The Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and many other frightful and spine-chilling figures can be found in Batman’s rogue gallery. The Court of Owls member Lincoln March, also referred to as the “Anti Batman,” was a brilliant addition to Batman’s rogues gallery.
After the New 52 revival, Scott Snyder created Lincoln, who made his debut in the Batman comics in 2011. In these comics, Lincoln made the devilish “Court of Owls” his allies and even pretended to be the vigilante’s younger brother. Let us examine this “Anti- Batman’s” history and learn more about the Court of Owls and his appearance in the Batman comics.
Exploring his comic book origins
Batman books from 2011 marked Lincoln March’s debut appearance in the DC universe, which happened after the New 52 relaunch. Lincoln met Bruce Wayne at a gala given at the Wayne Manor in the first issue, “The Court of Owls Part 1: Knife Trick.” Bruce Wayne organized this gathering to discuss his plans for the future of Gotham, which included building new infrastructure, rehabilitating existing structures, and other initiatives.
Bruce Wayne, who was already somewhat familiar with Lincoln March’s campaign for the mayoral elections, was presented to Lincoln March by “Vicky Vale” from the Gotham Gazette. Lincoln March was not only running for mayor, but he also served as March Ventures’ chief operating officer. Both Bruce and Lincoln had a talk because they wanted to get to know one another better.
Bruce attempted to persuade March to support his plans for a better Gotham while Lincoln sought Bruce’s support for mayor. The two arranged a formal lunch to further discuss these plans, and their exchange was extended in the comic book “The Court of Owls Part 2: Trust Fall” that followed. Batman investigated a murder before arriving to the lunch location. The victim’s body had a note threatening Bruce Wayne’s life on it.
Additionally, they discovered an Athenian Owl mark on the victim’s wisdom tooth, which suggested that the Court of Owls may have been involved. Nobody really knew if or how the Court of Owls operated in secret, and they were kind of a fabled group.
Bruce Wayne later rushed to the Old Wayne Tower for lunch with Lincoln, and he offered Lincoln some money to fund his campaign. Lincoln stated that he did not come here to ask for money and that he only wanted Bruce’s vote. Nevertheless, Lincoln accepted the money, and Bruce then asked him why he came such a long way to just ask for one vote. Lincoln stated that he believed in Bruce’s initiative to rebuild Gotham and that he saw a friend in him. Lincoln further remarked that he too lost his parents when he was just a young boy and started talking about his parents.
Lincoln then launched into a tale about how he remembered his mother’s pin on the day she lost her life. Bruce listened intently while Lincoln described the little ceramic pin in the shape of a lopsided heart. Lincoln claimed that he did not remember anything about a drunk driver hitting their car, but he did recollect this pin falling off his mother’s dress and lying on the ground, when the paramedics arrived at the scene of the accident.
Lincoln admitted to feeling hopeless for a while after the accident, but he later got funding for college and believed that the city of Gotham had saved him. Lincoln told Bruce that he saw an ally in him, especially in those times. Bruce questioned why Lincoln needed his help, especially then, but they were attacked by the assassin ‘Talon’ just as Lincoln started talking about something evil returning to Gotham.
Lincoln tried to resist Talon’s attack but ended up getting critically injured. The Talon then fell, seemingly to his own death, by jumping off the Tower, but he somehow survived the fall and drove away. Bruce Wayne wondered if this assassin tried to attack them by using the ‘Court of Owls’ legend against him, but he soon brushed off this idea and declared that he was the only legend that this city needed.
In the next comic issue, Bruce Wayne visits Lincoln in the hospital after he had suffered critical injuries from the Talon’s attack. Bruce asks Lincoln about the evil thing he mentioned before they were attacked, and Lincoln reveals that he had been getting threats to drop out of the race for mayor.
