Thursday, May 29, 2014

Does the Titan of Titor Have to Be "Somebody?"

What if the mask is all that the Titan has?
Photo Credit: Zia Hiltey
The latest maleficent marauder, known only as the Titan of Titor, to be added to the ranks of the nefarious Flood Sunday was a masked man, clad in black, who had tubes feeding into his headpiece from the rest of his gear. I described his general look as akin to Bane from the Batman mythos, while others compared him to Kabal from the Mortal Kombat universe. Either way, the fearsome presence made an impact through the chokebreaker-induced "death" of Kobald. If he's not the final boss battle target in this battle, to keep it in Mortal Kombat terms, he is the Kintaro to whoever is Shao Khan. In this comparison, Jimmy Jacobs is Shang Tsung.

Of course, the debut of a new masked character led to some questions as to what face might be under said mask. Far be it from me to cast aspersions on those who were guessing, as I was in my seat at the Easton Funplex asking myself and those around who it could be. In a story where so many old and familiar names have come back to stake claims of revenge, it's completely natural to speculate on secret identities whenever someone new under a hood debuts.

But what if "no one" is under the hood? What if this Titan of Titor is just another new character to be added into the fray, much like Tursas was with the advent of the BDK, like the members of the Gekido were, like the Colony: Xtreme Force and Baltic Siege both seem to be? Chikara debuts masked wrestlers all the time without any pretense of denuding their faces and revealing someone who used the anonymity for ulterior motives.

Then again, at times the promotion has used misdirection with masks. Tim Donst, Larry Sweeney, and Pinkie Sanchez have all used various shrouds to conceal true identities before unmasking at opportune moments. And during the Ashes video where 3.0 found Archibald Peck in Parts Unknown, a sign on Peck's evidence board asked "Who is the Titan of Titor?" as if to indicate this behemoth may have lurked in Chikara's ranks before or was someone important to the narrative under another name. While that possibility remains in play, I'm not sure an unmasking is the only satisfying endgame.

Right now, the Titan of Titor is a terrifying figure in his own right. As far as big bads go, he makes his fellow HOSSES within The Flood look at least slightly less imposing. Right now, I think worrying about how this kaiju is going to be stopped by anyone on the roster is the best question to ask. While an unmasking could be in play later on down the line, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in him being more than just a terrible beast in the guise of a man right now.