Talon

"We found his and Dmitry's bodies early this morning. They were killed by Talon, the Court's assassin."

—Jacob Volk^[src]

Talon
Affiliation	The Court of Owls
Occupation	Assassin
First	"Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell..."
Appeared in	10 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by	Various Actors

A Talon is the name given to a breed of agents and assassins that work for The Court of Owls and are among the deadliest killers in Gotham City.

They are headed by the Sensei.

History

According to the Shaman, the Talons are children who have been taken from orphanages and subjected to vigorous mental conditioning that makes them extremely effective and unquestionably loyal agents. Talons have served the Court for over two hundred years.

When Court of Owls member Kathryn Monroe is informed by a Wayne Enterprises board member about Bruce Wayne's visit and grilling them over the experiments that occurred to Indian Hill, she orders the Talon to go and deal with him. The Talon arrives at Wayne Manor and gets into a fight with Alfred Pennyworth and manages to overpower and subdue him. The Talon hides while a frantic Bruce enters the room and checks Alfred and subsequently sneaks up behind Bruce and kidnaps him.

The Talon brings Bruce Wayne to Kathryn's home where the two converse about her group's involvement in Thomas and Martha Wayne's deaths. Kathryn tells him to cease all investigation of her company and his parents murder and Bruce reluctantly agrees. Afterwards, Kathryn has the Talon take Bruce back to his home.

The Talon was with Kathryn when they find Subject 514A walking the streets. After Kathryn tells Subject 514A that her group are his real parents who have been looking for him for a long time, Talon is the one who loads Subject 514A into Kathryn's limo.

Talon assaults Luka Volk and Dmitry before they can arrange for the Whisper Gang to ally with Bruce Wayne. After killing Dmitry, Talon was unable to get the information on where the second key is and ends up killing Luka.

Talon later kills Jacob and the Whisper Gang members with him. He later ambushes Bruce and Selina at the building where an owl statue is as they managed to run from him. Alfred battles Talon again with Bruce and Selina helping to subdue him. Selina, Bruce and Alfred are saved at the last minute when Maria Kyle arrives at the last minute and hits talon in the head with a vase disorienting him long enough for him to be killed by Alfred, who rams a blade into the Talon's throat.

When Barbara Kean and Tabitha Galavan interrogated a harbormaster at Dock 9C about a secret shipment coming in from Indian Hill, their gang was ambushed by a second Talon who killed the armed men flawlessly. Barbara and Tabitha fired upon the figure, but ended up bailing and making their escape. The helpless tied-up harbormaster begged the Talon that he didn't tell them anything. Regardless the assassin decapitated the man.

A newly-recruited Court member Jim Gordon brought Riddler to meet the Court of Owls by the docks, a limo pulled up which contained Kathryn and the Talon. Kathryn approached Riddler who had taken an interest in who was truly running Gotham City and informed him that she would give him the answers. As the Talon took Riddler to her car, Kathryn congratulated Gordon on finding Riddler and told him he would be called upon soon while also stating that they will find a good use for Riddler.

When Nathaniel Barnes was about to be transferred from Arkham Asylum, he attacked and killed both the guards escorting him. A Talon appeared to try and take down Barnes, but he gained the upper hand and almost killed the Talon, although ended up delivered to the Court of Owls regardless. The Talon is present when Kathryn shows James Gordon a air dispersal system that will distribute the weaponized version of Alice Tetch's poisonous blood where it will be demonstrated on an event that is being held by the Daughters of Gotham. As Kathryn leaves, she tells Gordon that the Talon has been instructed to kill Gordon if he interferes. When Oswald Cobblepot and Bridgit Pike arrive, the Talon is burned to death by Bridgit Pike as Gordon successfully evacuates the room where the Daughters of Gotham event is held. Later that night, another Talon infiltrates Oswald Cobblepot's Mansion where he knocks out Bridgit Pike and abducts Oswald Cobblepot where he is placed in a cell next to Riddler's cell.

A Talon was present in a house outside of Gotham City as the Shaman continues his mental work on Bruce Wayne. After revealing the Talons' history following the mental work on Bruce where he placed his mother's pearl necklace in the safe, the Shaman demonstrates the Talons' obedience by having the Talon present cut off his small finger and bandage it up.

Known Members

• Talon #1 (deceased; killed by Alfred Pennyworth)
• Talon #2 (deceased; killed by Bridgit Pike)
• Talon #3 (unknown; presumably killed by Jim Gordon)
• Talon #4 (deceased; killed by Harvey Bullock)
• Talon #5 (unknown)
• Talon #6 (unknown)
• Talon #7 (unknown)
• Talon #8 (unknown)

Appearance and Personality

The many Talons are similar in height, weight and overall appearance. They are tall slender men with slicked brown hair and wear a face mask over their eyes.

The Talons display an emotionless demeanor and rarely ever utter a word or interact. They are shown to be very loyal to The Court of Owls and are willing to take orders. The Talons are merciless in their attacks and when it comes to disposing of their targets, and don't stop until the job is done or they are killed themselves.

Abilities

• Peak of physical human condition: As an assassin, the Talons were in top physical condition. They have their reflexes trained to the point that they can dodge throwing knives and point blank gunfire.
• Acrobatics/Parkour: Talons are shown to be quick enough to move around osbatlces and are agile fighters.
• Expert hand to hand Combatant/Martial artist: The Talons are highly skilled in martial arts, as shown during the first Talon's fight with Dmitry, Luka, and, Alfred. As well as the second Talon's fight with Jim Gordon.
• Knife wielder: Some talons use knives and simlar weaponary such as wrist blades. This is seen during the first Talon's fights with Alfred and Luka Volk.
• Swordsmanship: Some Talons have been seen using a sword. This is seen when the second Talon has been shown to deflect and block bullets with his sword.
• Pain tolerance: The Talons have a high tolerance for pain. This seen when one cut a finger off without flinching.
• Stealth: As assassins, Talons are experts of stealth tactics.

Equipment

Wrist Blades: The first and second talons wielded retachtable wrist blades for close quarters combat.

Sword: The first and second Talons wielded a sword resembling a katana.

Dagger: The Talons that executed the Court of Owls under the Sensei's orders wielded daggers to accomplish their task.

Eskrima sticks: The Talon that was used to train Bruce by the Sensei wielded two Eskrima sticks.

Tranqulizer dart: The second Talon threw a traquilzer dart at Barnes to knock him out, in order to be delivered to the Court of Owls.

Chlorform: The first Talon used a rag with chloform during his kidnapping of Bruce to knock him out.

Appearances

Season 3 "Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell..." "Mad City: Burn the Witch..." "Mad City: New Day Rising" "Mad City: Time Bomb" "Mad City: Beware the Green-Eyed Monster" "Heroes Rise: These Delicate and Dark Obsessions" "Heroes Rise: The Primal Riddle" "Heroes Rise: Light The Wick" "Heroes Rise: All Will Be Judged" "Heroes Rise: Pretty Hate Machine"

Notes

• In DC Comics, the Talons are a loyal group of lethal superhuman assassins working for the Court of Owls and are normally sent to deal with a situation if the Court feel their existence or goals are being threatened. They made their first appearance in the comics in Batman Volume 2 #2 (December 2011) as part of "The New 52" reboot of the comics universe.
• The first and second Talons were the only Talons to ever speak on-screen.