The Court of Owls is secret organization centuries old with immense power and influence embedded into the very architecture and history of Gotham City.
History
The Court of Owls during June, 1891
Origin
The Myth of The Court of Owls is as old or possibly even older than Gotham City itself. Their existence has been passed down from generations in the form of an old Gotham City nursery rhyme: "Beware The Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadow perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them or they'll send The Talon for your head." Throughout The Court of Owls' existence the secret organization also uses The Talons, a group of loyal lethal assassins, whenever they feel that their existence is threatened.
The Threat of Bruce Wayne
Sometime after Bruce Wayne's creation of Batman Incorporated, he feels its time to return to his home, Gotham City. Back home Bruce was feeling confident in his return to Gotham and decided to use his wealth and influence to revitalize the city, announcing his plans to Gotham City's elite residents. However, his big announcement party was soon interrupted when he overhears Commissioner Gordon receiving call about a police report of a mysterious murder. Interested in the case, Bruce donned the Batsuit and arrived on the scene. There he met with Harvey Bullock, where they found the body of a true "John Doe" with no identity at all, the body is crucified with multiple antique throwing knives, all of them marked with the image of an owl. Bullock wondered if the symbol on the knives had anything to do with the old nursery rhyme about The Court of Owls. Batman, on the other hand, was preoccupied with searching for clues, eventually finding skin under the victim's fingernails. Batman quickly sent the skin cells to Alfred Pennyworth, who is back at the Batcave, for DNA recognition. While waiting for the results, Batman finds a secret message on the wall near the body proclaiming "Bruce Wayne will Die Tomorrow." Shortly after finding the message, Batman received word from Alfred that he had found the DNA test results to be startling, as the DNA of the potential killer was a perfect match with one of Batman's closest allies, Dick Grayson.
Attack of The Talon
Bruce dismissed the possibility that the fabled Court of Owls exists, not thinking them much of the threat. He refused to entertain the notion that there was some ancient organization pulling the strings of Gotham, as he believed no one knows the city better than he does. However, during a meeting with Gotham mayoral candidate Lincoln March, he was warned by Lincoln that an ancient evil has come back to Gotham, awakened by the ambitious new plans for the city that Bruce had been promoting. Almost immediately, Talon burst from an elevator, leaving two deceased security guards in his wake. After plunging a knife in Lincoln's chest, the Talon attacked Bruce. The Talon managed to stab Bruce multiple times, and despite eventually getting his arm around Talon's neck, Bruce was unable to choke the assassin out, despite applying more than enough force. Bruce was stunned from the thought that the Talon would not go down, even after he applied more than ten times the force required to crush a human windpipe. Talon threw Bruce out the window of Old Wayne Tower, and jumped after him, claiming that he "loves killing Waynes". Bruce managed to catch a gargoyle on his way down, shaking off the Talon who hit the street below. EMT's picked up the seemingly dead body, but a short time later, the Talon's body came back to life, killing the people disposing of him into a morgue and further reinforcing the notion that the Talon is immortal.
Later, as Batman, Bruce sought answers as to how the Talon found his way into Old Wayne Tower. Accosting a group of Ukrainian criminals called the "Whisper Gang" in the subway, he beat them all up and demanded to know how the Talon entered the Tower, as the section of the rail lines that they controlled was the only possible secret route into the building. After an altercation with half a dozen other members, The Whisper Gang member remaining in Batman's presence could not give Bruce any answer as to how anyone could have entered the tower. After narrowly escaping from a trap in one of the Court's ancient bases, Bruce exhumed the body of his ancestor Alan Wayne. Alan was deathly afraid of owls in the last years of his life, many people considered him paranoid. He was suspected to have been killed by the Court of Owls as he had ranted about owls hunting him in the days leading up to his death. However, no one believed him at the time, dismissing his fears as the effects of senility. As Batman, he enters the sewer system to investigate the spot where Alan's body was found, and while his back was turned the Talon suddenly appeared and pounced.
Enter The Labyrinth
The Talon held Bruce captive in a giant maze constructed by the Court for over a week, during which time Bruce had no food but only a constant supply of drugged water from a fountain, which caused him to have vivid, disturbing hallucinations. He desperately tried to find a way out of the maze while the Talon watched him from the shadows. Upon finding a weak tile on the floor, he ripped it out and entered a room filled with pictures of Batman. He screams "I'm not listening! I'm not listening to you!" while the Talon slowly walked up to him and impaled him from behind with a sword. While the battered and bleeding Bruce crawled across the floor of the labyrinth, the Talon looked up to the Court and asks them how they wished to see Batman die. The youngest member tells Talon "Hurt him......more", so the assassin proceeded to thrash Bruce, finally kicking him through a wall and leaving him for the Court to tear apart. Weakened and close to succumbing, Bruce contemplated surrendering to his fate and meeting his end at the hands of the Court. Then he spotted a broken portrait of his ancestor Alan Wayne. The terror in Alan's expression fills Bruce with a potent burst of rage and anger, and he leaped back on his feet. The Talon was amused by his defiance and walked up to end him, but Bruce charged at him and violently beat him around the labyrinth. After beating him unconscious, Bruce used the potassium chlorate in a nearby camera to trigger an explosion that dropped him into the river as an escape route. The members of the Court walk up to the Talon's unconscious form and one of their leaders (an elderly woman) decided to have him disposed of since it's unlikely he would recover psychologically from the beating he received at Batman's hands. She then turned to the room filled with caskets, all filled with Talons, and gives the order to wake them all up for the war against Batman.
Allies
Enemies
In Other Media
Television
Gotham
- See also: Court of Owls (Gotham)
The Court of Owls make their debut near the end of the second season of Gotham as the employers of Hugo Strange, who they want to find a way to bring back the dead with their memories intact.
Notes
- The Court of Owls was created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo and made it first appearance in Batman (Volume 2) #1.
Trivia
- Even though The Court of Owls made their first appearance in Batman (Volume 2), creator and writer Scott Snyder actually planted hints and easter eggs of their existence in his Detective Comics run during his story arc "The Black Mirror" and his mini-series Batman: Gates of Gotham.
- In an interview, Scott Snyder stated that one of his inspirations for the "owl" motif is the Silver Age character, Owlman, an alternate evil version of Batman who comes from Earth-3.