Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Batman
Matt Reeves' twist in The Batman revealed Carmine Falcone as the man behind the curtain, but was the crime boss just another layer in the never-ending corruption of Gotham City? In The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, the young vigilante discovers the truth about his family's legacy and how it was corrupted by Falcone (John Turturro), Gotham's biggest crime boss. However, the city's greatest conspiracy could be even deeper if Falcone is tied to none other than the Court of the Owls.
Thanks to the careful planning and clues laid out by The Riddler (Paul Dano), Bruce Wayne and the rest of Gotham learned the dark truth about the Wayne Family legacy, including the billion-dollar Gotham Renewal Fund that Bruce's father put into effect during his mayoral campaign. The Waynes' unsolved murder resulted in the Renewal Fund being corrupted by the criminals of Gotham due to limited oversight, and used for all sorts of illicit dealings and money laundering. Carmine Falcone, wanting a bigger piece of the pie, led to his working with the GD to bust his primary rival, Salvatore Maroni, allowing Falcone to take over his drug operations and become the real mayor of Gotham for 20 years—until the Riddler exposed and killed him.
While Falcone was ultimately killed off in The Batman, it's possible that the Court of Owls was working behind the scenes to orchestrate everything, setting the modern DC Comics syndicate up as the potential villains of The Batman 2. Even Paul Dano himself has expressed interest in the Court appearing in one of Matt Reeves' Bat-films. This begs the question—did Falcone really just get greedy, or was he motivated by the Court to make a bigger play for the Gotham Renewal Fund? Falcone would have been the perfect figurehead to control Gotham's criminal underworld, which had its reaches in every level of the city's politics and police force, while the Court remained safe in the shadows.
Revealing Falcone as a pawn would certainly create a dynamic foundation for the Court of Owls' on-screen debut in The Batman 2, proving their power and influence by adding yet another layer to the Gotham conspiracy that not even Riddler was aware of. In the comics, the Court managed to stay off Batman's radar for many years, completely shaking him and his values to the core when the group finally revealed itself. Furthermore, they've remained a major force while simultaneously being a faceless threat, hiding behind anonymous masks as one of the Dark Knight's most dangerous foes to date.
Falcone's death at the end of The Batman will create a vacuum in the Gotham underworld and lead to a massive paradigm shift with future spin-offs and films, one that could lead to the Court's exposure now that they have to change tactics. Carmine Falcone and the corruption of the Wayne Legacy could have very well been their golden goose. At any rate, it's certainly an interesting theory to think about while fans eagerly look forward to more dark adventures in Gotham City following the events of The Batman.
