The Dark Knight quickly earned the group’s ire, and the Court of Owls declared war on the city they intended to keep ruling.

He sporadically looked into the society as he honed his skills as an adult, but the Court eluded his sight until he became a target himself.Īfter surviving the assassination attempt, Batman deduced the location of their hideouts, the first of which was founded as long ago as the 1800s. Bruce found no trace of them or their involvement in the Waynes’ deaths. “In many ways, it was my first case as a detective,” he told Dick Grayson. As a boy, Bruce himself had heeded the legend and suspected the Court having a hand in his parents’ deaths, believing that their murder was too random to be mere coincidence. Alan Wayne, one of the city’s builders and Bruce’s great-great-grandfather, was plagued by the Court of Owls until they tortured him to death in 1922.

The Wayne family was one of the cabal’s longstanding rivals. For centuries they used their power and influence to turn the tides of politics and control the city according to their designs, often resorting to the use of highly trained assassins called Talons to achieve their nefarious goals. Some of Gotham’s wealthiest and most well-connected families made up the Court of Owls. “Beware the Court of Owls,” began a local nursery rhyme, “that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.” When Bruce Wayne was placed in the crosshairs of an assassination plot, he learned that the Court and its assassins are very real. The Court of Owls has long been a legend in Gotham City. Spoilers follow-read at your own risk! What Is the Court of Owls?

The court of owls volume 2