Owlman (comics)

Owlman is a supervillain that appears in comic books published by DC Comics and is the intended evil counterpart of Batman.

Publication history

Owlman first appeared in Justice League of America #29 (August 1964), and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.

Fictional character biography

Earth-Three

Originally, Owlman is an unnamed super-intelligent supervillain who was created as an evil counterpart to Batman and is a member of the criminal organization known as the Crime Syndicate of America who originated and operated on the reverse Earth-Three. In some of the pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate appearances, the Earth-Three Owlman also had the ability to briefly control other people's minds, though it is unclear how he acquired this ability. When he was knocked out, his sub-conscious mind was able to remain active enough for him to say a word enabling him to travel to Earth-Three. He was also able to see in the dark. In the first travel between Earths, they met the JLA and JSA, but were defeated and imprisoned between Earth-1 and Earth-2 by Green Lantern. Later the time travelling villain Per Degaton released them as part of his plan to take over Earth-2 by stealing nuclear missiles from the Cuban Missile Crisis of Earth-Prime. When the Syndicate betrayed him, they are sent to 1982 as he had made sure this would happen when they touched him. When he was defeated, these events were erased from existence.

The pre-Crisis Earth-Three Owlman and all members of his Crime Syndicate were killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series at the hands of the Anti-Monitor from a wave of antimatter destroying pre-Crisis Earth-Three.^[1]

During the Convergence storyline, Owlman was with the Crime Syndicate when they tried to free Superwoman from death row. After their mission failed and the domes fell around the cities, Owlman shied himself away from the battles.^[2]

JLA: Earth 2

The Owlman character was revived (along with his teammates) in the late 1990s for modern DC continuity in the graphic novel JLA: Earth 2. This Owlman was developed to be reflective of the modern readers with a far darker attitude and background than either of the two Earth-Three depictions. On antimatter Earth, Owlman was now Thomas Wayne, Jr., the older brother of that reality's Bruce Wayne. In most mainstream DC universes, Batman's genesis occurred when young Bruce Wayne was witness to the murder of his parents, and was inspired to devote his life to fighting crime.

In the antimatter universe, however, young Bruce was killed along with his mother by a policeman when Thomas, Sr., refused to accompany him for questioning. Thomas, Jr., escaped the crime scene with the hoodlum Joe Chill, whom he considered his hero, and grew up to become Owlman. Equipping himself with a utility belt containing technology and weapons similar to those used by Batman along with possessing a drug-enhanced high intellect (devoted to crime rather than serving the law), Owlman became a master criminal and an ally to Boss Gordon (the antimatter Earth's version of James Gordon).^[1]

Later, he learned that his father, Thomas Wayne, Sr., was still alive and had become the chief of police in their world's version of Gotham City, gathering a cadre of police officers who did not give in to the rampant corruption which infested their version of Earth. Thomas, Jr., blames his father for the deaths of his mother and brother and it is strongly hinted that the main purpose to his criminal career is to punish his father, who is well aware of who he is and is equally determined to destroy his own son. During his visit to the "main" DC Universe, upon discovering the Waynes' grave, he states that nothing matters because "he's dead", presumably referring to Thomas Wayne, Sr., and actually shows a rare moment of pathos as he kneels in front of the grave.

While antimatter Clark Kent (as Ultraman) is the leader of the Syndicate, Thomas, Jr. (as Owlman), is the real brains behind the group. The working relationship between the two is extremely tense, due to Ultraman's desire to rule the planet through fear and violence clashing with Owlman's more pragmatic desire to allow dissent and rebellion to run rampant (going so far as to funding opposition towards the Syndicate) in order to provide himself and his allies in the Syndicates enemies to fight.^[1]

Further complicating things is the fact that Thomas, Jr., has carried on a longtime affair with Ultraman's wife Superwoman. Ultraman is aware of the affair, but due to Thomas, Jr., having undisclosed photographic blackmail material against the villain, he is unable to seek retribution against Owlman for the betrayal.

In JLA: Earth 2, the antimatter Alexander Luthor, a heroic version of Lex Luthor, makes a reference to Owlman's "drug-enhanced" cerebral cortex, although this version of Owlman does not demonstrate any superhuman powers. Presumably, Thomas, Jr., merely uses some sort of drug to enhance his mental capacity though it is not specifically stated how powerful his mental powers are or how they are enhanced through such artificial means.

