Harley Quinn is a character created for the show Batman: The Animated Series. She first appears in the episode "Joker's Favor" and has frequently appeared ever since. She began as Joker's moll and then retconned to be his former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. Quinn eventually become a well known Gotham criminal in her own right, frequently working with Poison Ivy on crime sprees she's also revealed to be the future grandmother of Dee Dee. After graduating from college, Harleen Quinzel acquires a job as a psychologist at Arkham Asylum in the hopes of writing a "tell all book" about the super criminals incarcerated there. The Joker immediately piques her interest, and upon approaching him, he quips that her name can be rearranged into "Harley Quinn." Harleen replies that she's heard this before and walks away. She later finds a rose on her desk with an attached note reading "Come down and see me sometime. -J" She returns to Joker's cell and questions how he managed to get the rose in her office. "If you were gonna tell someone, you already would have," Joker retorts. After this encounter, she works for months to set up a therapy session with him. Once finally in the session, Joker recounts a fabricated story of his abusive father beating him as a child. He recalls he only saw his father happy one time and goads her into viewing Batman as the "bad guy" to the point where Harleen despises Batman for constantly hurting Joker. The relationship between Harleen and The Joker becomes more personal over time — until Harley is the one on the couch, talking about her own problems to Joker. She confesses her love to him and he says it's perfectly understandable that she'd want a man who can make her laugh. After an escape from Joker, he is returned by Batman, beaten and bloodied. An infuriated Harleen storms out of Arkham to rob a party favor store, stealing multiple gag items and a costume. She returns to Arkham, in costume, and uses the stolen gag items to incapacitate multiple security guards. Once at Joker's cell, she uses an explosive to open the cell. As the smoke clears, we see Harleen in costume, smiling down at The Joker. She proudly exclaims "Say hello to your new and improved Harley Quinn." Harley escapes with Joker, who maniacally laughs as they speed away from the Asylum in a car. Harley Quinn’s personality in the DC Animated Universe is a chaotic blend of theatrical charm, emotional vulnerability, and unpredictable violence. She’s playful and flamboyant, often using humor and slapstick antics to mask deeper insecurities. Her voice, inspired by Arleen Sorkin’s Brooklyn-accented delivery, adds a layer of bubbly irreverence that contrasts sharply with her darker impulses. At her core, Harley is emotionally driven—loyal to a fault, especially in her toxic devotion to the Joker. This obsessive love fuels much of her erratic behavior, but it also reveals her capacity for deep feeling and tragic self-delusion. Despite being manipulated and mistreated, she clings to romantic ideals, often imagining a fantasy life with the Joker that’s heartbreakingly out of reach. Harley’s intelligence, once channeled into psychiatry, now manifests in cunning schemes and psychological manipulation. She’s not just comic relief—she’s a complex figure whose madness is both performative and sincere. Her journey often explores themes of identity, agency, and emotional survival, especially as she begins to seek independence through friendships like her bond with Poison Ivy. In short, Harley Quinn is the clown who laughs through pain, the lover who breaks her own heart, and the wildcard who refuses to be predictable. Her personality is a kaleidoscope of contradictions—funny, fragile, fierce, and unforgettable. Harley Quinn’s appearance in the DC Animated Universe is instantly recognizable and symbolically rich. She wears a red-and-black jester costume with alternating diamond patterns, a nod to her namesake and her chaotic duality. The full-body suit includes a white collar, black domino mask, and a jester’s cowl with two floppy horns tipped in white pom-poms—playful yet eerie, like a circus performer gone rogue. Her look is deliberately theatrical, evoking vaudeville and slapstick traditions while contrasting sharply with Gotham’s grim aesthetic. The exaggerated costume reflects her performative madness and her role as the Joker’s mirror and foil. Unlike later versions that lean into punk or glam styles, this original design emphasizes symmetry and containment—suggesting a character who’s trying to hold herself together even as she spirals into chaos. Visually, Harley’s animated form is expressive and elastic, often contorting in cartoonish ways that heighten her comedic menace. Her petite frame and acrobatic movements reinforce her unpredictability, while her mask and makeup conceal the vulnerability of Harleen Quinzel beneath the persona. Harley Quinn in the DC Animated Universe doesn’t possess traditional superpowers, but she’s far from powerless. Her abilities are rooted in physical agility, psychological insight, and sheer unpredictability—making her a formidable wildcard in Gotham’s rogues’ gallery. Psychological Expertise: Before becoming Harley Quinn, Harleen Quinzel was a trained psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. Her deep understanding of human behavior allows her to manipulate others, read emotional cues, and exploit psychological weaknesses—skills she uses both in crime and in navigating toxic relationships. Acrobatics & Combat: Harley is an exceptional gymnast, often flipping, dodging, and contorting her way through fights. Her agility makes her hard to hit and even harder to catch. She’s also skilled in hand-to-hand combat, wielding weapons like mallets, boxing-glove guns, and gag gadgets with surprising effectiveness. Toxin Immunity: Thanks to her close partnership with Poison Ivy, Harley has developed a resistance to most toxins and poisons. This gives her an edge in Gotham’s chemically chaotic underworld, where gas attacks and venomous traps are common. Emotional Manipulation & Theatrics: Harley’s clown persona isn’t just for show—it’s a weapon. She uses humor, charm, and erratic behavior to disarm opponents and confuse expectations. Her emotional volatility can be strategic, allowing her to play victim, seductress, or lunatic depending on the situation. Animal Companions: She’s often accompanied by her pet hyenas, Bud and Lou, who serve as both comic relief and backup muscle. They’re trained to attack on command and add to her chaotic presence. Equipment: Oversized Mallet: Her most iconic weapon, used for both comedic effect and serious damage. It’s a symbol of her brute strength wrapped in cartoon absurdity. Boxing Glove Gun: A spring-loaded firearm that punches instead of shoots—perfect for surprise attacks and visual gags. Pop Guns & Gag Weapons: These include toy-like pistols that fire confetti, gas, or other non-lethal but disorienting effects. They reflect her clownish persona and love of mischief. Joke-themed Explosives: Occasionally, Harley uses bombs disguised as presents or toys, often laced with gas or knockout agents. Toxin Resistance: Thanks to Poison Ivy’s intervention, Harley has developed immunity to many poisons and toxins, allowing her to operate in chemically hazardous environments. Bud and Lou: Her trained pet hyenas serve as both muscle and comic relief. They respond to her commands and add unpredictability to her confrontations. Costume & Persona: Her jester outfit isn’t just for show—it’s a psychological weapon. The exaggerated visuals disarm opponents and mask her true intentions. Manipulative Tools: Harley often uses disguises, props, and emotional theatrics to manipulate others, especially in schemes involving seduction or deception.

Harley Quinn·Harley·Harleen Frances Quinzel·Harleen Quinzel+2

Dr. Jonathan Crane, also known as the Scarecrow, is a Gotham City supervillain and a major enemy of Batman. Created by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane, he first appeared in World's Finest Comics #3 (Fall 1941). His scarecrow costume, lanky appearance and surname were inspired by Ichabod Crane of the horror fable "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The Scarecrow is an overly-obsessive and deranged ex-professor of psychology who uses a variety of drugs and psychological tactics to use the fears and phobias of his adversaries. He does not commit his crimes for wealth, but rather as a form of "research" to further study the effects of fear on humans (later, he does it to satisfy his own psychopathic desires), making Gothamites his unwilling guinea pigs. The Scarecrow made only two appearances in the 1940's. Batman writers of the 1960's revived him and he has since consistently appeared in Batman comic books. He was featured several times in the Emmy-winning 1990's cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, where he was first played by Henry Polic II. When the series was revamped and shown together with Superman: The Animated Series, the character was voiced by Jeffrey Combs. In the 2005 film Batman Begins and its sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, he was portrayed by Cillian Murphy. Abilities: Genius Intellect: A master strategist and manipulator, Scarecrow’s genius renders him the most intellectually clever and terrifying criminal mastermind that can dive into the minds of his opponents through nightmarish tactics. Crane also expresses a fondness towards literature including those such as Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and James Joyce’s Ulysses, and is shown to be a well-versed individual as demonstrated by his memorization of different poems and often speaks in rhyme. Psychology: Jonathan is a walking textbook on anxiety disorders and psychoactive drugs, and has even conducted fascinating research on how fear is the driving force of everyone’s lives and the psycho physiology of phobias. He is highly able to recite the name and description of nearly every known phobia. He even knows how to use words to affect a person's actions, once managing to drive two men to suicide with nothing but words, and uses this insight to find people's mental pressure points and exploit them. Chemistry: A true weapon of terror, Crane’s ingenious panicogenic fear-gas was atomized with the use of mixed chemicals including powerful synthetic adrenocortical secretions and other potent hallucinogens that could be inhaled or injected into the bloodstream to amplify the victim’s darkest fear into a terrifying nightmarish hallucination. Its potency has upgraded to an extreme level over the years where it’s now capable of prompting almost instantaneous, terror-induced heart attacks, leaving the victim in a permanent psychosis of chronic fear. His other versions were powerful enough that even the most strong-willed minds like Batman and Superman can even be affected; for a Kryptonian, he would need to mix the kryptonite with his fear-toxin to strike their mentalities. To instill his toxin, he often uses a hand-held sprayer in the shape of a human skull and special straws which can be snapped in half to release it. Scarecrow even managed to concoct the homemade chemical containing wild fowl pheromones from his childhood that would cause nearby birds to attack his opponents. Pedagogy: He was a talented professor of psychology at Gotham State University. Weaponry: He is skilled with farming tools so he tends to use pitchforks, sickles, and scythes. Occasionally, he uses firearms. During the 'Blackest Night' event, Scarecrow is temporarily deputized into the Sinestro Corps by a duplicate of Sinestro's Power Ring. He proves to be very capable in manipulating the light of fear to create constructs, until his ring is stolen by Lex Luthor. Martial Arts: He is a manic martial artist with full use of his long arms and legs in “violent dancing,” Scarecrow’s own form of crane-style kung-fu inspired by Ichabod Crane’s dancing skills from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Despite his scrawny build, he isn’t the type of criminal to be underestimated in hand-to-hand combat whenever forced to fight. Powers: Toxic Immunity: He seems to have formed an immunity to fear, which depresses him. Transformation (formerly): After some genetic manipulation done to him secretly by Dr.Linda Friitawa (also known as the criminal "Fright"),Scarecrow gains the ability to turn into a large monster with greatly enhanced strength, endurance, and a fear gas he naturally emits. However, he has to be under physical strain or duress to transform. Weaknesses: Anxiety Disorder: Crane once suffered from corvidophobia (fear of crows) after being attacked by a murder of crows at his family aviary. He managed to overcome this somehow and is often seen with a crow named Craw. Since his first encounter with Batman, he developed chiropteraphobia (fear of bats). Obsession: Motivated by an obsessive need to create fear in others, Scarecrow goes from using the primal emotion as a weapon to the point where he preaches it.

Scarecrow·Jonathan Crane·Jonathan·Crane+2

Two-Face is a criminal split between "good" and "evil" sides. Once Gotham City's amiable and courteous District Attorney, Harvey Dent was one of Batman's closest allies and friends, working with the vigilante to clean up the city. However, after being horribly disfigured during a trial, Dent's sanity fractured and he became one of the city's most notorious criminals, obsessed with duality, fate, chance and (occasionally) the number two. Unlike other villains, Two-Face often is displayed as having a moral code, often dictating how he will act through the flip of a scarred double-headed coin. Modern incarnations have been depicted to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, with "Harvey Dent" acting for good whilst "Two-Face" acting in self-interest. Over the years, there have been multiple attempts to cure Harvey and return him to a normal life, with very few proving to be successful. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Two-Face first appeared in Detective Comics #66. Originally appearing in a trilogy of comic stories, he soon became a recurring enemy during the Golden Age of Comics. Due to regulations enforced in the 1950s, the character was dropped during the Silver Age, though soon returned during the early 1970s and became one of Batman's most featured adversaries. Two-Face has often featured in popular comic stories like The Long Halloween and featured in various media, though sometimes as a pre-disfigured Harvey Dent. Two-Face is often considered one of Batman's most popular enemies and a core member of his rogues gallery. Harvey Dent's childhood consisted of hardship. Growing up under an abusive father, he developed repressed mental-illnesses of his own, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. His hard work ethic, however, allowed him to rise up to become Gotham City's youngest district attorney at the age of 26. Dent was nicknamed "Apollo" by the media due to the fact that he was charming, good-looking, and seemingly untouchable. He was dedicated to his job of upholding law and order, and became one of the first supporters, allies, and even friends of Batman. At the time of his job as a district attorney, the worst criminal threat in Gotham City was Carmine "the Roman" Falcone. He forged a triumvirate with Batman and Commissioner Gordon to bring the man down within the law, no matter what the cost. His slightly angrier temperament led Batman and Commissioner Gordon to develop a slight distrust for him, believing that it was slightly possible that he could be the vigilante dubbed "Holiday." The alliance ended tragically when Sal "Boss" Maroni, believing Dent to be responsible for the death of his father, threw acid in his face during a trial. Dent was horribly scarred on the left side of his face. Dent escaped from the hospital and descended into madness. He became obsessed with duality and opposites, and developed a second persona, the villainous Two-Face, to compliment the law & order obsessed Dent. As Two-Face, his trademark was crimes involving the number two. His obsession even shows in his clothes, which are usually composed of two halves made out of very different materials. At all times, he carries a double-headed coin with one side defaced, which he constantly flips to make any choices. Two-Face flips the coin at critical junctures: The scarred side would usually result in a crime, but the clean side would allow Two-Face to do the right thing, such as returning his loot or refraining from a murder. Two-Face is not consistently evil; every time he contemplates a crime, he flips his two-headed coin. Only if the coin came up scratched-side did Two-Face go ahead and commit the crime, never questioning the result of the toss. This compulsion is a compromise between Dent's evil "Two-Face" personality and his former, law-abiding self. Over the years, he has been shown to rely on the coin to different degrees. Sometimes to decide whether or not to commit a crime, sometimes to decide whether or not to do something good, like save someone. He will even go out of his way to do good deeds if the coin mandates. Since Two-Face is hideously scarred on the left half of his face, he plays up to it with clothing that is differently styled and materialized on one side. Two-Face also carries his obsession with the number "two" in his choice of weapon, twin .22 automatics, with which he is extremely skilled and intelligent. His psychotic obsession with duality and his designing crimes around the number two often leads to his downfall. In the questionable "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth " one-shot, the doctors at Arkham were shown to have weaned him off of the coin, and onto a die, then a pack of tarot cards. With the die, instead of only good and evil, he is given six different options, and with the tarot, 78. Two-Face is shown to be completely dependent, and is unable to even decide to go to the bathroom before sorting through the cards. However, he did end up getting his coin back, and also showed a rare case of giving a different fate than the coin foretold: He set Batman free despite the coin landing bad side up. During Countdown, when he is being deported to the "Hell Planet" along with the other villains in Salvation Run, Pied Piper and the Trickster offer to break him out of Belle Reve after defeating his escorting guards. Two-Face flips the coin, and it comes up un-scarred, so he declines, and instead simply waits patiently in the middle of the hallway for more security guards to show up. Over the years, various attempts have been made to repair his facial scars, but none have successfully cured his insanity long term; although he has briefly returned to his Dent persona, he has ended up simply destroying one side of his face and becoming Two-Face once again. One special occasion can be seen in Frank Miller's 1986 Dark Knight series, where Dent goes through a surgical procedure to restore all the damaged tissue in his face, all funded by Bruce Wayne. After the surgery, Dent is considered to be cured from his dual personality insanity, and he even appears on TV with a coin that has two clean sides. However, as the story progresses, he gets involved in crimes again and is eventually caught by Batman and it is revealed that he thinks they did the opposite of what the surgery promised in order to "have a laugh". Over the years, Two-Face had many rivalries with other DC characters, especially the following: Batman -- Although it was the crime lord's fault, Dent had blamed Batman for his facial scarring. He and the Batman had fought each other in over 50 issues of Batman and Detective Comics. The Joker -- Both Two-face and the Joker are often allied just as much as they oppose each other. This is because while both are chaotic in nature, their dispositions are entirely opposite, with the Joker's motivations centering around self-amusement and chaos, and Two-Face's often centering on anger and revenge. Either way, these two always feud and compete on defeating Batman. In the Dark Knight Trilogy continuity, The Joker is indirectly responsible for Rachel Dawes death, as well as his disfigurement. Poison Ivy -- A rivalry or sense of hatred exist between Two-Face and Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series due to Ivy attempting to murder Harvey Dent with plant toxins some time before his incident. Future interactions between the two shows that the only thing keeping Two-Face from killing Ivy out of revenge is a lucky coin flip. This carried over into the animated series, in which both sides of Dent's personality expressed a desire in killing her, though "Dent" wanted to strangle her and "Big Bad Harv" wanted to hit her with a truck. The Penguin -- The Penguin and Two-face have always been at each others throats. This is mostly because their goals usually don't align. While Penguin is selfish and greedy, Two-Face believes in a twisted form of justice and balance. The coloring Two-Face's scars has been altered over the years. Starting from Harvey Dent's first appearance in Detective Comics #66, the deformed portion of Dent's face was traditionally green for decades. In the 90s it was changed to dark purple after Batman Forever. In the movie Dent's scarred side is a bright pinkish-purple, although this version played by Tommy Lee Jones is the only one to not feature an eye bulge and exposed teeth. As depicted in Batman: The Animated Series, it is a sky blue. Artist Matt Wagner changed the scarring color to red in the 1992 Faces storyarc. Tim Sale later used a similar look in Batman: The Long Halloween, which slowly became standardized modern look by the turn of the millennium. In The Dark Knight, Two-Face is disfigured by fire rather than acid. As such the deformed side of his face lacks hair and is charred and bloody, revealing the muscles, tendons and bone structure beneath. His appearance in Batman: Arkham City is based off of this appearance. Powers and Abilities: Professional Lawyer: He was a successful attorney and is proficient in nearly all matters pertaining to criminal law. Expert Detective: He possesses great deductive skills and analytic ability, reinforced by the training given by Batman. Criminal Mastermind: He's a genius in criminal planning and has many ties to the underworld, showing himself capable of competing with the Penguin. Expert Marksman: Thanks to Slade Wilson's training, Dent became an excellent marksman, able to shoot accurately from large distances. Skilled Combatant: Dent has been extensively trained by Batman in Kung-Fu. Two-Face's Coin - Two-Face is mostly dependent on his coin to make decisions. Various Weapons: Two semi-automatic pistols, Sniper rifle, Knives, Rocket launchers and poison gases, to name a few.And a double-barrelled shotgun Two-Face is supported by various henchmen. The following were the only ones that were named: Joe

