Ra's al Ghul (New Earth)

Ra's al Ghul is born over six hundred years ago to a tribe of nomads in a desert somewhere in Arabia, near a city whose inhabitants' ancestors have journeyed to the Arabian Peninsula from China. Ra's is interested in science from an early age. Unable to learn any science living as a nomad, he abandons his tribe to live in the city, where he can conduct his scientific research. He becomes a physician and marries a woman named Sora, the love of his life.^[1]

Ra's discovers the secret of the Lazarus Pit, and he saves a dying prince by lowering him into it. The prince, who is sadistic to begin with, is driven completely insane by the Lazarus Pit. He proceeds to strangle Sora, on whom he has already had his eye for some time. The ruler of the city, unwilling to admit to himself his son's culpability, declares Ra's guilty of the crime and sentences him to a slow, tortured death in a cage with Sora's corpse.

Ra's is set free by the son of an elderly blind woman, despite having failed to save her. The son feels that he owes Ra's a debt for easing his mother's suffering during her last few hours. Ra's and the son head into the desert to seek the tribe that Ra's was born into. Ra's convinces the head of his tribe, his uncle, to follow Ra's in his quest for revenge by promising the downfall of the king of the city. By understanding the germ theory of disease hundreds of years before anyone else, Ra's is able to infect the prince with a deadly virus by sending him contaminated fabrics. When the ruler of the city comes to ask Ra's to cure the prince again, Ra's kills both him and his son. Ra's then leads his tribe to raze the city to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants. Subsequently, Ra's declares himself the "Demon's Head."

Building an Empire

Ra's spends the next several centuries journeying the world. During this time, Ra's, his uncle, and the boy are all using the Lazarus Pits to prolong their lives until an incident in London. Ra's catches the boy writing his own memoirs in their original language, of which Ra's has forbidden all records. During a battle, Ra's kills the boy and flees to a Lazarus Pit, which he uses. When he returns to their home in London, his uncle has vanished with the remnants of their historical records.

Over time, he becomes a master of many forms of combat, notably fencing. He also builds up vast wealth and creates The Demon, a vast international organization. "It has been whispered in the darkest places for 500 years that a cartel of criminals has slowly sucked its way into the rich veins of the Earth. Many are its names spit from the mouths of men, but most often it is cursed only as ...The Demon. It has a leader ... a Head."^[2] The League of Assassins, one of the many smaller organizations making up The Demon, is thus sometimes called "The Demon's Fang" or "Demonfang".

Contagion and Legacy

Main article: Batman: Contagion

Main article: Batman: Legacy

Ra's returns to prominence and comes dangerously close to realizing his dream of worldwide genocide in the "Contagion" story arc of the Batman titles. His organization unleashes a deadly virus known as Ebola Gulf A (a.k.a "The Clench") in Gotham City, putting Batman in conflict with a force he seemingly cannot defeat. A cure is eventually located by Batman and his allies, though the mastermind behind the outbreak is not discovered until the events of "Legacy."

Learning that the Demon's Head still lives, Batman and his team circled the globe, preventing further outbreaks of the virus. Additionally, it is discovered that Ra's has allied himself with Bane, the man who once crippled and nearly killed Batman. Ra's considers Bane a potential heir to his empire, despite his daughter Talia's distaste for the brutish criminal. Eventually, a way to eliminate the Clench virus is deduced from an ancient "Wheel of Plagues" artifact whose knowledge has aided Ra's in the creation of the disease. But the immortal madman again eludes his foes.

JLA: Tower of Babel

Main article: JLA: Tower of Babel

Ra's discovers Batman's notes on the weaknesses of the other members of the Justice League of America (developed in the event of a villain gaining control of the JLA's bodies and using them against humanity) and uses them to try to destroy the group. Though defeated, Ra's does cause the (temporary) exit of Batman from the JLA, which occurs because of the mistrust of his teammates due to his contingency plans. Though some of the Leaguers resent the plans, they agree that the plans were created for the right reasons.^[3]

The contingency plans for the then current Leaguers are as follows:

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner is given a hypnotic suggestion that he was blind, subconsciously tricking Kyle's mind, making it impossible to use his ring effectively.
Martian Manhunter is infected by nanites that have magnesium in them, thus causing him to burst into flames in open air.
Wonder Woman is shot by a Virtual reality bullet, causing her body to believe she is fighting an even, never-ending battle, from which her heart would eventually give out.
The Flash is shot in the spine by a vibrating projectile, which causes super-speed epileptic seizures.
Aquaman receives exposure to a fear toxin, giving him aquaphobia rendering him weak as he was terrified of the water that he needed to live.
Plastic Man is frozen and shattered, temporarily disabling him until the Flash can piece him back together and allow him to wake up.
Superman is exposed to a synthetic form of Kryptonite which had lasting effects on him, making his skin transparent and super-charging his powers to a degree that nearly made him explode.

Batman does not realize Ra's is using his traps until it is too late, as he is busy searching for the corpses of his parents, which Ra's removes to distract him.

