Ra's al Ghul

"Ra's al Ghul was a man of many contrasts. Leader, environmentalist--"
"Sociopath."
— Talia and Terry McGinnis^[1]

Ra's al Ghul means "the demon's head" in Arabic. Ra's was an eco-terrorist who has lived for over 600 years through the use of Lazarus Pits.

Over his long lifetime, Ra's has become a master planner, an expert fighter, and independently wealthy, making him one of Batman's most dangerous foes.

History

Ra's' presence was first made known to Batman through the Society of Shadows. He orchestrated a series of events to eliminate Count Vertigo from the picture and acquire a sonic drill, using his daughter, Talia, to carry out his will. His plan was almost successful, but Batman managed to sabotage the sonic drill before it reached him. At this, Ra's was forced to admit that Batman - "The Detective," as he called him - had attained some small measure of victory, but quickly declared that this was not over.^[2]

Later, he met Batman right in the Batcave, much to the Caped Crusader's surprise. Ra's requested his help in tracking down his daughter and Dick Grayson, who had both been kidnapped on the same night. However, it didn't take Batman long to realize that Ra's himself had done the kidnapping, and indeed, the whole thing was part of a plan to make Bruce his heir, and carry on his legacy.^[3] When Bruce refused, Ra's, disappointed, chose to speed things up and accomplish his goals in his own lifetime by saturating the planet with the contents of the Lazarus Pits, killing a high percentage of the Earth's population. Again, though, Batman thwarted his plot, preventing the cataclysm from happening and knocking Ra's himself into a Pit.^[4]

He survived, however, and continued to come into conflict with Batman, even attempting to prolong his own life by stealing Superman's powers. At the end of this ordeal, he and Talia were caught in a collapsing cavern. In the aftermath, neither one could be found, dead or alive.^[5]

One way or another, Ra's (and Talia) escaped death again, and set into motion the Near-Apocalypse of '09. Little is known about this event, but in the end, Ra's was left at the brink of death, saving himself by transplanting his mind into his daughter's body.

In Talia's body, Ra's al Ghul kept himself alive through the years with the Lazarus Pits. Finally, decades in the future, still posing as his daughter, he met an elderly Bruce Wayne on his birthday and convinced him to take on the Lazarus Pits for himself. All what he needed was to make a blow to Bruce's ego by staging an incident with a flat tire and thugs grabbing a bystander. Bruce initially accepted, allowing himself to be immersed once. However, when he realized how unnatural the process was, he tried to get out of the deal - only to discover that Ra's was not only inhabiting the body of Talia, but he now wanted to take on the body of a rejuvenated Bruce Wayne. He planned to return to Gotham with genetic and written proof that he was the "long lost son" of Bruce and Talia to gain control of Bruce's company and holdings to fund his underground organization. At the last moment, Terry McGinnis intervened, interrupting the process and causing his lair to go up in flames. As his enemies fled, Ra's desperately tried to save his equipment, extinguishing the fires - but moments later, an exposed wire struck the surface of the Lazarus Pit, setting off an explosion.

Again, no body was seen, but it is likely that Ra's perished in the blast.^[6]

Background information

The man who would become Ra's al Ghul was once a nomad living in Arabia several centuries ago. Fascinated in science, he became a physician at a city and married a woman named Sora. Ra's discovered the Lazarus Pit and used it to cure the son of the City's ruler, but the Pit drove the already sadistic man to insanity, and he killed Sora. Ra's was charged with the crime and sentenced to death in a cage with his wife's corpse and left in the desert. Helped by some nomads, Ra's called upon his tribe to massacre the city, and used the Lazarus pit to achieve immortality, and formed the League of Assassins to to punish the sins of humanity against the world.

Although he genuinely loves his Talia, and views her as the most loyal and formidable of his progeny, Ra's al Ghul is an avowed sexist who believes women to be inferior to men, which has fueled his search to find a husband for Talia that could one day succeed him.