Two-Face·Harvey Dent·Harvey·Dent

The Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot) is a Gotham City supervillain and an enemy of Batman. Co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, he first appeared in Detective Comics #58 (December 1941). One of Batman's oldest foes, the Penguin is often presented as a gentleman of crime, often developing elaborate schemes whilst presenting himself as innocent of many of his activities. An eccentric criminal mastermind, he is well-known for his love of ornithology and use of technology-fitted umbrellas. More modern depictions have shown him as the manager of the Iceberg Lounge, a popular nightclub which serves as a front for his illegal financial stature. An icon since the Golden Age, the Penguin has been a mainstay of Batman's rogues gallery, often paired alongside villains like the Joker and Catwoman. The character was also popularized during the 1960s Batman series, where he was portrayed by Burgess Meredith. Elements of the show's depiction would also influence future versions of the character, including more explicit bird-like features and personality quirks. The Penguin is amongst the most well-known Batman villains, appearing or being mentioned in almost every known version of Batman media. Born Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, the Penguin was teased very much in his childhood due to his short stature, obesity, and bird-like nose. These traits made him an outcast in his rich, debutante family. Their rejection drove him to become evil. These are contrasted against the more aggressive and specific wealth gathering origins of the Batman graphic novel Batman: Penguin Triumphant, which specifically states that Oswald Cobblepot neither is nor ever was insane and merely used his astute mind and scientific skills in developing weapons to intimidate and control others, and the largely attributed Earth-One incarnation origin of the Penguin in Batman #287 (1977). The Penguin's weapons of choice are the trick-umbrellas he uses to execute his crooked schemes. Several versions of the Penguin's origins say that he was forced as a child to always carry an umbrella around by his over-protective mother due to the fact that his father died of pneumonia after being drenched in a downpour. In keeping with his pretensions of being a refined gentleman, he also prefers to wear formal wear, such as a top hat, tail-coat, and spats during his jobs. The Penguin received his alter-ego from a childhood taunt, bestowed by his peers, who teased him because of his grotesque appearance and love of birds (some re-tellings of his origin suggest he also suffered from some sort of hip ailment, which caused him to waddle when he walked; the Penguin shows no signs of suffering from this affliction today). Some comics suggest that he tried to abandon the title (which he hates), but it has been permanently brought into popularity by Batman. In most incarnations, the Penguin is a short, chubby man who wears a tuxedo, top hat, monocle, white gloves and spats. Prior to his portrayal in Batman Returns, he was often depicted as non-deformed and, in some cases, attractive. However, elements of bird-appearance could be seen in several Golden Age appearances and continued into later renditions. Since the film however, Penguin has been depicted with as a grotesque psychopath, often a cross between an actual penguin and a man. Elements of this have often been used in designs for the character up until the modern day. Unlike most Batman villains, the Penguin is often depicted as sane and doesn't theme his crimes around a psychotic obsession. He does, however, possess a keen intellect and often puts on an aristocratic personality, starkly contrasting against more demented enemies like the Joker. As a result, his relationship with Batman is often somewhat less tense than it is with other villains. The Penguin recently became a mobster and nightclub owner who engages in more quiet criminal activity whom Batman tolerates as a source of criminal underworld information. Whenever he is apprehended for a crime, he is sent to an ordinary prison instead of Arkham Asylum, although some versions of the character (particularly the less sane interpretations) are sent to Arkham. The Penguin does, however, possess a few eccentricities. He is known for his love of birds and his high-tech umbrellas that serve some specialized function, such as hang-gliding and weaponry. He also keeps beautiful women around him, perhaps to remind others of his monetary power or to compensate for his own grotesqueness. Abilities: Genius-Level Intellect: From an early age Penguin was never very physically strong or appealing and this forced him to apply his naturally keen intellect. It should be noted that his intellect is almost always sinister in nature even in the most mundane of decisions. Criminal Mastermind Business Management: Oswald's criminal operations would succeed without a hitch if not for the actions of Batman. Oswald has existed both above and below the law with his businesses; running a legitimate night club as well as selling drugs from within it. Tactical Analysis Leadership: Penguin always travels with henchmen on any criminal mission or even to the zoo. He controls bodyguards, chefs, servants, gang members, villains and so on with masterful talent. Oswald has led both legal and illegal operations within Gotham City; under any conditions. Avian Trainer: Penguin has used his knowledge of birds for criminal purposes as well as personal interest, bordering on obsession. Like Catwoman's affinity for felines, he shares a special kinship with birds, specifically the various penguin species. Penguin has made use of these to commit crimes. he also has a talent for larger birds and is a trained falconer---once employing two named "Shoe" and "The Perfesser" as deadly attack birds. Transportation: Limos Penguin Boat Weapons: Trick Umbrellas: The Penguin employs an assortment of "trick" umbrellas, many of which can be used as weapons as well. A few of his umbrellas are equipped with motorized flight capabilities, flamethrowers, machine guns and narcotic gas. Automatic Handguns Henchmen and Henchwomen: Penguin is served in his crimes by various henchmen. The following henchmen listed below have been named: 1. Beefy 2. Beulah 3. Bossworth 4. Carmichael 5. Hammer 6. Jay 7. Lark - Penguin's henchwomen who Penguin sends to kill a disguised Charlotte Rivers. 8. Louie 9. Raven 10. Tongs 11. Turk - Turk assisted Penguin at the time when he changed his arsenal to guns and fishing poles.

The Penguin·Penguin·Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot·Oswald Cobblepot+2

The Riddler is a criminal themed around riddles, puzzles and games, and frequent enemy of Batman. Co-created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang for Detective Comics #140 (October 1948), Edward "E." Nigma (sometimes Nygma and Nashton), he themes his crimes around these, even leaving clues for Batman and the police to solve hinting to his plans. Whilst not as physically capable as other enemies in the rogues gallery, Riddler is often considered one of Batman's most intelligent foes and has even manipulated others into various schemes. He has also fought other DC superheroes, such as Green Arrow and the Flash, and featured in several "super-villain" teams, including the Legion of Doom and Injustice League. Originally intended to appear once at his first appearance, Riddler became popular after his adaptation in the 1960s Batman series and performance by Frank Gorshin. The character would frequently appear from the 1960s onwards, becoming a recurring enemy to the Dark Knight and his allies. Riddler has also served as the main villain of several stories, most notably being the mastermind of the popular Hush storyline. Due to his frequent appearances in other media, Riddler is often regarded to be one of the core members of Batman's rogues gallery and one of his most popular enemies. Edward Nigma discovered puzzles when he was a young boy, and he gradually incorporated them into his criminal career. Issue #2 of Justice by Alex Ross suggests that his father physically abused him, which left him with a compulsion to tell the truth (materializing through the telling of riddles), as well as a desire to prove his superiority by outwitting everyone around him. The Riddler's criminal modus operandi is so deeply ingrained into his personality that he is virtually powerless to stop himself from acting it out. He cannot simply kill his opponents when he has the upper hand; he has to put them in a deathtrap to see if he can devise a life and death intellectual challenge that the hero cannot solve and escape. However, unlike many of Batman's themed enemies, Riddler's compulsion is quite flexible, allowing him to commit any crime as long as he can describe it in a riddle or puzzle. He often has two female assistants, named Query and Echo. In Batman Secret Origins Special, Riddler proclaimed that he had four henchmen named "Mark, Mark, Mark, and Mark". Sometimes, he is shown to drive a "Riddlermobile," a green car with "???" on the license plate. A knockoff of the Batmobile. Riddler also often carries a trick question mark-shaped cane. The Riddler's compulsion stems from parental abuse that he endured as a child. After Edward got high scores on some important tests in school, his father, unable to grasp the fact that his son was brilliant and believing he had cheated, beat him out of envy. This, in theory, left him with a strong internal desire to tell the truth, and prove his innocence. This desire manifests itself in the form of his obsession with riddles. His madness, as well as his descent into crime in general, may also have roots in a yearning to rise above the anonymity that he possessed in his youth. As Edward Nashton grew older, he opened a crooked carnival booth involving a diabolical puzzle. The customers would compete to solve the puzzle for prize money, but if they failed to do so, they would have to pay Nashton a small fee for competing. In every case, Edward rigged the puzzle in advance to ensure that the customer would always fail. Unsatisfied with the small pickings of the puzzle booth, Nashton closed the carnival attraction and a confident Edward announced to himself he was clever enough to use his wits for crime and baffle the upholders of the law. Nashton concluded he would commit puzzling crimes and always fix the duel of wits between him and the law so he would always win. Donning a green costume covered with question marks, he turned to crime and set out to achieve infamy as the Riddler. At first, the Riddler proves initially successful, launching a crime wave across Gotham City. Batman soon deduced that the new villain was leaving baffling clues for the law in advance of each crime and began acting on the clues to thwart the Riddler's puzzling crimes, although Nashton swiftly evades capture again and again. The Riddler's last riddle clue asks, "Why is corn so hard to escape from?" Batman concludes that the answer is included in the fact corn is also known as maize, which sounds like "maze" when pronounced. At the scene of his next crime, Nashton fled into a complex maze he had designed to be the ultimate death-trap and challenged Batman, who had entered the maze in pursuit, to escape from the labyrinth before a bomb, hidden in one of the many passageways, goes off. Batman escaped, but the explosion knocked the Riddler off a pier and sent him plummeting to his supposed doom. But by the time two months had passed, the Riddler made it clear he had indeed survived his fall and resumed his crime wave, robbing cash prizes from a nationwide puzzle contest. The Prince of Puzzlers was finally apprehended when he gave the citizens of Gotham City a charade clue which he anticipated would draw huge crowds to the Gotham Museum, where Nashton planned to steal some Egyptian artifacts and escape in the crowd. However, he was thwarted when Batman and Robin arrived and captured him before he could make his getaway. After being paroled from prison, the Riddler returned, and wishing for all of Batman's attention, helped the Dark Knight solve his latest case and apprehended criminals he has been preoccupied with chasing. Now with Batman's full-time and attention, the Riddler sent him a puzzling riddle, which convinced Batman that the criminal was out to rob a flawless black pearl from a Gotham millionaire. Batman and Robin seized the Riddler with the pearl, only to learn he had lawfully purchased it with his own money. Later, when he arrested the Riddler as he fled an art gallery with a priceless relic, Batman was shocked to learn the villain had lawfully inherited it from his uncle. Shortly after, Batman and Robin figured out the Riddler had given them another puzzle-clue in the form of their two most recent encounters. The first scene of the first encounter being at the millionaire's yacht, the second at the Peale art gallery. Batman discovered there were actually two clues, one set to mislead him and the other revealed the Riddler's real crime. Batman decided that one of the clues was too easily unraveled and must've been a false lead. Thus, the other clue must predict the scene of the Riddler's next crime. Solving the latest riddle, Batman rushed to the scene of the crime and caught the Riddler red-handed in the middle of a robbery, easily apprehending him. The Riddler later appeared in The Question, being convinced to become a "big-time villain" by a prostitute he met on a bus. He hijacked it and began asking riddles, killing and robbing anyone that got them wrong. The Question quickly subdues him by asking him philosophical riddles in return. He was outwitted and had a nervous breakdown before being set free as a reward for getting one last riddle right. In the one-shot "Riddler and the Riddle Factory", the Riddler became the host of an underground game show that focused on digging up dirt on celebrities. Many of the famous people that he humiliates end up committing suicide shortly afterwards, suggesting that perhaps the Riddler did more than just inspire their deaths. In the end, his actions turn out to be a front for his attempts to find the hidden treasures of "Scarface" Scarelli, a Gotham City gangster who lived long before Batman's reign of crime-fighting. Riddler had a working relationship with The Cluemaster, although he initially resented the villain for seemingly copying his modus operandi. In their first encounter, he set his fellow rogue up with a bomb and sent Batman off chasing riddles that would lead to its being diffused, as well as away from his real plan: to steal a vast amount of priceless baseball merchandise. The two teamed up on a few occasions afterwards, and were working together on a big scheme shortly before Cluemaster's apparent death in the pages of The Suicide Squad. He seems to be more rational and cautious than his fellow rogues. During the Batman crossover storyline No Man's Land, after Gotham City is ravaged by an earthquake and Arkham Asylum freed its inmates, Riddler elected to flee Gotham rather than stay behind in the lawless chaos that ensued. It is during this period that he made the poor choice of attacking Black Canary and Green Arrow in Star City, where he was easily defeated. Many adaptations of the Batman mythos have given the Riddler the real name Edward Nigma (or Nygma) or E. Nigma. Occasionally his full name has been given as Edward E. Nigma. Some have depicted this as a false name and his real name as Edward Nashton, who legally changed his name to Edward Nygma. ("E. Nigma" = enigma which means mystery) In the French and Québécois translations of various Batman titles, his nom de plume has been translated to Le Sphinx referencing the riddle-posing monster of Greek mythology that Oedipus confronted. Sometimes, he's also known as L'Homme-Mystère, which means "the Mystery Man" in French. In Germany, the villain has been called Mr. Sphinx, as well as Der Rätselknacker (which is a strange translation, because a 'Rätselknacker' in German would be the man to unravel a riddle). In Italy he is called Enigmista, the literal translation of "Riddler". Similarly the character's Finnish name, Arvuuttaja, is also a literal translation. In Mexico and Latin America, the Riddler is known as El Acertijo, which literally means "The Riddle". In Brazil, the character is called Charada, Portuguese translation of "charade" which also means "Riddle". In Spain, the Riddler is known as "Enigma" In Denmark, the Riddler is known as Gækkeren, which, loosely translated, is a person, who plays tricks on others, though not necessarily through the use of riddles. In Sweden, the Riddler has been known as Gåtan, which is Swedish for "the riddle", and sometimes Gåtmannen (=Riddle Man). In Russia, he is called Загадочник (Russian for Riddler). In some translations, the Riddler is also called Человек-загадка (Chelovek-zagadka; literally, "the Mystery Man"). In Greece, he is called Γρίφος (Greek for "Riddle"). In Poland he is called Człowiek-Zagadka (Polish for "The Riddle Man"), or sometimes Pan Zagadka ("Mr. Riddle") In Hungary, the character is called Rébusz which means riddle, rebus. In Chinese, he is commonly called 謎語人, which literally means "Riddle Man". In Turkish, he is called Bilmececi, the literal translation of the character's original name. In Czech, he used to be called Rébus (literally rebus), later is called Hádankář (Czech for ,,The Riddle Man"). Powers and Abilities: Genius-Level Intelligence: Supreme problem-solver, criminal mastermind. His mind excels with puzzles, minds games, and manipulations and also shown to be skilled with engineering and technology. Expert Detective: He possesses great deductive skills and analytic ability comparable to Batman. Independently Wealthy: Riddler has a vast fortune that he has acquired over years of crime as well as legally. Escapologist: Riddler is adept in escapology. Since childhood Edward has been a big fan of the late great Harold Houdini. Using this skill to build his infamous elaborate death traps and to easily escape handcuffs. Equipment: Cane: a steel question mark shaped cane, it has a wide variety of technological devices and weapons, like Holograms, Security Bypass and Electrical Blasts. Question Mark Grapple Gun: Riddler has used his own version of the grappling hook pistols used by the Bat-Family. Weapons: Automatic handgun: In the Batman Forever Game, it shoots bubbles which can make their opponents blow up like balloons and temporarily float around in the air for a few seconds, if successfully shot at the opponents. Gimmick-based items: Exploding jigsaw puzzle pieces and crossword puzzle throwing nets. Henchmen: Query and Echo - Two females who serve as Riddler's henchmen and bodyguards. Query's real name is Diedre Vance and Echo's real name is Nina Damfino. (Detective Comics Annual #8)