Lincoln further says that he woke up to find an owl in his apartment about two weeks ago, and he seems to believe that the Court of Owls is back in action. Bruce doubts whether this legend is actually true, since he should have come across them or at least heard of them by now. Lincoln suggests that maybe the Court of Owls is only making their presence known after Bruce announced his ideas for a better Gotham. Bruce ponders over this and leaves the hospital while assuring Lincoln that his security team will ensure his safety.
Batman then tries to figure out the hiding place of the Talon and remembers that his great-grandfather ‘Alan Wayne’ had the thirteenth floor removed from each of their buildings. He investigates the space between the twelfth and fourteenth floors and finds the Court of Owls’ hideouts full of stored weapons and training equipment there. Moreover, he learns that the Court had a long history with the Wayne family and that they seem to play some role in the deaths of his relatives.
Over the next few issues, Batman delves deeper into the lore of the Court of Owls and gets into more trouble with Talon and his acquaintances. He even ends up in an underground labyrinth created by the Court of Owls and defeats the Talon. Batman then makes his way through the underground maze and reaches a fountain room, where a lady, who seemingly rules the Court of Owls, declares that the Talon is now useless. They then prepare a new, stronger army of Talons that can defeat Batman and take over Gotham.
In the comic issue titled ‘Night of the Owls’ [issue 9], the Court first launches an attack on Wayne Manor. The Talons also seem to have a list of people they need to either rescue or murder, and Batman finds Lincoln March’s name on this list. He visits Lincoln’s campaign office to check up on him and sees a man pointing a gun at Lincoln. Batman then rushes to Lincoln’s rescue, who has multiple stab wounds on his chest and seems critical.
Lincoln whispers that he has a message to give to Bruce Wayne and hands a note to Batman while he takes his last breath. The note has three names, and Lincoln states that they may or may not be names of the members of the Court of Owl. Lincoln even tells Batman to remind Bruce Wayne that Gotham can still be a good place and that this place is worth fighting for. As this issue comes to an end, Batman informs Alfred that he now knows where the Court lives, and he is going to burn their houses to the ground.
In the next issue, titled ‘Assault on the Court’ [issue 10], Batman breaks into Maria Powers’ penthouse at the Powers Hotel and finds an owl’s mask. He confronts her, but she denies that the mask is hers. Batman then inquires about her husband, Joseph Powers, and the lady states he is out of the country. As Batman leaves her place, Maria warns him that the Court of Owls has not been defeated yet, and she then rushes to contact her husband.
Batman then uses her phone signals to find Joseph Power’s location and finds him to be at the ‘Harbor House.’ He enters the building with newfound determination to finally uncover the Court of Owls, but is shocked to see all the members sitting quietly around a table. He inches closer to them and discovers that they are all dead.
Bruce wonders why all of the Court members killed themselves, and he concludes that there has been a set-up. He then discovers that all the money from the Court’s member’s accounts has been transferred to another account, and he then tries to establish some connection between the Court and his parent’s death.
He later heads to the morgue, where he finds a handwritten note that states, ‘ Follow me down the rabbit hole? ‘ Batman finds the location of this so-called rabbit hole, which turns out to be a sinkhole that had caused the destruction of the Willowwood Home for Children. Willowwood was the only orphanage in Gotham that provided care for children with mental illnesses, and its destruction left these children with nowhere to go.
As Batman reaches Willowwood, he falls into a trap and is captured by a net. Lincoln March then stands in front of him and asks Batman to tell him who he really is. Batman replies by saying that he is not really Lincoln March and that his true identity is merely that of a traitor and a thief. He even looks down on Lincoln for betraying the Court of Owls, and we learn that Lincoln killed the Court by poisoning all of them. He himself only managed to survive because he ingested large amounts of Talon Serum beforehand.
As the two converse, Lincoln tells Batman that the Court will definitely come for him again in the future, but he will not be so easy to kill. Lincoln also reveals that he stole the armor developed by the Court in order to train a new, powerful Talon to defeat the Batman; and he then puts on this armor himself.
