Zorro, Batman and The Black Face

Many years ago I started to learn history, as a hobby. It slowly became a passion which goes hand in hand with my other passion, the legends. It grew so much that eventually, after years of research and analysis of ancient documents, ethnographic elements and linguistic theories, I developed a couple of historical proposals, regarding some aspects of Transylvania’s history and its emblematic heroes.

Not being an accredited historian but having expertise in storytelling, I published my proposals as legends, in a book called “From the Iron Gate to the High Porte – 10 Legends from The Land of Hateg” (for the moment, Romanian version only). 

Among these proposals, I have suggested that a Transylvanian nobleman and novel hero from the 1800’s called 'Fatia Negra' / 'The Black Face' was the literary grandfather of 'Zorro', because by being the best-known book of its time in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, it inspired a Hungarian-born English writer, Emma Orczy, to write the best-selling novel 'Scarlet Pimpernel', which later inspired Johnston McCulley to create 'Zorro'. Later on, 'Batman' creator himself, Bob Kane, did credit 'Zorro' and 'Scarlet Pimpernel' as part of the inspiration for 'Batman'. 

'The Black Face' - Transylvanian nobleman and novel hero from the 1800’s

Both Scarlet Pimpernel's & Zorro's chief influence on 'Batman' is the aristocratic and wealthy alter ego. Other possible inspirations from 'Zorro' that also appear in the story of 'The Black Face' include the cape, the face mask, and the lair in a cave.

Could you imagine today's world without 'Batman'? Well... he wouldn't have existed without 'The Black Face'.

'The Black Face' at 'LegendaRoom' - the Transylvanian Museum of Legends