Roman Sionis, aka Blask Mask is a criminal mastermind and ruthless businessman who leads the False Face Society and regularly comes up against Batman and the Bat-Family. He was created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake who introduced him 40 years ago in Batman #386 (August 1985).

Before he was a crime lord, Sionis was born to wealthy, selfish parents who cared more about their social lives than raising their son. Their obsession with social status was so extreme that they hid when the doctor dropped him on his head and they pretended to like fellow socialites Thomas and Martha Wayne to maintain their social status. Sionis grew to be disgusted by his parents’ behavior and the masks they wore in public.

Following his high school graduation, Sionis was given an important job in his father’s company, Janus Cosmetics. While working there he fell in love with Circe, though his family did not approve since she was a working class model. Sionis was furious when his parents forced him to break up with Circe, and in a fit of rage he burned down their mansion, killing his parents in the process.

He inherited their fortune and the business, and quickly ran it into the ground through poor decisions and a failed face paint make-up line. Sionis instructed the chemists at Janus Cosmetics to fast track the makeup without proper testing, and hundreds of women were disfigured. Making his life worse, Circe broke up with him in front of the entire staff.

As the head of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne offered to bailout Janus Cosmetics but only if Sionis would give up control of the company and Bruce could appoint his own board of directors. Humiliated once again, Sionis went to his parents’ grave where he was struck by lightning, thrown through the air, and he hit his head on a headstone.

Now at his lowest moment, Sionis vowed to embark on his criminal career. His first act was to break into his father’s casket and use fragments of it to create an ebony mask, becoming Black Mask.