"Court of Owls"
1880, Gotham City during the days of The Wild West. A scared man runs through the streets, bumbling about some monster following him. He bumps into a wandering bounty hunter (Jonah Hex) and is almost shot dead, but he instead begs the gunman to kill him. Two police officers take the man away from the bounty hunter and start walking him into their carriage. The two men consider taking him to the looney bin, but notice the man is Adam Wayne, a billionaire from one of Gotham's first families. Knowing his arrest would compromise the family legacy, the police toss him back into his home Wayne Tower. Adam gets up only to be swarmed by a flock of owls.
In modern Gotham, Batman and Nightwing are disguised as gang members in a "Joker gang". The two don their masks and defeat the gang before they can poison the Gotham water supply. When they return to the now rebuilt Wayne Manor they are greeted by Alfred, Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. With Barbara and Cassandra out of town, Dick, Tim and Steph are visiting for a party Bruce is throwing. Bruce gives a speech to his guests on how he wishes to reestablish the Gotham Restoration Comity, that despite the clean-up from The First Born's attack (JL: Godfall) being finished, Bruce wants the poor to have a chance to make it in the city. He believes that Gotham is a place of trail and hardship and he asks all his rich guests to donate money to parts of Gotham that are populated by the lower-class. After his speech, he talks with Lincoln March (who he met during "The Deadliest Shadow"), March and Bruce get along and March claims he's running for mayor, much to Adam West's concern. After chatting it up, Bruce overhears his guest Commissioner Jim Gordon on the phone about a homicide and sneaks out.
Batman meets Officer Harvey Bullock at the crime scene where a man has been stabbed several times and pinned to wall by small owl-themed daggers. He discovers oil and a brush in the man's coat and lights a flame that spells out the message, "Bruce Wayne will die". Furthermore, Batman finds DNA samples under the man's fingernails.
Upon getting back to the cave, Batman is using hologram technology and a communicator to Jim Gordon to do an analyses of the victim's corpse from the Batcave. More clues point to a mythical group called The Court of Owls who have been rumored to be in Gotham since its founding. When Nightwing shows up in the cave to tell Batman his other allies have left, Batman reveals the DNA under the victim's nails to be Nightwing's. Nightwing recalls the man attacking him on the street, but he assumed the man was drunk or something. After a night of researching, Batman finds this man has no identity and can only assumed he was killed by someone who might believe in the Court of Owls.
The next day, Bruce meets Lincoln at one of Gotham's oldest buildings. Lincoln wants Bruce's support in running for mayor and even notes how he too lost his parents due to Gotham's criminals. The two men are attacked by an assassin and while Lincoln gets away, Bruce and the assassin fall off the building. Bruce grabs onto a gargoyle while the assassin falls to his death, but his body is gone when Bruce gets down there. That night, Bruce discovers the assassin was dressed in the garb of a Talon, the apparent enforcers of The Court. Still not believing in this group, Batman's research leads him to a his ancestor Adam Wayne, who's death records match up with the stab victim. Adam Wayne had constructed every building in Gotham before his death, and it was by his decree that every building be built without a 13th floor. When Batman investigates some buildings, he finds that all the buildings have blocked off 13th floors filled with memorabilia of The Court. After one of these floors ends up exploding with Batman in it, he returns to the cave to continue his research only to be yelled at by Nightwing, who claims Batman is too weak and tired to keep on this case.
Batman tells Nightwing that after his parents were murdered he-as a child-believed it had to be planned. He knew the stories of the Court and investigated Gotham's most esteemed families, but his research wound up getting him trapped in an empty warehouse attic for three weeks before Alfred and the police found him in a coma. Batman learned from that experience all those years ago that he can't let his emotions drive his mission, that it was his youthful anger that failed him. After checking out another 13th floor, Batman is attacked by another Talon and knocked unconscious.
For an unspecified amount of time, Batman is trapped in maze with bright lights and cameras by The Court of Owls. Because of Maxwell Lord's actions in "JL: Checkmate", Batman no longer has the back-up personality he used in "The Knight in Wonderland" and so when the bright maze starts to drive Batman insane, he has no psychological defenses. He sees visions and stumbles upon rooms filled with pictures of old rich Gotham citizens and coffins with pictures of children on them and a miniature statue of Gotham with a wall of names. Names of significant people in Gotham including himself. As Batman yells at the cameras that he's not listening to them, a Talon assassin begins beating Batman up. Escaping, Batman thinks he sees his parents, but giant owls burst out of them and attack Batman. Talon reappears and beats Batman with one of the cameras. Batman is seemingly defeated, but he sees a vision of owls eating Adam Wayne and he finds the energy to fight The Talon. Batman recalls the water of a fountain he found and the stone used for the owl statues, he uses material from a broken camera to set fire to the statue and cause a fiery explosion that drives the unseen Court members away and gives Batman a passage into the sewer beyond.
