Origin

Stanley Ipkiss buys a mask from an oddities store for his girlfriend Katherine Mathews. On his way home he is attacked by a biker gang. As Stanley drives home after the attack he fantasizes about killing the gang in various ways. The mask starts talking to him telling him to kill them. Stanley puts this off to feeling upset after the attack. He gives the mask to Katherine and goes to bed.

During the night Ipkiss wakes to use the bathroom, when he enters the bathroom he sees the mask on the toilet. Thinking it was a prank to scare him he puts on the mask to give Katherine a taste of his own medicine. This changes him into Big Head and, feeling pretty good, he shimmies down the drainpipe and murders the biker gang that attacked him earlier that day.

Mayor Story Arcs

After a while Stanley starts to become irritable and almost hits Katherine, he manages to stop himself then takes the mask and goes out to kill more people who have wronged him, this time two mechanics at Yorky's Mufflers and his old school teacher.

After killing everyone on his list he decides to become a super hero, however Katherine throws the mask in the trash thinking that Stanley is obsessed. She was right, Ipkiss overreacts to the mask being thrown out but decides it will be fine seeing as he has already killed everyone on his list, he laughs at the deaths of his victims which are on the news and is subsequently thrown out of Katherine's apartment.

Stanley then realizes that Katherine must have gotten the mask out of the garbage and climbs into her apartment through a window, he wakes Katherine whilst doing this and she calls the police. Because the police takes too long to arrive she waits for the "Burglar" to come through the door and smashes a lamp over his head. She realizes it was Stanley and when the police arrive she tries to get rid of them but Stanley who had found the mask kills the police and then goes on a rampage murdering police officers. Lt. Kellaway, who has been investigating the Big Head murders, manages to corner Ipkiss on the roof and shoots him. Stanley falls off the roof and manages to steal a police car. Meanwhile, Katherine has figured out that Stanley is actually Big Head, when Stanley goes back to his apartment Katherine is waiting for him, when he takes off the mask she shoots him dead and wears the mask herself.

Powers & Abilities

The Mask is a very powerful object, which defies our laws of science indefinitely. The possibilities with this awesomely powerful mask is said to be limited by the wearer and their imagination. There have been accounts of Matter Manipultion, Super Strength/Speed/Agility/Durability/Senses, Invulnerability and even Increased Intelligence with the sacrifice of losing one's sanity. Object Manifesation and Altering the very fabric of time and space.

The power of the mask defies all laws of physics and science, it's power is only limited by its wearer making it one of the most powerful items in the Comic Universe.

Other Media

Movie

Prior to finding the Mask, Ipkiss was a hopeless romantic who maintained that "Nice Guys Finish Last", and was quite happy to be the nice guy finishing last. Being the nice guy that he is, he was often bullied by those around him, whether it be his land lord Mrs. Peenman or his obnoxious car mechanics.

His only real friends are his dog Milo, who he considers to be quite the companion and also his womanizing friend Charlie, who also works at the Bank.

Ipkiss goes through what would seemingly be a mid-life crises when he is rejected from a nightclub, his mechanics declare his car as unavailable and so he is given a car they dub 'the loaner' which is not in any way an attractive vehicle. He parked on a bridge looking down into the water contemplating life when he sees what he thinks to be a man or body floating in the water. He hurries down to the water's edge in an attempt to save the person, but it turns out to just be some compiled garbage floating.

In this garbage however Ipkiss finds 'The Mask'. It shines a mystical sparkle that instantly captivates Ipkiss into taking it home.

Stanley gets home and out of pure desperation places the mask upon his face. Not knowing the awesome power of doing so, Staley launches himself around the room in a hurricane manner until finally coming to a stand-still as "The Mask". No direct name is given to this character, he is simply referred to as "The Mask" or "Stanley Ipkiss wearing The Mask".

At first it seems Ipkiss has no direct control, the mask seems to operate under the control of the subconscious. Making deep seeded intuition a very common projection.