Pack it in, Arrow, The Flash, and Daredevil. Masks in superhero shows don’t work on TV. At least, that’s what Marvel’s Inhumans star Anson Mount thinks. In a recent interview, Mount — who headlines the upcoming Marvel TV series as the mute Inhuman king Black Bolt — revealed some interesting thoughts about the genre’s tropes. Namely, that masks are prohibitive for a dramatic medium such as television. Maybe that’s why Marvel’s Iron Fist ditched Danny Rand’s sick costume?
In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Mount was asked whether or not his character Black Bolt will wear his signature cowl, which comes with a fork-shaped antenna that helps Black Bolt control his power. His answer was a pretty unambiguous no, at least for now.
“When you’re adapting something from a different medium, even if it’s a visual medium like a graphic novel, to live-action, you have to ground it so that it’s more accessible to the viewer because it’s a colder medium,” Mount said. “They’re not going to be leaning as far forward. I’m a fan of, like every theater geek who went to graduate school I did my time doing mask work. I’m not sure TV is the space for masks.”
Mount isn’t wrong, TV is a very different medium than comic books where all these characters come from. At the same time, shows like Arrow and The Flash have managed to make masks work without dooming their actors from becoming invisible. Plus, fans like it when characters look like they do on the page; Inhumans has some of its costumes down (though fans aren’t too thrilled about Medusa), and Mount looks pretty good in his level-1 cosplay. It’s just strange that of all things to ditch in a Marvel TV show, it’s the mask.
Marvel’s Inhumans will premiere in theaters on IMAX on September 1.
