Ra's al Ghul

FIRST POST-FLASHPOINT APPEARANCE: Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1 #24 (December 2013)
POST-FLASHPOINT DEATH APPEARANCE: Robin Rises: Omega #1 (September 2014)

Arabic for "Head of the Demon," the man who would be known as Ra’s al Ghul was born over six centuries ago, to a tribe of nomads somewhere in the Arabian desert. Interested in science and the study of nature, Ra’s left his tribe and went to live in a city, where he became a doctor and married a woman named Sora, whom he has described as the great love of his life.

It was during this time that Ra’s discovered the secret of the life-extending Lazarus Pits, and he saved a dying prince by lowering him into one. Although the pit revived the prince, it temporarily drove him insane, and he strangled Sora to death. The local king, father of the mad prince, refused to acknowledge his son’s act, and instead blamed Ra’s, whom he sentenced to a slow and torturous death in a cage, alongside Sora’s corpse.

Ra’s, however, was set free by the son of an elderly woman whom he had treated as a doctor, and whose suffering he had eased in her final days. Ra’s then set forth to find the nomadic tribe he was born into, and convinced his uncle, by then the leader of the tribe, to help him in his quest for revenge. He used scientific knowledge centuries ahead of his time to create a virus, one that infected the young prince. When the king begged Ra’s to heal his son once more, Ra’s killed them both, and he and his tribe razed the city to the ground, killing all of its inhabitants. Shortly thereafter, Ra’s declared himself “the Demon’s Head,” after desecrating the altar of the ancient Egyptian demon-god Bisu.

Over the next several hundred years Ra’s traveled the globe, mastering various forms of combat. He kept the existence of the Lazarus Pits a secret, and built a vast organization that he called “the Demon,” after his own sobriquet. This organization had many branches, most famously the League of Assassins, also known as “the Demon’s Fang.”

Eventually Ra’s came across a place called Infinity Island in the Indian Ocean, which had a Lazarus Pit of its own. After conquering the island’s inhabitants, he made it his base of operations, and used its Pits to continue extending his life. One day his island, which he’d thought was unknown to the rest of the world, was bought by billionaire Bruce Wayne. Determined to acquire Wayne’s business empire, Ra’s discovered that Wayne was in fact the Batman.

Ra’s created an elaborate ruse to see if Batman was worthy of his daughter Talia’s hand in marriage, and to be his heir. He faked Talia’s kidnapping, and used it as a test of Batman’s intellect and skills. Batman solved the puzzle, impressing Ra’s with his ingenuity. Though he was attracted to Talia, upon learning of Ra’s al Ghul’s criminal empire he rejected the idea of marrying her.

Ra’s has since come into conflict with Batman many times over the years. Often during these confrontations, Ra’s has appeared to die—only to cheat death once more, thanks to the Lazarus Pits. He would also foster his grandson, born from Talia: Damian.

Despite his obvious enmity for Batman, Ra’s sees him as a worthy adversary. For years he tried to have Batman wed his daughter Talia. And although he learned Batman’s secret identity before their first meeting, he refuses to reveal it out of respect for the man he simply refers to as “Detective.” Now the two are bound by blood, as Bruce Wayne and Talia’s son Damian is the grandson of Ra’s al Ghul. But regardless of their familial connection, Batman knows Ra’s is never to be underestimated or trusted. He remains one of the greatest threats the DC Universe has ever known.