Tom Cowan

an owl with the head of a bear? ridiculous!

I would have gone with a fart in the bath tub, but a glass of carbonated water works too, I guess.

The "corporate robber baron" incarnation of Lex Luthor is another example. Enormous "soft power" due to money, influence, and connections, with the outward image of respectability. Heroes know he's dirty but can never find proof. The Champions Universe has its own analogue to that character, Franklin Stone, pretty much Luthor without his obsession with Superman. (In Champions Villains Volume One.)
 
The Circle of the Scarlet Moon is a CU organization (CV Vol. 2), a whole cultish conspiracy of behind-the-scenes manipulators who have used subtle magic to accumulate vast control over the economy, the media, political apparatus, even law enforcement. Almost no one knows the identities of any of the higher-ups, and magic makes many of their activities untraceable by normal means. They don't send blaster-armed agents to deal with their enemies, at first favoring legal harassment, financial pressure, and media tarnishing of their image.

Behind the Curtain: Trump allies pre-screen loyalists for unprecedented power grab

Restrainable and Physical Manifestation are also options.