Who will rule the darkness in Gotham?
Night of the Owls is a major comic book story arc set in the DC Universe following The New 52. Written by
Scott Snyder and penciled by Greg Capullo, the arc is a major crossover event, although the main story is told in the Batman comics. The story pits the superhero Batman against the fictitious Court of Owls organization as they attempt to cement their control over Gotham City, which they have been manipulating in secret for centuries. As described by writer Kyle Higgins, the series is the follow up to
Batman: Gates of Gotham and divulges more of the history of Gotham before the turn of the century, with
Gates of Gotham having been originally intended to be a precursor to
Night of the Owls. The crossover has been described by writer Scott Snyder as the first story arc of the Batman trilogy that he is planning. According to Snyder, in terms of internal chronology, the story arc takes place in a single night.
For the most part, the story arc takes place in Gotham City, now being called the City of Owls due to the attack on it by the Court of Owls. However, the overreaching story arc is also going to take place in Wayne Manor and the outskirts of Gotham City. Such cities as Chicago, Miami, and New Orleans are also featured prominently.
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This storyline contains examples of:
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Court of Owls, who have been controlling Gotham for centuries.
- Bat Family Crossover: In the most literal sense. Every single Bat-book was in the event. The Talon assassins even made a cameo in the Justice League comic.
- Demoted to Extra: Despite being prominent on the cover and solicit for Batman: The Dark Knight #9, Tim Drake is barely featured in the crossover.
- The Determinator: Batman gets especially broken in the arc, suffering from a mental breakdown after being trapped in a labyrinth for eight days, gets stabbed, and is beaten down, yet is able to fight back and defeat the Court the same night he escapes from their labyrinth
- Distant Prologue: The issues of All-Star Western that crossed over with this storyline.
- Hell, in between crossover issues, flashbacks within those issues, flashbacks within the main story, and issues that take place after All-Star Western but before the main story, you could say this whole crossover takes Distant Prologue Up to Eleven.
- Driven to Suicide: Rather than face Batman at full strength, the Court commits suicide when they realise they've been beaten.
- Subverted when it turns out they didn't kill themselves; Lincoln March poisoned them and made it look like suicide to cover his own tracks.
- Implacable Man: The Talon assassins. They're not exactly alive nor exactly dead and can quickly heal from almost any injury. Their only weakness is extreme cold, which drastically slows their healing ability.
- Long Lost Relative: Lincoln March / Owlman claims to be Thomas Wayne Jr., Bruce's younger brother injured prenatally in a car accident involving Martha Wayne and secretly sent to a children's hospital upon birth for care. Bruce is highly skeptical, and points out several fairly valid points regarding why this is unlikely-to-impossible, but does concede that he can't rule it out 100% without DNA testing.
- The Starscream: Lincoln March betrays his allies in the Court of Owls in the event's finale, usurping the role of Big Bad.
- Wham Episode: Batman #7 and Nightwing #7 both reveal that Dick Grayson was meant to be recruited into the Talons and the Court unleashes all of the Talons on Gotham
- The end of Batman #10 where Lincoln March is revealed to have faked his death, is a member of the Court of Owls, and alleges that he's a forgotten brother of Bruce. Issue 11 puts a lot of doubt on the claims of being Bruce's brother as Bruce himself points out.
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