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.
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!