Thomas, Jr., and his antimatter Crime Syndicate allies appeared in the weekly Trinity series, starting with issue #9. The "Weaponers of Qward" had attacked their Earth, killing millions and tearing apart the landscape. The Syndicate had kidnapped hundreds of innocent people from all 52 realities, including what appeared to be Jimmy Olsen, but was later revealed to be his anti-matter duplicate. It is unclear if Thomas, Jr., allows the JLA to win in order to get the heroes off his source Earth and counterattack after they depart, or if he was actually defeated.

The New 52: Earth 3 (Forever Evil)

In the continuity following DC's 2011 reboot, Owlman is one of the members of the Crime Syndicate to arrive from Earth-3 at the conclusion of the "Trinity War" event. He is a crime lord on Earth-3 and became Owlman after his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (who was later responsible for forming the Secret Society of Super Villains) murdered his family.^[3] He is shown to have disdain for his parents due to his mother's abusive nature and his cowardly father killing his patients as a surgical fetish showing no remorse. Alfred also caused the death of his brother Bruce. Unlike him, Bruce loved their parents. He would later try to replace Bruce with a young acrobat, Dick Grayson, whose parents he got murdered, in order to later make him his partner, Talon. Talon was later murdered by the Joker. During the Forever Evil storyline, where he travels to Earth Prime, he claims control of all crime in Gotham and joins the rest of the Crime Syndicate in the fight against Batman and his allies.^[4] Owlman later accompanies Superwoman to Arkham Asylum where they spring its inmates and capture Nightwing.^[5] In the final battle against the Crime Syndicate, Owlman joins the Crime Syndicate into fighting the Justice League and Lex Luthor's team. In the aftermath of the battle, Owlman is mentioned to still be at large.^[6] He reappears at LexCorp after the events of Forever Evil. A deal takes place between him and Lex Luthor, which involves Luthor providing him with Superwoman's child in return for Owlman's help in defeating the Anti-Monitor.^[7] After the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid are destroyed in battle, Owlman fled by teleporting using the Mobius chair since Ultraman and Superwoman were killed. Later, Owlman appears on the moon where he was trained by Metron who was the previous owner of the Mobius chair. When Owlman access the secrets of the universe, he and Metron are vaporized with a flash of blue light by an unknown entity.^[8]

Alternative versions

Qwardian Owlman

A Qward weaponer, wearing the same costume as the dead pre-Crisis Earth-Three Owlman, appeared one time alongside of a full replacement Qward Crime Syndicate team. This Qward Owlman was easy to identify versus the original human pre-Crisis Earth-Three Owlman due to his warped face and enlarged eyes.

Owlmen of Earth-3

In 52 Week 52, an alternate version of the pre-Crisis Earth-Three was shown as a part of the new Multiverse. In the depiction were characters that are evil versions of the original Justice Society of America, including Batman. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the two panels in which they appear, but the altered Batman is visually similar to Owlman.^[9]

Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-Three, making this a new character unrelated to previous versions.^[10]

In The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society, this reality is stated to be Earth-3, separate from the pre-Crisis Earth-Three reality and an older Owlman is shown with a young sidekick called Talon, who is dressed parallel to Dick Grayson's Robin. The current young Talon had a relationship with Duela Dent, the daughter of his greatest foe, the Jokester, as shown in the Teen Titans series. Based on statements and illustrations in this same book, it is stated one of earlier Talons succeeded the old Owlman in a manner parallel to the way that Wayne as Batman was succeeded by Grayson in the role of Batman for a period of time. as he was shown killed by the Jokester on page 22 of this book with the Jokester's boot on his throat. A young Owlman with a different costume and helmet later appears the same book battling the Jokester.

It is not specified who the old Owlman is, though his face is clearly shown in panel. The old Owlman's exact birth identity has yet to be specified in panel.

This young Owlman with the different costume and helmet appears again in issue #31 of Countdown — assisted by a team referred to as the Crime Society. This young Owlman is specifically stated to be Owlman and the Todd of Earth-3 by Bob the Monitor who fights the Todd of New Earth. New Earth Todd is aided by his own traveling companions, Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy, against the other members of the post-Crisis Earth-3 Crime Society, including a young Ultraman and Spectre counterpart in panel.

Roy Raymond, Jr.

