Talon

Current Events

After The Night of the Owls, Calvin Rose returns to Gotham City after hearing that his former masters, the Court of Owls may have been defeated. While trying to find information about the Court's status in one of their warehouses, Calvin is attacked by a female Talon. After a tough fight, Rose knocks her out and just then a man called Sebastian Clark appear and puts her out of action for good with ice. At the exact moment, Calvin faints. When he wakes up, eighteen hours later, he is in Sebastian's hidden home. He explains to the Talon that he was also recruited by the Court of Owls, but fled. He also tells Calvin that he would only achieve freedom once he killed all the sixteen remaining Talons.

Origin

As a child, Calvin Rose's life wasn't easy. The only thing he truly remembers from those days was being thrown into an old dog kennel by his father, who locked the door and threw away the key. Calvin, however, managed to pull off his first escape by breaking the chain that was connected to the lock with a large rock.

Eventually, he became an escape artist and performer for Haly's Circus. He had been mentored by Haly's leading escape artist, and later went on to perform the act full time after the performer had passed away. At thirteen years old, before his first solo premiere act, he unwittingly passed an initiation test built to prove his mettle. A lone leader for the Court of Owls, presumably Sebastian Clark (the then Grandmaster of the organization), saw great potential in Calvin. Rose was recruited and trained by the Court like the many other Talons before him. After being assigned a target of a major security corporation by the name of Securitus, he was ordered to kill the daughter of the CEO after the CEO himself died. Breaking into the building, he found that his target was not only the daughter, but a granddaughter two years of age. Not finding it in himself to kill the two innocents, Calvin felt betrayed. Calvin was promised the blood of 'rats' (criminals). Knocking out the mother, he took his targets to a safe place, thus making himself an enemy of the Court.

Creation

Calvin Rose was created by writers James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder, designed by series artist Guillem March. Rose was created after DC had approached Snyder to create a book that would continue the Court of Owls' story. Initially, Snyder was hesitant to the idea, not wanting to over do the concept. After hearing about the proposition, Tynion, who was a former student of Snyder's and was co-writing the Batman back ups with him, asked if he could try and come up with a concept that worked. Calvin Rose, and his story, was what Tynion came up with, easily convincing Snyder that there was a story to be told with the character. Snyder also offered to co-write the first few issues with Tynion.

Major Story Arcs

Scourge of the Owls

After five years, he was found again by a Talon of the Court. Seeing a man pull up to the side of the bridge and lean against the railing, Calvin mistakenly thought that the man was suicidal. Trying to stop the man, he found him to be dead, with two throwing knives in his chest. With little time to react, Calvin was stabbed in the ribs and thrown into the trunk of a car. After being locked away, he was thrown off the bridge into the water below. Keeping a lock pin in the calloused skin on the bottom of his foot, he removed his chains and successfully escaped. He then knocks out the Talon that attacked him and continues on the run.

After reading about Batman's fight with the Court of Owl in the newspapers, Calvin decides to travel to Gotham in order to make sure the Court has been defeated for good and he can return to a normal life. Calvin breaks into Metropolitan Terminal owned by the Court in order to slip into their central computer terminals and see if there has been any recent activity on the network. Although he is caught of guard when the door scans him and sets off an alarm. He breaks into the door but is confronted by a female Talon. He is able to finally defeat the Talon after stabbing a knife through her head and sending electricity through it using a taser. Calvin however passes out from a knife wound but is saved by a mysterious man.

The man brings Calvin back to his hideout and helps him heal his wounds. The man tells Calvin that his name is Sebastian Clark and like Calvin he too wants the Court to be eliminated once and for all. Sebastian tells him that Batman managed to send thirty out of forty-six Talons to black gate prison and that the only way for them to completely stop the Court is to find and kill the remaining Talons who have been spread all across the world in order to retain the Court's assets. Sebastian also tells him that the Court knows where Calvin has hidden Casey Washington and that unless they put a stop to the court once and for all they will find her and kill her.

