This is a Dyna Mike Network podcast. Hey guys, Johnny DC here at the top of the episode to
say happy Thanksgiving. And in celebration of the holidays, we are giving all of our listeners
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and click on the store button. Thanks guys, on with the show.
Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority
between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters and stat-based battle simulations. I'm Johnny
DC. And I'm his twin brother Marvelous Joe. And in this episode, we are doing a duel between
the Batman street level mobster villain Black Mask and the high tech mafia queen, Madame
Mask from Marvel. Yeah, she's primarily an Iron Man villain, but she's also been a prominent
villain for like Kate Bishop Hawkeye. Of course, the stool is a tie-in to the Penguin review
that we did last week, because Black Mask is a Batman villain that fits into that crime
mobster type world. That's right. And we're going to find out who's going to win between
those two characters later on in this episode. Before that, we're going to break down the
comic book movie news from the past week, of which there was finally some DC news. We learned
that a Sergeant Rock film is in development with Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig. You
son of a bitch. James Bond himself! You'd love to see it! All these Bond actors working for
DC, I just don't understand it, but we'll talk about it later on. I guess I can't really call
you a son of a bitch without Diss and Mom, so... Yeah. I retract that last statement. Yay, you!
Love you, Mom! As always, guys, we list our segment times in our episode description, so
feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. Our
artificially intelligent duel simulator, AJ9K, has a quick message for our listeners, so listen
up. Why hello there, do you want even more from this podcast? Then become a part of the dynamic
duel community on Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers. The dynamic two-oh tier gives
you access to our Discord chat server. The fantastic four tier gives you two bonus episodes each
month, and the X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of this show. Lastly, The Diner Mike
podcast network tier lets you create your own podcast using this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny
and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic support and consultation, and get you
simulation results. Pitch the twins your ideas via email at dynamicduelpodcast at gmail.com.
Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamic duel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks, AJ and NK. And thanks
to everyone who supports the podcast. And especially thank you to not only. patrons and executive
producers of the show, but also members of the DynaMic Podcast Network, another set of awesome
twins, Scott and Gil Camacho. It was their birthday this past week. Happy birthday, guys. Gil,
if I could get you any gift from Marvel for your birthday, I would get you a gamma bomb
because you could use it to get the powers of the Hulk and then you'd be frigging the Hulk.
So yeah, that'd be awesome. Wait, you're saying you want to blow him up? What? No, no, no.
You just get bombarded by the radiation. You know how it goes. You know how it goes. Damn,
tell Gilly how you really feel. No, it's fine. He just has to detonate it from a safe distance.
Okay, sure. And I will get Scotty, the DC fan, and the superior twin, the Batcave. Specifically,
the trophy room area for you to store all of your cool collectible stuff. Yeah, that's not
as cool as Hulk powers, so I think Gilly won out here. It's cooler than being blown up by
a bomb. Ha ha ha. Thanks, Gillie and Scotty, so much for being as cool as you are, and again,
happy birthday. But speaking of Scotty and Gillie, be sure to tune in to their show on the DynaMic
podcast network, Max Destruction, which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television
against each other. Both hosts are taking a short break for the holidays, so this is the
perfect time to get caught up on their back catalog of episodes if you've missed any. On
the Senjou World podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime
and manga characters. Zach is back with an all new episode this week. He's going to pick Kaido,
the king of beasts from One Piece against AcnoLogia, the dragon king from Fairy Tale. And on the
console, combat podcast hosts John and Dean simile battles between popular video game characters.
In yesterday's episode, they found out who would win between Astro Bot and Sackboy from Little
Big Planet. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all
the shows and the DynaMic Podcast Network. But with that out of the way, quick to the
No Prize! A No Prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic
Duel No Prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram for the person that we feel gave
the best answer to our question of the week. Last week, we asked you guys, what has been
your favorite animated Marvel or DC project of all time and why? And this was coming off
of the first official trailer that we got for What If Season 3, which is coming out in just
a few weeks. We got a lot of great answers and actually a lot of people gave the same answer.
So it was really hard to pick winners this time around, but we have three honorable mentions
as well as the no prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Cyrus Moore who said, Hey guys,
Cyrus Moore here. My favorite animated show of all time will always be Young Justice. I
grew up as a kid watching it all the time, very religiously, the action in it's phenomenal.
