Gotham may be often considered to be Batman’s city, but it has always been under the sway of darker forces. While the populace may be filled with people ready to believe in symbols like Batman and his many allies, the city itself finds itself under the control of the corrupt, and more recently, worshippers of an ancient evil that threatens the foundation of the multiverse.
During writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights Metal event, it was revealed that one of Batman’s newest foes, The Court of Owls, was in large part a cult dedicated to the Bat-God Barbatos. Previously, the Court had been established as a cabal of the wealthy and influential who secretly ruled Gotham from as early as the first colonial settlers. In Dark Nights Metal, it is revealed that most of Batman’s interactions with the Court, even predating the New 52 reboot, were all in service of the cult’s aims to initiate a ritual to plunge the Earth into Barbatos’ domain, the Dark Multiverse. As the Earth sunk, Gotham became Barbatos’ seat of power, and one of the cities most twisted by the dark god’s influence.
Dark Nights Metal may have brought Barbatos and his sinister influence over Gotham to the forefront, yet the seeds of his control were sown much earlier, during writer Grant Morrison and artist Tony Daniel’s Batman R.I.P. arc. Years before the Court of Owls, Batman R.I.P. introduced the mysterious Black Glove, a secret society of Gotham’s influential dedicated to bringing down Batman, headed by Dr. Simon Hurt, who is later to be revealed to be a worshipper of Barbatos. Earlier in the series, Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove attempted to replace Batman with 3 corrupted impostors. These impostors were all warped in a distinct way reflecting their own trauma and origin while holding on to the Batman motif in an attempt to eventually replace the Dark Knight. Batman defeats the impostors, and eventually Hurt and the Black Glove, yet his first encounter with Barbatos’ followers was costly, as many of his allies have been isolated and targeted by Hurt.
Barbatos’ methods of attack are consistent between continuities, as he utilizes the wealthy and influential in Gotham to prime the city for his arrival, and wear Batman down before bringing in some sort of replacement Batman. Both the Court of Owls and the Black Glove attempted to bring Batman down by isolating him from his allies and publicly slandering both his Bruce Wayne and Batman personas. The key divergence point between both secret societies is in their attempts to replace Batman.
While the Black Glove ultimately used former Gotham City Police Department members who were brainwashed and traumatized, the Court of Owls opened a dimensional door through which Barbatos was able to bring through seven twisted versions of Batman, including the Batman Who Laughs, Red Death, and Devastator. The Court of Owls’ replacement Batmen were ultimately much darker, and far more powerful than the Black Glove’s pawns. Regardless, Barbatos’ pattern of attack remained consistent across continuities and through different secret societies.
Gotham’s dark past has recently been closely entwined with the Court of Owls’ longstanding control over the city, yet even they serve a much darker master. Barbatos’ grip on Gotham has persisted through different continuities, as secret societies and cults steer the city in a direction of the dark god’s choosing. Ultimately, Batman is a particularly rowdy and defiant invader in a city that has belonged to Barbatos since its founding.