M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) is a media franchise created by

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ' ...

. The main premise revolved around the fight between the titular protagonist underground task force and the criminal organization V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). After its initial launch in 1985, the franchise spawned a variety of products and presentations, including four series of

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...

s, an animated television series,

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

, comics, and a live-action theatrical film currently in development by

Hasbro Studios Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

and

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

History

M.A.S.K. was developed by Kenner in 1985, along with an animated television series to help with

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

merchandising. The animated series debuted the same year and ran for two seasons (1985 to 1986). It focused mostly on toys released during the first two series of the toyline. From 1987 to 1988, Kenner released two additional series of action figures and vehicles. However, these last two series strayed from the original theme of the series of crime-fighting and terrorism, focusing instead on a racing theme.

Action figures (1985–1988)

The M.A.S.K. toyline ran from 1985 to 1988, releasing four official series through those years. Each series featured vehicles with hidden gimmicks designed to represent combat-ready forms. Most vehicles came with one or two drivers, and each character had a mask that was depicted in fiction as having a certain special ability.

Animated series (1985–1986)

Debuting in 1985, the animated series followed the original premise where M.A.S.K., a law enforcement task force led by Matt Trakker, fought against V.E.N.O.M., a criminal organization led by Miles Mayhem. The series was produced by DIC Enterprises, Inc. M.A.S.K ran in broadcast syndication on local

TV stations A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

across America for two seasons (from 1985 to 1986). In total, 75 episodes were aired.

Other media

Comics

M.A.S.K.-inspired comics have been published by Kenner,

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, Grandreams, Fleetway Publications,

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

, and IDW. The first M.A.S.K. comics were three mini-comics produced by

that were packaged with the vehicles from the first series of toys in 1985. After the success of the franchise,

picked up the rights and produced a special insert which appeared in several comic books dated September and November 1985 to launch a four-issue miniseries (December 1985 – March 1986). This was soon followed by another insert in comics dated from June to November 1986 and a regular series that lasted nine issues (February–October 1987). A selection of the DC strips were reprinted in the UK, by Grandreams in Christmas annuals (1986 and 1987), which also featured original text stories. Fleetway's ''M.A.S.K.'' comic magazine, initially published fortnightly before moving to a weekly pattern, featured entirely new plots produced by British writers and artists, in the standard mostly black-and-white short strip format of British comics. The stories were in their own continuity, not connected to either the cartoon series or DC/Grandreams comics. There was a notable difference in the comics in that V.E.N.O.M. knew the identities of M.A.S.K. agents, whereas in the first cartoon series they did not. This weekly title lasted 80 issues before merging with the second incarnation of ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

'' in 1988. M.A.S.K. was presented at the 2011

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a ...

by Hasbro in a convention-exclusive one-shot comic titled ''UNIT-E'' that featured various Hasbro licenses. Written by

Andy Schmidt Peter Andrewes "Andy" Schmidt is an American comic book editor and writer. He is best known for his work at Marvel and is now editing and writing at other companies. Career At Marvel Schmidt was an Associate Editor and mainly worked on the "Marv ...

, M.A.S.K. was repackaged therein as a rogue quasi-law enforcement agency battling corruption in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, led by Matt Trakker and four original team members, including a married couple. In 2016, the franchise was reintroduced as part of IDW's ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

'' crossover series, with writing by Brandon Easton and artwork by Tony Vargas. Matt Trakker is depicted as

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

in the series; Easton described the character as "an engineering genius and intellectual bad boy who has been in search of stability since the loss of his father at an early age". M.A.S.K. branched out into its own series starting in November but was canceled by IDW after only ten issues, with the final issue released on August 23, 2017. The series garnered two 2017

Glyph Comics Awards The Glyph Comics Awards is for the best comics made by people of color from the last calendar year. The goal is to award the People of Color for their awesome work in the comics industry and also to inspire young writers from diverse backgrounds ...