The storylines phenomenal. the romance between Miss Martian and Superboy, just everything
about that TV show is captivating. It's got something for everybody and everybody should
love that show. Yeah, Young Justice, it's a fantastic show. All of the seasons have just
gotten better one after the other. The world building that they do in this show as its own
Young Justice universe is phenomenal and totally ranks right up there with other large ensemble
shows like Justice League. Yeah, apparently Young Justice is so good that two other people
gave the same answer, including Scott Camacho and Mickey Mantlingian. Apparently I need to
start watching Young Justice. Yeah, we've never reviewed it on this show because the episode
count and the seasons are so long and it hasn't consistently been released on any platform,
but maybe if they make another season we will. We'll see. Great answer, Cyrus. Our next honorable
mention goes to Mason Thompson. Who said? Hey guys, I think. My favorite animated project
from Marvel DC is gonna have to be Batman Beyond because I think they just took so many cool
concepts With like future Batman villains. It was just awesome. I think that it was ahead
of its time literally Get it get it. Alright. See ya. The whispering notwithstanding Batman
Beyond is a great answer. Yeah, I feel like we're being trolled with the whispering by
this point I loved Batman Beyond. I still remember as a kid watching the premiere of that show
and just loving everything about it. I thought it was the coolest show that had ever been
made. And it may have been, in fact. In terms of just cool factor, yeah, I would have to
agree with you. It was such a cool concept. Like this super high-tech futuristic Batman
as a young guy but still being able to fit Bruce Wayne into the story, like every episode. There
are a lot of future versions of Batman, like the Dark Knight, but Batman Beyond may be my
favorite. Yeah, we did a duel episode with Batman Beyond against Spider-Man 2099, so if you're
interested in those characters, definitely check out that duel episode, because that was a lot
of fun. Great answer, Mason Thompson. Our next honorable mention goes to Travis Herndon, who
said... What's up Dynamin' Dudes, Travis here, shout out to my Able Twins. So my answer would
have to be the Hope vs Wolverine animated movie. I think that movie was cool, it was bloody,
it had a badass fight between these two legendary characters. Nolan North as Deadpool was awesome,
and honestly, I'm hoping that we get something like this within the MCU one day between Wolverine
and the more savage Hulk. Yet we nearly reviewed Hulk vs. and lead up to the Deadpool and Wolverine
movie that came out during the summer because of course the Hulk vs. famously has a Deadpool
vs. Wolverine fight scene in addition to Hulk vs. Wolverine and also packaged with that film
if you can find that film anywhere in cheese is Thor vs. Hulk. I think the only reason we
didn't end up reviewing Hulk vs. was because it was not easily findable outside of the Blu-ray
or DVD media. Yeah, I've never seen Hulk versus I've heard great things, but the fact that
Marvel can't respect their own characters and projects enough to have available for streamers
on any kind of streaming platform just shows you how sucky Marvel is. Well, you would think
it would be on Disney Plus, right? But it's not. I wonder why. I think because Universal
co-owns the film rights to the Hulk, so that might be it. Or at least they did, but it might
have something to do with that. Gotcha, that actually makes a lot of sense. We want to give
a quick shout out to Peter Troll, who gave the answer of Spectacular Spider-Man and to Colby
Hentges and Gil Camacho, who both answered with X-Men, the animated series and X-Men 97. But
the winner of this week's No Prize is Mike Williams, who said, Best animated DC would have to be
Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Great stories and great way to inculcate other
characters. As far as Marvel, I would have to go with X-Men and X-Men 97. Really like the
animation drawings and the storylines they presented there. And as always, make mine Marvel. Take
care. Yeah, Justice League Unlimited is like peak Bruce Tim universe. It introduced us to
so many characters that a lot of the public isn't familiar with, but as comic fans, I just
loved seeing all of them. It was a great episodic series as well, in the same vein as the Saturday
morning cartoons that we would watch as a kid. It was tailor-made for the audience, and like
the true successor, of a show like Super Friends that a previous generation grew up watching.
Yeah, and he also mentioned X-Men the Animated Series and X-Men 97. It goes without saying
that series is probably the best superhero animated show of all time. You know, we had two other
people give the answer of X-Men 97, and like we gave that season five stars out of five.
It's like the quintessential X-Men experience. So you could do no wrong with that answer.
Where Michael Williams went right in terms of this week's No Prize win was that he packaged
together Justice League and X-Men, which were probably the paragons of each universe's respective
animated series. At least for 90s kids like us, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Great answer,
Michael Williams. You win this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning
your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another Question
of the Week. Another That's Done? On to the news!
Alright, in a bit of news that I swore we've talked about before, filmmaker Luca Guadagnino
is developing a Sergeant Rock film with Daniel Craig, who will potentially play the lead character.
If you're not familiar with Luca Guadagnino, he's an amazing director. He's directed films
such as Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, Bones and All, Challengers, and the upcoming queer
film, which also stars Daniel Craig. And if you're not familiar with Daniel Craig... then
where have you been? Because the guy is fucking 007 James Bond. And if he gets this role of
Sergeant Rock, I will probably never forgive you, Jonathan. Okay, I'm fine with that. You
stole Timothy Dalton, he was the chief in the Doom Patrol series, he was a fantastic chief.
You stole Pierce Brosnan, who was Dr. Fate in the Black Adam movie. You're damn right. You
had Sean Connery. in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, which was actually a DC imprint.
Yeah, that's correct. So you've had all these tremendous Bond actors play DC roles. Zero
Bond actors have played a Marvel role so far. And if you have listened to this podcast for
a while, you know that in addition to me being a Marvel fan, I'm also a huge James Bond fan.
So like if Daniel Craig becomes Sergeant Rock and this movie is as amazing as it sounds,
like it's like Saving Private Ryan with Sergeant Rock and Daniel Craig or something like that.