Calvin puts on his new outfit and agrees to help Sebastian destroy the Court once and for all. Later Sebastian tells him that the Court's biggest Collection of wealth is in the Orchard Hotel in which they also keep files about him, Casey, and Sarah. After Calvin enters and fights some guards and enters the room in which the Court keeps its valuable possessions which was also guarded by a resurrected talon. When Calvin reaches the safe he is looking for he finds out that there are no files but only the Grandmaster's mask. Behind him the Talon finds him and they fight and it is revealed that the talon is actually the Grandmaster's son. Calvin loses the fight but detonates explosives all around the room burning it to ashes and leaves.It is later shown that the Court of Owls had decided to use their most deadly Talon that ever lived The Gotham Butcher.

Calvin recalls a six year old memory when he tries to leave the city to protect Casey and Sarah but Sarah refuses and tries to talk him out of it but then gives up and hands him a piece of paper worth a number written in it which he should call if he needs any fake identities and leaves. Next Calvin is shown that Calvin is in a bridge in New York City waiting for Sarah and Casey after send them a message for them to meet him in the bridge. He suddenly gets attacked by two people who he tries to escape but gets captured. Calvin wakes up in a dark chamber in which he meets Casey which tells him that she has devoted her life to build a facility that can be a safe house for people on the run from the Court. She then offers to help them take down the bank which handles all of the court's bank accounts if the money gets transferred to her off-shore accounts. Calvin enters the bank in disguise Casey's men create a distraction while he empties the Court's accounts. Suddenly he gets attacked the Butcher Talon and is unable to escape the Butcher Talon until he finds a sewer and escapes in it, picking a train and escapes the talon.

He returns to the hideout but then it is revealed that a tracer was attached to his suit by the Talon and immediately enters and attacks them. The People escape but Casey and Sarah remain with Calvin. He decides to fight the Butcher Talon and lures him to an underground sewer passage which turns out to be a trap and very cold water starts flowing and The Butcher Talon is caught with the water but Calvin escapes and believed The Butcher Talon dead.

Calvin has breakfast with Casey and Sarah in Sebastian's headquarters and when asked by Casey when are they going to strike next he avoids the question and answers by saying "Later". He goes off to training and it's revealed that he doesn't want to talk about it because their next target will be Casey's father company Securities. Casey enters and says to them that doesn't have a problem as the company destroyed her father's life. Calvin, Sebastian, and Casey discuss how they are going to infiltrate the Securities Island. Calvin enters through the Turbines at the Interval in which they stop and start. When he enters he is faced by three Talons and fights them but eventually gets defeated and captured. He is taken to the Grandmaster who reveals that Sebastian was the former Grandmaster and that he is the one who actually recruited him.

Casey and Sarah manage to escape the Base also steal every piece of data Sebastian has on his computers. Later on the Island the Grandmaster orders one of the Talons to slit Calvin's throat but much to his shock the Talon betrays them and joins Calvin. While he and his ally Talon fight the other two and manage to freeze them momentarily. The Bomb he secretly planted goes off and all of the data on the computers are wiped clean as a security measurement. It was planned that so the Court of Owls couldn't take advantage of the data on the computers. The Grand master escapes and so does Calvin landing on a rooftop where he encounters Batman. Batman ties him with what he assures him are inescapable Wayne Tech ultraclasp bonds. While Batman is calling in for a pickup Calvin escapes without him noticing and runs to the HQ. He arrives at the head quarters and finds Sebastian Clark with the Grand master mask he stole and threatens him of what he might do if he doesn't tell him where is Casey and Sarah. Suddenly Bane appears from the shadows and kills him.

While Sarah and Casey are on the run they get captured by The Butcher Talon and asks them to take him to their base to find Calvin. When they arrive they find Calvin dead and he is taken back to the Court of Owls Base alongside Casey and Sarah. In Order to get the location of Sebastian and Bane they torture Casey but she doesn't know their location so they have no other option but to resurrect the dead Calvin to find out. He wakes up and is told by the Grandmaster that he has been resurrected in order to serve the Court again and that if he dares to defy them Casey and Sarah will be killed.Calvin agrees to serve them in exchange of letting Casey and Sarah live. He is then assigned the task of killing another renegade Talon Mary Turner also known as Strix.

Powers

Calvin was a gifted escape artist in the circus, Calvin was even one of the most promising recruits ever selected by the court. At first, Calvin surpassed every expectation for him as a Talon. He had also been trained by the court in stealth and precision.

Post-Resurrection

After Calvin's Resurrection his strength was increased to super-human levels. His durability was also enhanced to the point that he can no longer feel physical pain