Owlman
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Owlman is a supervillain who appears in stories published by DC Comics. Owlman first appeared in Justice League of America #29, August 1964 and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.
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Publication history
Owlman is a supervillain created as an evil counterpart to Batman, and is a member of the criminal organization, the Crime Syndicate of America. In his original pre-Crisis appearances, the Crime Syndicate (and Owlman) lived on the parallel Earth of "Earth-Three". Like the rest of the pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate, Owlman perished during the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries at the hands of the Anti-Monitor.
Character biography
Antimatter Universe
Owlman was revived (along with his teammates) in the late 1990s for modern DC continuity in the graphic novel JLA: Earth 2. Here it was stated that the modern Owlman and his cohorts came from the antimatter universe's Earth that contained most of the pre-Crisis elements of Earth-Three.
As established in JLA: Earth 2, Owlman's divergence from Batman began in his childhood. In most mainstream DC universes, Batman's genesis occurred when young Bruce Wayne was witness to the murder of his parents, Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne, and was inspired to devote his life to fighting crime. In the antimatter universe however, Bruce had a brother named Thomas Wayne Jr. 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 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).
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. Owlman 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.
While Ultraman is the leader of the Syndicate, 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 disent 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.
Further complicating things is the fact that Owlman has carried on a longtime affair with Ultraman's wife Superwoman. Ultraman is aware of the affair, but due to Owlman having undisclosed photographic blackmail material against the villain, he is unable to seek retribution against Owlman for the betrayal.
In some of the pre-Crisis 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. In JLA: Earth 2, Alexander Luthor, Earth-Two's 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, Owlman merely uses some sort of drug to enhance his mental capacity.
Earth-3
In 52 Week 52, an alternate version of Earth-3 was shown as a part of the new Multiverse. In the depiction were characters that are altered versions of the original Justice League 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. This same character—assisted by a team referred to as the Crime Society—later appears in issue 31 of Countdown, and fights Jason Todd, who is aided by his traveling companions Kyle Rayner, and Donna Troy.
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.
In The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society Owlman is shown with a sidekick called Talon, who had a relationship with Duela Dent, the daughter of his greatest foe, the Jokester.
Other media
DC Animated Cameo
In Batman: Gotham Adventures issue 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 Punchinello and Owlman, who is based on Batman.
The 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.