I'm going to end this podcast and probably never talk to you again. I kind of consider Adam
West to be the American Roger Moore because they look like brothers. So there's that. Well,
Roger Moore, unfortunately, never got a chance to play either a Marvel or DC character, but
I'd like to think that he would have played a Marvel character if he got a chance to. Well,
the odds are against you, my friend, because apparently all the James Bond guys like DC.
Now, no deal has been signed between Luca and DC Studios. James Gunn and Peter Safran, so
it's not official, but because it's being reported by the trades, odds are more than likely that
it will be happening. The film apparently already has a script written by the same screenwriter
who wrote Challengers and Queer for Luca Guadagnino. Do you think Daniel Craig would make a good
Sergeant Rock? Yeah, I think he'll make a fine Sergeant Rock. Sergeant Rock is a World War
II character in DC Comics, so essentially this film would just be a war movie. There have
been other adaptations of Sgt. Rock, like the animated short where he led the creature commandos.
So I don't know if they would tie that into this film in any way. I imagine not. It may
just be a really solid World War II movie. And I'll take it. I wish Marvel would do something
like that. Well, I guess we had Captain America the First Avenger. That was a World War II
movie. But not like in a realistic, gritty sense. It was very much in like a diesel punk, fantastical
type of World War II setting. Yeah, I don't think this would be anything like that. It's
definitely not Lucas Highbrow style, but because of that, it makes me really look forward to
see what he could do with the World War II movie. It just sounds like it would be very rated
R. Probably the most rated R war movie ever made. Next to like Inglorious Basterds or something
like that. I also hope it really happens because Daniel Craig is attached to it and because
he played James Bond and because I know that would break your heart. That would be funny
to me. If it happens. I will immediately rip my clothes, fall down onto my knees, and fly
the stars. I swear. What? I don't know, like, where that was going. I was going for, like,
a real dramatic type feeling, but yeah, you took that in a different direction. Anyway,
the news about Daniel Craig potentially becoming Sergeant Rock brings us to our question of
the week.
What Marvel character would you cast former 007 actor George Lazenby as and why? Now, George
Lazenby is the only other 007 actor that's alive that has yet to play a Marvel or DC movie.
He was only in one James Bond film and that was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. But, if
you take a look at the guy, think about what Marvel role he could play, and then my goal
is to start campaigning Marvel to hire George Lazenby as that character. So think about it
guys, and record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in
the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail.
Your message could be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case
we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer, and award that person a Dynamic
Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before December 7th. You
guys have two weeks for this one, because Jonathan and I are recording the next episode early.
due to the holidays and some business travel.
That does it for the news for this episode. So let's go ahead and move on to the main event
where we find out who would win in a match between Black Mask and Madam Mask.
Okay, Black Mask versus Meta Mask. As we mentioned earlier, these are two mobster characters who
both literally wear masks. Black Mask wears a ebony black skull mask carved from the coffin
of his father, which is badass. And Meta Mask wears just a plain boring ass gold mask. I
would not describe it as boring. It's pretty badass. It's made out of gold. It's featureless,
except for her eyes. You know, it's really mysterious and totally awesome. Yeah, I see that and I'm
not scared. I see black mask and I'm shitting myself. Well, you just have a poor constitution
then and probably irritable bowel syndrome. Of course, Block Mask has been in a movie.
He was the main antagonist in Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey, or I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
Birds of Prey and the fantibulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn. Oh God. Madame Masque has
not been in a Marvel movie, but the version of the character, Whitney Frost, was in Agent
Carter season two. Oh, I didn't know that. Did she wear a gold mask? No, which is why it was
kind of a lame adaptation. Dumb. Well, hopefully we do the character justice here. But before
we get into our match to explain the methodology behind our duels, let's go to our sentient
duel simulator, Alfred Jarvis 9000. AJ9K, tell our listeners how you go about determining
a winner in our duel matchups. Yes, of course, sir. The way I determine a winner between the
contestants is by running 1000 Monte Carlo simulations using the characters statistics. A Monte Carlo
simulation is a probabilistic model used to determine outcomes through random sampling.
In this case, I randomise the statistics along a normal distribution as a way to simulate
the many variables that can occur during battle. The stat parameters are based on the official
Marvel power grid from which the DC characters' statistics are extrapolated. Additional stat
categories are included such as range, damage potential, versatility and perception in order
to create a more detailed and accurate simulation. The results of the 1000 simulations provide
a percentage of wins for each character. Contestant with the higher percentage is declared the
victor as they have a higher probability to win any given battle. In an equitable pairing,
neither character should win 100% of the matches. The comic book stories have shown that there's
even a way for Batman to defeat Superman, so the confidence rate of my method falls in line
with the precedents that have been established in the source material. My mathematical simulations
are without subjectivity or bias. Feats are not the sole consideration, nor are fan votes
tabulated for determination of the winner. Thanks AJ9K, before we run the simulations though
we'd like to break down each character's history and abilities before improvising a scenario
on how we imagine one of the 1000 simulations would play out beat for beat. And I believe
it's my turn to go first with the DC characters backstory, so let me tell you about Black Mask.
