Batman has one of the greatest rogues galleries in all of comics. Many of his classic villains are all but household names, from the Joker to Mister Freeze. These villains all excel at bringing out different aspects of the Dark Knight while entertaining the audience with their varied designs and personalities that are both wacky and terrifying. The oldest villains obviously have the most prestige, having starred in the most stories over their many years. New villains are at a marked disadvantage when trying to make a mark, especially because they are always being compared to their legendary compatriots. Most new villains fail to take root, but there is one exception to that rule.
The Court of Owls was introduced as the first villains in Scott Snyder’s legendary Batman (2011) run. They were an ancient cult of Gotham’s elite who had controlled the city’s destiny from the shadows, going all the way back to the city’s founding. Their tracks were so well-covered that even the Dark Knight thought they were a myth until he came into direct contact with them. The Court immediately proved that they had everything it took to be longtime Batman villains, but the truth is that they weren’t designed for Batman. Well, they weren’t designed for this Batman, but rather the second Batman, Dick Grayson.
The Court That Haunted the Graysons
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Before the New 52 reverted the original Boy Wonder to his identity as Nightwing, he stood alongside Bruce as the Dark Knight. Bruce expanded his enterprise to the entire world, running Batman Incorporated, while Dick stayed as the main Batman protecting Gotham. In that time, Scott Snyder made a name for himself as a phenomenal writer for Batman. He had been the writer for Detective Comics before the New 52, and wrote what are now two classic Batman stories starring Dick: “Black Mirror” and “Gates of Gotham.” Over the years since then, Snyder has stated that the Court of Owls was originally planned as enemies for Dick during his Detective Comics run.
According to an interview done by GamesRadar in 2020, Snyder’s first draft of the Court was on a much smaller scale. Instead of the long-standing shadow government of Gotham City, they prayed specifically on children in the circus for some unknown purpose. They would have targeted Dick Grayson because of his connection to Haly’s Circus. The bones of this connection are still present in the Court of Owls we received. Their first appearance revealed they used Haly’s Circus as a breeding ground for their undead assassins, the Talons. Since that initial story, the Court had become as much a Nightwing enemy as a Batman one. They specifically targeted Nightwing to recruit him in two separate stories in Nightwing (2016) and were the evil masterminds behind the Ric Grayson arc.
A Different Court, Still Filled With Owls
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
While it’s impossible to know what the Court would have looked like if it had remained a story centered around Dick Grayson, we can hazard a few guesses based on the Court of Owls we did receive. Keeping with the idea that this was simply another Batman story and not the breakout hit a relaunch of Batman needed, the scope of the Court would likely have stayed small. They most likely would have been a much smaller assassin agency and cult that recruited their people from various circuses. Perhaps even Haly’s exclusively. They’d begin targeting Dick Grayson, as he had escaped their clutches after being taken in by Bruce Wayne, which would naturally lead them to fight Batman along the way.
The Talons would likely be much the same. Especially William Cobb, Dick’s great-grandfather, who would likely have an even larger role in this story. This Court could still be composed of or run by the elites of Gotham City, as their motivation that Batman was doing too much good and needed to be removed can remain the same, considering Dick explicitly operated as a much more public-leaning Batman. This battle against the Court would have probably focused less on their long history in Gotham and leaned towards their connection to the circus and how they recruit children, tying in Dick’s past as Robin and Damian Wayne’s position as his partner.
Even if this Court operated on a much smaller scale, its mystery and intrigue would have remained the same. The idea of Dick stumbling into this sprawling mythos of a cult that has always stalked Gotham City but was never found, even by Bruce, would force him to show why he deserves to be Batman just as much as Bruce by tackling a threat he never knew existed. A major theme likely would have been the nature of letting or forcing children to fight, drawing comparisons between the Court’s Talons and Dick and Damian’s times as Robin. Even if it had been different, I’m sure that this Court of Owls would have been just as entertaining, and while I love the Court we received, I do wish we could see what this version would have looked like.
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