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Owl (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Owl is a comic book
supervillain
who frequently menaces Daredevil
and other heroes - notably Spider-Man
and the Black Cat
- in Marvel Comics
' universe
.
Originally Bob Layton
, writer of the first five issues of X-Factor
, had intended to use the Owl as the Alliance of Evil
's mysterious master (mentioned in X-Factor
#4 (May 1986). The final page of X-Factor #5 initially featured Owl, however as Layton was removed from the book and replaced with Louise Simonson
, the final page was changed to feature a new character named Apocalypse
instead, as Simonson and editor Bob Harras
wanted a new villain for the book. Harras explained, "As soon as I saw the sketch by Walter [Simonson] and heard Louise's take on him. I knew we had the character I wanted. Jackson [Guice] re-drew the page, patching in the shadowy
Apocalypse where the Owl had been. But the genesis was clearly Walt and Weezie's."
" for his financial wisdom, until his criminal connections were exposed by the IRS
. After this event he abandoned his profession and became a professional criminal and eventually a formidable crime lord, battling Daredevil
in his first appearance. Though he later got a serum which gave him the ability to fly and slowly mutated him further, he was primarily a criminal mastermind and used his shrewd tactical intellect as a weapon more than his other abilities. He has used his powers in attempts to eliminate Daredevil. He has no criminal record outside of minor misdemeanors despite his once vast criminal enterprise.
The Owl kidnapped the judge who had previously sentenced him, and battled Daredevil using a giant mechanical owl. Owl later moved his base to San Francisco, and allied with Mr. Kline. He attempted to capture Daredevil, but was foiled by the Black Widow. The Owl then moved to Chicago, and acquired the technology to drain human brains of knowledge, and battled the Cat. The Owl returned to San Francisco, and briefly captured Daredevil and the Black Widow. The Owl was later stricken with a debilitating ailment resulting in the paralysis of his legs. He returned to New York, and recruited the Man-Bull
. The Owl attempted to kidnap a neurologist to cure his ailment, but was foiled by Daredevil.
The Owl was later rescued by his henchmen, and fitted with a neurological pacemaker to cure his ailment. He battled Daredevil and Spider-Man
, and was incapacitated when his pacemaker short-circuited. The Owl was confined to a life-support module designed by the Maggia
. He schemed to loot New York under cover of a city-wide blackout, but was captured by Spider-Man, the Black Widow, and Simon Stroud. No longer confined to the module, the Owl later engaged in a gang war against Doctor Octopus
in an attempt to usurp the Kingpin
's position as the crime boss of New York's underworld. The Owl encountered Spider-Man and the Black Cat
, and was beaten by Doctor Octopus. The Owl was later mystically summoned to Winnipeg, Canada, by Llan the Sorcerer
. There, he battled Alpha Flight
and Gamma Flight
with Nekra
, the Asp
, and the Scorpion. The Owl was later among the criminals assembled by Doctor Doom
to battle the Fantastic Four
in Washington, D.C.
Over the years the Owl has become less and less human as a result of bizarre experiments he has subjected himself to in efforts to improve his natural ability to glide and repair damage to his spine that rendered him a paraplegic. The Owl once needed to use an exoskeleton to walk but has since recovered from this injury. The Owl was revealed to be a mutant many years after his first altercations with Daredevil.
Although the Owl was Daredevil's arch-nemesis for much of his early career, he is no longer as prominent as some of Daredevil's other enemies, primarily the Kingpin
and Bullseye
. The Owl has started to re-establish his presence in the criminal underworld with the absence of the Kingpin. He began to enlarge his criminal empire by refining Mutant Growth Hormone from his own genetic material, though Daredevil was able to get him arrested (Despite some sources, the Owl is NOT a mutant. MGH has been refined from non-mutants in the past, such as Mattie Franklin, the mystically-powered Spider-Woman). During the Acts of Vengeance, Owl was one of the villains who attacked Alpha Flight. He was also seen attacking the Fantastic Four with other villains.
More recently so, he managed to manipulate behind the scenes and get the Kingpin arrested for a past murder when it looked like Fisk was going to make a deal with the FBI. As the Kingpin sauntered into his jail cell, the Owl taunted him with "Payback's a bitch."