Now Roman Sionis was born into Gotham City's wealthy elite, but his privileged life masked
deep dysfunction. His parents, obsessed with maintaining their social standing. showed little
genuine affection for their son. This neglect continued throughout his childhood, with Roman
forced to adhere to the same public facade as his parents. Roman's parents maintained social
ties with the Waynes despite privately resenting them, and Roman was forced into a friendship
with a young Bruce Wayne. And though Bruce Wayne was polite and kind, Roman could sense the
genuine bond Bruce shared with his parents, which only amplified Roman's bitterness toward
his own family. Roman masked his jealousy behind a shallow camaraderie, but deep down he despised
Bruce's seemingly perfect life, seeing it as a reflection of everything he lacked. Roman
grew to hate the, quote-unquote, masks his parents wore to conceal their true selves, and he developed
a lifelong fascination with masks as symbols of identity. As an adult, Roman joined Janus
Cosmetics, his father's company, quickly rising to vice president. Roman fell in love with
a working-class model named Cersei, but his parents forced him to end the relationship.
Enraged, Roman retaliated by burning down the family mansion, killing his parents, and inheriting
their fortune. With complete control of Janus Cosmetics, Roman initially enjoyed success,
but his lack of business acumen led to disaster. He launched a defective makeup line that disfigured
hundreds of customers. The lawsuits bankrupted the company and destroyed its reputation. Bruce
Wayne, head of Wayne Enterprises, offered a bailout, but only if Roman relinquished control
of the company. Humiliated, Roman blamed Wayne for his failures, and in a fit of rage, he
smashed his father's ebony coffin in the Sionis family crypt and carved a mask from its lid,
transforming himself into Black Mask.
for his personal and professional failures. As Black Mask, Roman established himself as
one of Gotham's most feared crime lords. He founded the False Face Society, a criminal
gang whose members wore distinctive masks, hand-picked by Roman to reflect their personalities. From
their base in the Sionis family crypt, the False Face Society launched a crime spree across
Gotham, drawing the attention of both law enforcement and Batman. One of Roman's early crimes involved
targeting Wayne Foundation executives. Using the toxic cosmetics that had ruined his company,
Black Mask disfigured and killed three executives. He also kidnapped Cersei, his former fiance,
and forced her to wear a mannequin-like mask laced with a diluted version of the toxic makeup,
permanently disfiguring her face. To humiliate her further, Roman made Cersei his unwilling
accomplice. After deducing Black Mask's identity, Batman set a trap to capture him by hosting
a masquerade ball at Wayne Manor, knowing Roman would be unable to resist the opportunity to
strike. Roman infiltrated the event with Cersei as his date and lured Bruce into the conservatory,
intending to kill him. However, Bruce disarmed Roman, forcing him to flee. Batman and Robin
tracked Black Mask to the Cionis crypt, where they defeated his gang. Roman escaped through
a hidden passage accessed through the false bottom of his father's coffin and fled to his
family's rebuilt estate, which he set ablaze again in an attempt to sever his ties to his
former identity. During a confrontation with Batman, Roman fell face-first into the flames,
refusing the ebony mask to his face. Severely disfigured but alive, Roman was apprehended
and sent to Arkham Asylum. Roman eventually escaped Arkham and resumed his criminal activities.
He reassembled the False Face Society and began a series of arsons targeting Wayne Enterprise
properties. Batman infiltrated the gang under the alias Skull Face, posing as a new recruit.
Roman, impressed by Skull Face's skills, tasked him with assisting in various crimes. However,
when Lucius Fox was kidnapped, Batman revealed his true identity and rescued Fox, though Black
Mask escaped. Roman's vendetta against Wayne and Batman continued, driving his gang to more
audacious crimes. During the No Man's Land crisis when Gotham City was devastated by an earthquake
and declared uninhabitable, Roman seized control of the Fashion District and rebranded his gang
as the True-Facers, a nihilistic cult. Rejecting wealth and power, Roman embraced a philosophy
of destruction, claiming Gotham's devastation revealed its quote-unquote true face. The true-facers
disfigured themselves and their victims, spreading terror through the ruined city. Roman targeted
Oracle's clock tower, planning to dismantle the remnants of organized resistance. However,
Batgirl intervened, breaking Roman's arm and dismantling his cult. Roman was subsequently
imprisoned in Blackgate Penitentiary. After Gotham's reconstruction, Roman resurfaced during
a Gotham gang war known as the War Games. Exploiting a gang war triggered by the Gotham vigilante
known as Spoiler, Roman rebuilt his criminal empire. He murdered Orpheus, a gang leader
secretly allied with Batman, and assumed Orpheus' identity to manipulate Gotham's underworld.
