Looks like it’s going to be black mask against Black Mask in Season 2 of Batwoman!
It’s just been announced that Black Mask — the skeletal scoundrel and Gotham City crime boss recently seen onscreen in Birds of Prey — is the series’ alternate major villain in season 2. We were first tipped off to his eventual appearance in the official synopsis for the drama’s second season. And, apparently, he’s bringing friends. It’s also being reported that the False Face Society, Black Mask’s gang as they appear in the pages of DC Comics, will be present in force as it “tightens its grip on Gotham distributing a perilous new drug known as Snakebite” as well.
“We have a couple big bads this season,” Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries confesses. “One, [who] we teed up midway through last season, is this woman Safiyah, and she’s sort of Alice’s Achilles’ Heel. And ultimately yes with the False Face Society, we will see the leader of this gang as Black Mask, later on in the season.”
It has not yet been announced who will be portraying the menacing masked crime lord, but whomever it should be, they will definitely have their hands full taking on the new Batwoman Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie). Because if there’s anything that Kate Kane’s successor doesn’t tolerate, it’s the distribution and/or use of drugs!
“While Ryan never used drugs, she was in a relationship where somebody was using drugs and it’s ultimately what got Ryan put away in jail,” Dries added. So, it’s this idea that Ryan is this innocent woman and if she were white, per se, she might not have had the same punishment [that] she, as an innocent Black woman, had to go through. That’s a huge piece of her backstory, so that’s something we’re exploring this year,” says Dries. “Batwoman has this particular vendetta against the False Face Society because the idea of drugs permeating the city and nobody taking any responsibility for it strikes at her core.”
Most recently, Ewan McGregor famously portrayed the character of Black Mask in the film Birds of Prey, alongside Margot Robbie as the incomparable Harley Quinn.
Both of season 2’s big bads gives us the best of two classic-types of Batman villains. Safiyah (Shivaani Ghai), is the formidable ruler of the island of Coryana who has a direct and somewhat complex past with Alice (Rachel Skarsten). A highly intelligent and calculating foe, very much along the lines of Ra’s al Ghul. While Black Mask and the False Face Society are grittier street-level foes who will offer more action-oriented interactions for audiences.
Batwoman Season 2 premiers this Sunday, January 17, 8:00 EST
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