Owlman (Thomas Wayne, Jr.) is a fictional character appearing in American comic book published by DC Comics. A supervillainous alternate-universe counterpart of Batman, he is depicted as the adult version of Wayne's deceased older brother, who in other universes dies as a child, before Bruce is born. In The New 52, the primary continuity Owlman, originally depicted as the asylum-bound Boomerang Killer, is retroactively revealed to be still alive, stolen from his parents as a child, and working in the service of the Court of Owls under the name Lincoln March.
Owlman is voiced by Diedrich Bader and James Woods in the 2008 animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold and the 2010 animated feature film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths respectively. Damon Dayoub portrays Lincoln March in the 2023 television series Gotham Knights.
Publication history Owlman first appeared in Justice League of America #29 (August 1964), and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. Thomas Wayne Jr. / The Boomerang Killer first appeared in World's Finest #223 (June 1974), and was created by Bob Haney and Dick Dillin. In JLA: Earth 2 #1 (January 2000), created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, the two are retroactively established to be the same character.JLA: Earth 2 (January 2000)
Fictional character biography Earth-Three Originally, Owlman was a super-intelligent supervillain whose real name was never given. He was created as an evil counterpart to Batman. He 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 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 Syndicate's 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 were 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 the Crime Syndicate were killed by the Anti-Monitor's antimatter wave during Crisis on Infinite Earths.Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (April 1985)
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.Convergence: Crime Syndicate #1 (June 2015)
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, Bruce was killed along with his mother, while his brother and father survived, with Thomas Jr. growing up to be 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) and underboss Lucius Fox. 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 implied 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' graves, he states that nothing matters because "he's dead", and that there is no one left to hurt, referring to Thomas Wayne Sr. and collapses to his knees in despair in front of his father’s 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) to provide himself and his allies in the Syndicates enemies to fight. 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. Though Ultraman does fire warning beams in between them if he catches them romancing each other when he is around.
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 to get the heroes off his source Earth and counterattack after they depart, or if he was actually defeated.
The New 52 In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. There are two different characters in this continuity that took up the name of Owlman:
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.Justice League (vol. 2) #23 (October 2013) 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, to later make him his partner Talon. Talon was later murdered by Earth-3's version of 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.Justice League (vol. 2) #25 (February 2014) Owlman later accompanies Superwoman to Arkham Asylum where they spring its inmates and capture Nightwing.Forever Evil #1 (November 2013) 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.Forever Evil #7 (July 2014) 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.Justice League (vol. 2) #34 (December 2014)
After Ultraman and Superwoman are killed in battle during the Darkseid War storyline, Owlman flees using the Mobius chair and ends up on the moon, where Metron trains him. When Owlman accesses the secrets of the universe, he is vaporized by an unknown entity.Justice League (vol. 2) #50 (July 2016) Owlman and the rest of the Syndicate were resurrected on Earth-3 during the events of Dark Nights: Metal, with no memories of the events of Forever Evil. They joined the forces of Perpetua along with other evil alternate Justice Leagues the New Reichsmen, Unjustice League of Unamerica, Blood League and Justice Lords to remake the multiverse in her image, using Earth-3 and its population as a giant amplifier to channel energy from the Dark Multiverse into Perpetua. However, Owlman was sceptical of Perpetua's motivations, and was also jealous of The Batman Who Laughs, as he believed himself to be the true dark reflection of Batman. While the Syndicate battled a team of heroes from various worlds in the multiverse, Owlman talked with John Stewart, who revealed that there had been multiple Owlmen before him. Owlman was overjoyed at this, as every version of the multiverse had its own Owlman, he believed that he would always survive in some form as long as the multiverse existed. He killed Ultraman and Superwoman to let the heroes escape, then blew up his own world, declaring that he was immortal.Dark Nights: Death Metal: Multiverse's End one-shot (November 2020)
Prime Earth On Prime Earth, a man who claims himself to be Thomas Wayne Jr. first appears in Batman (vol. 2)Batman (vol. 2) #1 (November 2011) 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.Batman (vol. 2) #3 (January 2012) 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.Batman (vol. 2) #9 (July 2012) 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. March would grow to become one of the top members of the Court in the following years.