Lincoln March
Lincoln March is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Lincoln March
One account claimed that he was actually Thomas Wayne, Junior where he was the second son of Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha Wayne with him being the younger brother of Bruce Wayne. (Batman v2 #11)
According to him, he had actually survived and was instead raised by the Court of Owls. After the death of his parents, he had hoped that Bruce would find him but this never occurred and he came to serve the Court though had sought to gain their power. In the years afterwards, he came to hear that Bruce Wayne had departed Gotham in order to travel the world but had disappeared for years. The Court of Owls claimed that he was dead and in the time that followed they intended to present Thomas Wayne, Jr. as having survived so that he could claim the Wayne fortune for them. Before this could happen, Bruce Wayne re-emerged in Gotham and took residence in Wayne Manor again with the Court deciding to abandon their former plans. Instead, they crafted a new identity for Thomas Wayne, Junior. where he came to operate as Lincoln March. (Batman v2 #11)
He had seemingly allied with the reigning Grandmaster Sebastian Clark with the two pitting the Court of Owls against the Batman. (Talon v1 #6)
After he'd recovered from the hospital, Gotham City came under attack by a horde of Talons like the one that attacked Wayne and March in the tower. Most of the targets of the Talons had already been executed, leaving Batman the option to save either Jeremiah Arkham or Lincoln. Batman went after Arkham first, and then to March. (Batman v2 #8) At March's office, Batman opened the door to find March pointing a gun in his direction. His actual target was the Talon hiding behind the door, who collapsed when Lincoln took his shot. Batman rushed over to talk to March, finding that he had been stabbed in the chest. With his last words, March begged Batman to give a note to Bruce Wayne. As Lincoln March died, Batman read the letter. It was a list that Lincoln had compiled of the three people most likely to be members of the Court of Owls. Wayne swore vengeance against the Court of Owls. (Batman v2 #9)
By this point, the Court's inner circle had received a summons to gather at Harbour House for a meeting where he poisoned the food in order to kill everyone there. This included his own food but not before taking the serum that turned him into a Talon which revived him from the dead. (Batman v2 #10) Returning to the Harbour House, he proceeded with massacring the Court of Owl members there following a 'disagreement' and earned their fortune as a result. At this time, the building was found by the Cluemaster who for the last two years had follow clues that uncovered the existence of the Court. He had approached them with the intention of gaining their resources to help him take down the Batman. Upon arriving, he saw the dead bodies of the Court and was demoralised that his search had ended in failure but was then approached by March who offered to listen to his plan. (Batman Eternal v1 #52) Bruce would never be truly certain whether Lincoln March was telling the truth about his parentage without a DNA test, but many of the facts of his story could fit around the official paperwork - on the condition that Martha and Thomas Wayne had lied. (Batman v2 #11)
March was present in the shadows when Cluemaster had a meeting with several other low-ranking Batman villains, namely Signalman, Lock-Up and Firefly, but was forced to knock Arthur's daughter, Stephanie, unconscious when she found out about the Cluemaster's plot. (Batman Eternal v1 #3) With Arthur willing to kill Batman himself with the city on fire and in chaos, Lincoln made his way through Gotham and up Beacon Tower, using gas canisters to knock the villains guarding the entrance unconscious before ascending to the top and, with Arthur holding an unmasked Bruce Wayne at gunpoint and about to pull the trigger, slit his throat with one of Lincoln's four knives, killing him before telling Bruce that it was time that the two brothers finished this. (Batman Eternal v1 #51)
They then enacted a plan that took place over the course of the coming months with Cluemaster arranging to cause havoc in the city and keep the Batman distracted. This was to make Batman believe that one of his major villains were conducting a large attack on him when in reality it was the person he did not suspect which was Cluemaster. This culminated in Batman's capture but before Cluemaster could kill the Dark Knight he was betrayed by March who slit his throat in order to take over the plan and kill his 'brother' himself. (Batman Eternal v1 #52)
Beneath the city, the Court of Owls captured Lincoln, and with little sympathy for him after what he did to their leaders, they locked him away in stasis, saying perhaps they would release him in a decade, once he learned his lesson, likely to act as their Talon due to his use of their electrum formula himself. (Batman Eternal v1 #52)
To free himself, March made a desperate deal with the Court whereby he would bring induct the prophesised Gray Son of Gotham. In order to achieve that end, he had Gotham Councilwoman Noctua bring about the Robin Laws in order to get the GCPD to arrest all teenagers that wore the mask of Robin. This was to bring about the emergence of the various Robins that followed Batman back to the city with Dick Grayson among them. Afterwards, he had the berserker Elite Talons unleashed that were tasked with destroying Gotham City. To avert this destruction, Damian Wayne decided to surrender to the Court of Owls and join them as the Gray Son. In reality, he was implanted a bomb for him to be used as a hostage whilst Dick Grayson confronted the Court at their Labyrinth. Once there, he was given the choice to either join the Court as their Gray Son or they would destroy Gotham City along with Damian Wayne. Ultimately, Dick Grayson agreed and it appeared that the Court's plot was defeated but in reality they had achieved their goal as the Gray Son took his place at the Parliament of Owls. (Robin War v1 #2) At their Labyrinth in Greece, March intended to lead this splinter faction known as the Parliament of Owls on global scale compared to the Gotham based Court. He was, however, knocked out as the Parliament sought to chart their own course of action without him as they discarded their white masks for black ones. (Nightwing: Rebirth v1 #1) He remained imprisoned within the Tomb of the Unworthy that was used as a place to hide disgraced Talon's. This was until he was awakened by the Joker who had learnt of the location after torturing a member of the Court of Owls. Freed, March was forced to aid the Clown Prince of Crime as he waged a war on Gotham City and dispatched March along with other Talon's to target Batman. (Detective Comics v1 #1023)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Despite his claims, Bruce Wayne did not believe that March was Thomas Wayne, Junior. but admitted that without a genetic test that there was no way to be sure. (Batman v2 #11)
Powers and abilities
He came to take the special serum that turned a person into a Talon allowing him to be brought back to life after his death. (Batman v2 #10)
March came to equip himself in a new Talon armour that was developed by the Court of Owls. This suit was tough and modern as something that rivalled that of the Batsuit. It included a jet-pack propulsion system and an array of built-in weapons that made him formidable in combat. (Batman v2 #10)
Notes
- Lincoln March was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo where he made his first appearance in Batman v2 #1 (November, 2011).
- In an interview on CBR, Snyder commented on the character's creation, "From there, I felt that while I wanted this to be a faceless organization, at the same time I wanted it to have someone step out from behind it eventually. It needed to be someone looking for some kind of retribution unless you're going to have a story where Batman makes almost no progress at the end and winds up having the Court remain faceless. So it became a question of who would rise up and betray them, and historically Owlman is a character that's worn the mantle of the owl, and in versions of him that I've loved, he's always been a scary reverse Bruce. So all those pieces just clicked into place. The Thomas beat -- or Lincoln claiming to be Thomas, because I should mention to the readers that the story isn't done. There's more in #11, so you'll have to wait and see if he's telling the truth. But even a character claiming to be Thomas gave me that final emotional beat."
Appearances
- Batman v2: (2011)
- Batman Eternal v1:
- Robin War v1:
- Nightwing: Rebirth v1:
- Detective Comics v1: (2020)
External Links
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