A few days later, Nightwing comes to Wayne Manor and finds Bruce has surrounded himself in darkness during his recovery. The manor is attacked an army of Talons, one of which Nightwing pins to the ground of the Batcave using Batman's giant penny. Blood tests on the Talon reveal that he has been given a modified sample of Lazarus Water, the same water than kept Batman's foes Ra's al Ghul and Talia al Ghul immortal. Over the Talon's radio device, a voice from The Court tells Batman that men like him and Lincoln stand to upset the balance of Gotham, to give Gotham's glory to those who are undeserved to hold it. Alfred finds a message on the Bat-Computer with a list of targets the Court want dead, so Nightwing calls in Robin, Spoiler, Black Bat, Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, Catwoman and Wildcat to help spread across Gotham and save all the targets from Talon assassins. Meanwhile, Batman dons large battle armor and drops the temperature in Wayne Manor to beat the Talons until they collapse from the cold. Batman heads out into the city and finds Lincoln stabbed in his chair, in his hand is the location of The Court of Owls. The location turns out to be the warehouse Bruce was trapped in as a child and when he arrives there he finds each member of The Court of Owls dead by suicide.
Though Gotham starts to become peaceful and his allies think its a job well done, Batman researches each of the Court member's history. Though Nightwing returns to continue his criticism, Batman claims one of the members was William Cobb, Dick Grayson/Nightwing's grandfather, which explains why the first stab victim confronted Dick on the streets. Batman and Nightwing investigate a closed down orphanage that many of the Court members funded back in the day. While Batman is alone, he is struck in his notably weak back by a shadowy figure. Batman is then trapped in a net as the man reveals himself to be Lincoln March. Lincoln reveals he too had the Lazarus Water inside him and faked his death for The Court, that when the Court members killed themselves it was to answer for their failures to take Gotham back and to leave their riches in Lincoln's hands, so that The Court may expand beyond Gotham. As Lincoln dons an owl-themed costume, Batman struggles to get up, but sees Nightwing sneaking up. Batman goads Lincoln into revealing more and as Lincoln explains: he is Bruce's brother.
When Bruce was three, Martha Wayne was pregnant with a second child, Thomas Wayne Junior. After a car accident, Junior was born with brain disabilities and the Wayne's put him in this very orphanage so that the orderly could care for him. However, The Wayne's never told Bruce about his brother out of shame for their irresponsibility. After the Wayne's died and the orphanage was shut down due to health concerns, Junior was taken into The Court to be their secret weapon. He was raised to be like Bruce Wayne, and when Bruce announced his plans to help the poor, The Court sent Junior in to start their plan.
Now fully suited, Junior stands over Batman ready to kill him, but Nightwing leaps in and fights Junior. When Batman is finally able to get up, Junior is seemingly defeated. Nightwing carries Batman out, but Junior sets off a bomb he has on his suit and Batman and Nightwing barely jump out the building as it explodes.
Bruce and Dick talk at Wayne Manor, Bruce believing he isn't what he used to be. He never knew for sure if The Court was real, he never even knew he had a brother, and he still doubts if can keep up all of Gotham's secrets. Dick reminds Bruce that while his brother may have been a foe, he will always have his family. As Dick leaves Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred walk down to the cave and remark on how with The Court gone Gotham can finally move into the future. And that a new era, needs a new Batman. Bruce reveals a sleek robotic suit (the Batman Beyond suit) in a case. Bruce grabs his cane and walks to the computer, "now then, old chum" he says as he sits, "Let's see what Gotham has to offer today".
After the credits, a dark room full of computer screens is being watched by an unseen man. Each screen shows Batman fighting various villains and recruiting many sidekicks. One monitor shows an image of Batman on a rooftop, taking a playing card out of his belt and looking at it. The man in the chair smiles a wide, red-liped grin. The screen goes black as The Joker whispers, "oh, darling".
Thanks for reading.
Back to hope! "Supergirl: Children of Krypton" comes next.
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