The Riddler·Riddler·Edward Nigma·Edward Nygma+2

The Joker is a supervillain and the archenemy of Batman. First introduced in Batman #1 (Spring 1940), he was originally a criminal mastermind with a devious sense of humor. Initially intended to serve as a one-time appearances, Joker's instant popularity ensured that the character would continue to appear, becoming a frequent enemy of the Dark Knight and Robin, the Boy Wonder. By the late 1940s, Joker had been reimagined as a harmless prankster. Falling into obscurity by the 1960s, he was re-introduced in the 1970s as a more legitimate threat and one of the most infamous criminals within Gotham City. In recent years, the character has taken on the persona of an evil-incarnate, simply taking joy in tormenting Batman or trying to push him into villainy. Widely considered Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker has also been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. His characterization has changed over the years, with the most common incarnation being a criminal mastermind who commits crimes for his own entertainment. Joker is also considered one of DC' most recognizable characters, with him also battling other heroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman. The character has also become an icon in popular culture, usually through his portrayals in various media related to Batman and other DC properties. Originally conceived as an evil "court-jester" type, the character was initially rejected by studio writer Bill Finger as being "too clownish," but he later relayed the idea to Bob Kane. Kane, who started out as a gag artist, loved the concept and encouraged its production. Finger found a photograph of actor Conrad Veidt wearing make-up for the silent film The Man Who Laughs, and it was from this photograph that the Joker was modeled. This influence was referenced in the graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, a retelling of the first Joker story from 1940. In his initial dozen or so appearances, starting with Batman #1 (1940), the Joker was a straightforward spree killer/mass murderer, with a bizarre appearance modeled after the symbol of the Joker known from playing cards. It is of note that in his second appearance he was actually slated to be killed off, with the final page detailing the villain accidentally stabbing himself, lying dead as Batman and Robin run off into the night. DC editor Whitney Ellsworth thought the Joker was too good a character to kill off, suggesting that he be spared. A hastily drawn panel, calculated to imply that the Joker was still alive, was subsequently added to the comic. For the next several appearances, the Joker often escaped capture but suffered an apparent death (falling off a cliff, being caught in a burning building, etc.), from which his body was not recovered. In these first dozen adventures, the Joker killed close to three dozen people, impressive for a villain who didn't use giant robots, mutant monsters, or space lasers, as was the status quo between 1940 until around 1942. Ironically, the turning point came in "Joker Walks the Last Mile" (Detective Comics #64), when the Joker was actually executed in the electric chair only to be chemically revived by henchmen. While the Joker was back, he was decidedly less deadly than previous engagements. At this point, the editors decided that only one-shot villains should commit murder, so as to not make Batman look impotent in his inability to punish such recurring foes as the Joker or the Penguin. As the Batman comics softened their tone, the Joker shifted towards a harmless, cackling nuisance. He quickly became the most popular villain and was used frequently during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The use of the character lessened somewhat by the late 1950s, and disappeared almost entirely when Julius Schwartz took over editorship of the Batman comics in 1964. In 1973, the character was revived and profoundly revised in the Batman comic stories by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams. Beginning in Batman #251, with the story "The Joker's Five Way Revenge", the Joker becomes a homicidal maniac who casually murders people on a whim, while enjoying battles of wits with Batman. This take on the character has taken prominence since. Steve Englehart, in his short but well-received run on the book, added elements deepening the severity of the Joker's insanity. Joker even had his own nine-issue series from 1975 to 1976 in which he faces off against a variety of foes, both superheroes and supervillains. This was a major change as he was now the protagonist and in every issue, he was always apprehended and never killed anyone, due to writers telling series creator Dennis O'Neil to make these changes. However, the development of the Joker as a sociopath continued with the issues "A Death in the Family" (in which readers voted for the character to kill off Jason Todd) and The Killing Joke in 1988, redefining the character for DC's Modern Age after the company wide reboot following Crisis on Infinite Earths. A major addition to the character was the introduction of the character Harley Quinn. Originally introduced in Batman: The Animated Series, Quinn is a clinical psychiatrist who falls hopelessly in love with the Joker in Arkham Asylum after he relays his tale of having an abusive father and a runaway mother, and now serves as his loyal, if daffy, sidekick, costumed in a skintight harlequin suit. Their relationship often resembles that of an abusive domestic relationship, with the Joker insulting, hurting, or even attempting to kill Quinn, who remains undaunted in her devotion. She was popular enough to be integrated into the comics in 1999 and a modified version of the character (less goofy, but still criminally insane and utterly committed to the Joker) was also featured on the short-lived live-action TV series Birds of Prey. Though many have been related, a definitive history of the Joker has never been established in the comics, and his true name has never been confirmed. Nobody knows who he truly is. Detective Comics #168 (February 1951) revealed that he had been a lab worker who turned to crime and became a criminal known as the Red Hood. In the story, the Red Hood was robbing a factory called the Monarch Playing Card Company and encountered Batman for the first time. He tried to escape from the Dark Knight by fleeing to the Ace Chemical Plant where he fell into a vat of chemicals. He survived but the chemicals had radically changed his body resulting in chalk-white skin, emerald green hair, and a bizarre ruby-red grin. The most widely cited back-story can be seen in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. It depicts him as originally being an engineer at a chemical plant who quit his job to pursue his dream of being a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, Jeannie, the man agrees to help two criminals break into the plant where he was formerly employed. In this version of the story, the Red Hood persona is given to the inside man of every job (thus it is never the same man twice); this makes the inside man appear to be the leader, allowing the two ring-leaders to escape. During the planning, police contact him and inform him that his wife and unborn child have died in a household accident. Stricken with grief, he attempts to back out of the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his promise. As soon as they enter the plant, however, they are immediately caught by security and a fatal shoot-out ensues, in which the two criminals are killed. As he tries to escape, he is confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Terrified, the engineer leaps over a rail and plummets into a vat of chemicals. When he surfaces in the nearby reservoir, he removes the hood and sees his reflection: bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips, and emerald green hair. These events, coupled with his other misfortunes that day, drive the engineer through the massive personality shift that results in the birth of the Joker. The story "Push-back" (Batman: Gotham Knights # 50-55), supports part of this version of the Joker's origin story. In it, a witness (who coincidentally turns out to be Edward Nygma, a.k.a. The Riddler) recounts that the Joker's wife was kidnapped and murdered by the criminals in order to force the engineer into performing the crime. In this version, the Joker was called Jack. In Geoff Johns' "The Three Jokers", the final pages also support the retelling as the Joker's origin. However, the story also implies that the Joker was abusive to Jeannie and that her death was staged to by the GCPD to allow her to go into witness protection. Bruce Wayne visits her and their child in the Canada wilderness, indicating he knows who the Joker really is. The second arc of Batman Confidential (#7-12) re-imagines the Joker as a gifted criminal and abandons the Red Hood identity, also called Jack, who is nearly suicidal due to boredom with his "job". He talks to a waitress, Harleen Quinzel, who convinces him to find something to live for. Jack becomes obsessed with Batman after he breaks up one of his jobs, leading Jack to attract Batman's attention at a ball. Jack injures Lorna Shore (whom Bruce Wayne is dating), leading Batman to disfigure his face with a Batarang. Jack escapes and Batman gives Jack's information to mobsters, who torture Jack in a chemical plant. Jack kills several of his assailants after escaping, but falls into an empty vat as wild gunfire punctures the chemical tanks above him, and the resultant flood of antidepressant chemicals alters his appearance to that of a clown, completing his transformation into the Joker. In flashbacks to Batman: Streets of Gotham, there was a boy known as Sonny who had gone over to Martha Kane's clinic at a foster home, who treated him kindly, and then ended up witnessing a horrific crime by some mobsters and got his jaw broken and infected with a laughing virus, with Kane's clinic saving him again. However, the mobsters proceed to firebomb her clinic and abduct Sonny as he was attempting to save Kane, and was repeatedly abused by the mobsters to such an extent that his already broken jaw was incorrectly aligned, with the mobster in question taunting him to "keep smiling" and stop frowning. It is heavily implied that "Sonny" would grow up to become the Joker. In Scott Snyder's run on Batman, Joker appears in the first arch of Batman: Zero Year (Batman (Volume 2) #25-28). Depicted as the leader of the Red Hood Gang, he led the group on an anarchical crusade to bring chaos to Gotham, claiming to have been inspired by the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. The recruits were also average citizens in Gotham, though many were actually blackmailed into helping the group. Before Bruce became Batman, the Red Hood was hired by a pre-Riddler Nygma to attack Bruce Wayne, leading to him becoming a fixation. After a fight with Batman, the criminal purposely threw himself into the vat of chemicals, though a body was later recovered but could not be identified. During the later Endgame arch, there are hints that the Joker may have operated in Gotham long before Batman appeared. After discovering his use of Dionesium, Batman suspects that Joker, like Vandal Savage and Ra's al Ghul, may use the chemical to extend his lifespan. The story also mentions of a serial killer called the Pale-Man who operated in Gotham long before Batman's arrival, implying that the Joker may be centuries old. No recounting of the Joker's origin has been official confirmed as definitive, however, with many being brushed off as cover stories, lies about his former life and/or that he genuinely doesn't know his past. As he says in The Killing Joke: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" From the Joker's first appearance in Batman #1, he has been willing (and eager) to wreak as much havoc as possible upon innocent people in order to claim the mantle of Gotham City's greatest criminal mastermind. Throughout his decades-long war with Batman, he has committed crimes both whimsical and inhumanly brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman's words, "make sense to him alone." In The Killing Joke, the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl), paralyzing her below the waist. He kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and taunts him with photographs of what he has done to Barbara, in an attempt to prove that any man can have "one bad day" and become just like him, but fails to drive Gordon insane, despite giving him some serious trauma. Batman rescues Gordon and tries one final time to reach the Joker, offering to rehabilitate him. After a few moments of consideration, the Joker refuses, stating that it is "too late for that", but shows his appreciation by sharing a joke with Batman (which, surprisingly, receives an uncharacteristic laugh from the vigilante) and allowing himself to be taken back to Arkham. The Joker also murdered Jason Todd, the second Robin, in the story "A Death in the Family." Jason Todd discovers that a woman who may be his birth mother is being blackmailed by the Joker. She betrays her son to keep from having her medical supply thefts exposed, leading to Jason's brutal beating by the Joker with a crowbar. The Joker locks Jason and his mother in the warehouse where the assault took place and blows it up just as Batman arrives. Readers could vote on whether they wanted Jason Todd to survive the blast. They voted for him to die, hence that Batman finds Jason's lifeless body. Jason's death has haunted him since and has intensified his obsession with his archenemy. Psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel eventually ponders whether the Joker may in fact be faking insanity so as to avoid the death penalty. As she tries to treat the Joker, he recounts a tale of an absent father and runaway mother to gain her sympathy. Falling in love, she allows him to escape Arkham several times before she is eventually exposed. Driven over the edge with obsession, she becomes the criminal Harley Quinn and the Joker's closest sidekick. In a company-wide crossover, "The Last Laugh," the Joker believes himself to be dying and plans one last historic crime spree, infecting the inmates of 'The Slab,' a prison for super criminals, with Joker venom to escape. With plans to infect the entire world, he sets the super-powered inmates loose to cause mass chaos in their "Jokerized" forms. Meanwhile, he tries to ensure his "legacy" by defacing statues in his image. The entire United States declares war on the Joker under the orders of President Lex Luthor; in response, Joker sends his minions to kill the President. The heroes of the world try to fight off the rampaging villains, while Black Canary discovers that Joker's doctor modified his CAT scan to make it appear that he had a fatal tumor in an attempt to subdue him with the threat of death. Harley Quinn, angry at the Joker's attempt to get her pregnant without marrying her (to continue his legacy, through artificial insemination), helps the heroes create an antidote to the Joker poison and return the super villains to their normal state. Believing Robin (then Tim Drake) had been eaten by Killer Croc in the ensuing madness, Nightwing eventually catches up with the Joker and beats him to death (heart stopped). To keep Nightwing from having blood on his hands, Batman resuscitates the Joker with CPR. During the events of the No Man's Land storyline, the Joker murders Sarah Essen Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's second wife, by shooting her in the head as she tries to protect the infants that he had kidnapped. He did not, however, take any pleasure in the act, shown frowning afterward rather than with his trademark grin. He surrenders to Batman, but continues to taunt James Gordon, provoking the commissioner to shoot him in the kneecap. After lamenting the fact he may never walk again, the Joker suddenly begins laughing manically as Gordon just avenged the fate of Barbara. In "Emperor Joker", a multi-part story throughout the Superman titles, the Joker steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality altering power, becoming a nigh-omnipotent being, and remaking the entire world into a twisted caricature, with everyone in it stuck in a loop, repeating the same patterns over and over. The conflict focuses on the fate of Batman in this world, with the Joker torturing and killing his adversary every day, only to bring him back to life and do it over and over again. Superman's powerful will allows him to fight off the Joker's influence enough to make contact with the weakened Mxyzptlk, who along with a less-powerful Spectre, encourages Superman to work out the Joker's weakness before reality is destroyed by the Joker's misuse of Mxyzptlk's power. As time runs out, Superman realizes that the Joker still is unwilling to erase Batman from existence, as the Joker totally defines himself by his opposition to the Dark Knight; if the Joker can't even willingly erase one man, how can he destroy the universe? The Joker's control shattered, Mxyzptlk and the Spectre manage to reconstruct reality from the moment the Joker disrupted everything, but Batman is left broken from experiencing multiple deaths. Superman has to steal Batman's memories so that he can go on, apparently transferring them to the Joker. During the return of new villain Hush to Gotham City, The Riddler hires the Joker to save him, offering the Joker the name of the crooked cop who killed his wife all those years ago. However, the Joker's attempted revenge is cut short when Hush attacks with Prometheus, forcing the Joker to retreat. After Jason Todd returns to life and takes over his killer's old Red Hood identity during the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Jason asserts that the Joker was not quite as crazy as he leads people to believe. Jason attempts to force Batman to shoot the Joker, angered at Batman's refusal to kill the Joker despite what he'd done. Batman refuses, however, driving Jason away with a well-aimed batarang instead. At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis the Joker kills Alexander Luthor, hero of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and villain of Infinite Crisis. In Batman #655, a captive shoots the Joker in the face. The Joker returns in Batman #663 after having undergone extensive facial surgery that has left him with a permanent smile and unable to speak coherently. While in intensive care at Arkham, he sends Harley Quinn to kill his former henchmen, having her use a more lethal version of Joker venom, in order to signal his "rebirth". The Joker has by now developed an immunity to this venom. In Countdown #50, Jimmy Olsen interviews an incarcerated Joker about the murder of Duela Dent, who had called herself the Joker's Daughter. The Joker states that he never had any daughter, and expresses awareness of the Multiverse's existence and of shifts in reality. The Joker appears as he did before Batman #655. The Joker is among the many villains transported to a remote jungle imprisonment planet where Psimon is elected as their leader. Joker gives up hope, thinking that he could never surpass Psimon in power, and sinks into a depression. Kid Karnival snaps him out of it and tells him about how he admires the Joker and how he wouldn't let anyone stand in his way, giving the Joker his confidence back to fight. When Psimon gives his speech, the Joker chucks a stone at the back of his head, stunning him. He then picks up a larger rock and pins Psimon to the ground, giving him a speech on his views on survival and beats him to death with the rock, destroying his brain in the process, proceeding to take command as chief. Lex Luthor questions his leadership and sends Iron Cross after the Joker with the intent of killing him. Iron Cross is killed by the Joker, upon which Splitshot attempts to kill him to avenge Iron Cross, but is eventually killed as well, being strangled by his own bow. Following this, Lex Luthor takes half of the villains and leaves to form his own tribe. Later, Gorilla Grodd takes over the Joker's tribe and is told by Monsieur Mallah to ditch the humans and form a society together, which results in Gorilla Grodd killing Mallah by smashing the brain case over his head after being insulted. Grodd, heavily wounded, asks the Joker to help him, being kicked off a cliff and being put into a coma in response. Later on, the Joker's camp invades Luthor's camp, resulting in an all-out brawl. It is then decided that the Joker and Lex Luthor should fight to the death. Luthor, despite having the upper hand for the first half of the fight, is beaten by the Joker. Nearing the end of their fight, the Parademons invade the planet. They decide to work together against the Parademons, managing to defeat the first wave, after which Gorilla Grodd recovers from his injuries, making an attempt at tearing the Joker's arm off in revenge. Another wave of Parademons invades, interrupting their fight. The Joker helps fight off the invasion, eventually running out of ammunition. He manages to trade guns with a gullible Parademon which he kills a moment later, taking its extra ammo and weapons, getting back in the fight to kill the rest of them. Eventually, after Lex Luthor uses elemental villains to power his teleportation machine, the Joker is able to escape from the planet, and the remaining Parademons are wiped out when Luthor rigs the machine to explode. From the media, to the films and his relationship with the Dark Knight, the Joker's personality could be the obvious. The Joker is a homicidal, psychopathic, ruthless, sadistic, maniacal, insane, manipulative, intelligent and diabolical lunatic and master criminal who wants nothing but chaos and anarchy wherever he goes, as well as reveling in the suffering of others. In most speaking roles, the Joker is often given a high-pitched, comical, bouncy, silly, and over-the-top voice that occasionally stoops down to a slight growl, in accordance to his clown-like appearance and maniacal personality, with the only known exceptions being his appearances in Batman: Under the Red Hood and the Tim Burton Batman film, both of which give him a comparatively deeper, though still humorous voice. The voice was implied in the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke to be a side effect of his falling into the vat of chemicals. In several sources, Joker's infamous brutality and insane nature was such that the Gotham criminal element feared him far more than even Batman himself, citing that while Batman was merely scary, Joker was downright terrifying and was even willing to inform Batman of his location just to get him off the streets. His malevolent, sadistic sense of humor and psychopathic tendency of murdering whoever he wants to depicts him as Batman's greatest foe and not even Poison Ivy or even Two-Face could possibly beat the Joker. The Joker is a genius but uses his intelligence for evil schemes in Gotham. However, he does not have any plan to kill Batman because he is "just so much fun" because he always plays his little "games". The Joker also likes to corrupt his enemies in various media and that is perfectly shown in the Dark Knight movie, when he manipulated Harvey Dent into getting revenge on those who were involved in Rachel's death just so that he can pledge more anarchy. In the Dark Knight Trilogy and the Batman Arkhamverse, there are two personality sides of the Joker-in the Dark Knight, his diabolically devious side is shown and in the Arkhamverse, his psychopathically ruthless side is shown but in both trilogies, the Joker is sadistic, evil, maniacal, chaotic, ruthless, murderous and rather cunning in his behavior. He has some on and off alliances and on and off rivalries with Batman's villains, such as Two-Face, Penguin, Catwoman etc. The Joker has a tendency of cheating death and escaping Arkham Asylum in order to create more chaos. At his most harmless, the Joker is still menacing and will endanger lives with no regard for the harm he causes while also pulling dangerous pranks for no reason other than to spread chaos. At his worst, the Joker would be best described as a living nightmare. A creature whose only purpose is to bring pain and death for his own perverse amusement. In the Dark Knight (and possibly for any other portrayal Of the Joker for that matter), Alfred Pennyworth is right about Joker, implying him as "one of the men who want to watch the world burn" The Joker actually wants to corrupt Batman by causing greater tragedies in his life so that he can get Batman to kill him or make Batman like him. Even though the Dark Knight has shown to be incorruptible and sticks to his moral code of not murdering his enemies and having them receive justice instead, the Joker never gives up because the more tragedies he causes, the more Batman will get angry at the Joker and thus, risk breaking his code. The Joker has a vicious, sadistic and ruthless mind of physically and mentally torturing his enemies or puppets. The perfect example is none other than Harley Quinn, who has an undying crush on the Crown Prince of Crime as he just uses her for his own diabolical schemes and he always slaps her and belittles her. The Joker also takes a lot of pride in his crimes, often freely admitting and taking credit for the crimes he commits. In fact, he has done it so many times that usually a surefire sign that the Joker is actually innocent of a crime is when the Clown Prince of Crime actually denies any involvement in it. In more recent incarnations, presumably due to the popularity of the version played by Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight, the Joker also frequently says "Let's put a smile on that face", or similar phraseology, when about to harm someone physically. While very much sadistic in his own right, he has limitations on what he would permit himself to do. In particular, he refuses to work with Nazis, citing himself as an "American lunatic," which was famously revealed when he turned against his ally Red Skull upon learning of the latter's ties to the Nazis (he had earlier been led to believe Red Skull simply disguised himself as one).