Talia, disillusioned with her father and his plans, leaves him to run LexCorp for former U.S. President Lex Luthor, before selling the company to Bruce Wayne for his Wayne Foundation to aid Batman and Superman's victory over Luthor. Ra's blames Batman for his failed relationship with Talia, and stages a plot where he tries to separate Batman from his heir, Dick Grayson (Nightwing) shortly before Wayne officially adopted his now fully grown ward as his son. The plan fails, and Wayne and Grayson go ahead with the adoption.

Ra's has a romantic fling with Black Canary. Black Canary is injured and healed in the Lazarus Pit, which also restores her Canary Cry that she lost years earlier.^[4]

Death and the Maidens

Main article: Batman: Death and the Maidens

Nyssa, furious at her father for abandoning her in a concentration camp, begins plotting to destroy him. Nyssa befriends Talia and then kidnaps and brainwashes her. Nyssa plots to destroy all hope and optimism in the world by assassinating Superman with Kryptonite bullets she steals from the Batcave. While Batman stops Nyssa from killing Superman, he is unable to stop her from mortally injuring her father. A dying Ra's reveals that this is all part of his greater plan to ensure that his daughters, both initially dissatisfied with his plans, will realize that he is correct in his perceptions about the world and what needs to be done to it, and that they would come to accept their destinies as his heirs. Ra's' plan works: both Nyssa and Talia become the heads of The Demon and the League of Assassins. Talia disavows her love for Bruce Wayne, and both sisters declare Batman their enemy. However, it is too late for Ra's, as Nyssa stabs her father through the heart, seemingly killing him for good. To ensure Ra's will not return, Batman oversees the body's cremation.^[5]

Head of the Demon

Talia is prompted to read the history of Ra's al Ghul to her son Damian by a mysterious figure from Ra's past: the White Ghost.^[6] Unbeknownst to her, the White Ghost plans to use Damian as a vessel for Ra's return. However, mother and son manage to escape before the plan is completed. After the escape, Batman confronts the White Ghost; he fights Batman, but accidentally ends up falling into a Lazarus pit.

Resurrection

Main article: Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul

TBD

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Lazarus Enhancement: Ra's al Ghul has lived for several centuries thanks to his use of Lazarus Pits which he has used countless times replenishing his aged, injured, or even dead body. As a side effect to numerous exposures to the pits his strength, speed, stamina, agility, and durability has been enhanced.

Enhanced Strength

Enhanced Speed

Enhanced Stamina

Enhanced Agility

Enhanced Durability

Longevity: extended lifespan through the use of the lazarus pit, by decreasing his age.

Abilities

Master Combatant: However even without those enhancements his long life has attributed him vast wealth, knowledge, and power. This has allowed him to learn numerous fighting styles over the years making him rival even Batman in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting.

Master Tactician: In addition, he is a brilliant tactician.

Genius-Level Intellect: Ra's possesses a genius level intellect with aptitudes in a wide variety of sciences and medicine, particularly in the field of alchemy.

Resources: Holds several lifetimes worth of skills, resources and contacts.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

Batman: Birth of the Demon provides a rough figure of 500 years for Ra's al Ghul's age. However, Azrael #6 (July 1995; written by Ra's al Ghul's co-creator Dennis O'Neil) places Ra's closer to 450 years old. "I appear to be a vigorous fifty. I am actually a very vigorous four hundred and forty-eight...or is it four hundred and fifty-three? I lost count during the Black Plague. No matter." - Ra's al Ghul to Jean Paul Valley.
In 'Batman Annual 25' (published in 2006) Ra's Al Ghul is described as a "700-Year Old International Terrorist".However, in this publication it is also written that "time is more fluid than believed". This is noted in reference to Superboy Prime causing several such anomalies within the DCU continuity during the time leading up to the events of 'Infinite Crisis'. There has been no definitive account of Ra's Al Ghul's age following the conclusion of the 'Infinite Crisis' and the generation of 'New Earth'.

Trivia

He is always accompanied by a servant known as Ubu, who is also an especially dangerous fighter. It should be noted that rather than being a single individual, Ubu is actually a title held by a line of replaceable servants. Along with Malhar Naik, he has been one of the League of Assassins' leaders.

Because of all this, Ra's is among Batman's most formidable foes. Not only can he physically and mentally challenge "the Detective" (the name by which Ra's always refers to Batman), but he has also deduced Batman's secret identity (in his first appearance, he realized that Batman would need to possess certain equipment, and research revealed that Bruce Wayne alone bought what Batman would need).

Links and References

Ra's al Ghul at Wikipedia.org

Footnotes

Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of the Batman, or members of the Batman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Hubs	Entertainment \| Gaming \| Sports \| Toys \| Biggest wikis \| see all...
Featured	Cocktails \| Recipes \| Green \| Help Videos
Wikia is hiring	Gaming Intern \| Sales \| General hiring
About Wikia \| Contact Wikia \| Terms \| MediaWiki \| GFDL \| Advertise on Wikia \| Privacy

Ra's al Ghul (New Earth)

From DC Database

Contents

History

Early Life