Ra's al Ghul is a fictional character from the DC comic book Batman. His name is Arabic for The Demon's Head. He was created by artist Neal Adams and writer Dennis O'Neil, and introduced in Batman #232's Daughter of the Demon in June 1971. He stands 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) in height and has a weight of 215 lb (98 kg).

Ra's Al Ghul was several centuries old before he ever encountered the Batman. Replenishing his aged, injured, or dead body with a bath in a Lazarus Pit, Ra's has survived through the ages by accumulating wealth, knowledge, and power. He rivals the Dark Knight in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting. He has a devout following that blindly does their master's bidding, and employs the League of Assassins who consist of some of the most dangerous men and women on Earth. However, once a being uses a Lazarus Pit, they emerge insane albeit with the temporary advantage of superhuman strength.

Al Ghul's goal is to cleanse the world by paring down the human race to a more manageable size. His goal, and the fact that he has the means to achieve it, bring him in conflict with Gotham's Caped Crusader. He usually tries to assault the world's human populace with a biological menace, like a plague.

Al Ghul is among Batman's most formidable foes. Not only can he physically and mentally challenge 'The Detective,' as Ra's always refers to him, Ra's Al Ghul has deduced that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Ra's first met Batman by surprising him in the Batcave, seemingly to enlist his aid in rescuing both Al Ghul's daughter, Talia , and Dick Grayson, the first Robin. However the whole affair was a charade orchestrated by Ra's to test Batman, whom Ra's views as a worthy successor to the Demon himself.

Talia, the daughter of the Demon, is also one of Bruce Wayne/Batman's love interests, perpetually addressing him as 'Beloved.' Talia disillusioned with her father and his plans, left him to run LexCorp for former US President Lex Luthor, before selling the company to Bruce Wayne to aid Batman & Superman's victory over Luthor.

In the graphic novel Son of the Demon, Ra's Al Ghul successfully enlisted Batman's aid in defeating a rogue assassin who had murdered Ra's Al Ghul's wife. During this story line, Batman married Talia and she became pregnant. Batman was nearly killed protecting Talia from an attack by the assassin's agents. In the end, Talia concluded that she could never keep Batman, as he would be defending her. She claimed to have miscarried and the marriage was dissolved.

The child was eventually born and left with an orphanage. The only identification provided was Talia's jewel encrusted necklace, which had once belonged to Talia's mother.

(This story is stated to no longer be in continuity, although two Elseworlds, Kingdom Come and Brotherhood of the Bat feature two alternate versions of the child as an adult, coming to terms with his dual heritage.)

Ra's blames his relationship with Talia on the Darknight Detective, and had Ubu (the title for Al Ghul's primary servant) stage an assassination attempt on Bruce Wayne's longtime ward Dick Grayson, shortly before Wayne officially adopted the now fully grown Grayson.

In Batman: Death and the Maidens, it is revealed that Ra's had a love child born during his travels in Russia in the 18th century called Nyssa. Enamored by the romantic stories that her mother would tell her about Ra's as a child, Nyssa set out to find Ra's and eventually located him at his headquarters in North Africa. Impressed by her beauty, her warrior skills, and the fact that she was able to locate him, she was promoted to a position similar to what Talia had as a right hand associate as she accompanied him during his adventures. Ra's was so impressed with her abilities, he had even allowed Nyssa to use his Lazurus Pits. Like her sister Talia, Nyssa eventually became dissatisfied with Ra's plans and his methods, and sometime during the early 19th century, she disassociated herself from Ra's. Ra's reluctantly approved this with the idea that she would return to him and that either her and/or children would become his future heirs. To his disappointment, Nyssa refused to give herself or her familiy to Ra's, causing to him to officially disown her for good. During World War II, Nyssa and her family were sent to concentration camps where they all had died as Nyssa was rendered impotent by grusome Mengele-sque experiments. Broken and disillusioned by her horrifying experiences during this time and the fact that Ra's and the world at large had left her and her family to die at the hands of the Nazis, she hatched plans using her considerable amounts of wealth and resources to kill Ra's by befriending, kidnapping, and brainwashing Talia, using her to kill Ra's, while Nyssa would destroy all hope and optimism in the world by assassinating Superman with kryptonite bullets she stole from the batcave. While Batman was successful in preventing the assassination of Superman, he was unable to stop Ra's from being killed by Nyssa. This in turn was part of a greater plan by Ra's to ensure that his daughters, both initially dissatisfied with his plans, realize that he was right about the world and what needed to be done to it according to his ideas, would come to accept their destinies as his heirs. Realizing and accepting this, both Nyssa and Thalia became and are now the heads of the league of assassins with Thalia disavowing all her love for Bruce Wayne and both sisters declaring Batman to be their enemy.

Ra's had previously been revealed as alive in the 30th century setting of Legion, however the rebooting of Legion of Super-Heroes continuity means that this is no longer the "official" future.

Other Media

In Batman: The Animated Series, Ra's Al Ghul was voiced by David Warner. He reprised the role in Batman Beyond, although there was a twist to his reappearance.

Al Ghul will be portrayed in the 2005 film Batman Begins by Japanese actor Ken Watanabe.

External link

• Source information for Ra's al Ghul http://www.unstable.com/whoswho/rasalghu.htm