William Cobb (DC)
William Cobb is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
William Cobb was a male human who was born on October 10, 1901 to a middle-class family that came to Gotham City where his father had been an ironworker. For many years, his father spent his life constructing bridges for the Gates brothers and the powerful families of Gotham. One day, Cobb's father was working on the Cameron Kane's when it collapsed midway during construction leading to his death leaving William alone. His mother was forced to work at the textile plant where the family could barely afford food on the table but despite that she forbid William from begging on the streets. Despite that, he secretly did so where he worked on the streets with him juggling for money that he hid in secret in the family's funds. This went on for months and into the next year where during one such performance he witnessed a man stealing from a person's wallet with him attempting to make his getaway. William managed to throw one of his juggling balls with incredible accuracy allowing him to knock the pickpocket causing them to fall and allowing the wallet's owner to recover his possession's. The person turned out to be a ringmaster for Haly's Circus where he was grateful to the young Cobb and had kept an eye on him as he noted his remarkable talent in juggling. This saw him offering William a job which he accepted as the family needed the money and saw his mother reluctantly letting him go as he moved to Haly's Circus. Upon arriving, the ringmaster came to re-task Cobb's skills from juggling balls to throwing knives where he came to be a spectacular knife-thrower. (Nightwing v3 #8)
Sent to assassinate Batman, the two struggle off a rooftop and Talon plummets to his apparent death. On the drive to the morgue, he wakes up again and kills the driver before escaping. (Batman v2 #2) His next attempt on Batman's life is a giant explosion destroying his own recently discovered headquarters. (Batman v2 #3) Batman investigates the sewer when Alan Wayne's body was found, and Talon surprises then abducts him. (Batman v2 #4) The Court holds Batman in a massive labyrinth for over a week with no food where he goes slowly mad, until Talon finally approaches from behind and stabs him. (Batman v2 #5) They sentence Batman to death, and he delivers a brutal beating to the broken man. Finally, the super-hero fights back with his last reserves of strength, and savagely takes the Talon down while his masters flee. Following Batman's escape, the Court of Owls decide to dispose of Talon. Despite his ability to physically recover, he will never mentally recover from the defeat. It is revealed that they have an army of similar warriors. (Batman v2 #6)
While the Batcave was under attack by the other Talons, Cobb remained in his half dead/half alive state on the examination table. (Batman v2 #8) However, he broke free and attacked Dick Grayson, his great-grandson, at the mayor's office. Though apparently evenly matched, in terms of training, and experience, Cobb's regenerative capabilities, combined with Nightwing's injuries, sustained during his prior fight with another Talon, give Cobb the advantage. Cobb says that Grayson betrayed him by becoming a vigilante instead of a Talon like Grayson was supposed to be. Cobb, disappointed, throws four knives into his descendant, and waits over him, preparing to kill Nightwing. (Nightwing v3 #8) Nightwing manages to get away and proceeds to lead William on a chase through Gotham, and finally down into a subway station. The entire way, William expresses his disgust and disappointment with Dick for turning his back on his birthright to be a Talon, saying that Dick could have been the greatest of them all. Dick finally says he could not care less what his great-grandfather wanted for him and reveals he has led the undead assassin into a trap! He uses his escrima sticks to rupture a cooling pipe overhead, covering William in liquid Nitrogen and sending him back into hibernation. Dick picks up his ancestor's body and carries him outside, first stripping away his Talon mask and tossing it to the floor. He then tells the frozen Cobb that there is no such thing as destiny. (Nightwing v3 #9)
In the aftermath, Cobb seemingly returned to the Court of Owls where he continued to serve as a Talon. This was until a potential new assassin emerged named Jonas who had been groomed by the secret society to be his replacement. Per tradition, Jonas was to fight Cobb in the Labyrinth with the victor being the reigning Talon. Despite Cobb's skill, he came to be defeated with his throat cut and he came to be retired from service by the Court. (Talon v1 #15) This saw him being placed in a casket and trapped in hibernation where he remained imprisoned within his casket in the deepest levels of Blackgate Penitentiary until the Crime Syndicate of America had the planet's supervillains rise up to claim the world. During this time, Bane came to find the army of Talon's within Blackgate though all except Cobb were taken from him. He then woke Cobb from his slumber with Talon at first being hostile to Bane but then came to learn that the Santa Priscan offered an alliance between them. Cobb then intended to free his fellow Talons who were taken by the in-mates of Arkham Asylum with him and Bane working to release them. Bane, attempting to free all of them for his side, was unsuccessful and only managed to keep William Cobb, who became his lieutenant in the war. (Forever Evil: Arkham War v1 #4) Cobb had wanted to regain the city with Bane but was forced to fight his Talon brothers after they were brainwashed by the Mad Hatter's technology. (Forever Evil: Arkham War v1 #5) Cobb was successful, proving to be the best Talon, and aided Bane in winning the war against the Arkhamites. (Forever Evil: Arkham War v1 #6) However, their victory was short-lived as Bane came to be confronted by the recently returned Batman who defeated the Santa Priscan villain. (Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Bane v1 #1)
