Warner Bros. realizes that many fans probably don't even know who Black Mask is and will be picking and choosing elements of his history to tell during Arkham Origins. Though there are two characters with the name Black Mask in the comics, this one will be based off of the 1985 version, Roman Sionis.
In the original comic fiction, Sionis showed up as Black Mask in 1985. Sionis was the son of a wealthy socialite couple in Gotham, much like Bruce Wayne. Unlike Wayne, Sionis’ parents were angry, treacherous, and controlling, and they passed some of their worst traits onto their son. Sionis would end up murdering his parents, later donning an ebony mask fashioned from his father’s casket – symbolizing his new identity – while simultaneously taking over as head of his father’s business, Janus Cosmetics.
Black Mask remained a fixture of the Batman comics in the coming years. In one of the more striking and memorable moments of the history between the characters, Black Mask returns to his family home to wipe out any traces of his old life as Roman Sionis. As he sets a fire in his old bedroom, Batman’s attempts to save him from the fire send the villain tumbling into the flames, where his black mask is permanently scorched onto his face. Over the years, Black Mask establishes himself as one of the most ruthless and outright evil Batman rogues, disfiguring faces, torturing and murdering those close to his enemies, and for a time, leading the forces of organized crime in Gotham.
Black Mask remained a fixture of the Batman comics in the coming years. In one of the more striking and memorable moments of the history between the characters, Black Mask returns to his family home to wipe out any traces of his old life as Roman Sionis. As he sets a fire in his old bedroom, Batman’s attempts to save him from the fire send the villain tumbling into the flames, where his black mask is permanently scorched onto his face. Over the years, Black Mask establishes himself as one of the most ruthless and outright evil Batman rogues, disfiguring faces, torturing and murdering those close to his enemies, and for a time, leading the forces of organized crime in Gotham.
Consider my interest in this game jumping up considerably after having read through Game Informer's Black Mask reveal.