Roman's machinations made him the undisputed king of Gotham's crime scene. However, Spoiler
escaped his clutches, and Batman exposed his deception.
which instead returned him to Oracle's Clock Tower. Though he survived Oracle's self-destruct
trap, Spoiler did not survive the injuries she sustained while tortured by Black Mask. The
gang war subsided shortly after, and Roman's empire began to fracture. Roman's reign of
terror continued until he faced the Red Hood, who targeted his operations in a calculated
campaign to dismantle his criminal empire. Despite Roman's alliances with figures like Mr. Freeze
and Deathstroke, the Red Hood's relentless attacks destabilized his control. Roman's efforts to
consolidate power ultimately failed, culminating in his defeat at the hands of Batman and the
Red Hood. Roman eventually attempted to rebuild his empire, shifting his focus to Gotham's
East End, where he sought to control the drug trade. This brought him into conflict with
Catwoman, the self-appointed protector of the area. Roman retaliated against Catwoman's interference
by targeting her loved ones. He kidnapped her sister Maggie and tortured her brother-in-law
Simon to death. Roman forced Maggie to consume parts of Simon's corpse, leaving her mentally
shattered. Enraged, Catwoman confronted Roman in his penthouse. Their battle ended with Catwoman
shooting Roman in the head, killing him. During the Blackest Night, in which dead heroes and
villains of the past were resurrected Roman used his Black Lantern powers to torment Catwoman
further, desecrating her sister's mental institution and creating torture chambers. However, Roman's
rampage ended when Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn joined forces with Catwoman to neutralize him.
Trapped in a carnivorous plant, Roman's Black Lantern form was dissolved. In post-Flashpoint
continuity, Roman Sionis returned as Black Mask, though he was reimagined as a man with Dissociative
Identity Disorder. his black mask persona exerting dominance over his psyche. His signature ebony
mask gained technological upgrades, granting him the ability to control the minds of weaker-minded
individuels. While imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, Roman orchestrated a mass breakout during the
Night of Owls, using his mind control abilities to manipulate inmates into attacking the Court
of Owl's assassins. Roman escaped Arkham and reassembled the False Face Society. reigniting
a violent rivalry with the Mad Hatter, another villain known for mind control. Their feud
drew the attention of Batman, who defeated both men and destroyed Roman's mask, temporarily
neutralizing his abilities. Over time, Roman regained his status as one of Gotham's top
crime bosses. He aligned with the Penguin and Great White Shark in the Blacks and Whites
Alliance, a coalition seeking to consolidate Gotham's criminal enterprises. Roman also sought
to use his advanced technology, including a techno-organic virus, to gain an edge over
his rivals. This led to a confrontation with Red Hood, who infiltrated Roman's masked organization
under the guise of an ally and exposed Roman's operations, turning Roman's own resources against
him. Alongside Artemis and Bizarro, Red Hood dismantled Roman's empire, forcing a final
confrontation.
but the plan backfired, leaving him mentally incapacitated and defeated. That's Black Mask's
history so far. Power-wise, Black Mask's Ebony Mask grants him a degree of mental influence
over others, as well as protection for his head. He's a criminal mastermind with access to a
vast fortune and resources, including weaponry. An expert marksman, Black Mask carries several
handguns, which he'll have in this match, along with a classic mobster tommy gun. He's in peak
human physical condition and is a competent fighter. When you were describing his backstory,
the part where he disfigured his ex-fiance with the mask, it made me think that Tim Burton's
1989 Batman film with Jack Nicholson's Joker took inspiration maybe from Black Mask because
there was that scene where Joker scarred the face of Grisham's girl, right? Right. And she
wore that like white mannequin mask. Yeah, you could definitely say that also because of the
fact that Joker attacked Gotham with tainted cosmetics. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Okay. Black
Mask was created in 1985, I believe. So that could absolutely be the case that he inspired
Burns Joker. Yeah, he was probably on top of mind at that time. So makes sense. Well, I
honestly, I think the characters of Black Mask and Madam Mask have even more in common than
I realized. And let me go ahead and tell you all about Madam Mask. Born as Julieta Neferia,
Madam Mask was introduced to a life of deception from the start. Her father, Count Lucino Neferia,
was a powerful crime lord in the Magia, a shadowy crime syndicate resembling the Mafia based
in New York City. Count Neferia desired a different path for his daughter, a respectable life unmarred
by the criminal underworld that defined his own. Thus, he gave her up to Brian Frost, a
trusted employee, and his wife Loretta, who raised Whitney Frost. Whitney grew up as a
sophisticated debutante and socialite, moving in elite circles and building connections for
what she thought would be a prosperous, legitimate life. She eventually became engaged to an ambitious
politician, Roger Vane. However, her life was shattered when her adoptive parents passed
away and Count Nefaria re-entered her life, revealing her true heritage and offering her
a place in the Magia. Initially horrified, Whitney turned to her fiance Roger for support. only
to find him unwilling to risk his career for her criminal connections. Heartbroken and betrayed,
she reluctantly accepted her father's offer, leaving behind her privileged life to learn
the brutal arts of strategy, combat, and manipulation under Neferia's guidance. Whitney proved to
be a natural in the criminal world, quickly ascending to become the leader of the Neferia
family within Demagia, adopting the alias Big M. Under this persona, Whitney She aimed to
infiltrate and raid Stark Industries, crossing paths with Iron Man for the first time. The
operation ended in disaster, and as she attempted to escape on a plane, the aircraft crashed
and she was left horribly disfigured. Her life was saved by Mordecai Midas, a crime lord with
an obsession for gold, who gifted Whitney a golden mask to cover her scars. With her new
identity as Madame Masque, Whitney joined Midas' empire and furthered her reputation as a ruthless
criminal. In a fateful twist, Madame Masque met Tony Stark, Iron Man's alter ego, and was
drawn to him despite her adversarial relationship with his superhero identity. Tony's compassion
for her scarred appearance softened her, and Whitney eventually betrayed Midas to save Tony,
only to disappear from his life, fearing her past would forever haunt any chance of happiness.
