Masque: having control is the point

Masque: having control is the point Masque was cruel when Callisto could still put limits on him. Giving him more authority makes that cruelty much harder for anyone around him to escape. The power itself is horrifying because of how directly it affects another person. He does not need to convince somebody that they are helpless. He can change the body they are trying to use, then make them depend on whether he is willing to reverse it. Callisto’s treatment is the clearest example of his intentions. In #259 she is his prisoner. The appearance he gives her might look like something desirable from outside the situation, but she is still afraid and still being controlled. The fact that he can take it away is part of the threat. There is a difference between helping somebody change something about their appearance and deciding what they should look like without giving them a choice. Masque keeps that choice for himself. Beauty becomes another thing he can use to punish a person. His history as an outcast does not excuse any of this. The Morlocks’ need for somewhere safe is real. So is the harm he inflicts on people who should be able to expect safety among them. The two things can exist in the same story without one cancelling the other out. What makes this version of him particularly dangerous is the amount of control concentrated in one person. He has people backing him, somewhere to hold captives and a power that can interfere with resistance before a fight even begins. It is a miserable situation for the people underneath him. Someone who has already lost a great deal now has to worry that even their own face is being held at somebody else’s discretion.