digital skills that show Brad stabbing the hand of a casino patron in one photo and wildly firing his submachine gun in the next.
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It remains to be seen if Black Mask will be a part of James Gunn’s new DCU, but should he pop up down the line, Sionis’ next live-action look needs to take inspiration from Brad’s incredible cosplay and push the inherent terror of the character to the forefront, not only in his onscreen characterization, but his overall visual design too. Black Mask needs more cosplays like this one, so here’s hoping Brad Johnson (@bradman.cosplay) and Soumik (@pixelens._) collaborate again, if only to pit this unhinged criminal mastermind against The Caped Crusader himself.
Sources: @bradman.cosplay and @pixelens._
