Thomas Wayne, Jr. (Earth 3)

This Syndicate has become weak, myopic and bitter. A bunch of bored aliens and freaks, looking down of the only human in the room while you play the best game we humans ever created. Crime.

— Owlman ^src

Thomas Wayne, Jr. is Owlman, a member of the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3. He is an evil counterpart to Batman.

History

Origins

Thomas Wayne, Jr. was the eldest son of the Waynes - Thomas Wayne, Sr. and Martha Wayne - who were one of the richest families in Gotham. Due to his belief that his parents were managing their wealth poorly, Thomas decided to murder them. Before doing so, he attempted to convince his younger brother, Bruce, to help him. When the time for the murders arose, Bruce was hesitant and attempted to dissuade Thomas. Thomas perceived this as a sign of weakness and thus murdered Bruce while his butler and servant, Alfred, murdered their parents. Though done by his own hand, Bruce's death deeply saddened Thomas; Bruce was the person whom he loved the most.^[1]

Over the years, Thomas began to assert his power and dominance over Gotham by adopting the persona of the villain Owlman. He used this costumed identity to strike fear in his foes; blackmailing, threatening, and paying off everyone important in Gotham, until the city was essentially his. He recognized that for normal humans to have power, they must gain it through systems of order, and he worked to establish and maintain those systems through fear. Despite his immense power, a void in his heart remained where his brother's love once lay.

While at a circus, Thomas met Richard Grayson, a boy with proficient acrobatic skills whom Thomas deemed worthy to fill the space left by Bruce. Thomas murdered Richard's family, using the boy's trauma as a way to serve as emotional support, leaving him susceptible to Thomas' influence. Thomas convinced Richard to become his sidekick and companion in crime, Talon. Richard never knew who killed his family and Thomas, upon seeing that he was close to the truth, confessed. As a result, the young man, full of anger, decided to find and kill the Joker, Owlman's greatest enemy, in order to demonstrate his superiority. However, Richard was killed in the ensuing fight, leaving Thomas alone once again.^[2]

Owlman, along with the newly-formed Crime Syndicate - the most powerful team on Earth - managed to dominate the world. Despite their immense power, the Crime Syndicate could not defeat the Anti-Monitor, a dimensional invader who wiped out most life on their Earth, and they were thus forced to seek out a new universe to travel to.

Deciding to escape to Prime Earth, Owlman and his allies attempted to make the crossing, but failed. For five years they were trapped between dimensions, until Pennyworth, who had come through, engineered an escape.

Forever Evil

With the help of Outsider and Atomica, the members of the Crime Syndicate managed to reach Prime Earth, where they fought against the Justice League, capturing most of their members, thus allowing them to take over Prime Earth.^[3]

Upon learning that there was also a Richard Grayson in this universe, who was known as Nightwing, Thomas decided to capture him in order to convince him to become his partner. Owlman revealed to Nightwing that he was secretly planning to overthrow Ultraman and take control of the Crime Syndicate in order take the Earth for himself. He believed that Ultraman would eventually ruin the world by amassing its power for himself, driven by his paranoia and fear. Owlman, on the other hand, despite also wanting to take over the Earth, believed he would do much better.

His plans were halted when the Injustice League attacked, killing most members of the Crime Syndicate. Owlman, seeing that defeat was imminent, decided to escape and remain hidden, until the time to resurface arose.^[4] Owlman later appears at LexCorp and makes a deal with Lex, which involves Luthor providing him with Superwoman's child in return for his help in defeating the Anti-Monitor.^[5]

Darkseid War

Eventually, Owlman was put into the Mobius Chair by Metron and told how to use it when Ultraman and Superwoman were killed in battle. When Grid asked Owlman if Metron can be trusted, he replied, saying that Metron had been very helpful until now. Metron warned Owlman against asking for too much information from the Mobius chair, but he retorted saying that his mind was far superior to Batman's and can thus handle it. Owlman then asked the chair to reveal to him the universe's secrets, only to stop mid-sentence and utter the word "No." Metron asked Owlman what was wrong and Owlman replies that he is here. Just then, Metron and Owlman are vaporized.^[6]

Rebirth

Due to a series of major damages and fixes to the timeline possibly by Dr. Manhattan, ^[7] Mister Mxyzptlk, ^[8] or both, Owlman and the rest of Earth 3 was resurrected in the multiverse.