You can learn more about Iron Man in his duel against Cyborg.
Chrissy Longfellow, his secretary. This charade allowed them to rekindle their connection,
leading to a romance once their true identities were revealed. Their happiness was cut short
when Count Nefaria resurfaced, now on the verge of death from a failed superhuman experiment.
Whitney brought her father to Stark, begging him to find a cure. However, Nefaria's violent
threats forced Iron Man to confront the crime lord and his minions in a deadly clash. When
Nefaria's life support system was damaged during the fight, Whitney was struck by overwhelming
guilt and descended into madness, severing her ties with Stark and returning to the Magia
to reclaim her role as a ruthless leader. As her criminal activities escalated, Madame Masque
grew increasingly paranoid, fearing betrayal and weakness. To maintain control, she created
bioduplicates of herself, robots and clones to act as her stand-ins and bodyguards. One
of these bioduplicates, known simply as Masque, developed an independent streak and became
an ally to the Avengers, urging Whitney to reconsider her path and join forces with the heroes. The
duplicate's nobility led her to sacrifice herself to protect the Avengers and take down Count
Nefaria, who had returned with powerful Ionic abilities. This selfless act shook Whitney
to her core, as she saw the admiration and mourning from Iron Man and the Avengers, forcing her
to confront the nature of her own paranoia and distrust. Despite this revelation, she chose
not to renounce her criminal past entirely, though she acknowledged her need for change.
Years later, Whitney found a new partner and purpose when she became the second in command
and lover to Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, a rising figure in New York's criminal underworld.
With the superhero community fractured by the Superhuman Registration Act, The Hood saw an
opportunity to unite the underworld, using his mystical powers to protect criminals in exchange
for their loyalty. Madame Masque joined them in battling the New Avengers, though shortly
after she fought alongside Earth's heroes to repel the Skrull invasion, briefly aligning
herself with humanity's defenders. You can learn more about the Avengers and the Superhuman
Registration Act and the Skrull invasion in our Justice League vs Avengers duel episode.
Her relationship with the Hood deepened as she supported him during his struggle with demonic
possession by Dormammu, and her loyalty was made evident when she finally revealed her
disfigured face to him as a symbol of trust. Despite this loyalty to the hood, she remained
unable to suppress her volatile emotions for Tony Stark, leading to a violent confrontation
with Pepper Potts when Norman Osborn put a bounty on Tony Stark's head. In a desperate bid to
force Stark's love, she demanded his romantic confession only for Tony to choose Pepper over
her. Enraged, she engaged Pepper in the rescue armor in a brutal fight only to be incarcerated.
After escaping custody,
forming alliances and taking on high stakes jobs. She connected again with the Hood, who
now wielding the Reality Gem, used its power to heal her facial scars. She traveled to Madripoor,
where she bit on a videotape that appeared to blackmail Hawkeye for murder. During this mission,
Madame Masque was ambushed by Kate Bishop, who impersonated her in an attempt to recover the
tape, and it was destroyed. Furious, Madame Masque vowed revenge on Kate and tracked her
to Los Angeles, luring the hero into a trap Kate would later escape. In the end, Shields
dismantled Mademask's Los Angeles-based operation, leading to her arrest. Upon her release, she
joined Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil, acting as his right-hand woman. You can learn more
about Kate Bishop in our Batgirl versus Hawkeye duel episode, and more about Baron Zemo in
his duel against Lex Luthor. Mademask's interests took a darker turn, and she began collecting
magical artifacts to empower herself. seeking control over magic as a means of survival and
dominance. She raided Castle Doom for the mystical Wand of Votum, engaging in a showdown with
Ironman, after which she was possessed by demonic forces. Only a collaboration between Doctor
Doom and Doctor Strange saved her as they performed an exorcism and handed her over to S.H.I.E.L.D.
custody. After escaping, Mademask orchestrated a brutal gang war in New York, faking her own
death in a car explosion set by the Magia Enforcer turned leader. Hammerhead. She infiltrated
the Magia from within in disguise, capturing Hammerhead and declaring herself the new leader
of the organization. Seeking total control of New York's crime scene, she manipulated her
rivals through mind control, gathering her forces for a final showdown with the rival gangs.
However, Spider-Man and his allies intervened, disrupting her plans as they freed her mind-controlled
allies. Despite her careful preparations, she was turned over to authorities by Spider-Man,
swearing vengeance against him and her gang And that's her backstory. Powers-wise, Madam
Mask has no innate superhuman abilities, but is trained and skilled in a variety of arenas.
This includes her expertise in gymnastics, martial arts, and marksmanship. She wears a golden
mask that can protect her head from psychic intrusion and gunfire. She is a master of disguise,
often using her resources to create technological and biological clones of herself for further
deception, though for this match she'll employ holographic image-inducers for that effect.