The deal in question involved Matt Murdock being arrested for being Daredevil. When Foggy Nelson
, representing Murdock in court, visited him in jail, he was apparently killed by the other prisoners. The Owl later taunted Murdock about this, and Murdock, who had become unhinged due to his friend's death, brutally beat the Owl. (Unbeknownst to the two of them, Foggy was alive at the time and in witness protection.)
Later, the Owl escaped prison and stole Deathlok
from S.H.I.E.L.D.
, killing four agents in the process. He sets up an auction in hopes of selling him off to the highest bidder to other supervillains. However, he did not ask permission of the self-established 'kingpin of supervillains', The Hood
, and the Hood subsequently stole Deathlok from the Owl and shot the Owl.
Owl was seen alive and purchasing a product called Ebony which came from the glands of Corruptor. He planned to synthesize it into a street drug only for Daredevil to arrive and steal it.
The Owl has since then appeared in police custody. He was subsequently freed by Wilson Fisk, Kingpin
, who sought to employ him as part of his plan to take revenge on The Hand. He takes Dakota North
captive and implies he will torture and sexually assault her in order to get information on Daredevil, who then appears and cuts every nerve in both his arms and legs using a sword the Owl had tried to attack him with.
Members of Owl's gang were shown fighting in a gang war with the Maggia at a scrapyard. Hammerhead
shot the gang while Silvermane
was fed to a metal crusher.
It was later revealed that Owl received his henchmen from Taskmaster
who had trained them.
His bones are hollow, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. Though the Owl only exercises moderately, his strength, endurance, resistance/resiliency to injury and fatigue, and reflexes/reaction are enhanced as a result of his mutation (he is physically stronger and tougher than any Olympic weight lifter). His vision and hearing are superhumanly acute, his head can rotate 180 degrees, and his eyes can move independently of each other in their own sockets and have greater visual range than an ordinary human. His teeth and nails are essentially fangs and talons which can tear through human flesh with relative ease. Most of his adversaries assume that he is just a normal human as he almost never engages in physical struggles; he relegates this to his underlings, like the Vulture
and Electro.
Over the years the Owl has taken a number of experimental drugs and subjected himself to experimental surgical procedures to increase his ability to glide. These experiments have met with mixed results and a by-product of them is that he has been mutagenically altered in a way that has negatively affected his sanity and made him more animal like. For instance, he enjoys eating live mice with his vintage six hundred dollar wine.
The Owl wears a set of metal razor-sharp steel-tool talons attached to each forearm (closely resembling Wolverine's claws) and a specially designed cape designed to resemble an owl
's outstretched wings to assist him in steering during flight, and often uses various other bird-themed weapons and pieces of equipment (not unlike Batman
's foe, the Penguin
). This special equipment was designed for him by the Terrible Tinkerer
. Although the Owl is somewhat deranged, he is an extremely skilled criminal organizer and money launderer and has yet to catch a criminal charge beyond a misdemeanor.
For some time, the Owl was unable to stand or walk without a special leg-brace exoskeleton.
The Owl also possesses a gifted intellect.
timeline, the Owl is shown to be a member of the Marauders
, a terrorist group composed of humans have betrayed humanity and joined Apocalypse. This incarnation of the Owl is killed by Gwen Stacy
and Clint Barton
, alongside fellow Marauders members Dirigible
, Red
and Arcade
.
, the Owl makes a cameo appearance in the second issue of the miniseries. The Owl and Hammerhead, here lackeys to the Kingpin, are gunned down by the Punisher despite the zombie apocalypse literally raging right outside.
#7, for working with corrupt police.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
who frequently menaces Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
and other heroes - notably Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and the Black Cat
Black Cat (comics)
The Black Cat is a fictional character, a superheroine in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 ....
- in Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
.
Publication history
The character first appeared in Daredevil #3 (August 1964).Originally Bob Layton
Bob Layton
Bob Layton is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor, who has worked for Marvel Comics, Valiant Comics, DC Comics, Future Comics, and other publishers.-Early life:...
, writer of the first five issues of X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
, had intended to use the Owl as the Alliance of Evil
Alliance of Evil
The Alliance of Evil is a name used for a fictional group of supervillains that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:...
's mysterious master (mentioned in X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
#4 (May 1986). The final page of X-Factor #5 initially featured Owl, however as Layton was removed from the book and replaced with Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson, born Mary Louise Alexander , is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel...
