As established by writer Scott Snyder, the Court of Owls is a group that claims to have secretly ruled Gotham City since colonial times. Over the course of more than a century, they infiltrated Gotham’s architecture and infrastructure to create a secret city whose passages are known only to the members of the Court. These concealed constructs include an enormous labyrinth hidden deep below the sewers of Gotham City.
Each generation of the Court employs a highly-trained assassin known as The Talon. Talons are nearly invulnerable and seemingly unstoppable. Like their namesake avian, which does not build its own nest but rather takes over nests built by other birds, the Court maintains hidden “nests” within some of Gotham’s most prominent buildings. The nests featured in this gallery function as lairs for the Talon. They were discovered by Batman during his investigation into the court (Batman Vol. 2 #1-7)