The Joker·Joker

The Secret Six is brought together in Villains United, a group of villains faced off against other super criminals. Now neither hero nor villain, these rogues do whatever is best for their interests. The Secret Six was a team of covert operatives formed by a mysterious figure identified only as Mockingbird, who controlled the team and assigned them missions while maintaining anonymity. The original Secret Six series lasted only seven issues, leaving plot threads hanging such as the actual identity of Mockingbird. It was only revealed by the comic book artist that August Durant, one of the noticeable members, was the mysterious leader of the Secret Six. Another Secret Six team was organized only to go on for eighteen issues during the Action Comics. However, like the first, they were disbanded as they were taking too much risks. Another thing was the Mockingbird of this team was actually the father of Mitchell Hoberman, Carlo di Rienzi. The premise of a team being run by an anonymous figure known only as Mockingbird was kept, but now, the team was comprised of villains. They began as a team of villains who did not want to submit to the newly established Secret Society of Super-Villains, but grew into a team of mercenaries. Lex Luthor, under the guise of Mockingbird, brought together a team of six criminals to combat the operations of the Secret Society of Super-Villains being run by an impostor Lex Luthor. These original six were Scandal Savage, Deadshot, Cheshire, Fiddler, Ragdoll and Parademon. However, the Fiddler failed to perform in an early mission and was deemed a liability, so Deadshot executed him. Catman was brought on to replace him after Mockingbird had Deadshot execute Catman's pack of lions and pin it on Deathstroke. Mockingbird similarly used coercion or blackmail to keep the rest of the Six in line. The Secret Six's existence alone was enough to make them a major target of the Secret Society. It made the organization look weak to have such a band of defilers out there, so the Secret Six were ambushed and captured. The Crime Doctor immediately began torturing them for information on the identity of Mockingbird, but none of the Six actually knew. Catman led a successful escape and they left most of their captors alive, except for Hyena, who they killed as a message to the rest. The Six then resumed their actions against the Secret Society, hitting one of their facilities and freeing Firestorm, who was being used as a power source. Also, they began trying to investigate the true identity of Mockingbird under his radar. This attempt failed. He was aware of their attempt to learn about him and promised that one of them would be punished. Catman made a counter offer, asking that they be allowed to make a suicide run against the Secret Society. Since they would either die or succeed, it would suit Mockingbird either way. He agreed to this. The Six never got this far. The location of their headquarters, the House of Secrets was betrayed by Cheshire, who felt Mockingbird had nothing over her head now that she was pregnant with Catman's child. However, she was shot with a sniper rifle by Deathstroke, because the Secret Society had no use for traitors. The siege of the Six's hideout began with dozens of supervillains attacking. During the fight, the Six were aided by Knockout, who had secretly been a mole in the Secret Society and Scandal's lover. Parademon sacrificed himself by detonating ten Mother Boxes to give the others a chance at escape. When it came right down to it, the impostor Lex Luthor ordered off the attack due to being threatened into it by Vandal Savage. And Mockingbird had some final words for Scandal, revealing that he was lying the whole time and never had plans to kill any of their families. The remains of the Secret Six decided to stay together as a mercenary group, but they knew the Secret Society would still be a problem for them. They investigated what the organization had planned next, realizing it was an all-out attack on the heroes in Metropolis. In the end, the Six chose not to get involved. That was the Justice League's problem, and it didn't have to be theirs. The Secret Six, who were still only five members consisting of Scandal, Deadshot, Catman, Ragdoll and Knockout, continued carrying out mercenary jobs for the highest bidder. They were no longer a major thorn in the side of what was left of the Secret Society after Infinite Crisis, but they did still have enemies, mainly Dr. Psycho. To combat him, Catman was sent to recruit the talents of Mad Hatter to be their new sixth member. Meanwhile, the others were attacked by assassins. Both Knockout and Ragdoll were badly hurt in the attacks, but both would recover. One of the assassins, Pistolera, was tortured into giving up who had hired her and the others. It was Cheshire, apparently still alive. They tracked her down to a temple in the Himalayas, but all she could do for them was show Catman his son and inform them that she was only hiring the assassins for someone else. It was Vandal Savage behind the assassinations attempts, using Cheshire and Dr. Psycho as his agents due to their own personal agendas against the Six. His only interest was to pressure his daughter Scandal into having a child with Catman and continuing his more cherished bloodline. If she refused him, he would see to it her friends and her lover Knockout die. After an implanted suggestion from Dr. Psycho caused Ragdoll to attempt to kill his teammates and being set up against the Doom Patrol, Scandal went to her father to arrange a deal, only to attempt to kill him. The rest of the Six joined her, storming Savage's mansion in Japan. They took the place apart, and Savage showed compassion to his daughter by letting himself fall from a cliff. With that, their crisis seemed to be over. Though before they left, Ragdoll threw Mad Hatter off the same cliff, feeling there was only room for one freak on the Secret Six. Harley Quinn was recruited to replace Mad Hatter as the new sixth member, and the Secret Six took a security job in Azerbaijan to protect the property of General Feodor Kerimov. This put the team at odds with the Birds of Prey, who were planning on taking what the general had. This turned out to be a set of Rocket Red armor containing the surprisingly still living body of Ice. The Six weren't happy to discover that was what they had been protecting. Making sure men they knew to be dangerous keep a girl they could potentially and would probably use and abuse wasn't something they would have signed on for. So they called off their fight with the Birds of Prey just as the Rocket Red Brigade arrived to take them all out. In the end, Deadshot killed General Kerimov and the whole job was considered a bust. The Six fell apart shortly afterwards. Harley Quinn quit during a bodyguard job they were doing. Catman seemed to be going soft, and he returned to his lions in Africa. Deadshot took a better offer to rejoin the Suicide Squad. Knockout was murdered by a being who was eliminating New Gods, and Scandal sank into despair. But they were all soon reunited on the hellish prison planet chosen by Amanda Waller to forever detain all of the Earth's metacriminals. After Salvation Run, the band was put back together again. Bane, a teammate of Deadshot's from Suicide Squad and a fellow inmate from the prison planet, joined up with Scandal, Deadshot, Catman and Ragdoll. They took a job from an unknown employer to retrieve a card that was allegedly a genuine "Get Out of Hell" free card from Neron and the thief who had stolen it, Tarantula. Both were to be brought to Gotham City. The Six quickly discovered that they had been marked for death with a very high bounty on each of their heads, as if having the card alone wasn't enough for nearly ever criminal in the world to come gunning for them. Mainly, they were pursued by Junior, a disturbingly evil villain that seemed to scare everyone. They picked up their sixth member, Jeannette, along the way to Gotham City with their two packages. Having Neron's card began to create divisions among the Six, specifically between Scandal and Catman. It seemed more and more likely that they were going to kill each other to keep the card, but it was Deadshot who made the move. He shot Jeannette and Scandal, hit Catman with a car and ran over Ragdoll, taking a near dead Bane, the card and Tarantula on the final stretch to Gotham City. He said he wanted the card for himself, but it seemed more likely that he was completing the job on his own to spare the rest a likely suicide run to the end. Despite the attempt, the rest of the Six caught up to him on the bridge leading into Gotham City where they were all ambushed by an army of metacriminals. Mad Hatter, who was their employer on this job, watched to see his vengeance on the Secret Six play out. Soon, Junior arrived to retrieve her card, but Tarantula leapt on her, saying she had the card. Both women where destroyed in an onslaught of attacks from the assembled metacriminals. With no card and no one left to pay a bounty, the Secret Six were left alone. None of them realized Scandal still had the card. The next job the Six were hired for was as part of a protection detail for a prison camp being run by Mr. Smyth, a man who claimed to be working for Mockingbird. As the Six fell deeper into this job, the team began splitting apart. The prison camp was actually more of a slave camp, and its populating included Amazons such as Artemis. These Amazons were of the Bana-Mighball tribe and perpetrators of war crimes in the recent Amazon attack on the United States. This was, apparently, their punishment. This did not sit well with Jeannette. She attempted to free Artemis during the night, only to be discovered in the process of doing so by her teammates. The Six divided on what to do about this. Scandal and Bane supported Jeannette, but Deadshot, Catman and Ragdoll only cared about the job they were hired to do. Wonder Woman's sudden arrival disrupted things, and upon seeing Artemis' dire state, she fought the entire Six. Wonder Woman was defeated by a surprising display of power by Jeannette, and the Six split ways, knowing that they were soon to clash over this. As the other three made off with Artemis, the half of the Six staying loyal to their employer delivered Wonder Woman to Mr. Smyth. Smyth insisted that their former teammates would have to be dealt with for their betrayal and likely imminent attempt to free the other Amazons. However, something Wonder Woman said to Catman caused him to decide to switch sides. He freed the Amazons, which started a prison riot. Deadshot and Ragdoll struggled a little with whether or not they should kill the others. Surprisingly, Ragdoll decided to go back to the control room and beat Smyth's head in with a wrench. Deadshot decided to give up on the job at this point, shooting an Amazon who worked for Smyth in the head to save Catman and Jeannette. In the aftermath of the riot, Wonder Woman allowed what remained of the Secret Six to leave despite knowing they were criminals. Deadshot remained behind, where he executed Smyth much as he had executed a prisoner previously. As the group departed, Bane pointed out that every mission they take on ends with injury and no payment and informed them that he would now be in charge. His first command decision was that Scandal was off the team. Black Alice was shown to now be a member of the Six., having replaced Scandal Savage. The team was hired to bust out a drug kingpin from Belle Reve Prison. Black Alice was reluctant at first, but still decided to help her team. It was revealed that the entire mission was a setup staged by the Suicide Squad in order to arrest the Six. When Amanda Waller tried to force Deadshot to rejoin the Suicide Squad the Secret Six took her and her squad on during a Black Lantern attack from deceased Suicide Squad members and The Fiddler, who Deadshot had killed. Alice stole the powers of Suicide Squad member Nightshade and took out both her and Count Vertigo . Just as Alice began to revel in her victory, a group of Black Lanterns attacked her and the other Sixers. Her fear of them inhibited her control over her stolen powers until Bane's threat forced her to teleport the Six, Rick Flag, and Bronze Tiger to the House of Secrets. Unfortunately, she brought the Black Lanterns with them and she refused to return the power to Nightshade so she can teleport Amanda Waller to a place where she can find help. So Waller knocked Black Alice out, and Nightshade took her away only to return shortly with a Manhunter android containing the energy they needed to destroy the Black Lanterns. With the Black Lantern situation now under control, Waller once again attempted to force Deadshot back into the Suicide Squad. He shot her immediately. It was not an instant kill, but the bullet became lodged so close to her heart that the Suicide Squad had to quickly evacuate with her rather than fight the Secret Six. Waller survived the wound, knowing that Deadshot meant it only as a warning. If he wanted it to be a killing shot, it would have been. She also knew she did not lose this round against the Six, because little did they know that the new Mockingbird they took orders from had been her all along. A seemingly routine job slaughtering some Church of Blood cultists turned darkly personal for one of the Secret Six when their employer revealed he had hired three mercenaries to attack Cheshire and abduct Catman's son. Over the phone, the mercenaries gave Catman an ultimatum. For every teammate he killed, his son would get one year of life. Catman told them to go ahead and kill his son, because he was coming for them now. The employer shot himself rather than face Catman's wrath, and Catman took off without explaining himself to the rest of the Six. Scandal wanted to go after him to help, but Bane refused to allow it. He did not see whatever personal question Catman left them for as their business. The team split over the matter. Scandal, Deadshot, Black Alice and Ragdoll left to track down Catman. Surprisingly, Jeannette remained with Bane, saying she did not join the team to reign in people like Catman. Cheshire put the others on Catman's path, but they could not catch up to him before he had already tortured and killed two of the three mercenaries. Meanwhile, Bane completed the Secret Six with four new metacriminals. Giganta, King Shark, Dwarfstar and Lady Vic were recruited to complete a job Mockingbird had set up for the team. The four others continued to trail Catman, but after an altercation between Black Alice and Scandal, Black Alice brought up the pointlessness of what they were doing. Catman had already brutally tortured and killed two of his targets. He had that blood on his hands now. There was really no point in stopping him from finishing the job. It would not spare him anything he hadn't already done. The others seemed to agree with her, and so they left Catman to his own agenda. Catman tracked down his final targets and murdered them both. Bane and Jeanette began to take on new jobs with the new Secret Six team. During a routine job in order to extort money from their client's estranged husband, Spy Smasher intercepted the team and offered them a job to invade a mystical land, populated with dinosaurs and other beasts only accessible by a secret portal in the Amazon jungle, and conquer it for the United States. Elsewhere, still deeply disturbed by recent events Catman walked into a lion exhibit in a zoo, and punched a lion hoping it will retaliate and kill him. Before the lion can attack, Black Alice stopped the beast from killing Blake. With Alice, Scandal and Ragdoll attempted to talk some sense into Blake with Scandal even offering to kill him herself if he felt so strongly about dying. When the zoo security comes in order to attempt to rescue Blake from the lions, he attacked them before they can tranquilize the lions. In the middle of the chaos, Deadshot showed up with a mysterious woman who sought to hire the team for a secret mission. The woman, identifying herself as Tremor, wished to hire the team to prevent the conquest of the land Bane's Secret Six had been dispatched to. What she offered was to erase their criminal records. The two Secret Six teams clashed in the strange lands of Skartaris. Bane had successfully rallied the native rebel tribes to his side, while Scandal's team offered their services to Skartaris' existing monarchy. Former teammates had very little problem with trying to kill one another, and Scandal was horrified when Bane let her nearly kill him. However, the rulers of Skartaris panicked and released the demon Deimos to aid them only to completely lose control of the situation. The two Secret Six teams called a truce, with Tremor agree to arrange immunity for them all, and fought the giant snake demon. Black Alice was able to steal its power, defeating it and then having to be reined in by the team. The combined teams left Skartaris, with the exception of Lady Vic who Deadshot wounded and left behind, and met with Amanda Waller, who was the benefactor behind Tremor this whole time. She agreed to honor the arrangement but made an offer of her own. Running the Suicide Squad was no longer an option for her, so she needed a team for the occasional job. She wanted the Secret Six to agree to be that team. However, she needed only a Secret Six and not a dozen of them. While relaxing in a hot tub; Catman, Scandal, Bane, Deadshot and Jeannette considered their options and leaned toward accepting Waller's offer. King Shark splashed into the tub and joined them. The temptation of Neron's Get Out of Hell Free card finally became too much for Scandal, and she relented to use it to save her love Knockout. However, she only discovered that the card had been stolen by Ragdoll, who wished to use it to bring back Parademon. Ragdoll used the card to escape Scandal's wrath, but she led the rest of the Secret Six, except for Black Alice, straight to Hell after him. There, each of the Secret Six received glimpses of their own inevitable hells. They all faced a choice. Either they could serve in Hell now or be condemned to their inevitable suffering when their times came. The team chose the latter. In a change of heart, Ragdoll surrendered his hold on the card, and Scandal was able to raise Knockout from Hell. The team then returned to Earth in time to save Scandal's other lover, Liana Kerzner, from a psychotic man who wanted to make her a good girl through mutilation. The Six decided that they would live their lives however they saw fit, seeing as how they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't. Bane emerged from his experience in Hell a changed man, making some realizations about himself and dedicating himself to returning to Gotham City with the specific purpose of hurting Batman. Despite this not being in the interests of any other members of the Secret Six, they all fell into line behind Bane's goal. The simple fact was that they were the Secret Six, and they followed each other's insanity. The plan was simple but well coordinated. Rather than target Batman, they would target and grievously harm his allies. In Bane's mind, this would do more harm to Batman than any physical assault to him directly. Everything went bad for them in Gotham, though. Their position was betrayed by the Penguin, who they had abducted to force assistance from. Quickly, the building they were in was surrounded by a growing number of superheroes including members of the Birds of Prey, Teen Titans, Justice Society and Justice League. The team began to fracture over what to do with members disagreeing over whether to use some innocents they found as hostages. But eventually, they chose to stand united and go down fighting. Bane gave them all vials of Venom, and the Secret Six charged into the fray. They fought savagely with all they had, knowing it was a losing battle. One by one they fell to the superior numbers and strength of the superheroes. They were taken into police custody and separated. The Secret Six was no more.