In the absence of Batman, the Outsiders have been joined by a new Owlman. A "Trick or Treat" tease from the October 2008 edition of DC Nation ("The Owl and the Butler are the Same Person") hinted that it would be Alfred Pennyworth behind the mask. However, in Outsiders Special #1 (2009), it appeared to be Roy Raymond, Jr., that would become Owlman. This is confirmed in Outsiders vol. 4, #15 (Feb. 2009), where Raymond does become Owlman, with equipment left for that purpose by Batman.

The New 52: Earth-0

In The New 52 continuity, a man who claims himself to be Thomas Wayne, Jr. of Prime Earth first appears in Batman #1.^[11] He claims he was Bruce's younger brother, born prematurely as the result of an attempt on Martha Wayne's life by the Court of Owls.^[12] He survived and was sent to be cared for in the Willowwood Home for Children. Shortly thereafter, the Waynes were murdered, and he claims to have been left in Willowwood. Without the Waynes' funding, the home deteriorated from the premier children's hospital in the area to a mental institution where sick children were abused by the staff; he claims to have endured this treatment until he was taken in by the Court of Owls and raised as their pawn.^[13] Though he claims that the Court was previously setting him up to succeed the Wayne family's legacy, Bruce Wayne's sudden reappearance and return to Gotham resulted in the Court to bestow him the identity of Lincoln March. Lincoln March would grow to become one of the top members of the Court in the following years.

In his false identity as a mayoral candidate, Lincoln March was present at the first attempt on Bruce Wayne's life by one of the Court's Talon assassins. The Court told him he could watch Bruce's assassination, though he and the Court did not know that Bruce was Batman at the time. Lincoln then assassinated several members of the Court by poisoning, not before orchestrating his own murder. It is revealed that he survived by taking a dose of the regenerative compound which the Court of Owls used to resurrect their Talons, and had decided to lure Batman to the abandoned building of Willowwood for a final confrontation. Before engaging Batman in a fight, he equipped himself with a powered suit of armor; in which it was originally intended as a modern suit for Talons to combat the "new threat" that Batman posed, until it was abandoned in favor of strengthening the Talons with their regenerative compound. After a lengthy brawl, he was ultimately caught in an explosion meant for Batman, although no body was found in the wreckage.

Bruce later found evidence that he indeed had a brother who was born prematurely as a result of a car accident at the intersection of Lincoln and March but he had only lived for twelve hours. He had also discovered that weeks later, an orphan child had been admitted in Willowwood with characteristics similar to his deceased brother but who Bruce believes was raised to believe he was Thomas Jr., though without the body or DNA to analyze, he could not confirm its truth. Nevertheless, Bruce confided in Dick Grayson his belief that his parents would have told him if he had a brother, and that the circumstantial evidence he discovered could easily have been used by the Court to convince Lincoln of the authenticity of his "true" identity.^[14]

At the conclusion of Batman Eternal, when Cluemaster unmasks himself as the person responsible for the recent systematic attacks on Batman and his family, he is about to shoot Bruce in the head when March walks up behind him and slits his throat,^[15] revealing that he funded Cluemaster's actions using the resources of the apparently-deceased Court of Owls with the intention of stepping in and killing Bruce, intending to leave his body out in public while March retreats into the shadows, reasoning that Bruce's death at the hands of an unknown foe would forever end the 'myth' of Batman. Despite being battered and exhausted from the long assault, Bruce assembles a makeshift costume from rags and stands against March in downtown Gotham just as Jim Gordon rallies the people of Gotham to stand up and take back their city by fighting in Batman's name. Finding himself faced with the entire Bat-family, March is forced to retreat, but is caught by the surviving members of the Court and put into suspended animation, the Court musing that they may let him out again in a decade if they decide they need him.^[16]

Before the events of Robin War, March is reanimated by the Court of Owls. March reveals he has a plan to obtain the Gray Son and has the Court of Owls bring forth the events of Robin War to accomplish his plan. Initially, he blackmails Damian Wayne in becoming the Court's new Gray Son, but he reveals to Dick Grayson that it was all a ruse in order to get Grayson to March and make him the Gray Son. Revealing that an explosive device has been placed within Damian as leverage, Dick has no choice but to join the Court of Owls, and publicly announces to the newly expanded, international Parliament of Owls that he is not Robin.