Witnessing the Symbol of Doom in the sky on their Earth, the Crime Syndicate learned about Perpetua and started a mass-slaughter to gain her notice, with Ultraman himself encouraging the bloodshed. Their plan was successful as they gained an audience and she directed them to lead their people, who had been turned into Apex Predators, as part of her army.^[9]

Death Metal

Earth 0's John Stewart, Superman of Earth 23 and Wonder Woman of Earth 6 struck Earth 3 to destroy the tuning fork powering her with Anti-Crisis Energy, after she had taken over the multiverse. As Ultraman and Superwoman fought the defeated John Stewart's allies, Owlman decided to betray his team, since he was already upset at the evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse taking over Earth 0 and was hesitant at what Perpetua will do when remaking the multiverse. Using a gun made at Qward, he killed both Ultraman and Superwoman.^[10]

Infinite Frontier

After the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, a new Earth 3 is created, changing the history of several characters, including Owlman.

In this new timeline, Thomas Wayne Jr's family was killed and the injustice of the city meant the killer was never found. The boy proceeded to train in multiple fields, coming back with the noble goal of letting the justice of the city be decided in front of a righteous court of owls. However, when the investigation turned up the killer, crooked cop Harvey Bullock, the rest of the story came out - Bullock was a triggerman for Boss Gordon, who wanted vengeance on the criminal Waynes after they had killed his son. Realising that his noble crusade was a lie, Owlman dropped Bullock off a building, embracing nihilism.^[11]

Over the next nine years, Owlman built a power base of underlings, including his army, the Talons, who enforced his will from the shadows and enshrined him as a piece of fearsome folklore.^[12] He murdered as many of his enemies as he could find and systematically killed every metahuman in Gotham City.^[13]

By the time of the founding of the Crime Syndicate, he was operating his scheme out of the attic of the gothic Old Wayne Tower, a lab space with trophies of his memorable targets, which he called the Owl's Nest.^[11] From here, he produced the plan that his allies used to defeat the invading Starro.^[13] Afterwards, he helped maintain the Crime Syndicate, as a larger power base to keep the other metahumans in line.^[14]

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Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Mobius Chair (Formerly)
Owlman suit
- Flight
- Night Vision

Transportation

Owlmobile^[13]

Weapons

Owlrangs^[2]
Plasma gun

Notes

Owlman was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, first appearing as part of the Crime Syndicate of America in Justice League of America Vol 1. However, in the rebooted Prime Earth continuity his first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis's New 52 Justice League series.

This character is or was primarily a member of the the CSA (Crime Syndicate of America • Crime Syndicate of Amerika • Crime Society of America), in any of its various incarnations, either on Earth-Three, Earth-3, Earth 3, or in the Antimatter Universe. As with all other CSA members, they are an evil version of a hero of the mainstream DC Universe, primarily the Justice League. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "CSA members" category.

Justice League Villain

This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains."

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[JLv2_25-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Justice League (Volume 2) #25

[JLv2_23.4-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Justice League (Volume 2) #23.4: Secret Society

[3] Forever Evil #2

[4] Forever Evil #7

[5] Justice League (Volume 2) #34

[JL50-6] Justice League (Volume 2) #50

[7] DC Rebirth

[8] Superman: Reborn

[9] Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1

[10] Dark Nights: Death Metal Multiverse's End #1

[CS-1-2-11] 11.0 ^11.1 Crime Syndicate #2

[12] Crime Syndicate #1

[CS-1-3-13] 13.0 ^13.1 ^13.2 Crime Syndicate #3

[CS-1-6-14] Crime Syndicate #6

[CS-1-4-15] Crime Syndicate #4

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