| “ | How did he survive that car bomb? How?...He's Superman! | „ |
| ~ Bowman realizing that Superman and Clark Kent are the same (also his final words). |
Kurt Bowman is a minor antagonist in Superman: The Animated Series. He is a corrupt homicide detective who was responsible for killing a woman and framing petty thief Ernest Walker for the crime.
Biography
In "Target", Bowman served as one of the primary suspects as to who was trying to kill Lois Lane, as an article she wrote about police corruption cost him a promotion.
Later on, for unknown reasons, Bowman murdered a rich woman and successfully framed a petty thief named Ernest Walker for the crime. Five years later, Walker is sentenced to be executed for Bowman's crime but Clark Kent did his own investigation of the murder and figured out that Walker was not guilty and was really just eating pizza in his apartment. Bowman was fearful that Kent was getting close to the real killer and planted a bomb in his car to kill him, however, since Clark was really Superman, he easily survived but faked his death in order to keep his secret identity.
Bowman then planted a bomb in Kent's apartment to make sure there was no evidence of his crime left behind, the bomb detonating as Superman and Lois were searching the apartment for any left over clues. Both Superman and Lois survived the explosion, and, watching Bowman walk away from the scene of the crime, the latter quickly realized that he was the real murderer. Lois subsequently approached Bowman about his relation to the woman's murder, resulting in him becoming panicked and trying to kill her by pushing her off a stairwell, only for her to be saved by Superman. Bowman rushed to the helicopter on the roof of the MSCU's headquarters and flew away, also attempting to stop Superman when the former came after him, only to fail and be arrested. Following Superman saving Walker from his execution, Bowman was convicted of the murder and sentenced to be executed instead. In his final moments, he began wondering how Clark (who had since resurfaced) could have survived the bomb, realizing that he is actually Superman just as the gas chamber was turned on, killing him off-screen and taking this revelation to his grave.
Trivia
- Bowman is notable for being the only villain in the DCAU who not only dies but is explicitly executed.
- Bowman's corruption was foreshadowed in his first appearance.
- A picture of him is shown in the police database in "The Zeta Project".
- Bowman is the only villain, and by extension, only character in the DCAU to have deduced Superman's identity of Clark Kent, as Parasite learned it by absorbing his memories, Mister Mxyzptlk likely read his mind and Batman traced him to his apartment.