Having successfully obtained the Gray Son, Lincoln March address the Parliament of Owls as they decided to cast aside their connection to Gotham's Court of Owls and discard their white masks and replace them with black ones. While preaching about his new role in the Parliament, March is killed by Raptor, one of the Parliament's assassins, who reveals that both he and the Parliament have decided that March's own desires have become too much of a hindrance.^[17]

In other media

Television

• Owlman appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episodes "Deep Cover for Batman!" and "Game Over for Owlman!", voiced by Diedrich Bader.^[18] Owlman is the leader of the Injustice Syndicate.^[19] Owlman uses the Phase Oscillator to go to Batman's dimension. After a scuffle, Batman imprisons him in the Batcave. Batman impersonates Owlman to stop the syndicate. In "Game Over for Owlman!", Owlman escapes and frames Batman by committing various crimes while disguised as him (Owlman's Batman disguise is almost the original 1930s version of Batman's costume, complete with hand-only gloves, high wing mask, dark grey bodysuit, and black accessories and bright yellow with circle utility belt. Later episodes reveal this was an earlier costume Batman used before he switched to the more friendly-looking current version). Owlman assembles a group of supervillains (Black Manta, Brain, Clock King, Doctor Polaris, Gentleman Ghost, and Gorilla Grodd) to join him. With the heroes after him, Batman teams up with Joker (who was displeased that Owlman was upstaging him). Owlman used Batman's computer to figure out weaknesses to capture Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, the Atom, and Aquaman. Owlman negotiates with Batman to hand him the Phase Oscillator in exchange for the captured heroes' freedom. When it came to the fight with Owlman and his villain allies, Owlman allowed Joker to work on the wax trap. Batman reveals that he traveled to alternate Earths to round up the Batmen to fight the villains and free the captive heroes. Using a smokescreen, the Earth-1 Batman manages to trap Owlman and Joker. Owlman is returned to his dimension in bondage while the other villains are arrested.

Film

Owlman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, voiced by James Woods.

Owlman appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, voiced by James Woods. He is a sinister and calculating strategist and is in a relationship with Superwoman. Unlike the comic book incarnations, this version of Owlman has no superpowers, but has incorporated a powerful exoskeleton into his costume, which allows him a degree of superhuman strength. When he discovers the existence of the multiverse, he becomes obsessed with the idea that nothing really matters, as no matter what action a person might take, an alternate version of them will choose to do something else. As a result, he searches for Earth Prime, the foundation of all Earths in the multiverse, with the intention of using a powerful weapon to destroy it and, with it, all reality. He reasons that destroying the multiverse is the only action he could definitively commit without another version of him somewhere taking the alternative option (see quantum suicide). Owlman nearly succeeds in his plan, but Batman follows him to Earth Prime and narrowly defeats him. Batman sends the weapon and Owlman to another parallel Earth that is unpopulated and frozen solid. Once there, Owlman notices he still has time to stop the detonation and save himself. Realizing that an alternate version of him will make the opposite choice regardless, he does nothing while saying "It doesn't matter". The weapon explodes and destroys the planet, killing Owlman.

Miscellaneous

• In Batman: Gotham Adventures #10 and #14, Harley Quinn is free from Arkham Asylum and decides to write a romance novel. Joker escapes and looks at Harley's scripts and discovers that the book is not a tell-all book, but a "Harley Quinn romance novel" titled Masks of Love, about the adventures of a female criminal named Punchinello and Owlman (who is based on Batman).
• While Owlman never appears in the animated series The Batman, he was due to appear in a future issue of The Batman Strikes!, a spin-off comic book from the show, in a story written by Josh Elder. However, the title's cancellation prevented the Owlman story from being released.^[20]
• In Batman #107, "The Grown-Up Boy Wonder!" (April 1957), Dick Grayson is exposed to a strange gas and wakes up the next morning a fully-grown, adult man. He is unable to be Robin because of his costume now being too small, so he dons an owl costume and becomes the Owlman. He partners with Batman against a trio of former circus acrobats-turned criminals called the Daredevils. At the end of the story however, Grayson returns to the body of a teenager and is Robin again.^[21]
• An interpretation of the Joker appears in the Smallville: Season Eleven comic series, which picked up where Smallville's Season 10 left off. Joker is the parallel universe version of Batman in the Smallville continuity - just like Owlman is the parallel universe equivalent of Batman in the mainstream DC Comics.

References

External links

• Cosmic Teams: Crime Syndikate
• DCU Guide: Owlman I
• DCU Guide: Owlman II