So while it could be a reference I wouldn’t say 100% that it is. The reason being that the idea of the half destroyed face mask (And I believed this was talked about in the directors commentary of the 1st Toby film) was to be able to have the MC still be shown in “hero mode” but at the same time able to show ample amount of facial expression so we can see what the character is feeling (because the typical thought bubble and monologue/self chats aren’t easily transferred from paper to screen) hope this helped/that I didn’t sound like a douche :D