A few years after the Arkham War, Talon began tracking his great-grandson's movements. Fortunately for Cobb, Nightwing had recently been shot in the head by KGBeast, giving him brain damage. While Dick was able to recover fully, he lost most of his memories in the process, retiring as Nightwing to live in Bludhaven as a cab driver. Talon saw his great-grandson's current mental state as the perfect opportunity to turn him into the Gray Son of Gotham. One day, Talon encountered a drone owned by Lex Luthor. The drone contained a recorded message, which informed Talon that the information he possessed was not sufficient to sway Grayson into the fold. Luthor then offered Talon the information he needed to convert Grayson, free of charge. (Nightwing v4 #62)
Afterwards, he was confined to Arkham Asylum where he had no memory of his past life and struggling to know his identity. At this time, a Suicide Squad team led by Peacemaker broke into the asylum with the task of retrieving Talon to be a new member of their group. Arriving at the scene, they made contact only for Cobb to attack and fatally wound Bolt leading to a fight with the rest of the Squad. Their fight led to the security forces in Arkham Asylum being notified of a break-in and they dispatched men to deal with the intruders. (Suicide Squad v7 #1) They managed to restrain him and escape back to their headquarters where Amanda Waller had Talon prepped to be on Task Force X though he still had not recovered his memories. (Suicide Squad v7 #2)
Determined to escape, he conspired with Rick Flag and several other former Squad members to attack Amanda Waller and acted as the group's mole. He feigned insanity and an inability to communicate in order to draw suspicion away, successfully convincing Waller. (Suicide Squad v7 #7) Talon also developed a friendship with Culebra, who was tasked with ensuring his "insanity" did not interfere with missions. During a mission to Hell to trap the souls of deceased squad members and force them to rejoin using a magical artifact, Culebra was killed and forced to rejoin in the same way. Showing concern for her, Talon avenged her death and later revealed his ruse to her in private. (Suicide Squad v7 #9)The two cooperated with a disillusioned Task Force scientist to facilitate Flag's infiltration of Waller's hideout, but were separated when Talon was teleported away to participate in Waller's mission to Earth 3. (Suicide Squad v7 #12)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance William Cobb was a while male with long black hair and dead-set eyes along with pale skin as a result of the reanimation process. As a Talon, he was dressed in a distinctive black suit that covered his entire body. (Batman v2 #7)
His father was noted to had been an ironworker similar to his father before him. (Nightwing v3 #8)
A tissue sample revealed that he was the great-grandfather of Dick Grayson. (Batman v2 #7)
Within the Court, he was regarded as its finest assassin. (Forever Evil: Arkham War v1 #4) After his capture, he came to be forcibly inducted into the Suicide Squad program. (Suicide Squad v7 #2)
Powers and abilities
From childhood, he demonstrated a talent for juggling with this later evolving into being a spectacular knife-thrower. It was said that he had been trained by the best fighters on the planet. (Nightwing v3 #8)
He was able to lift Batman high above his head and hurl him into a wall with enough force to crack it. (Batman v2 #6)
A special compound was introduced into his cells that was capable of reanimating dead tissue. This made use of Electrum that was a highly conductive alloy of silver and copper with significant amounts of it present within his body. It was present not only in his blood but in his cells as well with the alloy seeping down over years from a deposit embedded in his tooth that was shaped in the form of a tiny owl. A result of this process meant that Cobb became a walking conductor whereby a spark was capable of waking him thus reanimating his dead body. After the compound bonded to his cells, they were capable of reactivating and healing his body over and over again. This allowed Talon to survive grievous injuries and simply continue functioning. The Electrum-based compound turned the body into a kind of heat-powered factory for cell-growth. Thus, the only way to shut this down was to lower the host's core body temperature making cold and ice the only means of stopping him. (Batman v2 #7)
Cobb uses antique, professional grade throwing knives that have had their grooves filled with mercury for steadier flight. (Batman v2 #1) By targeting a person's brachial arteries, he can quickly incapacitate them with his throwing knives, making it nearly impossible for the person to move. (Batman v2 #2)
As a Talon, he served as an assassin for the 'Court of Owls. (Batman v2 #7)
Notes
- The Talon William Cobb was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo where he made his first appearance in Batman v2 #2 (December, 2011).
Alternate Versions
- In Future State: Suicide Squad v1 #1 (2021), an alternate version of William Cobb appeared in the possible timeline of Future State. It was revealed that he had been recruited by Amanda Waller by the 2030s when she abandoned her Earth for Earth-3. Once there, she established her own Justice League using largely criminals with Cobb taking the role of Batman though his psychotic tendencies led to him being terminated by a remote bomb.
In other media
Video games
- In DC Legends, the William Cobb Talon appeared as a character in the setting of the mobile video game. His backstory listed that he joined the circus to make ends meet when he fell in love, but his future-father-in-law rejected him due to his humble beginnings. Heartbroken, he accepted an offer to join the Court of Owls as one of their Talon assassins. He later came to operate as an immortal assassin for over a century, until he was recruited into the Suicide Squad.
Appearances
- Batman v2: (2011)
- Nightwing v3:
- Talon v1:
- Forever Evil: Arkham War v1:
- Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Bane v1:
- Nightwing v4:
- Suicide Squad v7: (2021)
External Links
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