Ra's al Ghul facts for kids

Ra's al Ghul

Ra's al Ghul is a fictional character in the Batman franchise. He is a supervillain, and he was Bruce Wayne's trainer. He is the leader of the League of Shadows, which is an organization based on correcting the corruption in the world by ways of fear and hostility. Bruce destroyed their temple after he is made aware of their true intention of destroying Gotham City.

Ra's al Ghul's name in Arabic translates to "Head of the Ghoul". He is the son of Sensei; the father of Talia al Ghul, Nyssa Raatko and Dusan al Ghul; and the maternal grandfather of Damian Wayne.

Stories featuring Ra's al Ghul often involve the Lazarus Pits, which restore life to the dying. The Lazarus Pits have considerably prolonged Ra's' life, making him particularly dangerous as he has honed his combat skills for centuries. Though primarily an enemy of Batman, Ra's has also come into conflict with Superman and other heroes in the DC Universe.

Ghul is one of the smartest and most physically skilled villains in the Batman universe. He also trained Bane. Ghul is the father of one of Batman's love interests: Talia al Ghul.

Ra's al Ghul has been featured in various media adaptations. The character was portrayed by David Warner in the DC Animated Universe, Liam Neeson in The Dark Knight Trilogy, Jason Isaacs in Batman: Under the Red Hood, Dee Bradley Baker in the Batman: Arkham video game series, Matt Nable in the Arrowverse television series, and Alexander Siddig in Gotham.

IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time List ranked Ra's as No. 7.

Character overview
Fictional character biography
Abilities
- Skills, training, and resources
- Magical and unnatural powers
Images for kids
See also

Character overview

Raʼs al Ghul is an international criminal mastermind whose ultimate goal is a world in perfect environmental balance. He believes that the best way to achieve this balance is to eliminate most of humanity. Ra's usually tries to assault the world's human populace with a biological weapon, such as a genetically-engineered virus. He is aided in this quest by the Lazarus Pits, reservoirs of rejuvenating chemicals that restore the dead and dying to life; these pits have granted him a lifespan of several centuries. He regards Batman as his worthiest opponent, addressing him as "Detective" out of respect for his intellectual brilliance, and has frequently sought to make the Dark Knight his successor. He is one of the few criminals in Batman's rogues gallery to have deduced his secret identity as Bruce Wayne, but keeps silent on the matter due to the same sense of respect for Batman. For his own part, Batman's opposition to Raʼs is complicated by both his own respect for al Ghul's genius (if not his goals and methods) and his attraction to his daughter, Talia, which she reciprocates.

Fictional character biography

Ra's al Ghul's real name, early life, and exact age have been described differently by various writers. His Post-Crisis origin story is told in the graphic novel Batman: Birth of the Demon (1992) by Dennis O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle. This origin story is later revisited and amended in Batman Annual #26 (2007) by Peter Milligan and David López as part of the Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul story arc. Most recent retelling origin story, Batman and Robin (vol. 2) #23.3 (2013) by James Tynion IV and Jeremy Haun, references these prior iterations of al Ghul's origin while keeping common details that lead towards Ra's' adoption of the moniker (e.g. Ra's' occupation as a physician, his wife's death, and the annihilation of the Sultan's city).

As told in Birth of the Demon, Ra's al Ghul (known only as The Physician prior to adopting the moniker) was born over 600 years before his first appearance in Batman comics, to a tribe of Chinese nomads settling in the desert in eastern North Africa, near a city governed by a Sultan. Developing an interest in the sciences at an early age, Ra's abandoned his tribe to live in the city, where he focused himself on learning and experimentation. He subsequently trained as a physician and married a woman named Sora.

Upon discovering the healing properties of the Lazarus Pit, Ra's managed to save the Sultan's dying son by lowering him into it. However, he is unaware that use of the Lazarus Pit can induce insanity, and the prince, emerges as a mentally unstable sociopath. He proceeds to kill Sora, on whom he has already had his eye for some time. The Sultan, unwilling to admit to himself his son's culpability, accuses Ra's of poisoning his son's mind and sentences him to death.

Cover of Batman #232 (June 1971), the first appearance of Ra's al Ghul. Art by Neal Adams.

Ra's is set free by the son of a dying elderly woman, who Ra's had earlier treated. 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 of Ra's' birth. 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 Sultan. 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 Sultan once again demands that Ra's save his son, both men are killed by the former physician. Ra's then leads his tribe to raze the city to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants. Subsequently, Ra's declares himself "Ra's al Ghul", the "Demon's Head".

Using the Lazarus Pits to extend his life, Ra's spends the next several centuries journeying the world. He fights in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and becomes a formidable warrior. As the world entered the modern age and industrialisation began to cover much of the Earth, Ra's grew to despise the humans who he believed were destroying the world's natural beauty, thus setting him on a path of eco-terrorism. Also during this time, Ra's, his uncle, and Huwe, the son who freed Ra's from the Sultan's initial execution are all using the Lazarus Pits to prolong their lives until an incident in London. Ra's catches Huwe writing his own memoirs in their original Chinese language, despite Ra's having forbidden him to reveal the secret of their immortality. During a battle, Ra's kills Huwe 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 huge international organization. The League of Assassins, one of the many smaller organizations making up The Demon, is thus sometimes called "The Demon's Fang" or "Demonfang".

Abilities

Skills, training, and resources

Due to his expanded life span and longevity, Ra's has accumulated vast knowledge and abilities which exceed those of Batman. These include detective skills, chemistry, physics, military tactics, economics, and martial arts, fully using his photographic memory to master all such skills. He has also gained many international contacts and an immense fortune over the course of centuries. When in combat, he favors more ancient weaponry (as he has had more time to master them than more modern weaponry) these weapons include scimitars, katanas, spears, staffs, bolas, shurikens, smoke pellets and miniaturized explosives.

Ra's' greatest tools are his green Lazarus Pits, which heal any injury including recent death and restore the user to the prime of life, but cause temporary insanity (or for those already insane like the Joker, sanity). His constant exposure to the pits has granted him slightly enhanced endurance, strength, and healing but also comes with the price of a gradual onset of insanity if overused.

Magical and unnatural powers

Along with his physical abilities and resources, Ra's al Ghul has been shown to possess a certain degree of proficiency with mysticism. In an effort to guarantee his continued existence, he has on several occasions demonstrated the ability to transfer his soul into the bodies of others, giving him a way to live on in the event that his physical body is destroyed and unable to be transported into a Lazarus Pit. The exact details of this process have remained inconsistent; at times it appears as though a complicated ritual is required to achieve this effect, while on other occasions he is capable of performing this feat on a whim, merely by making physical contact with his intended host.

In the New 52, Ra's temporarily gained vast magical powers after bathing in the Well of Sins, the first Lazarus Pit. He claimed he was gifted with true immortality and displayed powers such as levitation, energy projection and construct creation and matter manipulation. However, he lost these abilities following his battle with Jason Todd.