No offense to staunch supporters of the DCEU, but Warner Bros.’ shared superhero universe has hardly been renowned for its world-class villains that leave an indelible mark on cinema, which is why so much of the conversation tends to revolve around Ewan McGregor’s scenery-chewing Birds of Prey antagonist Black Mask.
When you break down the franchise’s films, only a couple of big bads stand out as truly worthy of being showered in praise, and it most definitely isn’t Suicide Squad‘s Enchantress/Incubus combo, Justice League‘s Steppenwolf, Shazam!‘s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s Lex Luthor, depending on how you feel about Jesse Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg-inspired turn.
As a result, McGregor’s Roman Sionis has emerged near the head of the pack almost by default, but that hasn’t stopped the debate from raging all over again on Reddit, with staunch DCEU supporters listing the pros and cons of Black Mask’s villainy, and how he stacks up compared to the rest of his nefarious peers.
Birds of Prey suffered the misfortune of bombing at the box office in early 2020, and it didn’t even have the pandemic to use an excuse. However, Margot Robbie’s offbeat solo adventure almost instantly became a cult favorite, and it remains one of the DCEU’s better-reviewed entries among critics.
On the other hand, it’s proven to be a lot more polarizing when it comes to the fandom, so it’s no surprise the merits of McGregor’s wonderfully hammy approach to the iconic comic book villain have proven to be so contentious and fiercely-debated.