Owl (Marvel Comics)
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| The Owl | |
 The Owl Art by Alex Maleev. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Daredevil #3 (June 1964) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Joe Orlando |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Leland Owlsley |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | "Owl Gang" |
| Abilities | Enhanced strength, endurance, resiliency, reflexes/reactions Superhuman sight and hearing Can glide short distances Wields razor-sharp talons with attachment devices Criminal genius and master manipulator |
The Owl (real name Leland Owlsley) is a fictional mutant, a comic book supervillain who frequently menaces Daredevil and other heroes - notably Spider-Man and the Black Cat - in Marvel Comics' universe.
The Owl was, initially, the shadowy main villain that fought the original X-Factor. Plans were changed and a new villain was created that replaced him: Apocalypse, who is today one of the most prominent X-Men foes.
The character first appeared in Daredevil #3 (August 1964).
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[edit] Fictional character biography
Leland Owlsley was once a successful financier and financial investor, nicknamed "The Owl of Wall Street" 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] The Owl then moved to Chicago, and acquired the technology to drain human brains of knowledge, and battled the Cat.[4] The Owl returned to San Francisco, and briefly captured Daredevil and the Black Widow.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] The Owl was confined to a life-support module designed by the Maggia. He schemed to loot New York nder cover of a city-wide blackout, but was captured by Spider-Man, the Black Widow, and Simon Stroud.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] The Owl was later among the criminals assembled by Doctor Doom to battle the Fantastic Four in Washington, D.C.[11]
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. Recently, 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. 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. in hopes of selling him off to the highest bidder to other supervillains. Unfortunately, he did not ask permission of the self-established 'kingpin of supervillains', The Hood, and the Hood subsequently stole Deathlok from the Owl.[12] The Owl was apparently shot to death by the Hood, but it remains to be seen whether the Owl truly died during the acquisition of Deathlok.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Owl has ingested a special serum which enhanced his original mutant physiology, which enabled him to naturally glide for short distances, though he has to leap from a height of at least 20 feet 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 to injury, and reflexes/reaction are enhanced as a result of his mutation (he is physically stronger 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 finger nails are essentially talons and can tear through human tissue 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 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.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse 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.
[edit] Marvel Zombies
In Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, the Owl makes a cameo appearance in the second issue of the miniseries, in which he, the Kingpin and Hammerhead are gunned down by the Punisher.
[edit] Ultimate Marvel
He is mentioned, name only, in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #7, for working with dirty cops.
[edit] Other media
The Owl has briefly appeared in one episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, in the second season premiere, "The Insidious Six", where he is portrayed to be one of the crimelords allied Silvermane against the Kingpin.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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