While Lincoln talks about the Court of Owls, he asks Batman to tell him ‘who he is’ and not what he did. Batman then puts forth his theory that Lincoln was once a child residing at Willowwood. Lincoln wanted Batman to delve into his own past by asking him these questions, and he further asks Batman why he thinks the Court took him in as a child.
He even gives Batman a hint by stating that this had something to do with who he already was, and the vigilante then mentions the pin that Lincoln had mentioned during their lunch meeting at Wayne Tower. Batman reveals that he remembers his mother, Martha Wayne, wearing the same pin on the day of her car accident. Lincoln merely states that the only reason he fabricated an entire tale about his mother and the pin was because he had seen a picture of Martha Wayne wearing the pin. There was no truth in his earlier story about surviving a car crash that killed his parents.
However, Lincoln says there is some truth in his story about the pin, and that he had seen it before. He tells Batman that the pin was given only to the mothers of the children that resided at Willowwood. Lincoln then announces that he is Bruce Wayne’s younger brother, Thomas Wayne Jr, and that he was born in an accident and sent away to Willowwood to heal.
While Bruce states that the Court of Owls has fabricated this entire tale, Lincoln believes that Martha had a miscarriage during a car accident four years before her death and that he had somehow managed to survive and be born despite the complications. However, he was born with paralysis and was sent away to Willowwood, where Martha often visited him and spent time with him. It was also implied that the Court of Owls had some role in orchestrating the car accident which caused Martha’s miscarriage, which is why the couple kept their child a secret to keep him safe from the Court.
Lincoln also says that he was well taken care of at Willowwood and that the Wayne family often donated high sums to the orphanage. Martha Wayne often visited him at the orphanage, and he soon figured out that she was his mother. Moreover, he saw Martha and Thomas on television and discovered that he belonged to a privileged family. All this time, the Court of Owls kept visiting him at night and confirmed his suspicions about his origins.
After Martha and Thomas’ deaths at the hands of Joe Chill, Willowwood started struggling with funding, and Thomas Wayne Jr. was then adopted by the Court of Owls, who trained him to become an assassin for them. Lincoln had hoped that Bruce would come and take him from the orphanage, but it was the Court of Owls who actually took him in.
In the next issue titled ‘My Brother’s Keeper,’ Lincoln blamed Bruce for the death of his parents and challenged him to a fight as brother to brother and ‘Owl to Bat.’ He believed that Bruce did not come and get him from Willowwood because he did not want to share Gotham with him. Lincoln was also of the view that across history, brothers always shared a fate that was torn apart by greed. He was determined to kill the greedy Batman who believed that Gotham was his city and then take his rightful place as the Wayne heir.
Batman and Lincoln then launch into a fight, but Lincoln seems to have the upper hand due to the strength given to him by the Talon serum. Lincoln flew across the city with Bruce hanging onto a rope, and he dangled Bruce’s body all over Gotham. He even mocked Bruce for being arrogant and assuming that Gotham was his city, while Bruce tells him that he should have been watching his own back.
Lincoln then realized that there was an explosive on his back, and this device blasted off within moments. Lincoln then disappears for a while, and Bruce gets some time to catch his breath and uses a bat-rope to land on the roof of an unfinished tower.
He swings through a window and finds Lincoln already waiting for him there. Lincoln sets up an explosive charge throughout the entire building and is sure that it will destroy Bruce while he himself will easily survive the explosion due to his altered physiology. While Bruce tries to escape, Lincoln reveals that the Court of Owls once even planned to announce that Lincoln is heir to the Wayne fortune. When Bruce disappeared for a long time after his parent’s death, the Court was set to put this plan in motion, but they couldn’t go through with it as Bruce soon reappeared.
The Court then decided that it would be best to give him the identity of ‘Lincoln March’ and make him a notable figure in Gotham. However, Lincoln was not just satisfied with this and wanted the entire city to be under his control. While he could not be Gotham’s future, he decided that he would play the role of its past and haunt Batman for his entire life.