Secret Six

The Birds of Prey are a all-female Bat-Family adjacent group of crimefighters based in Gotham City. Oracle contacted Black Canary to go on a mission for her. From then on the Birds of Prey was a team. The original recruit of Oracle's was actually Power Girl. The Birds of Prey spent the first part of their existence operating out of the Gotham Clock Tower, and for many missions the Bird were essentially just a partnership of Oracle and the Black Canary. After Black Canary was kidnapped by the villain Savant, Oracle contacted the Huntress for help, eventually taking her in as a permanent agent, and later adding Lady Blackhawk as well. Since then, the team has grown extensively, starting with Oracle incorporating a rotating team of agents after One Year Later for a period after Black Canary left to focus on other matters, before eventually settling down with a stable lineup. The team's headquarters has changed several times, starting with the Gotham Clock Tower where Oracle worked, and upon its destruction going mobile on Aerie one, then moving to Metropolis, and then began operating out of Platinum Flats. The Birds of Prey disbanded, only to be re-formed once again with its core line up of Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, and Zinda. Black Canary is kidnapped on a mission and Oracle sends Huntress to rescue her. The kidnappers are Savant and Creote. Savant is a blackmailer with files on many powerful people. They've broken Dinah's legs and they want Batman's identity or Canary is in for a world of trouble. Huntress comes to Black Canary's aid as Savant asks Oracle several questions to test how smart she is. After a conversation in various languages she uses his flawless Greek to track down his real name and background. With the mission over and Black Canary in a wheel chair they send Huntress to pose as Black Canary in a meeting with a corrupt senator. Senator Pullman wants data Savant had that he suspects Oracle has taken and threatens the team. Dinah goes to Hong Kong to visit one of her martial arts teachers on his death bed. Her Sensei also trained Lady Shiva and she is there as well. She keeps a list of the 25 greatest martial artists and when one of them dies not by her hand she likes to varify it. After a brief dinner together and a barfight with a local gang they return to find Sensei and all of his guards murdered. Oracle messes up with Batman, Batgirl and the JSA and believes something is wrong with her hardware. Savant aiding Sen. Pullman Their main suspect in Sensei's murder is Cheshire and after a short fight they bring her to America to help them find Sensei's killer. Meanwhile Oracle is captured by Senator Pullman along with nine other women in Gotham who could be Oracle. Recentley escaped from prison, Savant is there to help him identify her. Oracle pick pockets a phone from one of the guards and instructs Huntress on how to trace it. Helena's broken into the Clocktower and discovers Oracle's identity. Discovering Oracles identity Black Canary goes off on her own leaving Shiva to watch Cheshire. Canary learns Senator Pullman's dad was once a serial killer while Cheshire poisons Shiva and escapes. It's revealed it was an elaborate plot by Cheshire to fake her death and take her daughter from Roy Harper. Before she did all that she wanted to confront and torture her father, Senator Pullman. Huntress sneaks in and begins her rescue when she comes face to face with Savant. They fight with no clear winner until Oracle makes a deal with Savant. Canary and a recovered Shiva chase Cheshire and Pullman onto a helicopter. To prevent Shiva from killing Cheshire Dinah throws Cheshire out of the helicopter. Huntress is later invited to become a full agent. She goes on her first solo mission undercover in a cult. Teenagers are dressing up as superheroes and committing suicide and this cult is there only lead. Oracle believes she can save Savant since he's never killed anyone and gives him four square blocks in Gotham to clean up that even Batman couldn't do. That was their deal. No one is allowed to be seriously injured or killed and he is forbidden from using any computer. Oracle sees a shadowy figure in her computer monitor right before an energy beam shoots out at her. She collapses to the floor and has a seizure. Barbara wakes up in the hospital with Dinah by her side. After her seizure, Dinah called Superman for help. Superman says he was in the neighborhood and Dinah mentions the neighborhood being Beijing. Babs askes for a computer and says she's making progress on a hack. Canary sees the power isn't even on and takes Barbara home. Savant and Creote enter a building pretending to look for drugs to buy. They are terrible at undercover work and end up having to knock everyone out. One guy is kept conscious for information and Savant snaps his arm. Back at the Clocktower Babs has a vision of another teen that is going to kill himself. Black Canary is hesitant but she goes. Oracle has learned why she has been messing up and discovers the figure she saw in her monitor was Brainiac. He is in her mind and torments her with visions of the Joker and Nightwing. Dinah goes after three more suicidal teens. Babs learns that Brainiac is behind Huntress' current case with the cult also. He needs a superior mind and wants hers. Black Canary returns and a mind controlled Barbara cheap shots her and beats her to the floor. Canary doesn't give up and uses personal items of Babs to help her break free from Braniac's control. Oracle is left with scars resembling circuitry. Savant contacts Oracle to tell her he's succeeded in clearing those four blocks of drugs. He's contacted some people in his blackmail files and is having the area bulldozed. The people have been relocated till new homes are built. Oracle groans but refuses to give up on him. He is surprised when she isn't pleased. Creote theorizes women were sent her by the devil. Canary arranges a meeting with her and Savant. She is still angry with him for what he did to her and can't let it go. After an intense fight Black Canary is the victor and Savant understands her feelings and apologizes. After the events of the War Games arc, Oracle has sacrificed the Clocktower to save Batman's life. Barbara makes the decision to leave Gotham. She has Ted Kord outfit a plane with his technology. After stealing the plane, Lady Blackhawk becomes their pilot and fourth member of the team. After this Huntress uses her job as a substitute teacher to get close to a girl named Lori Zechlin. A short time ago Lori's mom had a perscription drug problem and committed suicide as a result. Lori has the ability to borrow magic giving her the powers of whoever she takes it from. She's been using this ability and her "hero" name, Black Alice, to kill drug dealers hoping to take out the ones supplying her mother. Huntress and Black Canary are sent to follow her and keep a close watch. Lori discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her when she visits him at his job in the mall. She says "Shazam" giving her the power of Captain Marvel. After a brief battle between Black Canary and Lori, Huntress brings in the girl her boyfriend was cheating with and the girl apologizes. Oracle calls Doctor Fate to help. Canary meets with Batman in Gotham and asks him to lay off Huntress. She says Huntress is trying and is happy and doesn't want him to ruin it. She tells him a kind word from him would do good. He says he'll think about it. Oracle sends Lady Blackhawk to check up on Savant. Creote answers the door naked and tells Zinda that he hasn't seen Savant in four days. He is willing to fulfill Savant's obligation to Oracle if he doesn't return. In Metropolis, a woman called Thorn is killing members the 100 gang. With each kill she carves a number in the victims forehead counting down from one hundred. The team is sent there to stop her. Thorn has multiple personality disorder and is Thorn by night and sweet Rhosyn Forrest during the day. Her parents were murdered when she was young triggering her disorder. When Black Canary and Huntress visit her at night she thinks they were sent by the people she's trying to kill and attacks them. She uses a bladed weapon called a Kama and Dinah says the entry wounds on a previous victim don't match. She's being framed. Thorn flees on a motorcycle sparking a chase through the streets. Huntress shoots her tires with her crossbow after she refuses to stop which sends Thorn flying over the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. They shoot Thorn in mid air and Canary rushes to help her. Huntress and Black Canary wait in the waiting room while Thorn undergoes surgery. Something doesn't feel right and Canary thinks some of the cops are working for the 100 gang. There is a group of them there waiting for the surgery to end also. A friend of Thron's, Detective John Mercado, arrives at the hospital to visit Thorn. They realize the group of officers is gone and they hurry to Thorn's room. The dirty cops have her and are carrying her down the stairs. After some confusion and some beaten up police officers, Thorn escapes the hospital. Detective Mercado is arrests the leader of the 100. Thorn's earlier victim was a metahuman sent by the 100 to kill her and when he failed the leader had him murdered. Due to his fake hand, two pronged wounds were left all over the body. Following that case Huntress decides revenge isn't something she seeks anymore. Dinah mentions how her first case set her straight too. Helena realizes that Oracle set it up on purpose. First cases tailored for troubled superheroines. She is furious and gets off of the Aerie One right before take off. Dinah is angry at Babs and chases after Helena but only finds her mask and crossbow. With Helena gone Black Canary brings her old friend and mentor, Wildcat, on a mission on an island of the coast of the Republic of Singapore. They are meeting with Mr. Tan, a huge drug supplier. Ted Grant, Wildcat's real name, is posing as a buyer and Dinah is acting as his assistant. They meet with Mr. Tan and want to buy all of his drugs at top dollar thus flooding the market. Mr. Tan however, has hired the Twelve Brothers In Silk. A legendary group of brothers that have been trained since birth and are suspected of having almost Lady Shiva level fighting skills. Rabbit does the speaking for the group. After a fight with some of Tan's competitors, Rabbit informs them that Mr. Tan has accepted their offer but first they must prove their trustworthiness by killing a police officer. Unable to kill him Dinah thinks fast and slaps Rabbit. She accuses him of bad manners and is appaled at how he treats his guests using his sense of honor against him. They collect the bound and gagged policeman and leave the building. Back in Gotham, Huntress is muscling in on the local mobs with Savant and Creote as her backup. She uses her family history as a Bertinelli to get attention at a meeting of the family leaders. She wants a spot among them and had Savant use his blackmailing skills to get incriminating information on all of them. They give her a week to increase revenue and decrease law enforcment attention. In place of killing the policeman, Dinah proposes a duel with Rabbit as a test instead. After a little laughing he agrees. She prepares while two Brothers escort Wildcat and the Policeman to a quite room. The fight begins and Dinah realizes right away the legends are true and the Brothers really are good. She begins to get the upperhand but the fight is stopped by an angry Mr. Tan. He shames Rabbit and sends him away. After making his apologies he agrees to the deal with no further tests. In the Aerie One, Oracle hasn't been feeling well and Lady Blackhawk notices she's burning up and suggests calling a medic. Mr. Tan calls his former clients and tells them he can't supply them anymore. The Gotham mobs that Huntress is working are the clients and with no shipments their empire takes a big hit. The phony Swiss Bank Accounts Oracle has set up insures Mr. Tan's business will crumble as well. There is a police search before the airport and Wildcat finds two pounds of drugs under his seat. Tan's competitors are trying to frame them. Dinah and Ted make a run for the Aerie One that Zinda is taxiing for takeoff. In the air with fighter jets on their tail, Zinda tries to outfly them. The Aerie One's virtual armor stands up to missile fire and Zinda uses a feature that messes with the instruments of the jets without downing them. Black Canary tends to Oracle who is on the floor weakend, and having trouble staying conscious. Seeing a man she doesn't recognize get out of a mob bosses car, Huntress wants to harass him. Her punch is blocked and she is flipped to the ground by the she now recognizes as Dick Grayson. He's undercover too and they agree to keep each other informed. Huntress returns home and finds that Babs has broken into her house hoping for just a few minutes. Barbara apologizes for what she did and tells Helena she was right to be mad. Oracle returns to the parking lot where Canary and Zinda are anxiously waiting. Barbara is going to need surgery to deal with the infection left by Brainiac which is what was making her sick. She consults with Doctor Midnight at the JSA headquarters. Doctor Midnight warns her that she may lose the feeling from her neck down because there are tendrils connected to her spine and removing them will be dangerous. Huntress beats some information of the mobs limo driver. She relays the tip to Black Canary that Mr. Tan is bringing his huge drud shipment in anyways and it will be guarded by the Twelve Brothers In Silk. Dinah scrambles to get a team of fighters together to stop them. Barbara prepares for surgery. Superman flies in numerous pieces of equipment and the worlds top medical experts have been arriving for most of the day. Canary and her team face off against the Silk Brothers at the harbor in Gotham. They discuss their terms and begin with Dinah drawing first blood and Huntress drwing second. Doctor Midnight, Superman, Cyborg and perhaps the worlds finest Anestesiologist, Dr. Heinrich-Hinz, gather to start Barbara Gordon's surgery to remove the sentient tumor left behind by Brainiac. The fight in Gotham continues and a few from each side have gone down. Lady Black fires a missile from the Aerie One and destroys the ship with the drugs on it. Dinah gives Rabbit a choice and he calls the battle a draw preserving the Silk Brothers undefeated record. With the fight over Dinah and Huntress rush to Oracles side. She is out of surgery and according to Doc. Midnight she is going to be ok. As Dinah sits with her Barabara wiggles her toes. When Barbara recovers from her surgery she moves into Dalten Tower, in Metropolis. Lady Blackhawk gives Oracle the Aerie Two. A helicopter outfitted with the same technology as the Aeire One. Huntress attacks a local street gang that recruited the big brother of one of her students with demands to stay away from him. It doesn't help and she calls Oracle for advice. Helena and Creote break into the home of the mob boss that threatened her and blackmail him to put the boys family under protection and make her a Capo. After that she officially rejoins the team. The Birds of Prey have a new enemy. An Oracle of sorts for the bad guys. He calls himself the Calculator. Black Canary and Creote accompany Helena to Turkey on mafia business. They meet with a weapons dealer named Yasemin and demand she stop supplying guns to rival families in Gotham. Helena gives her two days to make a decision. The three of them are later attacked on the street and the deal is off. The Calculator plans to find Oracle by hurting her friends and has hired Deathstroke to help him. Savant has been kidnapped and is being tortured for the identity of Oracle which he refuses to give up. Once a week Dinah has been getting tips from Lady Shiva. A special diet to follow or a move only Lady Shiva knows. Black Canary calls Green Arrow for help in sending a message to a gang in Star City to help Helena get in good with the crime families. Barbara brings her dad up to her new place and reveals everything to him. That she was Batgirl and what she does as Oracle. Creote calls Oracle and tells her Savant has been abducted. She scrambles Huntress and Black Canary to rescue him. Using security footage from Savant's home, she IDs the two kidnappers, Hellhound and Black Spider, and gets an address from that. Unable to get blueprints to the building, the Birds and Creote have to go floor by floor. They eventually find a badly beaten Savant and free him after a fight with Hellhound and Black Spider. Calculator has arranged for this and has Deathstroke standing by on an adjacent rooftop. Savant throws Black Spider out of the ninth floor window just as Batman comes through Barbara's window. Her dad sticks up for her but she assures him that she isn't afraid of Batman. Batman wants Huntress' operation shut down. He says Huntress has been lying to Babs. Canary, Creote and Huntress get Savant and the still alive Black Spider up to the roof so Zinda can pick them up in the Aerie Two. Calculator however has given Deathstroke the go to take them out and he meets them on the roof. He downs Creote and Huntress with ease and after snapping Dinah's arm she puts out his one good eye. They argree he will take Black Spider and leave but he is shot several times by Savant who declares his debt to Oracle has been paid and he quits. Batman confronts Huntress and Canary on their mission with the mob. He starts to scold them but Helena hands him a folder and tells him to shut up and read it. It's an "atlas" of organized crime with detailed files of their dealings. After looking it over Batman tells her it's outstanding work. Before he can leave Canary plants a big kiss on him. During the One Year Later period Black Canary has made an exchange with Lady Shiva. Dinah undergoes the same training as Shiva and Shiva will fill Dinah's spot as an agent on the team. The Crime Doctor is turning on the Secret Society of Super Villains and they've sent Killer Croc, Clayface, and the Ventriloquist to take him out. Huntress holds them off until Lady Shiva can get their. Shiva then destroys Scarface, and breaks Croc's legs and an arm. The Crime Doc is badly injured and is taken to a hospital. Dinah arrives at an unknown location and meets a woman only referred to as Mother. A bag is swung over Dinah's head and she is beaten unconscious by a group of men. In the hospital Gypsy is introduced. She is a metahuman with the ability to become invisible as well as make other objects invisible. When Dinah recovers she faces off with the men and this time beats them all down. She also meets a little girl named Sin. Sin followers her around and refers to her as "Sister". HIVE Agents are sent as a distraction and the injured Crime Doctor is captured by Prometheus, a villain with the martial arts skills of the 30 deadliest fighters programed into his helmet. Mother tells Dinah an army is coming to destroy the village and kill it's population. Dinah tries to warn the people but they don't listen and seem prepared to die. Afraid to embrace Shiva's world she compromises and blends Shiva's world and her own. The Birds arrive at Prometheus' location and ready themselves to rescue the Crime Doc. Black Canary single handedly fights back the entire army and earns a bit of respect from Mother. Dinah learns that Sin will take her place as the new Lady Shiva should she leave. Shiva takes on Prometheus and is knocked out in one well placed punch. The rest of them attack cautiously. Black Canary meets with Mother to tell her that she's leaving and she's taking Sin with her. After slapping and kicking her in the face she demands a phone. The fight with Prometheus ends with the Crime Doctor taking his own life. Without him Prometheus has nothing to fight for and leaves. Now Mayor of Star City, Oliver Queen helps Dinah get Sin into the country legally and the girl is introduced to the team. Black Alice has the attention of the Secret Society of Super Villains and they send Talia al Ghul, Felix Faust and Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah, to persuade her into joining them. The Birds go to her house to intercept. Black Alice is very wary of people and doesn't like metahumans around her father. When the Birds of Prey arrive all hell breaks loose and after stealing the magic of someone from the Wonder Woman Family, she attacks. A red haired Batgirl saves a couple from a group of thugs. Alice grows more angry the longer the fight goes. She gets away from them and Faust tracks her magic trail to an airport hangar. He explains they've made a deal with Neron and presents Alice's dead mother. Her mother is unable to speak and Faust promises he will return her voice once Alice joins them. Black Alice's dad is there and he tells her it's not her mother and to get away from her. The Birds arrive as well and another fight breaks out. Tired of all of this Black Alice steals both Felix Faust's and Cheetah's magics and banishes them from all from Dayton, Ohio where she lives with her dad. The weapons dealer from Istanbul, Yasemin, is released from prison and wants revenge. Barbara is worried about Dinah raising Sin with the lifestyle she leads. Dinah wonders if she should leave the team. Curious about this new Batgirl, Gypsy, Huntress, Black Canary and Josh, a friend of the team, stage a sting operation. Josh pretends to rob Gypsy and soon after Batgirl comes to the rescue. They spring the trap but Batgirl makes quick work of Gypsy and calls Huntress by her first name then announces she's the damn Batgirl. Both Dinah and Huntress can't stop her and she even manages to land a punch on Black Canary while she is distracted. Hanging from a fire escape now she sees that Yasmin has a rifle targeted at Huntress and teleports in front of the bullet taking the shot. Yasemin speeds away and Batgirl teleports in behind Oracle with a big hug suggesting they spend more time together. Huntress and Black Canary chase Yasemin and call for Oracle's help but she's busy with Batgirl. Whoever the new Batgirl is she doesn't show up on the motion detectors which Oracle says can detect Martian Manhunter when he's really making himself scarce. Barbara and Batgirl fight and during the course of it Batgirl mentions her mother is a movie star and they live in a big mansion. She wants to be friends with Oracle and states she is the most popular girl in school. They stop fighting and Barabara shows Batgirl pictures of the recently deceased Spoiler. Yasemin threatens Helena's kids at the school where she works. Huntress takes her by surprise on the roof and beats the hell out of her to show her threats like that have consequences. Yasemin promises to leave the kids alone after Helena threatens to drop her ten stories if she doesn't. Oracle convinces Batgirl to give up the cowl. She refuses to give up being a superhero and jumps out the window. Dinah finally decides to leave the team and says her good byes to Barbara and Helena. Zinda cries her eyes out. With Black Canary's departure from the team Oracle sends a team invitation to several superheroines including, Dr. Light, Hawkgirl, Power Girl, and Wonder Woman. Their first mission without the Canary involves breaking an innocent girl out of a Mexican prison. Her father is the head of a powerful west coast mob and his enemies framed her. Oracle uses several new agents in her plan to break out Tabby Brennan, the girl. Kate Spencer (Manhunter), Big Barda, and Judomaster are all in on the mission. Katarina Armstrong known better as the Spy Smasher is aware of the mission and looks to take Oracle's team down. After rescuing the girl they bring her and her father back to America with the Aerie Two. Spy Smasher has sent a group of American Fighter jets with orders to shoot them down. Barda takes down one jet but the rest are too much and the Aerie Two is destroyed. Barda transports them all to a beach using her Mother Box. Manhunter has ulterior motives for being in Mexico and stays behind for another mission to rescue a group of metahumans from the same prison. Spy Smasher sends Lois Lane after Barbara and gets to the agents waiting to pick up Mr. Brennan. In exchange for rescuing his daughter he agreed to turn states evidence. Zinda radios Oracle who is busy but the new Batgirl answers and is now calling herself Misfit. Manhunter is beaten by a large metahuman guard. Misfit teleports in to help the team and starts a firefight by mistake. Manhunter beats up all of the guards watching her with a little help from her partner, Gypsy. Mr. Brennan is shot and his daughter has run away from the gunfire. Oracle returns from her dinner with Lois and learns Misfit teleported 3,000 miles from Metropolis to the West Coast which according to her is unfathomable. The team tracks Tabby to a limo with two dead D.E.O. Agents. Huntress suspects She shot her father and it's almost confirmed when she wonders aloud what it will be like running her father's mob. Manhunter and Gypsy shut down the metahuman trafficking ring. After Spy Smasher threatens Barbara's father Oracle agrees to work for her. Barbara informs Helena on the Aerie One immediately following the Tabby Brennan incident. Misfit is holding a tray for Barda to put the bullets she picks out of herself in. Oracle wants them to drop Misfit off and then pick up supplies for their mission in Baku, the capitol city of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijani. They are after a man named General Feodor Kerimov for massive drug importation and human trafficking, among other things, throughout Europe and the Americas. Creote is a former soldier of the General's and they use him as an in at the General's party. Following the events of Flashpoint, Black Canary is wanted for a murder she didn't commit and fights crime alongside Starling, a fellow heroine and close friend of her who's also on the run, for knowing too much. After a bomb is exploded in a bank, Dinah invites Katana to the team. Later, she also recruits Poison Ivy and the former bioterrorrist earns the team's trust after saving their leader. When people with bombs in their skulls start to appear around Gotham, the clues lead the Birds to a mind-controller criminal known Choke and Batgirl joins the team in issue 4. Katana and Starling have issues with Ivy joining the team at the start, due to her past, but when she rescues them from an explosion, risking her own life to save her teammates, Ivy gains Katana's and Starling's trust. After this Ivy is seen receiving a glowing green glowing substance from a businessman, this proves that Ivy may have joined the team for less honorable reasons than it would seem. Equipment: Oracle uses high-tech computer equipment to keep in contact with her agents, coordinate their actions, and complete extensive research. Transportation: Lady Blackhawk's Plane, formerly the Aerie One. Allies: 1. Bat-Family 2. Batman Incorporated 3. Green Arrow Family 4. The Network 5. Justice League of America 6. Justice Society of America 7. Outsiders 8. Blue Beetle 9. Creote 10. Savant Enemies: 1. The Calculator 2. Spy Smasher 3. Secret Six

Birds of Prey

Lucius Fox is a supporting character appearing in Batman comic books. Fox acts as Bruce Wayne's business manager who apparently unknowingly runs the business interests that supplies Batman's equipment needs as well as financing his operations. Since 2005, Lucius is often depicted as directly involved in Batman's activities, serving as either Bruce's technical supplier and ally. He was created by Len Wein and John Calnan, and first appeared in Batman #307 (January 1979). CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Fox has the "Midas Touch", an ability to turn failing businesses into successful conglomerates. Fox is called in to the failing Wayne Enterprises and brings a balance to both Wayne's private and business finances, including, as shown in Batman Confidential, heading the project that produced the prototype that would become the Batplane. In addition, he also manages the particulars of the Wayne Foundation as well while Wayne dictates the organization's general policies. Since then, Fox has been approached time and time again by other companies seeking his expertise. After overcoming the original challenge of returning Wayne Enterprises to its glory, Fox has elected to stay, having been given an unparalleled freedom in the company. In Batman: Haunted Knight, it is explained that Lucius Fox is rescued from muggers by a young Bruce Wayne in Paris. Later, Fox asks him if he wants to start a foundation for charity, which Bruce agrees to many years later, deciding that not all of his money has to go to crime fighting. Many stories allude to Fox knowing the secret activities of his employer, and yet keeping it to himself, most notably in the recent feature film Batman Begins; at the very least, he is aware that his employer is not the shallow playboy he pretends to be. Fox has become a valuable ally for Batman, not just by helping to finance the vigilante's activities but by handling most of Wayne Enterprises' day-to-day business, leaving Wayne to prowl the rooftops. He is also a valued friend to Bruce Wayne, though the fact that Wayne cannot be totally honest with him occasionally hampers their friendship. Bruce Wayne, as Batman, originally forms the Outsiders in order to rescue Fox from Baron Bedlam. When Fox later suffered a stroke, Wayne makes sure that Fox gets the best care possible and supports him and his family. As of the 2020's,Lucius Fox has become Batman's new "Alfred"---fully aware of his double identity and keeping Wayne Enterprises solvent. The Joker created a false scandal that forced Bruce Wayne to withdraw from the firm's day to day activities;plus embezzling a sizeable amount of the Wayne fortune. Lucius tries to help him adjust to a new life where he cannot raid Wayne Enterprises for Bat-funding.