, the final page was changed to feature a new character named Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
instead, as Simonson and editor Bob Harras
Bob Harras
Robert "Bob" Harras is an American comics writer and editor, who was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1995 to 2000 and currently serves as editor-in-chief of DC Comics.-Career:...
wanted a new villain for the book. Harras explained, "As soon as I saw the sketch by Walter [Simonson] and heard Louise's take on him. I knew we had the character I wanted. Jackson [Guice] re-drew the page, patching in the shadowy
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
Apocalypse where the Owl had been. But the genesis was clearly Walt and Weezie's."
Fictional character biography
Leland Owlsley was once a successful financier and financial investor, nicknamed "The Owl of Wall StreetWall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
" for his financial wisdom, until his criminal connections were exposed by the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
. After this event he abandoned his profession and became a professional criminal and eventually a formidable crime lord, battling Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
in his first appearance. Though he later got a serum which gave him the ability to fly and slowly mutated him further, he was primarily a criminal mastermind and used his shrewd tactical intellect as a weapon more than his other abilities. He has used his powers in attempts to eliminate Daredevil. He has no criminal record outside of minor misdemeanors despite his once vast criminal enterprise.
The Owl kidnapped the judge who had previously sentenced him, and battled Daredevil using a giant mechanical owl. Owl later moved his base to San Francisco, and allied with Mr. Kline. He attempted to capture Daredevil, but was foiled by the Black Widow. The Owl then moved to Chicago, and acquired the technology to drain human brains of knowledge, and battled the Cat. The Owl returned to San Francisco, and briefly captured Daredevil and the Black Widow. The Owl was later stricken with a debilitating ailment resulting in the paralysis of his legs. He returned to New York, and recruited the Man-Bull
Man-Bull
Man-Bull is a fictional character, a supervillain from Marvel Comics.-Publication history:Man-Bull first appeared in Daredevil #78-79 , and was created by Gerry Conway and Gary Friedrich....
. The Owl attempted to kidnap a neurologist to cure his ailment, but was foiled by Daredevil.
The Owl was later rescued by his henchmen, and fitted with a neurological pacemaker to cure his ailment. He battled Daredevil and Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, and was incapacitated when his pacemaker short-circuited. The Owl was confined to a life-support module designed by the Maggia
Maggia (comics)
The Maggia is a fictional international crime syndicate that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The organization exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...
. He schemed to loot New York under cover of a city-wide blackout, but was captured by Spider-Man, the Black Widow, and Simon Stroud. No longer confined to the module, the Owl later engaged in a gang war against Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes...
in an attempt to usurp the Kingpin
Kingpin (comics)
The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
's position as the crime boss of New York's underworld. The Owl encountered Spider-Man and the Black Cat
Black Cat (comics)
The Black Cat is a fictional character, a superheroine in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194 ....
, and was beaten by Doctor Octopus. The Owl was later mystically summoned to Winnipeg, Canada, by Llan the Sorcerer
Llan the Sorcerer
Llan the Sorcerer, a fictional character in the Marvel Universe, is an ancient evil who was an enemy of Alpha Flight.-Fictional character biography:...
. There, he battled Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight is a fictional superhero team published by Marvel Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 ....
and Gamma Flight
Gamma Flight
Gamma Flight is the name of two fictional Canadian teams of superheroes in the Marvel Comics Universe.-Flight tier level:They first appeared in Alpha Flight vol. 1, #1 ....
with Nekra
Nekra
Nekra is a fictional mutant supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe.-Publication history:Nekra first appeared in Shanna the She-Devil #5 , and was created by Steve Gerber and Ross Andru....
, the Asp
Asp (comics)
The Asp is a former supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, most notably a member of the Serpent Society and BAD Girls, Inc.. She was created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary, and first appeared in Captain America vol. 1 #310....
, and the Scorpion. The Owl was later among the criminals assembled by Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom
Victor von Doom is a fictional character who appears in Marvel Comics publications . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak...
to battle the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
in Washington, D.C.
Over the years the Owl has become less and less human as a result of bizarre experiments he has subjected himself to in efforts to improve his natural ability to glide and repair damage to his spine that rendered him a paraplegic. The Owl once needed to use an exoskeleton to walk but has since recovered from this injury. The Owl was revealed to be a mutant many years after his first altercations with Daredevil.
Although the Owl was Daredevil's arch-nemesis for much of his early career, he is no longer as prominent as some of Daredevil's other enemies, primarily the Kingpin
Kingpin (comics)
The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
and Bullseye
Bullseye (comics)
Bullseye is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe.A psychopathic assassin, Bullseye uses the opportunities afforded by his line of work to exercise his homicidal tendencies and to work out his own personal vendetta against Daredevil.Although he possesses no...