While the explosives set off, Lincoln managed to escape and hoped that Bruce would die a sad death, knowing that he would not play a role in Gotham’s future. However, Bruce managed to escape without any injuries.
Bruce later tried to make some sense of the things said to him by Lincoln, and he believed that his parents would have definitely told him about his brother. He did remember that his mother did give birth to another child, but this child had died prematurely around 12 hours after being born. He explored the possibility that his parents fabricated medical records stating a child’s death but refused to believe that his parents would do anything of that sort.
He even looked into some of Willowwood’s records and discovered that a baby was admitted there a week after Martha’s accident. Moreover, he recollected that Martha often visited the orphanage and that this was all enough evidence for the Court of Owls to fabricate a tale about Lincoln’s origins. Nevertheless, Bruce did not rule out the possibility of the story being true and finally decided that he could not conclude anything without at least a D.N.A. test.
His association with the Court of Owls
The Court of Owls was established even years before Gotham came into existence, and the organization aimed to take over this city one day. While most criminal organizations in Gotham dabbled in crime and theft on the streets, the Court of Owls was a secret, relatively privileged organization that was backed with unimaginable amounts of wealth and power to aid in their activities.
Lincoln March was adopted by the Court of Owls when he was just four years old, after the death of Bruce and Martha Wayne. Lincoln also had paralysis, and he believed that this was due to him surviving a near-fatal accident right before his birth. The Court of Owls adopted Lincoln when he was four years old, and they even cured his paralysis with the help of the metal ‘Electrum.’ He grew up in the Court, where he was given the Talon serum that enhanced his speed, stamina and even gave him regenerative healing properties. The Court trained Lincoln to become an assassin, and there is even a chance that they manipulated the young boy to believe that he was born to the Waynes, just so that they could get better access to the Wayne family’s power.
After living with the Court, he took up the name Lincoln March as a reference to the place where he was born. It is suggested that Lincoln initially served as a ‘Talon’ for the Court and later on became the Owlman. While there is no clear clarification as to whether Lincoln March really is the Owlman, it is assumed that this was one of Lincoln’s many identities.
Lincoln held a powerful place in the city after establishing March Ventures and even ran for mayor, and his political status greatly benefited the Court. However, he was not very loyal to the organization, and he betrayed the Court by killing off all the founding members and then transferring all their funds to his account.
During Batman Eternals, Lincoln sided with Arthur Brown to destroy Batman, but later betrayed Arthur and even killed him when he was about to kill Bruce Wayne. While he saved Bruce’s life in a way, Lincoln was then attacked by the entire bat family and he ended up dying. The Court of Owls then showed up and placed Lincoln’s body in cryogenic stasis to punish him and ensure that they could still use him if they needed him in the future.
After the Court of Owls was once again destroyed by the ‘Batman who laughs’ from Earth-22, the Joker woke Lincoln up from his cryogenic sleep. Now that Lincoln did not have the Court of Owls, he decided to join Joker’s army and serve under him.
What made him a formidable opponent for Batman?
Like all members of the Court of Owls, Lincoln March had a talon armor that gave him superhuman strength, speed, and durability. The armor was equipped to shoot energy blasts and also had a life support system. The armor also had attached claws and blades, along with some hidden knives, hooks, and other weapons that aided him in combat.
He also had a ‘Talon’ serum that altered his biological features and enhanced his natural stamina and speed. This serum also altered Lincoln’s metabolism and gave him regenerative healing properties that made him invincible. While Lincoln was not far superior to Batman in terms of strength and combat skills, he definitely did match the vigilante and was quite a formidable opponent.
Lincoln was also skilled in various martial arts and had undergone rigorous training to master his fighting skills.
He was also a master at manipulation and diplomacy, which helped him in his political career. He was also quite intelligent and had access to great fortune, which only made him more powerful.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, Lincoln March was quite a formidable opponent for Batman, and he stirred up quite some trouble for the vigilante. His presence definitely made for a wonderful addition to the Batman comics, and it would be great to see him be a part of the movie universe some day!