10 Most Sadistic Batman Villains Of All Time

7. The Court Of Owls/Talons

Keeping with the Owl theme, next on our list of all time greatest Bat-villains is the newly minted, fan-favourite Court of Owls. Making their grand debut at the beginning of DC€™s The New 52 initiative, the Court of Owls was created by Scott Snyder and designed by Greg Capullo. So, imagine if the Illuminati were Batman villains who secretly ran Gotham behind the scenes €“ that pretty much sums up the Court of Owls. They are a secret society comprised of the aristocratic Gotham socialites who use murder and money to obtain political and social influence within Gotham. As if secretly and violently swaying the direction of society from behind closed doors wasn€™t sadistic enough, The Court of Owls also prey on young, defenceless children. One of their traditions is to kidnap circus kids and train them to become assassins called Talons. Talons are ruthless, undead mercenaries who carry out the bidding of the Court without hesitancy. Of those abducted by the Court, Lincoln March is the most dynamic. Taken in by the Court after having spent years in the foster system, Lincoln was convinced by the Court that he was Thomas Wayne Jr €“ the premature son of the Wayne family that was sent away after his birth. Although this was never proven true, Batman did discover that his mother gave birth to another son prematurely due to a car accident. However, according to the medical reports, the child only lived for 12 hours. While the true identity of Lincon March is never revealed, there€™s no doubt that Lincoln believes himself to be the true heir to the Wayne dynasty. The Court of Owls and Lincoln March alter the Batman cannon in a drastic way: if their claims were true, it would completely change the impeccable character of Thomas and Martha Wayne in a way that would forever haunt Batman.