Villains With Potential-The Owl

Oh man, nothing I love more than a crime-boss with a gimmick. Remember how the Kingpin used to shoot people with a laser-cane? Good times.

Anyway, Leland Owlsley, better known as the Owl. Also known as 'that guy who gets crippled every time he shows up'. Which, unfortunately is a familiar pattern when dealing with a tertiary tosspot like our buddy Leland here. One of the main problems, I think, with the character as he stands now, is that writers can't decide whether or not he's a crime-boss in the style of the Kingpin, or a 'bad-thinker' in the fashion of Dr. Octopus...essentially, is he a criminal, or a super-criminal? Two very different things in comic-book land.

Personally, I'd prefer a nice middle-ground, especially given the Owl's quirky appearance and nature. With the Hood out of the picture finally, the Owl would be a natural fit as the uber-boss of a super-villain 'sinister syndicate'. The Owl might not be a genius, but he is quite smart, being both a skilled organizer (he keeps putting his organization back together after all, and how many times has it been dismantled?) and a money launderer of no small ability. Both of which are handy qualities. Too, there's the excessive amounts of crazy (eating live mice, trying to eat Spider-Man), which, while disturbing, don't seem to negatively effect his ability to run a criminal quorum, and would serve to keep the more rambunctious street-level super-villains in check.

Now, granted, he's been crippled recently by Daredevil (again), but that's small potatoes to fix. Pop him back in an exoskeleton, or let a rogue faction of the Hand/Hydra/AIM/PETA figure out a way to fix him up, and get him mobile again. Maybe he starts selling super-drugs (Mutant Growth Hormone, chemicals synthesized from the glands of baddies like the Corrupter or the Purple Man, bits of Sandman's leftover silicate matter mixed with cocaine, Gamma-Juice, etc. and sundry) to fund the formation of a criminal guild built on the ashes of the Hood's unwieldy organization.

A guild composed of thinkers and stinkers. Mr. Hyde to craft the drugs that fund their activities. Hideouts and hole-in-the-wall bases built by the Trapster. The Scorpion to bust banks, heads and heroes. And behind the Owl, waiting and watching...the Answer. Because someone had to get the Owl on his feet again and get him moving in the right direction.

The question is, why?