: the "Fan Award for Best Comic" and "Best Male Character" for Matt Trakker."2017 Glyph Award Winners Announced"
''Previews World'' (May 22, 2017). Although the series was canceled, the characters from Brandon Easton's M.A.S.K. comics series returned later in 2017 as part of IDW's ''First Strike'' crossover series, featured in both a one-shot issue and a six-issue mini-series.

Video games

Beginning in 1987, British software house

Gremlin Graphics Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in ...

released a trilogy of computer games based on the franchise for various eight-bit computer formats. The first game, ''M.A.S.K. I'', was a vertically-viewed 2D game in which the player controls the Thunderhawk vehicle. The premise of the game is that V.E.N.O.M. have propelled Boulder Hill into a time vortex, and the player must rescue the other members of M.A.S.K. by collecting and re-assembling parts of a scan key, which then directs the player to the location of the missing personnel. The game received mostly favorable reviews at the time, although it was noted by some that the tie-in to the franchise was quite tenuous and only the graphics, rather than the storyline and gameplay, connected it to the franchise. The second game, ''M.A.S.K. II'', also released in 1987, was a 2D horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up. The game featured many more of the M.A.S.K. vehicles, and included a selection process in which the player chose which vehicles to use before the game began. Only one vehicle could be controlled at a time but these could be quickly interchanged. Again, the game was received favorably in the press, where it was noted that it was a better tie-in to the franchise than the first, because it featured more of the vehicles. The final game in the trilogy, ''M.A.S.K. III – V.E.N.O.M. Strikes Back'', another 2D horizontal shoot-em-up, was released in 1988. The premise of this final entry is that V.E.N.O.M. have kidnapped and are holding Scott Trakker on the moon. The player controls Matt Trakker (unrecognizable in a space suit with helmet) through a series of static screens featuring platform puzzles and obstacles which must be overcome using the powers of the various masks. The player can hold up to four masks at a time, but can only use the power of one at a time. The masks can also be exchanged at certain points in the game. This game received the best reviews of the trilogy, despite the deviation from the franchise's storyline and style. All three game entries were released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

, Commodore 64 and

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

formats, while the second and third games were also released for the MSX format.

Television

In the animated series '' Transformers: Prime'' and '' Transformers: Robots in Disguise'', M.A.S.K. is referred as a division of the United States military that developed a special vehicle (which they described as "experimental, all-terrain, expeditionary fighting"). Years later, several copies of that vehicle have been apparently mass-produced.

Film

In December 2015, Hasbro and Paramount were joining forces to create a shared cinematic universe combining M.A.S.K. with ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

'', ''

Micronauts Micronauts is a North American science fiction toyline manufactured and marketed by Mego from 1976 to 1980. The ''Micronauts'' toyline was based on and licensed from the ''Microman'' toyline created by Japanese-based toy company Takara in 1974. ...

'', '' Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light'', and ''

Rom Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

''. A group of screenwriters that included

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

Cheo Hodari Coker Cheo Hodari Coker (born December 12, 1972) is an American former music journalist turned television writer and producer known for such television series as ''Luke Cage'', '' NCIS: Los Angeles'', '' Southland'' and '' Ray Donovan''. Coker also wro ...

, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein was hired to develop storylines, with

Akiva Goldsman Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes '' The Client''; '' Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' ...

overseeing the project. In 2018, Daley and Goldstein told to

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

that M.A.S.K.'s inclusion in the film project was "unlikely to happen" without specifying a reason, but Paramount announced that the M.A.S.K. film project would commence, directed by

F. Gary Gray Felix Gary Gray (born July 17, 1969) is an Americans, American film director, film producer, and music video director. Gray began his career as a director on numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning music videos, including "It Was a Good ...

and developed as "a contemporary subculture movie with a youth empowerment angle". In 2020, Chris Bremner was attached to pen the script. In May 2021, producer

Lorenzo di Bonaventura Lorenzo di Bonaventura (; born January 13, 1957) is an American film producer and founder and owner of Di Bonaventura Pictures. He is best known for producing the G.I. Joe and ''Transformers'' film series. The films he produced have earned ove ...

revealed that the writer's room that was created for the plans to implement a shared universe of Hasbro intellectual properties failed and would not move forward.