Court of Owls

The Court of Owls is a secret society that operated out of Gotham City. Its hierarchy consisted of the oldest existing families in Gotham, and has been secretly manipulating events as high stakes puppet masters for centuries. In the modern era, the Court of Owls was led by a woman named Kathryn. The Court of Owls were responsible for the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Kathryn blackmailed young Bruce Wayne into signing over control of Wayne Enterprises to her in order to keep Alfred Pennyworth safe. She also imposed a gag order on him, forcing him to cease investigation of his parents' murder. Another member of the group was Frank Gordon, who was the uncle of GCPD detective James Gordon. Frank was responsible for covering up the murder of Jim's father, which was perpetuate by the Court of Owls. Wracked with guilt, Frank eventually betrayed the Court, and advised Jim Gordon on how to combat them. He paid for this effrontery with his life. The Court of Owls decreed that Gotham was in need of a cleansing, so they planned to use a bomb filled with the Tetch Virus that would drive everyone insane. One of Kathryn's agents was former police captain Nathaniel Barnes, who was already driven violently insane by the virus. Kathryn's plan was to use Bruce Wayne to detonate the bomb. Although she succeeded in having one of her agents brainwash Bruce Wayne into activating the weapon, the blast only affected a percentage of people. During the course of events, Jim Gordon waged war against the Court, taking down several of Kathryn's assassins. Kathryn was arrested, but while at Gotham City Police Headquarters, she encountered Nathaniel Barnes, and referred to his violent crusade of justice as "nonsense". Barnes was infuriated and cut Kathryn's head off with a large blade. With Kathryn's death, the Court of Owls came to an end.