. The Owl has started to re-establish his presence in the criminal underworld with the absence of the Kingpin. He began to enlarge his criminal empire by refining Mutant Growth Hormone from his own genetic material, though Daredevil was able to get him arrested (Despite some sources, the Owl is NOT a mutant. MGH has been refined from non-mutants in the past, such as Mattie Franklin, the mystically-powered Spider-Woman). During the Acts of Vengeance, Owl was one of the villains who attacked Alpha Flight. He was also seen attacking the Fantastic Four with other villains.
More recently so, he managed to manipulate behind the scenes and get the Kingpin arrested for a past murder when it looked like Fisk was going to make a deal with the FBI. As the Kingpin sauntered into his jail cell, the Owl taunted him with "Payback's a bitch."
The deal in question involved Matt Murdock being arrested for being Daredevil. When Foggy Nelson
Foggy Nelson
Franklin P. "Foggy" Nelson is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, part of the supporting cast of Daredevil ; Foggy is Matt's best friend. The character was created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett....
, representing Murdock in court, visited him in jail, he was apparently killed by the other prisoners. The Owl later taunted Murdock about this, and Murdock, who had become unhinged due to his friend's death, brutally beat the Owl. (Unbeknownst to the two of them, Foggy was alive at the time and in witness protection.)
Later, the Owl escaped prison and stole Deathlok
Deathlok
Deathlok is a fictional cyborg published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Astonishing Tales #25 , and was created by Rich Buckler and Doug Moench...
from S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
, killing four agents in the process. He sets up an auction in hopes of selling him off to the highest bidder to other supervillains. However, he did not ask permission of the self-established 'kingpin of supervillains', The Hood
Hood (comics)
The Hood is a fictional character, a supervillain, and a crime boss in the . Created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell, the character first appeared in The Hood #1 .-Publication history:...
, and the Hood subsequently stole Deathlok from the Owl and shot the Owl.
Owl was seen alive and purchasing a product called Ebony which came from the glands of Corruptor. He planned to synthesize it into a street drug only for Daredevil to arrive and steal it.
The Owl has since then appeared in police custody. He was subsequently freed by Wilson Fisk, Kingpin
Kingpin (comics)
The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
, who sought to employ him as part of his plan to take revenge on The Hand. He takes Dakota North
Dakota North
Dakota North is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Originally the star of her own limited series and later a part of the supporting cast of Daredevil, the character exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel...
captive and implies he will torture and sexually assault her in order to get information on Daredevil, who then appears and cuts every nerve in both his arms and legs using a sword the Owl had tried to attack him with.
Members of Owl's gang were shown fighting in a gang war with the Maggia at a scrapyard. Hammerhead
Hammerhead (comics)
Hammerhead is a fictional character, a supervillain that has appeared in various comic book series published by Marvel Comics. He is primarily an enemy of Spider-Man and a member of organized crime who exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe...
shot the gang while Silvermane
Silvermane (comics)
Silvermane is a fictional Marvel Comics character. He is a supervillain and a prominent figure in the Maggia, a fictional organized crime syndicate that is analogous to the Mafia. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 1 #73...
was fed to a metal crusher.
It was later revealed that Owl received his henchmen from Taskmaster
Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. The character is primarily a supervillain but is often portrayed as an antihero. The Taskmaster first appeared in Avengers vol.1 #195 and was created by David Michelinie and George Pérez...
who had trained them.
Powers and abilities
The Owl has ingested a special serum which enabled him to naturally glide for short distances, though he has to leap from a height of at least 20 feet (6.1 m) off of the ground to do so. He is able to perform complex mid air maneuvers while he glides which would be impossible for ordinary humans. The Owl's gliding ability is assisted by a weak psionic ability to levitate his body. Under the right conditions, such as favorable air currents, the Owl can glide for at least the length of a city block. He uses specially designed capes to allow him to do this.His bones are hollow, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. Though the Owl only exercises moderately, his strength, endurance, resistance/resiliency to injury and fatigue, and reflexes/reaction are enhanced as a result of his mutation (he is physically stronger and tougher than any Olympic weight lifter). His vision and hearing are superhumanly acute, his head can rotate 180 degrees, and his eyes can move independently of each other in their own sockets and have greater visual range than an ordinary human. His teeth and nails are essentially fangs and talons which can tear through human flesh with relative ease. Most of his adversaries assume that he is just a normal human as he almost never engages in physical struggles; he relegates this to his underlings, like the Vulture
Vulture (comics)
The Vulture is the name of six comic book supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. The best known Vulture in the Marvel Universe is Adrian Toomes, an elderly enemy of Spider-Man created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 .-Golden Age Vulture:In Young Men #26, a scientist...
and Electro.