Lucius Fox·Lucius

Wayne Enterprises (formerly WayneCorp) is a company in the DC Universe. Wayne Enterprises is owned by billionaire Bruce Wayne and run by his business manager Lucius Fox. It was founded by merchant ancestors of the Wayne family in the 17th century as a merchant house. It changed and gradually grew when it was officially erected in the 19th century when Alan Wayne, heir to Solomon Wayne, founded Wayne Shipping and Wayne Chemical. Along with Wayne Manufacturing, which came later, the Industrial Revolution fueled Wayne Enterprises into becoming a major powerhouse. In addition to providing an income for Bruce Wayne, the various activities of the organization help facilitate his Batman activities in Gotham City. Descending from "Mad" Anthony Wayne and his brother, Darius Wayne (a hero of the American Revolution), Charles Arwin Wayne managed the Wayne Family's then-modest fortune by buying cheap property and holding on to it as Gotham Town grew. As a result, upon his death at age fifty-two, Charles left a considerable real-estate fortune in the form of a merchant house which he left to his sons Solomon Zebediah Wayne and Joshua Thomas Wayne; both of whom became prominent citizens of Gotham Town in the late 1850s. Solomon's son of his second wife, Alan Wayne, would marry Catherine Van Derm; a member of the once-wealthy Van Derm family, and together they would have a son named Kenneth Wayne. With Alan spearheading the growth and development of the Gotham Railroads and creating Wayne Shipping, & Wayne Chemicals, and later Wayne Manufacturing, which took great advantage of the Industrial Revolution, Wayne Enterprises became a powerhouse. Kenneth's son, Patrick Morgan Wayne, saw the Wayne legacy through two world wars and built WayneCorp out of the ashes of the Great Depression and later developed WayneTech, whose aircraft plants and shipworks fueled American efforts in the Pacific War. His wife, Laura Elizabeth Wayne, inherited the Wayne fortune at age thirty-seven and became the first Wayne to direct the conglomerate toward ecological responsibility. Patrick and Laura's son, Thomas Wayne, as a doctor and philanthropist, would create and contribute the Wayne Foundation and its various divisions to the conglomerate. While his son, Bruce Wayne, would expand the conglomerate's focus to become a global powerhouse in a wide variety of fields, this diversity allowed him to use the conglomerate's resources for the better-ment of mankind by financing and providing resources for not only his own endeavors, but for the financing of various hero groups such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Birds of Prey, and the Justice League, as well as combating poverty and disaster-affected areas. Wayne Enterprises is perhaps the only Gotham-based corporation to weather the city's earthquake and year of No Man's Land. The company ensured its continued survival by transferring the burden of its manufacturing to satellite facilities elsewhere. After fierce debate, the American congress reneged the No Man's Land and the ambitious "Billion Dollar Build-Up" Federal Works Project began, teaming LexCorp, STAR Labs, Wayne Enterprises, Wayne Foundation and the US Army Corps of Engineers in rebuilding Gotham from the ground up. Profits earned by Wayne Enterprises during NML were some for the first capital funds applied to the city's eventual rebuilding. Without hesitation, Wayne Enterprises exceeded Lex Luthor's investments in Gotham's future. Wayne Technologies, also known as WayneTech, is the biggest division of Wayne Enterprises. It is involved in the retrieval and research of alien technology. Its main rival is LexCorp. The subsidiary is sometimes used by Batman as a means to acquire new technologies. Other subsidiaries of WayneTech include: Holt Holdings Inc., Wayne Pharmaceuticals, and Wayne Healthcare. Wayne Biotech is the company mostly responsible for the Gotham healthcare system. The company itself is a facility for researching and developing new medical procedures and systems. It also trains and teaches a huge number of people annually. Wayne Chemicals and Wayne Pharmaceuticals work closely with Wayne Biotech to develop medicines for different diseases. The current research at Wayne Biotech is focused on finding the cure for cancer. Since the human genome has already been unlocked, Wayne Biotech is studying cloning to produce organs for future transplants. The company is involved in research into brain surgery methods, the fight against AIDS and HIV, and reconstructive plastic surgery. Batman uses Wayne Biotech as a research tool for finding medical information, patient histories and information on illnesses. Wayne Foods is a little known subsidiary of WayneTech mostly based in Gotham City. It runs farms and cattle ranches in the Midwest United States, and imports beef from Argentina and other countries. Wayne Foods produces specialized products like ecological foods and natural lines with no additives and controlled growing. Batman uses Wayne Foods as a means to keep tabs on the food produce market. In recent times, Wayne Foods has concentrated development efforts on organic produce, as a result of changing fashion and consumer demand. Wayne Shipping owns dozens of freighters and handles three and a half billion tons of freight each month and is used by Batman to gain an inside view on smuggling and drug trafficking. In 1986, Wayne Shipping merged with PAAL Ship Corporation, creating the worlds largest commercial shipping operation for precious metals. The former PAAL CEO, Andreas Milanic, successfully floated Wayne Shipping on the New York Stock Exchange in 1988. The Wayne Family currently owns 57% of the company, with Milanics second son Dragoslav, owning 20% (with the remaining 23% in public ownership). Despite a lack of investment in Wayne Shipping since the merger took place, the company still remains an important player in world ocean transportation. Wayne Steel is one of the oldest steel mills and metal refineries in Gotham and supplies steel for shipbuilding. It also studies and replicates alien technology. This has led to Batman getting priority on technology and alloys for him to study. Wayne Steel's alliance with the US Navy and the government has produced numerous contacts for Wayne Enterprises. WayneYards is responsible for the building of a large number of naval warships, commercial, and private ships and is currently building a Nimitz class aircraft carrier in Gotham. WayneSteel and WayneYards facilities repair a large number of cruisers and destroyers and also has contacts within the upper pylons of the Navy and the global maritime business Wayne Aerospace builds luxurious and exclusive corporate and private jets and airliners. Its experimental aviation branch produces experimental and research planes built for the United States government and NASA. The military aviation branch designs and manufactures jet fighters and helicopters for the US military. The most notable models of these are the W-4 Wraith fighter and the Kestrel attack helicopter. Wayne Aerospace maintains competition with other aerospace corporations like Ferris Air and LexAir. The division maintains facilities and vehicles at Archie Goodwin International Airport. Wayne Chemicals controls Wayne Oil, Wayne Pharmaceuticals and Wayne Botanical. Wayne Chemicals also has a small percentage of ownership in Tyler Chemicals, based in New York City. Wayne Chemicals is primarily a research and development firm. Wayne Oil researches petrochemicals and alternative fuel sources, at one time acquiring Luxor Oil. Wayne Pharmaceuticals is another one of Wayne Chemicals' research and development branches. Wayne Industries is Wayne Enterprises' main research and development division used for industrial purposes. The company studies, researches and develops cleaner, mechanical fission and fusion power plants and also owns many factories and normal labor units, from manufacturing cars to making cloth and so on. Wayne Mining is also a part of Wayne Industries, along with the few power stations the company owns. Wayne Mining mostly produces gold and some precious stones in Africa. Wayne Medical is Wayne Biotech’s sister company but both have different fields of study and work. While Wayne Medical also studies cancer and AIDS with Wayne Biotech, Wayne Medical is focused more on treating illnesses than researching them and maintains and runs many hospitals in Gotham City and helps the Wayne Foundation with the orphanages. Wayne Electronics is a large consortium that manufactures portable radios, stereo and Hi-Fi systems, movie cameras, cameras and electronics, measuring devices, scanners, surveillance equipment, computers and other electronics devices. Its other branches of business include information technology, wired networks, wireless networks and space exploration systems and satellites. It also has contracts with the aerospace, nautical and military industries. When Wayne acquired Kordtronics, it was folded into this division. Wayne Entertainment owns many arenas and stadiums across America, including facilities in both Gotham and Metropolis, leasing out the Sommerset Stadium to the Metropolis Monarchs. Furthermore, Wayne Entertainment has working partnerships with several modeling agencies and multimedia houses and provides a large number of contacts and information. Wayne Entertainment is in direct competition with WGBS (run by Galaxy Communications) and LexCom (run by LexCorp). Those companies, along with other television and movie companies provide the same services as Wayne Entertainment. Through Wayne Entertainment, Batman has contacts in the media and entertainment industries. The Wayne Institute is a think tank for people looking ahead to solve the next generation of problems confronting humankind. Many decisions on future development, particularly in Gotham, goes through this division. Wayne Research Institute is a catch-all research and development division used by Wayne to study issues and technologies that he thought might be helpful in his endeavors. The Wayne Foundation funds scientific research and helps research by providing facilities and training. Through the Wayne Foundation Wayne addresses social problems that encourage crime and assists victims in a way that his Batman persona cannot. The arrangement also provides him with a large network of connections in the world of charities. He finds out about the newest trends and newest arts, but at the same time maintains connections to the streets through the soup kitchens and social services groups, which augments his crime fighting efforts. The Thomas Wayne Foundation is a foundation for medicine and medical help. This foundation gives annual awards for medical breakthroughs and lifelong commitment, similar to the Nobel Foundation. The Thomas Wayne Foundation is also responsible for funding the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic in Park Row, and the foundation funds and runs dozens of other free clinics all over the city and in other trouble cities like the Blüdhaven. Bruce Wayne's surrogate mother, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, ran the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic in Crime Alley and governed other Gotham-based clinics until she left Gotham. The Martha Wayne Foundation is a patron foundation and supporter of arts, families, education and tolerance. The foundation supports and helps to run a number of orphanages and free schools, and provides teachers for those who have learning difficulties. Artists can apply for grants from the foundation to help support them in furthering the arts. The foundation sponsors companies like Family Finders Inc. in Gotham. Family Finders is an organization directed at finding lost people and uniting families. The foundation sponsors and runs dozens of soup kitchens within the city.

Wayne Enterprises

Batman Incorporated was a global non-profit organization publicly funded by Wayne Enterprises and Bruce Wayne. The group selects vigilantes from across the world to train and supply for crime-fighting purposes while also making them swear oaths. The team was created as a modern reimagining of the Silver Age's Batmen of All Nations which was a Batman-lead team-up of Batman-inspired vigilantes from all over the world. Members:: Gotham Operatives: 1. Batman 2. Nightwing 3. Batwoman 4. Batgirl 5. Red Robin 6. Red Hood Assorted: 1. Bat-Man of China 2. Batwing 3. Clownhunter 4. Dark Ranger 5. Ghost-Maker 6. The Hood 7. Lex Luthor (formerly) 8. Man-of-Bats 9. Raven Red 10. Mister Unknown 11. Batman of Moscow 12. El Gaucho 13. Knight 14. Squire 15. Nightrunner

Batman Incorporated·Batman Inc.

The Outsiders form in the fictional Eastern European country of Markovia. Batman and Black Lightning have traveled there in order to free the captive Lucius Fox from Baron Bedlam, who has killed the country's king, King Viktor. Geo-Force himself is the prince of the country who gains powers from Markovia's top scientist, Dr. Helga Jace, in order to stop Bedlam. Metamorpho is searching for Dr. Jace in order for the doctor to help him with his powers. Katana arrives in Markovia in order to kill General Karnz, Bedlam's military commander, as vengeance for her family. During the adventure, Batman finds a young amnesiac girl exhibiting light-based powers in the woods, who he dubs Halo. The team bands together and defeats Baron Bedlam and decides to stay together afterwards. They fight such villains as Agent Orange, the Fearsome Five and the Cryonic Man. Recurring foes are the Masters of Disaster (New Wave, Shakedown, Windfall, Heatwave and Coldsnap), who at one point are almost able to kill Black Lightning. Windfall becomes disenchanted with her team and joins the Outsiders. Similar recurring opponents are the Force of July, a group of patriotic metahumans who also regularly came into contact with the Suicide Squad. During this time, Geo-Force's sister Terra dies as a traitor to the Teen Titans. Batman reveals his real identity as Bruce Wayne to the team, although they have already learned it. Eventually, the origin of Halo is revealed, and Emily Briggs (who during a later adventure becomes the superheroine Looker and joins the team) is introduced. Denise Howard, the love interest of Geo-Force also appears for the first time. Baron Bedlam later returns to life. With the assistance of the Masters of Disaster and Soviet forces, he again tries to retake control of Markovia. Batman withholds this information, angering the rest of the team. This eventually leads to Batman disbanding the team and returning to the Justice League. The team nonetheless travels to Markovia, discovering many Markovian military casualties. They are defeated by the Masters and learn that Bedlam has cloned Adolf Hitler. The younger clone commits suicide in horror of the actions his original self perpetrated. The Outsiders become unofficial agents of Markovia, so that they receive Markovian funding. The team moves to Los Angeles, as Geo-Force leaves behind his girlfriend Denise and Looker separates from her husband. The team have moved into a new headquarters in Los Angeles, and once again become involved in an adventure with the Force of July, ending in Moscow. Villains such as the Duke of Oil, and the Soviet superteam the People's Heroes are introduced during this time. The team's adventures take them all over the globe, most notably when the Outsiders' plane is shot down and the team is marooned on a deserted island for three weeks. Tensions rise as Geo-Force tries to resign his leadership and he and Looker give into temptation. Eventually, they are found and are able to leave. Even more troubles arise when a detective is hired to look into Looker's private life (now working as a model under the alias of Lia Briggs), who learns of her actual identity of Emily. The detective tries to blackmail her, but she hypnotizes him, and he leaves. However, he is shortly killed afterwards and Looker is arrested. The Outsiders however are able to clear her name. The Outsiders are reunited with Batman when they band together to fight Eclipso. After the adventure Batman gives them access to a Batcave situated in Los Angeles, and the team is also infiltrated by the clone of Windfall. Meanwhile, Looker and Geo-Force feel guilt over their affair and eventually call it off, and Metamorpho faces his own personal problems with his lover Sapphire Stagg. The clone of Windfall is ultimately killed and the Masters of Disaster are defeated as the real Windfall joins the team. The team also come in contact with the other Los Angeles based team, Infinity, Inc. The team is next involved with the company wide crossover event Millennium, wherein it is revealed that Dr. Jace is an operative of the villainous Manhunters and kidnaps the team. The team, now also joined by the Atomic Knight, are able to free themselves, but Dr. Jace blows up both herself and Metamorpho. Looker is called to return to Abyssia, the origin of her powers, where she must also face the Manhunters. During the course of the adventure, she is drained of much of her power and returns to her normal form. Halo is hit in crossfire, saving Katana's life, and slips into a coma, as Katana vows to look after her. The team is disbanded by Geo-Force as Looker returns to her husband, and Batman has since rejoined the Justice League. Declared a traitor in his native Markovia, Geo-Force is forced to seek the help of old and new Outsiders to battle the vampire lord who controls his country. This is later coupled with the framing of the Outsiders for the slaughter of a Markovian village, and thus the Outsiders are forced into hiding. This fugitive status motivates the Atomic Knight to go after the Outsiders, hoping to bring in his former allies without too much trouble. He's eventually convinced of their innocence and joins them at a later juncture. The new members who join the team in Markovia are the magician Faust, the warsuit-wearing engineer and industrialist Technocrat, and Wylde, a friend of Technocrat's who has been turned into a mountain bear by Faust's uncontrollable magic. During the initial confrontation with the vampires, Looker is apparently killed. Hiding out in Gotham City, the Outsiders take another loss, as both Halo and Technocrat's wife Marissa are killed. This happens during a fight with 'Batman', or rather the man standing in for Bruce Wayne: Jean-Paul Valley. However, Halo's spirit survives in the reanimated body of Marissa. For some time afterwards, Technocrat has trouble accepting that his wife is dead; after all, her body is still walking around but the spirit is that of Halo. Eventually, it turns out that Looker is not dead, but undead. The Outsiders find her and free her from the vampire king's control. After the defeat of the vampires, two teams, (one composed of Geo-Force, Katana and Techonocrat and another composed of the Eradicator, Looker, Halo, Wylde and Faust), claim the name the Outsiders, even though both teams are still considered fugitives for some time, thanks to some questionable tactics by their new members. During this time, the teams learn that Halo's original body has been brought back to life by the Kobra terrorist organization. In control of the body is Violet Harper, the evil woman whose body Halo originally inhabited. She now has abilities similar to Halo's and ends up calling herself Spectra, and joining Strike Force Kobra alongside Dervish and Windfall. Both Kobra and Violet Harper are defeated. The two teams unite to confront Felix Faust, father to the Outsider Faust. During the confrontation, the bear-like Wylde betrays the team when Felix promises to restore his humanity. The team is able to defeat Felix Faust and Wylde eventually becomes an actual bear, without the ability to speak, and locked up in a zoo. The title ends with the clearing of the Outsiders' names and the wedding of Geo-Force and Denise Howard. This new team is put together in the wake of the Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day crossover that dissolves both groups. Arsenal accepts the sponsorship offer of the Optitron corporation and uses the money to buy an enormous bomb shelter that used to belong to a multimillionaire and renovated it to create the group headquarters. He recruits a group of young heroes, the last of them being his friend Nightwing, who joins reluctantly. Instead of functioning in a reactive capacity like most other super-hero teams, Nightwing decides that this group should act as hunters, tracking down super-villains before they can cause problems. Former Outsiders Technocrat and Looker are in close proximity of Breach when he explodes in the Battle of Metropolis. Their fates are unclear. Roy Harper is saved by Superman from Doomsday. Captain Marvel Junior was sent to Earth-S when it was reformed. When New Earth came, he went with other heroes who could fly to fight Superboy-Prime. In the Infinite Crisis hardcover, Freddy joined alongside the other Titans to take down members of the Society who tried to kill Robin. After Infinite Crisis the Outsiders are "officially" no more. Because of the Freedom of Power Treaty, the Outsiders have been operating covertly outside of the United States. Most of the members were presumed dead until a botched mission forces them to reveal their presence. Following the revelation of their continued existence, they are recruited by Checkmate to pursue missions which Checkmate cannot support publicly. Checkmate's assignment as part of the "CheckOut" crossover arc involves dispatching the Outsiders to Oolong Island in China, the scene of World War III the previous year. The mission goes disastrously when Chang Tzu manages to capture Owen Mercer and Checkmate's Black Queen, until both sides are eventually bailed out by Batman. In the aftermath, Nightwing decides to give Batman control of the team once more. Batman holds tryouts to determine who will be on the team in a series of one-shots called Five of a Kind, and angers several members who feel he has no right to remove people already on the team. Captain Boomerang leaves the team for Waller's Suicide Squad and Nightwing decides to take no part in the Outsiders' questionable activities. Katana is chosen as the team's first official member, with the Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho, and Grace as later recruits. Thunder is kicked off the team and Aquaman is rejected as a member because Batman feels he doesn't match up to his predecessor, Orin. Batman then tells the other members that "Whether you like it or not, you're here to save the world. And you're going to be hated for it." After the team's first official mission in Outsiders #50, Catwoman overheard the other recruits' talking about the team being "down by law", and said, "Batman can't possibly start up his own crew of super-crooks without me in it!" Despite being initially turned down, it seems as though Aquaman will also be joining the team, as he appears on several of the upcoming covers. After the 'death' of Batman during Final Crisis, Batman's butler, Alfred, finds a hidden chamber with a computer in it with Batman's last words for Alfred and other members of the Bat-Family. Alfred is asked to lead a new group of Outsiders that have certain characteristics of the Dark Knight since Batman is 'dead.' Alfred finds and recruits: Black Lightning, Halo, Katana, Geo-Force, The Creeper, Metamorpho, and Owlman ( Roy Raymond, Jr.). Alfred tells these heroes that they need to cut ties with their old lives as now they will be in constant front line of battle and gives them the choice of not joining. All the heroes mentioned joins The Outsiders. In "Batman: Leviathan Strikes", Batman forms a new Outsiders team to act as a black-ops team for Batman Inc. The team consists of Halo, Metamorpho, Katana, Freight Train, and Looker and the team is led by Red Robin. But on their first mission, the whole team (except for Red Robin) were caught in an explosion set off by Lord Death Man. In the first issue of the 2012 Batman Inc. series, the team is revealed to have survived the explosion. Allies: 1. Justice League of America 2. Checkmate Enemies: 1. Masters of Disaster 2. Suicide Squad 3. Fearsome Five 4. Felix Faust 5. Baron Bedlam 6. Planet Master

The Outsiders·Outsiders

The Gotham City Police Department, often referred to as the GCPD, is the police department of Gotham City. Aside from a handful of recurring characters, such as Harvey Bullock, Sarah Essen, Renee Montoya, and James Gordon, the department has a well-deserved reputation for being extraordinarily brutal and corrupt. It has alternatively supported or opposed Batman over the course of his vigilante career, and their complicated relationship often varied depending on contemporary Gotham politics and outlook of individual commissioners. Acting as both ally and opponent of Batman, the superhero long-established in Gotham, the GCPD has long been steeped in political corruption, with numerous officers both high-and-low ranking involved in bribery and even more serious offenses such as drug-trafficking and murder. The GCPD's reputation for corruption dated back through most of the century, stemming from high offices. One of the earliest known commissioners of the GCPD was Gillian B. Loeb, under the bankroll of Carmine Falcone, who made sure Loeb and his force did not interfere with his operations. The strongest blow against police corruption in the force came when an increasing amount of conspiracy charges against Loeb forced him to resign his position, replaced by Peter Grogan. The Falcone crime family, which had a stranglehold on Gotham's underground for generations, finally crumbled when a series of killings shook the structure of the mafia organization. After the death of Carmine Falcone, the mob lashed out in sloppy, retaliatory crimes, which, in combination with rising gang violence, severely crippled organized crime in Gotham City. Simultaneously, the ebbing presence of corrupt police officers allowed James Gordon to become the new commissioner, a man determined to eradicate crime wherever it existed. Gordon served for a long period, until messy politics began to chip away at his position. The GCPD has had a long love-hate relationship with the city's vigilante known as Batman. Commissioner Gordon went along with him because Batman got the job done. The GCPD received in short order three more commissioners, including Sarah Essen. Gordon was finally restored to office, until he retired. His successor, Commissioner Michael Akins ordered the arrest of Batman and had the Batsignal removed from the roof of Gotham Central. Corruption and riots within the police department also rose during Akins' tenure as Commissioner. As of DC's One Year Later, James Gordon has been reinstated as Commissioner, along with Harvey Bullock after Akins left the force for good. Harvey came back on disciplinary probation after helping expose a criminal drug ring. Relation with Batman, including the Bat-Signal, have been established once more. Other characters from Gotham Central have appeared in the recent Tales of the Unexpected miniseries, featuring Crispus Allen as the The Spectre. Thus far, Detective Driver has appeared in a speaking role. It is unknown what has happened to Commissioner Akins, but it is implied that, following revelations of massive corruption within the department, there has been a drastic cleaning-of-house within the department. Kate Kane referred to Akins as police commissioner in the weekly 52 series, which reveals the events of the missing year. A later issue, however, showed a brief snapshot of Commissioner Gordon's welcome back party. The circumstances of Akins's departure and Gordon's reinstatement have yet to be explained. A rising amount of costumed villains bought the need for the GCPD to respond accordingly. A Major Crimes Unit was founded under the command of Sarah Essen and Mackenzie Bock. Captain Maggie Sawyer from Metropolis is currently the commander of the MCU department, and has ended her relationship with former lover Toby Raines. Homicide Division: The division that handles homicide and some of the more serious non-metahuman crimes in Gotham. This is the division Gordon was a part of before becoming commissioner. Harvey Bullock formerly worked in this division. Former private investigator Jason Bard is now working on homicide cases for this division. Major Crimes Unit: Led by Capt. Maggie Sawyer, who previously served in Metropolis in a similar position with that city's police, the MCU deals with the most serious crimes, often involving supervillans or politically sensitive cases. This division is the focus of the comic book series Gotham Central. Quick Response Team: Led by Lt. Gerard "Jerry" Hennelly, the QRT is the GCPD's SWAT unit. It was formerly headed by Billy Pettit until he went insane (Batman: No Man's Land) and before him the controversial Branden (Batman: Year One). 13th Precinct: Main article: Gotham City Police Department, 13th Precinct One of the precincts of the GCPD that presumably specialized in undercover operations. Commissioner James Gordon picked a 10-man squad to go undercover into Arkham City to investigate what is the true nature of the city-wide prison facility, but they ended up exposed and captured from an information leak.

