As an avid fan of comic books and horror movies growing up, I have always been fascinated by masks. Being a kid, the interest was simple:

They looked cool.

Characters like Batman, Daredevil, The Flash, Rorschach, etc. were the ones I always related to over characters like Aquaman or Thor because they had a life they were trying to protect outside of being a superhero.

But as I got older I began to look at what makes a grown man (or woman) don the facial concealment. It was more than just wanting to protect their families or careers. There was an actual "psychology" to why they chose this secret life.

BECOMING ANOTHER PERSON

There is something about wearing a mask that allows you to become someone entirely different. This is a fact. Think about yourself during Halloween. You adapt the persona of the character you are impersonating. And it's okay because society says it is right?

By becoming another person (even if it's just in your mind) you also allow yourself to do things you probably wouldn't do without the mask! It's the separation between you and that character.

I'm sure Bruce Wayne would be just as dangerous without the mask. But it's with the mask that he doesn't haven't to hold back. He's not torn as Batman as he would be doing what he does as Bruce Wayne.

This goes beyond fictional characters. Look at some of the EDM DJs like Daft Punk and DeadMau5. They made careers becoming their on-stage personas. I'm pretty sure they are very different in their personal life. And the mask allows them to separate their lives.

FEAR AND SYMBOLISM

We all know what we conjure in our minds when we hear the words, "hockey mask."

Obviously Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise. It's an image that for most of us have haunted our dreams.

The character Scarecrow from Batman uses his mask as an instrument of fear, when in truth, Jonathan Crane is as ordinary and unremarkable as they come. But with the mask, he is one of the most feared characters in Batman's rouge gallery. The same can be said about the character Bane! In the movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," he even insinuated that his mask gave him validity and power.

But on the flip side of fear is: Hope!

Characters who are protectors in fiction wear their masks as symbol of goodness. To be feared only by those who commit wrong doings. It's an unspoken agreement that they are there to do whats right for the people.

Take a character like Watchmen's Rorschach. His mask is an actual Rorschach ink blot test on his face. So his enemies see what ever their damaged psyches want them to see (and it's usually bad!).

Cause in our minds, a human face, though no matter how attractive or grotesque, doesn't conjure the same feelings as we get from seeing the mask. The mask gives life to the imagination. It can be something that gives us nightmares or dares us to believe in something greater!

CONCLUSION

Hero or villain, It takes a certain personality to want to dress up and become a different person. And it comes down to two things:

EGO AND ESCAPISM!

Those who put on masks in fiction are always the ones prone to theatrics. Otherwise, why not just be a cop or a plain clothes criminal? And that personality when it come down to it, wants more than anything else, to be REMEMBERED! Whether they want to admit it to themselves or not, they like being different and worshiped.

Who doesn't want to be "exceptional?" A cut above the "normal" person. Look at celebrities. I mean the people who really embrace it. They want the cameras, the fawning, the gossip. Because it separates them. Lifts them above the "common folk." Basically it makes them SPECIAL!

But along with that is the not having to deal with "ordinary problems" and believing that your cause, gives you a greater meaning.

Sure, you could say most heroes do it to protect their loved ones from retaliation, but there is something they also love about being that other person. Many times you see in a character like Spiderman who, as Peter Parker, has everything going wrong for him. But once he puts on the mask, it's like his teenage problems go away.

It's escapism at its best! It's FREEDOM FROM THE MUNDANDE!

And who wouldn't want a break from their everyday life? From bills, family problems, career issues, or relationship drama? And no matter what side of justice you stand on, it's a temptation that if most people could move on, they would!

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this little rant of mine. Maybe it'll give you something to ponder when work gets boring!

By the way guys, If you liked this piece, be sure to check out my other work:

"WHAT A REAL WORLD SUICIDE SQUAD COULD LOOK LIKE!"

"5 SIMPLE RULES FOR BECOMING A SUPERVILLAIN"