She carries modified handguns that can fire high caliber bullets, concussive blasts of
energy, or sleeping gas cartridges. She is also a master strategist and has dabbled in some
magic using artifacts that can induce hypnosis. Her weakness is that she is always extremely
paranoid, making her mentally unstable. And there you have it. She has a lot of gadgets
and stuff, but I'm not worried. Black Mask's got this because she doesn't have any gadgets
to stop bullets. Well she has her mask, her golden mask. As does Black Mask. So I guess
we're even. A wooden mask is not bulletproof. Not like a gold plated metal mask is. So I
don't know how Black Mask's mask is going to stop bullets. But I guess we'll find out. Dude,
Ebony is real hard. Yeah, and these are real hard bullets. And you are real hard headed.
If you think he's going to win this match. I thought you were going an entirely different
route. I'm so glad that you said headed right there. Yes.
Where fantasies collide and heroes clash, one podcast network rises above the rest. Prepare
yourself for the ultimate showdowns in comic books, video games, movies, and anime. The
Dynomic Podcast Network presents Console Combat, where video game legends brawl every Monday.
Dynamic Duel, where comic book titans smash every Tuesday. Max Destruction. TV and action
heroes battle every Wednesday, and Sendro World, where anime champions clash every Thursday.
Join us as we speculate on the matches and armed with the power of mathematical simulations,
discover who will emerge victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com where we settle the debate and settle the score.
But now that we've got their histories and abilities out of the way, let's speculate on how one
of the 1000 simulated matches will go. The winner is determined by simulations, not the speculation,
but it's fun to imagine how this fight could play out. AJ9K, what are the rules of our speculation?
Well, I should say there are no rules, other than the characters have no prior knowledge
of the other going into the fight. All they are aware of starting out is that the other
character is a threat that needs to be eliminated. For the speculation... contestants will begin
approximately 50 meters apart in a nondescript environment that will have no bearing on the
match itself as no environmental statistics are considered in my simulations. The contestants
must earn victory on their own merit. Alright then let's get into it. Black Mask and Madame
Mask meet on the battlefield. Who goes first? I think since Black Mask has a Tommy gun, he
has to start by just blasting that thing at Madame Masque, Say hello to my little friend.
All right, so Madam Masks is like, oh shit. And she immediately takes off running. But
as she runs, she's going to start creating holographic copies of herself using her image inducer.
And soon there's like 15 different Madam Masks on the battlefield. And Black Mask doesn't
know which one is real. And he runs out of bullets. OK, so that's when he just pulls out his spare
ammo drum from his jacket. He's going to lock that thing into place. and just start blasting
all of the figures in front of him, just laughing like a maniac. All right, well, his laughing
like ha is gonna turn into ow ow, when suddenly the real Madame Masque shoots the Tommy gun
with a concussive beam from her handgun, and it's just gonna shatter his Tommy gun, exploding
it in Black Mask's hands, and then she's gonna fire another round from a second pistol, this
time it's a high caliber bullet, that goes right through one of his knee caps. Oh damn, well.
Okay, Black Mask, he has a high tolerance for pain. So as he is limping to the side to dodge
any more gunfire, he's going to pull out his handgun from his holster and just bullseye
Madam Mask right in the forehead, which, you know, isn't going to kill her, but it certainly
knocks her out cold. Well, she got shot in the face with her mask on. We'll say she's heavily
dazed and on the ground for sure. And while she's on the ground. That's when Black Mask
is gonna limp over to her and pull out a pair of needle nose pliers, like one of several
torture devices he probably keeps on him, which he uses to grab her ear and he starts yanking
it to rip it off. That's some sick twisted shit, man. I've honestly, I've seen Black Mask do
worse. Well, before he can yank her ear off with pliers, she's gonna snap right out of
her fog from being shot. She's gonna pull out a magical artifact from her utility belt that
looks like a small sundial, which is gonna create this like hypnotic sigil. And she's gonna put
Black Mask under a hypnotic trance. And while he's in this like stupor, she's gonna stand
up and just start pistol whipping the shit out of him. Calling him a sick fuck and knocking
the ebony teeth out of his skull mask and just stomping him in the ribs, cracking him. Well,
I mean that would certainly snap- Black Mask out of his hypnosis. We'll see that as, you
know, Meta Mask is about to stomp his torso again, Black Mask quickly just pulls out a
knife and drives into Meta Mask's shin before pulling it out and slicing her other leg's
ankle. Okay, so they're basically just reducing each other to crawling and limping for the
rest of this match, I guess. Basically. She's gonna fall to the ground, and as Black Mask
like tries to crawl over to her, Madam Mask is gonna unleash a gas pellet that like fills
her vicinity with sleeping gas and that's gonna knock Black Mask out cold. It's not gonna knock
her out too? No, she has a mask on. So does he! Yeah, but hers like covers her nose and
mouth. Well how does she breathe then? Well like through a respirator in her mask, most
likely. Interesting. Anyway, she doesn't get affected by the sleeping gas, he does, he's
out cold, that gives her enough time to crawl over to him. and she's just going to yank his
mask off and finish him off with a shot right through the forehead. Well, I mean, his mask
is actually melted onto his face. So it'd be hard to just yank off. That's exactly what
she does then. She just rips the whole damn face off. Damn! Just like in that movie. Face
off? No, not that one. Guardians of the Galaxy 3? Yep, there you go. That's what I'm talking
about. Okay, well, as she's yanking his face off, Again, that for sure wakes Black Mask
up. You know, he just snaps out of it and he quickly whips out like a small torch from his
sleeve and just burns her right in the gut while she's over him. And while she's in shock from
this attack, he's going to rip off her mask and allowing him to influence her psychically
into taking her own life. Wait, so he has like a mini blowtorch on him. Yeah, like all kinds
of like torture gear. OK. Well, I think honestly, he'd be in too much pain from getting his face
peeled off to do any sort of psychic attack or anything really. So, yeah, I think Madame
Mask ends up winning. Well, he couldn't even do the psychic attack if the mask was removed
from his face. So this happens before that. She doesn't even get to rip off his mask. And
I'm saying she does. So let's go ahead and find out what scenario happens. Either she pills
his face off with his mask or he. peels her mask off and psychically gets her to off herself.