Gotham City Police Department·GCPD

Katherine "Kate" Kane is the second Batwoman. Debuting in 52 #11, she is a member of the Kane family and, through her father, the cousin of Bruce Wayne. Batwoman has headlined her own comic series since 2011 and served as a vital member of the Bat-Family. Katherine Kane came into the world about two minutes after her identical twin sister named Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Gabi Kane, the murder of her mother and sister was the trigger that made her seek justice and later turn into a Batwoman. Renee Montoya's former lover and heiress to one of the (formerly) wealthiest families in Gotham City, owning that which Bruce Wayne's family did not. Renee refers to her as "Katherine the younger" and asks Kate to help find the connection between the Kanes and the address 520 Kane Street. While still upset from their breakup, Kate agrees to help Renee, but punches her after Renee mentions their prior relationship. Renee suggests they once loved each other, and Kate tells her to leave. Not long after that, Batwoman is shown to be observing Montoya from the rooftops as Renee converses with the Question (in his guise as "Charlie") in an alley. Kate meets with Renée and Charlie in Gotham Park and confirms that the warehouse was being leased by Ridge-Ferrick until six weeks ago. Renee refuses to tell Kate what's going on saying that she doesn't owe Kate anything, which shocks Kate and prompts her to tail them as Batwoman. When Renee and the Question break into Ridge-Ferrick's Gotham offices, they are attacked by Whisper A'Daire's shapeshifting minions, and Batwoman arrives to rescue them. Making quick work of two monsters, Batwoman stops Renee from shooting the third, instead kicking the monster out a window. Batwoman informs them the police are coming, asks that she not be mentioned, and leaves. After Renee learns that the Book of Crime, a sacred text of Intergang, contains a prophecy foretelling the brutal murder of the "twice named daughter of Kane," she and the Question return to Gotham. They contact Kate by flashing a Bat-Signal, and the three join forces to avert Intergang's plans. As Kate continues the case, she is joined by Nightwing, who has recently returned to Gotham and becomes infatuated with her. On Christmas Eve, he gives her an 'official' Batarang. She also celebrates Hanukkah with Renee, and the two kiss shortly before Christmas. Intergang realizes that the image of Batwoman in the Crime Bible and the cited "twice-named daughter of Cain" were one and the same, and ransack Kate's apartment, she is kidnapped by Whisper A'Daire and her bodyguard Kyle Abbot with the intention to sacrifice her. Renee finds her, seemingly too late to save her, as during the fight, Kate pulls a knife out of her own chest to stab Bruno Mannheim and then collapses in Renee's arms. Kate survives her wounds after Renee stops the bleeding in time, however, and as she recuperates in her Penthouse, Renée, dressed as the Question, shines the batsignal into her apartment and asks "Are you ready?" One year after the start of 52, the Penguin suggests Batman bring a date to the opening of his club, asking, "Why don't you bring that new Batwoman? I hear she's kind of hot." Batwoman has most recently appeared in Countdown 39. She appears after Renee Montoya confronts Trickster and Pied Piper, having trailed them from Penguin's Iceberg Lounge nightclub. Following the events of Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl, in which Bruce Wayne has supposedly died and is replaced by Dick Grayson, Kate becomes the lead of Detective Comics from issue 854 onwards. She's seen investigating the arrival of a new leader of the Religion of Crime to Gotham. She briefly meets the new Batman to discuss her findings. Kate demonstrates greater knowledge of the Religion of Crime, and even corrects Batman by saying there's 13 and not 12 covens of the religion in Gotham. Grayson eventually concedes the case to her. Aspects of her personal life are also revealed, including her relationship with her ex-colonel father; serving as Batwoman's ally, whom she addresses as "sir." A past traumatic incident is alluded to which she claims still haunts her. As she vaguely describes the experience, her face is shown superimposed on the page over a restrained girl with a bag over her head. She later tracks down the new leader of the Religion of Crime: an elaborately costumed woman named Alice. Over the course of the conflict that ensues, Batwoman observes that Alice only speaks in quotations from Lewis Carroll; believing herself to be Alice Liddell. Alice denies a connection to the Mad Hatter. While attending a party thrown for the Gotham Police Department, Kate meets with detective Maggie Sawyer, and runs into her own cousin, Bette Kane (better known as the Teen Titans member Flamebird). Kate is apparently unaware of her cousin's vigilante activities, and inadvertently hurts her feelings when she cuts her off in the middle of a conversation to answer her cell phone. While dancing with Maggie, Kate discovers that Alice has kidnapped her father and plans to destroy Gotham by spreading a deadly airborne chemical from a hijacked airplane, thus succeeding where Mannheim failed. Batwoman boards the plane and defeats Alice's subordinates, eventually stopping the plot and rescuing her father in the process. However, Alice is accidentally thrown from the plane, only to be caught by Batwoman. Alice then shocks her by saying that Batwoman has "Our father's eyes," apparently revealing that she is in fact Kate's sister Beth (who was believed to have been killed years ago). With Batwoman stunned by the revelation, Alice stabs her in the wrist with a knife. Batwoman is forced to release her grip, sending Alice to her apparent demise in the river below. In the aftermath of this discovery, Kate locks herself in her crime lab and tries to come to terms with what just happened, while the police struggle in vain to find any sign of Alice's corpse. These scenes are depicted amongst numerous flashback sequences that comprise most of the issue. Throughout them, back story is provided from her childhood that depicts Kate, her twin sister Beth, and their mother being kidnapped. While Kate's father is able to rescue her, it appears as though both her sister and mother have been killed by the time he arrives. In her civilian identity as a socialite, she is acquainted with Bruce Wayne and is friends with a doctor named Mallory, who treats the Question's cancer and later Kate's stab wound. Kate is also Jewish, and celebrated Hanukkah with Renee. Kate has been referred to as "Katherine the Younger," implying a mother of the same name. It is unknown if this is the original Batwoman, Kathy Kane, as Kate also has a stepmother named Catherine. Her father, Col. Kane, is a military man who is aware of her double life and has provided her with training and equipment. Kate has been confirmed as a cousin of Bette Kane (Flamebird). It has also been implied that the villain Alice, leader of the Religion of Crime, is possibly Kate's sister. When the Justice League of America splits up following Bruce Wayne's seeming death and a disastrous confrontation with the Shadow Cabinet, Green Lantern Hal Jordan leads a group of superheroes to Gotham in order to track down the supervillain known as Prometheus. Kate is shown stalking the heroes from the rooftops after they encounter Clayface III. Batwoman later contacts both Leagues at the JLA Watchtower, informing them she encountered and engaged supervillain Delores Winters, who mysteriously collapsed and died right as she was about to be taken into custody. The heroes request that Kate bring the body up to them, but she declines, telling them that she is much too busy due to a rash of criminal uprisings going on in Gotham. The hero Firestorm is then sent to retrieve the corpse from Kate and bring it to the team, who discover that Dolores was forced into fighting by means of a mind control device. In a text piece included in Justice League: Cry for Justice #6, writer James Robinson revealed that Batwoman was initially intended to be part of his new Justice League line-up, but this plan fell apart after Cry For Justice was shortened into a mini-series rather than an on-going title. This explains why Batwoman is present on the cover of the first issue, and why she was initially said to be a member of the team when the book was first announced. Later, Batwoman is kidnapped by cultists and taken to London in order for her to once again be sacrificed. She is sealed within a coffin and taken underground to the last remaining Lazarus Pit in order for the ritual to begin. She is saved by the timely intervention of Dick Grayson and the British superheroes, Knight and Squire. After learning that Grayson plans on placing Bruce Wayne's corpse into the pit in order to revive him, Kate strongly protests, but he simply ignores her. True to Kate's warnings, Bruce (in reality an insane clone created by Darkseid) emerges from the Pit and attacks the heroes. As the battle takes place, the cultists who kidnapped Kate detonate explosives surrounding the Pit, causing a massive cave-in. Grayson discovers Kate, buried alive and with extensive injury to her spine and legs, and tries to help her. Kate is ultimately healed after being placed inside the Pit, and ultimately returns to Gotham with the others. Before leaving to return to her home, Grayson attempts to flirt with Kate by telling her that he has a thing for red-haired crimefighters (a reference to his previous love interests, Barbara Gordon and Starfire). As Batwoman, Kate lacks any superpowers, and instead relies on her martial artistry and Batman-inspired equipment when fighting crime. Skilled Martial Artist: In the ten years since her breakup with Renée Montoya, she has learned to fight and is able to defeat three monsters, as well as spy on Renee and the Question with relative ease. Heiress: Being the heiress of a family whose fortune is comparable to the Waynes, Kate possesses the finances to produce an arsenal of equipment, similar to Batman. This includes a baton-like device which can extend from the center in length and has Bat-shaped attachments at each end. Strength level- Athletic level: Kathy Kane possesses the strength level of a woman her age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise. Equipment- Weapons: Batarangs; Bat-club

Batwoman·Kate Kane·Kate

Talia is an occasional lover and enemy of Batman, the most cherished child of Ra's al Ghul, known as the Daughter of the Demon. As a high-ranking member of the League of Assassins, she is sometimes referred to by titles like Talia Head or Talia al Ghul, signifying her status as Daughter of the Demon. For a time she was a key member of LexCorp. Talia is also the mother of Damian Wayne, Batman's biological son and the fifth Robin. Created by Denny O'Neil, Talia first made her debut in Detective Comics #411 (May 1971) with original outfits being penciled by Bob Brown and later Neal Adams. Her role in stories have varied between antiheroine and villain, due to her divided loyalties to her father and being in love with the Batman. Talia has also served as a member of various factions, including Leviathan and the Society. In her youth, Talia traveled the world with her immortal father learning and adapting his intellect and skills which she proves to be more competent than any of Ghul's other children. She excels to the point in managing his criminal and legitimate operations, that she is eventually appointed as Ghul's primary secondary despite the fact that Ghul considers women to be inherently inferior to men. Ghul is supportive of his daughter though has commented that if possible, he would correct "that sole failing" in his child suggesting that he fears any possible distortion of her through chemical or biological modifications despite his aversion to her as a woman. Talia first meets the legendary Batman when he rescues her from Dr. Darrk, apparently the leader of the League of Assassins. It is eventually revealed that the League is just one sect of Ra's al Ghul's overall Brotherhood of the Demon organization, and that Darrk apparently turned against Ra's after failing in a mission (the usual punishment for this being death). At the end of the story, she shoots and kills Darrk to save Batman's life. When Robin (Dick Grayson) is kidnapped, Ra's al Ghul enters the Batcave, revealing to Batman that he knows Batman's secret identity and claims that Talia was also kidnapped along with Dick. Batman then goes with Ra's to search for Dick and Talia; it is revealed that the kidnapping was a setup designed by Ra's as a final test of whether or not Batman is suitable as an heir. Over the years however Talia has proven an important 'ally' in her way; most prominently, she encourages Batman to return to Gotham City when it is declared a "No Man's Land" following an earthquake, and he has lost his fighting spirit and didn't believe he could save Gotham. After Jason Todd's death at the hands of the Joker, Batman brought his body back to Gotham and buried him with the rest of the Wayne Family. However, several years later, during The Infinite Crisis, Superboy Prime trying to change reality, resurrects Jason with a reality-altering punch. Although Jason is returned to life, his body and mind are still broken from the Joker's attack. Some time later, he is discovered by the League of Assassins.Out of her love for Batman, Talia takes Jason to her father and Jason spends months in the care of the League of Assassins. Although his body recuperates, Jason's mind is shattered.. Seeing no other way to help him, Talia takes Jason down to the Lazarus Pit and throws his body in while her father regenerates himself. Jason is fully revived in body and mind. Immediately afterward, in order to spare Jason her father's wrath, she aids the boy's escape. Livid at the fact that the Joker was still alive and that Batman had done nothing more than imprison him again, Jason pursues his own brand of justice. In order to stall him from killing Batman, Talia agrees to finance Jason and aid him in his training, so that he can become the second Red Hood. After Bane enters the League of Assassins, Ra's considers Bane a potential heir to his empire instead of Batman and wants his daughter to marry him. However, Talia rejected the international brute, and after Batman defeated him, Ra's agreed that he was unworthy of his "only" daughter. Talia, disillusioned with her father and his plans, leaves him to run LexCorp for Lex Luthor when Luthor becomes President of the United States. Although she seemingly supports Luthor, she secretly works to undermine him, anonymously leaking news of his underhanded dealings to Superman. When the time comes for Luthor's downfall, she sells all of LexCorp's assets to the Wayne Foundation, leaving Luthor penniless and his crimes exposed to all. During his travels in Russia in the 18th century, Ra's al Ghul met a woman by whom he had a daughter named Nyssa. Ra's abandons Nyssa at a crucial time: she is tortured, and her entire family is killed in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Seeking vengeance, Nyssa plans to use her considerable wealth and resources to kill Ra's by befriending, kidnapping, and brainwashing Talia, turning her into a weapon to kill their father. To this end, she captured Talia and, using a Lazarus Pit, killed and resurrected her in rapid succession, leaving Talia virtually broken from the trauma of dying again and again in so short a time. Rendered apathetic by her time in the camp, unable to feel anything, Nyssa also plans to assassinate Superman with kryptonite bullets she stole from the Batcave, hoping that, by uniting the world in one moment of tragedy, she would manage to rouse herself once more. While Batman is successful in preventing the assassination of Superman, he is unable to stop Nyssa from killing Ra's. This, in turn, is actually part of a greater plan concocted by Ra's, who wanted to ensure that his daughters would accept their destinies as his heirs, and take up his genocidal campaign. Realizing and accepting this, Nyssa and Talia become the heads of The Demon. Both sisters consider Batman to be their enemy. Talia is revealed to be one of the core members of the third Secret Society of Super Villains (along with Lex Luthor (secretly Alexander Luthor, Jr. in disguise), Black Adam, Doctor Psycho, Deathstroke, and Calculator). Talia mainly acts as a recruiter in the Society and is charged with bringing in new members. She is also in control of both the League of Assassins and the H.I.V.E Institute at this time (though how she gained control of H.I.V.E. at all is unknown). In issue #6 she duels with Scandal Savage (who she sees as an equal because of their fathers)during the Society's assault on the Secret Six, and despite having less protective gear and uses only a sword while Scandal wields her Lamentation Blades, Talia gains the upper hand and has Scandal in a death strike until she knocked unconscious by Scandal's mole in the Society and her lover, Knockout. This is revealed to be part of one of Nyssa's plans to take over the planet and bring about world peace and equality. Nyssa explains why she and Talia are working with the villains of the Society to Cassandra Cain. ""Vast stockpiles of food rot, while people starve. Millions die from curable diseases, while drug companies rake in the billions. Our environment chokes on our waste, becoming so toxic that life fails. It's genocide by greed, apathy, and neglect. These are the real crimes. Something must change. The Society's plans are vast... they will succeed. I can't stop them. When the world gets a true taste of violent oppression, and their heroes lie dead and broken -- apathy will die. That's when you'll lead my league to sanction key society members. Leaving Talia and I to lead the revolution. A new world will be born, one of peace and equality. Millions of lives will be saved."—Batgirl #67 Nyssa fails to recruit Batgirl to her new League of Assassins, and the Society fails to achieve its goals. After Nyssa's apparent death at the hands of Cassandra Cain (who usurps control of The League of Assassins), Talia becomes the new Demon's Head. However, the League of Assassins has apparently splintered and Cassandra Cain has gained partial control. Batman's son, from the noncanonical story Son of the Demon is reintroduced to continuity in the story Batman & Son, written by Grant Morrison. However, in this version, the child (called Damian) was not abandoned or retrieved from his adoptive parents, instead he was partially raised by The League of Assassins and is a product of sexual assault by Talia of Bruce. His mother gives him back to Batman, as part of a grand scheme involving ninja man-bats and the kidnapping of the British Prime Minister's wife. Batman is unsure whether this is his son, but he attempts to deal with the spoiled, hot-tempered child anyway. Damian, effectively raised to be an assassin, kills a costumed villain known as The Spook and nearly kills Tim Drake, the newest Robin. Shortly afterwards, father and son confront each other on a ship which is destroyed by a torpedo. Damian survived the explosion, and severely injured has to undergo a transplant of all his major organs. Talia is prompted to read the history of Ra's al Ghul to Batman's son Damian by a mysterious figure from Ra's past: the White Ghost. Unknown to her, the White Ghost plans to use Damian as a vessel for Ra's return. However, Talia and Damian 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. During the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Talia and Damian learn of the Black Glove's plot against Batman and begin devising a plan to help save him. Mother and son arrive at Wayne Manor just in time to save Commissioner Gordon from one of the Black Glove's deathtraps that had claimed another officer's life. Talia and Damian agree to join forces with Gordon to save Batman. Unfortunately, they are too late and arrive on the scene of Batman's apparent death, learning from Robin that Batman went missing and may be dead after fighting Doctor Hurt after Batman crashes Hurt's helicopter. Furious that Batman may be dead, Talia sends her assassins injected with the Man-Bat formula to murder Jezebel Jet (who played a major role in Batman's death), which they accomplish. Following Batman's apparent death (It was later revealed Batman survived the crash only to be captured by Darkseid and apparently killed by the New God during the Final Crisis storyline), Talia leaves Damian in the hands of his adopted brother Dick Grayson. Once Dick becomes the new Batman, Damian is selected by Grayson to succeed Tim Drake as Robin. During Final Crisis, she is placed in the new Society's inner circle by Libra, though despite Talia's role in the Society she still behaves almost devotedly to Batman. It is revealed that in Gotham CIty Sirens #2 that Talia had trained Catwoman to never reveal Bruce Wayne's secret identity even under the most intense psychological coercion. Following an operation in which most of Damian's internal organs and bones are replaced, it is revealed that Talia inserted an implant into Damian's spine that allows her or anyone she chooses (in this case the assassin Deathstroke) to remotely control her son's body. She intends to have Deathstroke use Damian to kill Dick Grayson, who she sees as holding back her son's potential, though this fails when Grayson utilizes the implant's two-way connection to electrocute Deathstroke. After Grayson frees Damian of her control Talia reveals that she has begun cloning her son upon realizing that Damian has completely sided with his father. She is too much of a perfectionist to forgive her son for defying her like this, and tells Damian he is no longer welcome in the House of al Ghul. Talia's recent role has become more antagonistic towards Batman while her son has begun to side more with Batman, an unusual development as she and Damian now parallel Talia's devotion to Batman while defying her father, though Talia appears to be less forgiving to Damian than Ra's was to her. In this continuity editors seem to imply that "al Ghul" is an ethnic family surname of her father's but this is generally still unclear. Talia has now formed the Leviathan, a shadowy organization meant to counter Bruce's "Batman Incorporated" project. Talia declares war on Batman and places a $500,000,000 bounty on her son's head. Her loyal clone of Damian, known as The Heretic, stabs Damian through the chest and delivers the killing stroke to her son. After killing The Heretic she confronts Bruce in the Batcave and is killed by Kathy Kane. After Talia's death she was buried. Bruce came back to Wayne Manor and found the graves of Talia and Damian empty, their bodies having been stolen by Ra's and the League of Assassins. Talia is later resurrected at Nanda Parbat after multiple failed attempts on Themyscira and Apokolips, though is briefly amnesiac. First meeting Batman during her debut story, Talia fell in love with him in their first meeting. Through the relationship, they have sired a son: Damian Wayne. In some continuities, their child has gone by various other names, including Ibn al Xu'ffasch and Tallant Wayne. Talia's relationship with her father has often varied between loving to antagonistic. Though she has often assisted him, she has sometimes betrayed him to help Batman foil them or escape. Her mother is believed to have died when she was an infant due to an attack led by Quyan. Through her father, Talia has various siblings such as Nyssa Raatko and Dusan. Powers and Abilities: Longevity & Slowed Aging: Extended lifespan through the use of Lazarus Pits. Businesswoman: Talia possesses an excellent head for business. Advanced Martial Artist and Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Talia excels in hand-to-hand combat and the use of weapons. High Intellect: Talia has a high intelligence. Master Manipulator: She is capable of controlling certain victims to her whim and is quite convincing and persuasive. Skilled use of Firearms

