Masque (comics)

Masque is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Masque was originally a prominent member of the sewer-dwelling community of mutant outcasts called the Morlocks, led by Callisto.

Masque first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #169-170 (May–June 1983), and was created by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith.

Masque appeared as part of the "Morlocks" entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #9, and the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7 (2006).

Masque appeared in Marauders #18 (2021) by Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, and Matteo Lolli.

Little is known about Masque's life, except that he was born with severe facial deformities, which led to him living the life as an outcast. This was furthered when Masque discovered that he was a mutant born with the ability to alter people's faces and bodies, reshaping them to whatever he wants. Masque's own body is immune to his powers. This cruel irony embittered Masque against the world and those whose beauty Masque envied and loathed. At some point, Masque was recruited by fellow mutant Callisto, who was seeking to create a new community for homeless and deformed mutants such as Masque and her allies (Caliban, Sunder, and Plague). Masque's job was to use his powers to make ordinary-looking recruits to the Morlock community look ugly to conform to Callisto's notions of the Morlocks being an all-outcast community. The sadistic joy Masque took in using his powers and the fact that he often would turn his victims into outright deformed monsters, created tension between him and Callisto, who would often be forced to make Masque undo his work and restore his victims to normal.

Masque first appeared in the Morlock tunnels after Callisto kidnapped the X-Man Angel to be her unwilling groom. Masque later joins in on Callisto's kidnapping of Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), to force her to go through with her promise to marry Caliban in exchange for his assistance in getting the Morlock, Healer, to help Colossus, after being left melted by Pyro and frozen by Avalanche using liquid nitrogen. As part of their plot, Masque uses his power to turn the corpse of a teenager into a perfect copy of Kitty. However, the body is exposed as a fraud by Wolverine's enhanced sense of smell (a factor Masque and Callisto had not taken into account due to Wolverine being absent when the X-Men first met the Morlocks).

Masque joins a quartet of mutants known as "The Tunnellers", who are taken in by X-Factor in the aftermath of the Marauders slaughtering the Morlock community. They leave X-Factor's headquarters, but cause chaos in New York as Masque mutilates the faces of several gang members who kill one of the Tunnellers. When a police officer shoots Masque, the villain is forced to return to the heroes for medical treatment.

With Callisto presumed dead, Masque begins consolidating power among the Morlocks. He also targets Skids (a Morlock whose force field power protected her from Masque's power) and her lover Rusty Collins. Rusty submits to Masque's savage touch in exchange for Masque using his powers to restore the face of a prostitute who Rusty accidentally disfigured when his fire-based powers first manifested. However, the prostitute orders Masque to undo what he has done to her and Rusty, having found religion and horrified that Rusty would sacrifice his own face to restore hers. Masque consented to her request, but took comfort that he had won the greater game. Despite Caliban's pleas, the Morlocks who X-Factor had taken in return to the tunnels and elect Masque as their leader.