Masked villain
A masked villain, also seen as masked mystery villain,fear of the unknown.[7]: 135 The "Mask" need not be literal (although it often is), referring more to the subterfuge involved.
He or she is the often main
red herrings, as to the villain's identity - sometime as the characters find them and sometimes for the audience alone. However, the identity is not usually revealed to the audience before it is revealed to the characters of the story.[8]
Examples
Serials
- "The Clutching Hand" in The Exploits of Elaine
- "The Hooded Terror" in The House of Hate
- Fur-coated Mystery Man in The Phantom Foe
- "Monsieur X" in The Trail of the Octopus
- "The Frog" in The Mark of the Frog
- "The Wolf Devil" in Queen of the Northwoods
- "The Hidden Hand" in The Hidden Hand
- "The Iron Claw" in The Iron Claw
- "The Faceless Terror" in The Fatal Fortune
- "The Purple Shadow" in The Purple Riders
- "The Claw" in The Mystery Rider
- "The Iron Hand" in The Invisible Hand
- "Phantom Face" in The Mystery Mind
- "The Black Hawk" in The Air Mail Mystery
- "The Scorpion" in Blake of Scotland Yard
- "The Tiger Shark" in The Fighting Marines.[7]: 133
- "The Ghost" in Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. - "One of the most memorable of all the masked villains of serials" according to William C. Cline.[7]: 133, 135
- "The Dragon" in Ace Drummond.[9]: 99 [7]: 133
- "The Lightning" in The Fighting Devil Dogs.
- "The Skull" in Deadwood Dick
- "Don Del Oro" in Zorro's Fighting Legion
- "The Wasp" in Mandrake the Magician.[7]: 133
- "The Scorpion" in Adventures of Captain Marvel.[2][7]: 129
- "The Octopus" in The Spider's Web
- "The Gargoyle" in The Spider Returns.[7]: 133
- "The Crimson Ghost" in The Crimson Ghost
- "The Wasp" in Mandrake the Magician
- "Captain Mephisto" in Manhunt of Mystery Island.[7]: 129
- "The Rattler" in Mystery Mountain[7]: 129
- "The Wizard" in Batman and Robin.[7]: 133
- "The Master Key" in The Master Key.
The following villains were not actually "masked" but remained hidden from view:
- "The Voice" in The Vanishing Legion
- "The Black Ace" in The Mystery Squadron.
- "The Lame One" in Dick Tracy.
- "The Black Tiger" in The Shadow.
- "Mr. M" in The Mysterious Mr. M.
- "Dr. Vulcan" in King of the Rocket Men.[9]: 129
Television
- "The Hooded Claw" from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.
Films
- Michael Myers from Halloween[5]
- Darth Vader from Star Wars[10][11]
- Yokai (Robert Callaghan) from Big Hero 6[12]
References
- ISBN 9781556982361.
- ^ ISBN 9780870000621.
- ^ S2CID 239227958– via www.degruyter.com.
- ^ Brasch, I., & Mayer, R. (2016). Modernity management: 1920s cinema, mass culture and the film serial. Screen, 57(3), 302-315.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78683-496-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-2603-8.
- ^ ISBN 9780786409181.
- ^ a b Bah, Aisha (2018). "Cultural Transgression and Subversion: The Abject Slasher Subgenre". The Mall. 2 (1): 72–83. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ ISBN 9780786409365.
- ^ Milligan, Cindy Ann (2015). Sonic Vocality: A Theory on the Use of Voice in Character Portrayal (PhD). Georgia State University. p. 5. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
- ISBN 0-8020-2928-0.
- ^ https://news.disney.com/