WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Year of the Villain: Black Mask #1 by Tom Taylor, Cully Hamner, Dave Stewart and Wes Abbott, in stores now.
Year of the Villain is sweeping through the DC Universe. As the Legion of Doom prepares the world for a cosmic judgment, Lex Luthor (now in his Apex Predator form) has used all of his wealth and resources to reach out to every supervillain on the planet to help give them what they've always wanted. He's helped some of them break out of prison, he's equipped others with powerful new weapons to help them defeat their enemies and he has given them anything else they've asked for -- even if that means being left alone, like Bane.
Now, in Year of the Villain: Black Mask #1, Lex Luthor continues his bid to transform the world into a pillar of doom. He reaches out to Roman Sionis, aka the Black Mask, and he doesn't just give him a new weapon, he gives him a new superpower, which has turned him into an entirely different kind of threat.
At the beginning of the one-shot, it's business as usual for the Batman villain. He commits a bank robbery, but it isn't long before he is cornered by the police. Luckily for him, one of Luthor's drones swoops in and flies him to safety. Then, the Apex Predator makes his offer: Sionis doesn't have to settle for Gotham -- instead, he could aim much, much higher. Luthor advises him to take over a cosmetics company that will allow Black Mask to control politicians and shape the future of entire countries. The only issue is that Roman can't exactly do so wearing his iconic, um, black mask.
But Luthor has the answer for that as well: He gives the Batman villain a power upgrade by gifting him with technology that allows Roman to take on the face of anyone. His real skull face is hiding underneath, but he can mimic the face of someone in the street, or of a rich and powerful CEO, and change it with a figurative snap of the fingers.
With this new power, Sionis tangles with Batwoman and nearly takes out Renee Montoya. This new power allows him to become anyone, and to get close to everyone else. Clearly, this power has just changed the game for the Black Mask. He isn't just a ruthless gangster now, he's a super-powered menace on the worldwide stage.
Worse still, as the issue comes to an end, the Black Mask's new power remains secret, and he continues his dastardly plans. Batman may not know it yet, but one of his lesser villains has just become an A-lister. And when Year of the Villains ends, Black Mask may just be the next big threat out there.