Over the years the Owl has taken a number of experimental drugs and subjected himself to experimental surgical procedures to increase his ability to glide. These experiments have met with mixed results and a by-product of them is that he has been mutagenically altered in a way that has negatively affected his sanity and made him more animal like. For instance, he enjoys eating live mice with his vintage six hundred dollar wine.
The Owl wears a set of metal razor-sharp steel-tool talons attached to each forearm (closely resembling Wolverine's claws) and a specially designed cape designed to resemble an owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
's outstretched wings to assist him in steering during flight, and often uses various other bird-themed weapons and pieces of equipment (not unlike Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
's foe, the Penguin
Penguin (comics)
Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot III is a DC Comics supervillain and one of Batman's oldest, most persistent enemies. The Penguin was introduced by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, making his debut in Detective Comics #58 .The Penguin is a short, rotund man known for his love of birds and his...
). This special equipment was designed for him by the Terrible Tinkerer
Tinkerer
The Tinkerer is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in comic books set in the Marvel Comics Universe...
. Although the Owl is somewhat deranged, he is an extremely skilled criminal organizer and money launderer and has yet to catch a criminal charge beyond a misdemeanor.
For some time, the Owl was unable to stand or walk without a special leg-brace exoskeleton.
The Owl also possesses a gifted intellect.
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of ApocalypseAge of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
timeline, the Owl is shown to be a member of the Marauders
Marauders (comics)
The Marauders is a team of fictional supervillain characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Romita, Jr., the team first appear in Uncanny X-Men #210 The Marauders is a team of fictional supervillain characters in comic books published by...
, a terrorist group composed of humans have betrayed humanity and joined Apocalypse. This incarnation of the Owl is killed by Gwen Stacy
Gwen Stacy
Gwendolyn "Gwen" Stacy appears as a supporting character in Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 ....
and Clint Barton
Hawkeye (comics)
Hawkeye , also known as Goliath and Ronin, is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck. Hawkeye joined the Avengers in Avengers Vol. 1 #16 Hawkeye...
, alongside fellow Marauders members Dirigible
Kingpin (comics)
The Kingpin is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . Kingpin is one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe. The character is a major adversary of Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man...
, Red
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
and Arcade
Arcade (comics)
Arcade is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Arcade first appeared in Marvel Team-Up, vol...
.
Marvel Zombies
In Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of DarknessMarvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness
Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness is a five-issue 2007 comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in association with Dynamite Entertainment, an intercompany crossover in which Ash Williams, hero of the popular Evil Dead film and comic book, finds himself in the Marvel Zombies...
, the Owl makes a cameo appearance in the second issue of the miniseries. The Owl and Hammerhead, here lackeys to the Kingpin, are gunned down by the Punisher despite the zombie apocalypse literally raging right outside.
Ultimate Marvel
He is mentioned, name only, in Ultimate Marvel Team-UpUltimate Marvel Team-Up
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is a comic book series, published by Marvel Comics which ran for 16 issues, including a concluding Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special. It is set in one of Marvel's shared universes, the Ultimate Universe. The whole series starred Spider-Man teaming up with another superhero...
#7, for working with corrupt police.
Television
- The Owl has briefly appeared in the Spider-Man: The Animated SeriesSpider-Man (1994 TV series)Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Films...
episode "The Insidious Six". He is portrayed to be one of the crime lords allied with SilvermaneSilvermane (comics)Silvermane is a fictional Marvel Comics character. He is a supervillain and a prominent figure in the Maggia, a fictional organized crime syndicate that is analogous to the Mafia. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 1 #73...
against the Kingpin.
Video games
- The Owl appeared as a boss in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series video gameSpider-Man: The Animated Series (video game)Spider-Man is a video game developed by Western Technologies and published by Acclaim in 1995, incorporating elements form the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The game was released for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.-Gameplay:The gameplay was similar to...
.