Either way, somebody's mask is coming off. Let's find out which one by inputting the stats,
running the simulations and coming back with a winner. AJ9K, hit it. Inputting data, running
calculations, processing results, simulations complete. You know, sometimes we do matches
on this show, like the Two-Face and Jigsaw one comes to mind, where it's like, we just need
therapy afterward. It's just too violent. or like Red Hood and Punisher, the characters
with guns who like don't have any other powers except for that are not fun to speculate with.
Yeah, but I don't know, I think we did as well as we could with these two characters. Statistically
they were pretty close to being even. We said they had about the same speed, durability,
damage level, fighting skill, intelligence, range, and perception. Yeah, no surprise there.
I figured the characters were going to be really similar. We did give the edge in evasiveness
to Madam Mask as well as the edge in versatility. Yeah, because she is like an Olympic level
gymnast and has like magical artifacts and high tech gadgets like sleeping gas pellets and
stuff like that. Where Madam Mask had an advantage in agility over Black Mask, Black Mask had
a slight advantage in strength. Yeah, the dude was literally able to destroy his father's
coffin with a huge rock slab with his bare hands. and go toe to toe with Batman. So yeah, dude's
jacked. Not like Ewan McGregor at all. But taking all of this into consideration, Joseph, who
do you think is gonna get the win? I think Madame Massey is gonna take it. I think she just has
a lot going for her in terms of the number of gadgets she has, which I think gives her the
versatility to. avoid damage and to really cause confusion on the battlefield, whether it's
through her duplicates or whether it's through her magical artifacts, something like that,
I think is going to put her over the top here. And no one agrees with me. Basically on Instagram,
Black Mask clearly won that poll that we've put up there with 69% of the poll takers saying
that Black Mask was going to beat Madame Masque. You know why? It's because he's cool. Way cooler
than Madame Masque. No one knows who the hell she is. Iron Man fans know who Madam Mask is.
Yeah, but Iron Man fans are MCU fans and they don't read the comics. They have no idea who
she is. I think they do. Well, let's find out if the Instagram poll matches the actual results.
AJ9K, the results please. Here you are, sir. All right, the winner of the matchup between
Black Mask and Madam Mask is... Madam Mask. She won. 573 of the 1000 matches or 57.3% of
the time compared to Black Mask who only won 42.7. I mean Black Mask might be brutal but
he just doesn't have enough brutality to overcome everything that MadamaSK can throw at him.
Yeah what gave her the win was definitely her increased versatility and evasiveness. It was
something that Black Mask just couldn't compete with. It's actually a higher percentage. then
I thought she would win by like it's almost 60% which was kind of surprising. Well when
you think about it, Black Mask is just a dude with a gun and a black mask. Yeah, that's fair.
It's literally in the name what he is. Are you sad? Eh, not really. There are other Batman
villains that I'm bigger fans of. He's pretty brutal in the comics, you know, as are a lot
of Batman villains, but I don't know, he just doesn't have as much character I would say.
Yeah, you're sad. I feel like you want me to be more sad. And I'm not going to give you
that satisfaction. You know what? I'm happy he lost. I'm proud that he lost. Yeah, what
are you going to do? Call you a fake DC fan, I guess. Oh, no, I am sad. But that does it
for this duel. AJ 90K help close this out. Thanks for listening to Dynamic duel. Visit the show's
website at dynamicduel.com and follow us on Instagram at dynamicduelpodcast. You can support
the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicduel and joining a tier that works for you, or by
rating and reviewing Dynamic duel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website. Don't
forget to listen to the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, including Max Destruction,
Senjow World and Console Combat. In our next episode, we will be doing another duel, this
time between another Batman villain, Copperhead, against a Spider-Man villain, Scorpion. Yeah,
we're going with the Spider-Man villain and lead up to the Kraven the Hunter film that
is coming out later in December. And Scorpion is one of my favorite Spider-Man villains,
so I'm really looking forward to it. So tune in for that next week. That does it for this
episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers, Ken Johnson. John Swarovski,
Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Brandon Nestorgarden, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi
Yaiten, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew Shunk,
Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kersting, Josh Leiner, and Mike Williams for helping
make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers.
Wait, Jim Carries the Mask wasn't one of the contenders. I want my money back.