Talia al Ġhūl·Talia·Talia Head·Daughter of the Demon

Raʾs al Ġhūl is a supervillain and enemy of Batman. A former healer who later chose a moniker that translates to "Head of the Demon", he is a criminal mastermind and leader of the League of Assassins. In most stories, Ra's' goal is to save the Earth from possible ecological devastation, often by destroying most of the planet's population or bringing the world under his control. Though brilliant master of strategy with knowledge in various fields, Ra's al Ghul's greatest asset are his Lazarus Pits, which have allowed him to live centuries and even restore himself from death. Created by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, Ra's al Ghul first debuted in Batman #232, published in June 1971. Initially serving as a possible arch-nemesis, his appearances gradually reduced during the 1980s. However, he has made constant returns to battle the Dark Knight and other superheroes, including Superman, the Justice League and the Outsiders. Ra's has also served as the primary architect of several major conflicts with Batman, including Contagion and Tower of Bable storylines. Due to his resources and legions of followers, Ra's al Ghul is sometimes considered one of Batman's most powerful adversaries. Ra's al Ghul is an international terrorist and assassin whose ultimate goal is a world in perfect environmental balance. He believes that the best method by which this can be achieved 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 hundred years. He considers Batman his worthiest opponent, 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. Ra's usually refers to Batman as 'Detective', possibly in recognition of his formidable mental prowess, and the intellectual battles in which they engage, as opposed to Batman's traditional physical conflict. For his own part, Batman's opposition to Ra's is complicated by his love for the villain's daughter, Talia. Ra's is often accompanied by one of his lieutenants, Ubu, an unquestionably loyal follower of of Ra's. He is an assassin and warrior dedicated to enacting the vision of his master, and an intense rival of Batman. Ra's al Ghul's early life and exact age are somewhat difficult to recount by writers. The current, in continuity, origin story is told in the graphic novel Batman: Birth of the Demon (1992) by Dennis O'Neil and Norm Breyfogle. As told in Birth of the Demon, Ra's al Ghul is born over six hundred years before his first appearance in Batman comics, to a tribe of desert nomads 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, and 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. Ra's discovers the secret of the Lazarus Pit and 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 a dying elderly woman, whom Ra's had earlier examined. 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 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." Note: Batman: Birth of the Demon provides a rough figure of 500 years for Ra's al Ghul's age. Due to living so long, he assumes to have lost track of how old he is. However, Azrael #6 (July 1995; written by Dennis O'Neil) places Ra's age closer to 450 years. "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. However, in 'Batman Annual 25' (published in 2006), Ra's al Ghul is described as a "700-Year Old International Terrorist". Ra's spends the next several centuries journeying the world. He fights in the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution and becomes a formidable warrior. 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. According to Justice League of America (1st series) #94: "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." The League of Assassins, one of the many smaller organizations making up The Demon, is thus sometimes called "The Demon's Fang" or "Demonfang". After Talia encounters and falls in love with Batman in Detective Comics #411 (May 1971), Ra's begins to consider Batman as a possible heir. Ra's first deduces Batman's secret identity when he realizes that the Dark Knight has to be rich, and learns that only Bruce Wayne has bought the equipment that a crime fighter would have; he is then ready to put Batman to a final test. Ra's surprises Batman in the Batcave, seemingly to enlist Batman's aid in rescuing both Talia and Dick Grayson, the first Robin, both of whom have apparently been kidnapped. Batman soon discovers that the whole affair is a charade orchestrated by Ra's to test Batman, which he passes. Ra's asks that Batman become his heir, which Batman refuses, appalled by his genocidal plan to "cleanse" the world. From that point forward, Ra's al Ghul and Batman are mortal enemies, even though they respect each other as adversaries. Of all Batman's enemies, Ra's is probably unique in that he respects Batman's intellectual abilities more than his physical ones, as shown by his constant referral to Batman as "Detective." In the story "Resurrection Night" in Batman #400, Ra's helps all of Batman's foes to escape from Arkham Asylum and the Gotham State Penitentiary, setting them on a plan to abduct certain individuals across Gotham City who are linked in one form or another to Batman. However, Ra's' true intent is to show Batman the folly of his efforts to protect a corrupt society that, to his mind, allows criminals to exist and flourish. Ra's eventually uses the Pit while still healthy, both increasing his strength and putting his life at risk, in an attempt to outmatch the Dark Knight. The plan backfires, as Ra's is left withering in the pit, seemingly destroyed. 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 follow up story "Legacy." Learning that the Demon's Head still lives, Batman and his team circle the globe, preventing further outbreaks of the virus. Ra's allies 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 criminal mastermind. Eventually, Batman deduces a way to eliminate the Clench virus from an ancient "Wheel of Plagues" artifact whose knowledge has aided Ra's in the creation of the disease. The immortal madman again eludes justice, however. In the "Tower of Babel" storyline, in JLA #43-46, Ra's discovers Batman's contingency plans for stopping the other members of the Justice League of America, should they turn or be turned evil, and uses them to try to destroy the group. Meanwhile, Ra's steals the bodies of Batman's parents. This theft prevents Batman from realizing Ra's is using his traps until it is too late, as he is distracted by the search for the corpses of his parents. Though defeated, Ra's does cause the exit of Batman from the JLA, who now distrust the Caped Crusader. Though some of the Leaguers resent Batman's plans, they agree that the plans were created for the right reasons. Talia, disillusioned with her father, leaves the League 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 shortly before Wayne officially adopted his former ward as his son. The plan fails, and Wayne and Grayson go ahead with the adoption. Ra's is also featured in Birds of Prey #31-35, where he has a romantic fling with the Black Canary. Black Canary is injured and healed in the Lazarus Pit, which also restores her Canary Cry that she lost years earlier. Ra's became desperate enough to ally himself with The Joker in a 4-part LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT story. Upon hearing that Ra's plans had always been foiled by "one damnable man",Joker smiled and said "Now I know why I'm here". A plan to release plague on a global basis was short circuited when The Joker took a bath in The Lazurus Pit and it turned him temporarily sane and remorseful;and he helped to stop his own plan. Alfred Pennyworth commented that the teamup seemed logical to him, as Ra's Al Ghul had always reminded him of certain ham actors he encountered during his time in show business(pre-Butlering). In Batman: Death and the Maidens (2004), Nyssa Raatko, furious at her father for abandoning her in a concentration camp during World War II, 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 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 "Head of the Demon" controlling 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 his nemesis cremation. In the Teen Titans storyline "Titans Tomorrow", the Titans are transported into the future, where a future Bette Kane mentions a deal with Ra's to use the Lazarus Pits. Whether this indicates Ra's' eventual return or a successor is unknown. In Batman Annual #26, 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. Unbeknownst to her, the White Ghost plans to use Damian as a vessel for Ra's return. However, mother and son escape before the plan is completed. After the escape, Batman confronts the White Ghost; he fights Batman, but accidentally falls into a Lazarus pit. As of Batman #670 Ra's al Ghul has returned, having evaded death by transferring his consciousness into the body of another. Because his host body is decaying from radiation poisoning, he needs to transfer his mind into another host body. His first choice is that of his grandson Damian Wayne, but Damian escaped to alert his father. Upon taking Ra's to a "Fountain of Essence," which contains the qualities of a Lazarus Pit, Batman is confronted with the sight of Sensei, who is revealed to be Ra's father. (Batman #671, January 2008) After defeating Ra's, Sensei fights and impales Batman with a cane. Determined to win, Batman drags the Sensei into the Fountain, where he is killed for not being a pure soul. Ra's, meanwhile, has taken over the body of a Nanda Parbat monk and departs. Healed by the Fountain, Batman emerges and yells for Ra's. Ra's attempts to make amends with Batman after his resurrection, but Batman responds by crushing his decaying fingers. Ra's accepts this latest rebuke and, with the help of his men, overpower Batman and capture Damian, who has arrived to try and help his father. Ra's attempts to take over Damian, but Batman breaks free just as Robin, Talia, Alfred Pennyworth and Nightwing arrive to save him. While the battle ensues at Nanda Parbat, the White Ghost takes Ra's to a secluded place, where the terrorist appears to accept the fact that his death is inevitable. However, the White Ghost, revealed to be Ra's estranged, albino son Dusan, offers up his own body instead. Ra's performs the transfer of souls, but the White Ghost dies soon afterward. Ra's resumes the battle and attempts to kill Batman, but is stopped by the monks at Nanda Parbat, who instead banish him from the temple. Detective Comics #840 details the aftermath of The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul storyline. Ra's al Ghul, in his new body, moves his base of operations to Gotham City where it is revealed that a remnant of his son Dusan's consciousness still remains within him. This arrogance attributes to the brazen move to Gotham and a subsequent ninja attack on Batman, which indirectly leads to the discovery of a map of all the known Lazarus Pit locations across the globe. Batman then infiltrates Ra's al Ghul's new Gotham penthouse headquarters and easily defeats his horde of ninjas and Ra's himself. To ensure Ra's is not a constant threat within Gotham City, Batman comes up with the false identity of "Terry Gene Kase", and plants it along with credible photos, medical records, and police records for both Blackgate Penitentiary and Arkham Asylum. Batman takes an unconscious Ra's directly to Arkham where it is believed he really is the schizophrenic prisoner "Terry Gene Kase" who has just been transferred to Arkham to finish out multiple life sentences. Along with attaching false information and a false identity to Ra's al Ghul's file, Batman attaches a false prescription of potent medication that ensures slurred speech and next to zero mobility. After some time being locked inside Arkham, an asylum orderly fails to give al Ghul a single dose of the drug. Ra's regains his mind, body, and mobility. Using this regained strength, Ra's escapes from Arkham and is currently on the loose somewhere in Gotham. Ra's briefly appears in Detective Comics #954 during the Batman Family's battle with Lady Shiva and the League of Shadows. Meeting Batman in the Batcave, he informs the Dark Knight of its past and formation. Ra's reveals the League of Shadows to be one of his greatest secrets, to the extent where he has had to erase Batman's memory at the times when he's discovered it. The father of Ra's al Ghul, Sensei is considered a a highly skilled martial artist having trained a great number of the League of Assassins. After being thought dead following a previous battle with Ra's, Sensei returned and revealed his true connection with Ra's. He views his son as a failure who continues to live like a cockroach. In Batman: Death and the Maidens (2004) by Greg Rucka, it is revealed that while traveling in Russia in the 18th century, Ra's fathers a child named Nyssa Raatko. Enamored of Ra's' romantic stories of her mother, Nyssa sets out to find her father and eventually locates him at his headquarters in North Africa. Impressed by her beauty, her warrior skills, and the fact that "she was able to locate him," he promotes her to a high position within his organization. Ra's is so impressed with her abilities that he even allows Nyssa to use his Lazarus Pits; Nyssa finds a means of making the Lazarus Pits reusable (previously, each could only be used once). Nyssa eventually becomes disillusioned with Ra's ideals and methods and disassociates herself from her father sometime in the 18th century. Ra's reluctantly approves this with the idea that she would return to him and that she and/or her children would become his future heirs. To his disappointment, Nyssa refuses to give herself or her family to Ra's; he retaliates by disowning her. During World War II, Nyssa and her family are sent to a concentration camp, where she is rendered infertile by gruesome Mengele-esque experiments, as the rest of her family is exterminated. Ra's, who is temporarily allied to the Nazis, abandons her and her family. Nyssa begins plotting her revenge, which comes to fruition years later. In Robin: One Year Later, it is revealed that Cassandra Cain, the former Batgirl, has assassinated Nyssa and then taken over the League of Assassins. But as of 2025,CASSANDRA'S own BATGIrl series had them meeting again and Nyassa temporarily tricked Cassandra into helping her re-conquer a peaceful kingdom that had apparently ricocheted back-and-forth from Ghul family control over the Centuries. Cassandra left Nyssa to her fate after denying her access to "immortality flowers" she hoped to gain control of. Talia is also daughter of the Demon but the only offspring that that is deeply cherished by him. Talia's mother was said to have been murdered by Qayin, a terrorist, back in the late 1940s.[1] Talia's mother was a woman of mixed Chinese and Arab ancestry at Woodstock. Talia is the result of that union. Damian Wayne Ra's grandson, and the son of Talia and Batman. He is also the current Robin. Ra's' only known son. He is born with the name Dusan al Ghul but because he was an albino Ra's called him "the failed one" and kept him alive only out of pity. Dusan sacrifices his body in order to ensure his father's life. After his son's death, Ra's wishes he had treated Dusan far better as he was the only child who remained loyal to him. Powers: Lazarus Enhancement: Ra's al Ghul has lived for several centuries thanks to his use of Lazarus Pits, which he has utilitzed 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. Longevity: He has extended lifespan through the use of the Lazarus Pit. Abilities: 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. Leadership: He is the indisputable leader of the League of Assassins, one of the largest and most dangerous organizations of all time, whose agents are willing to sacrifice themselves for their master. Master Strategist and Tactician: He is a brilliant tactician, planning his exploits many months even years in advance. Master Swordsman Master Martial Artist: expertise in at least 100 different fighting styles. Medical Science Multi-Lingual: He's able to speak Arabic, French, Greek, Latin, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin, Urdu, multiple Indian languages and possibly more. Vast Resources: Over the centuries, Ra's has gained many international contacts and a vast fortune. Weapon Master: He has more than two centuries of experience using old and modern weapons. When in combat he favors the old-world weapons such as katana, European swords, polearms, and axes.

Raʾs al Ġhūl·Head of the Demon

Lazarus Pits are natural phenomena in the DC Comics universe. They are commonly used by Ra's al Ghul for their restorative powers and used to save the lives of those close to death. Lazarus Pits were accidentally discovered by Ra's al Ghul in an effort to cure a dying prince of the Sultan he worked for. Ra's al Ghul dug an experimental chemical pit where he discovered the restorative chemical pools that he dubbed a Lazarus Pit for its abilities to heal those at death's door. After using the pit to save the life of the prince, a side effect of the pit's restorative abilities revealed itself as the prince went mad and killed Ra's al Ghul's wife Sora. Blamed for his wife's murder, al Ghul was left to die, buried in the desert, but was soon rescued by his own tribe and a boy named Huwe. Afterward he used the tribe to gain vengeance for what happened to him and proceeded to call himself the "Head of the Demon". For centuries the pits served the purpose of prolonging his life as well as the lives of his uncle and the boy Huwe. However he eventually killed the boy and his uncle went missing. From that time he alone used the pits until he eventually fathered two daughters, Nyssa and Talia. Both have used the pits from time to time. It was not until he met Batman that others who weren't close to him learned of the existence of the Lazarus Pits around the world. Others who have either discovered or used the pits include: Jason Todd, The Black Canary II (Dinah Laurel Lance), The Riddler, Cassandra Cain, Lady Shiva, The Joker, Kobra, Nora Fries, King Snake, Duela Dent, The Batman Clone, Bane and Batwoman. Ra's, during a hospitable period, revived Dr. Brian Bryan, a close friend of Azrael. Kobra analyzed and duplicated the chemical composition of the Pits and used this information to build his own network, something Batman would discover during their very first meeting. The unique chemical composition of Kobra's Lazarus Pits enabled him to control the minds of those he resurrected. Beyond him, however, Bane and Batman together also served an important role in the history of Lazarus Pits: the destruction of nearly all pits on Earth. Now while supposedly only one pit exists, there are actually four remaining. The first belongs to Ra's al Ghul's daughter Nyssa, who also discovered a way to use the pits indefinitely — whereas before a pit could only be used once. The second is located in the Batcave, created by Batman after he learned that the Pits were necessary to maintain the stability of the world, but wanting to ensure that Ra's could never use the pit to return from the dead again. A third seems to exist high in the Himalaya mountains, used by Black Adam to revive Isis. In Batman Annual #26, published August 2007, a fourth Lazarus Pit was revealed to exist in the Australian outback. In Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, it is revealed that al Ghul has access to a "Fountain of Essence," which has similar longevity, rejuvenation, and youth restoration abilities, but it does not appear to have the insanity side effect. Having returned to life in a crumbling body, Ra's seeks a permanent young one to take as host, which he decides to be his grandson Damian. After a fight with the Sensei, who declares himself to be Ra's father, Batman is stabbed via a cane in the chest and pulls the Sensei down into the pit with him. Sensei is killed for being an unsick user, but Batman is healed to full health and slightly de-aged. In the DC limited series 52, week 6, Booster Gold enters Rip Hunter's lab to find a chalkboard filled with cryptic clues on different aspects of the DC Universe. One of them was the clue "The Lazarus Pit RISES". Lazarus Pits are composed of a unique unknown chemical blend that bubbles up somewhere within the Earth's crust to the surface at key points on Earth, typically at the junction of ley lines. The substance possesses the ability to rejuvenate the sick, injured and even resurrect the dead. The pits also decrease the age of the user depending on how long they stay submerged in the pit. If a healthy person goes into the pits, they will be killed in most instances. In addition to the pits' regenerative uses, their power has also been used as a weapon. When Nyssa confronts the Injustice Society, she claims that the staffs wielded by her soldiers "channel the power of the Lazarus Pits" and have the ability to destroy both Solomon Grundy and Gentleman Ghost. In the New 52, the Lazarus Pit's formula is a tainted variation of a chemical called Dionesium which in it's purest state is capable of perfectly healing wounds, resurrecting the dead and even the giving of super-powers. Dionesium was also responsible for the super-villain Vandal Savage, the Talons who work for the Court of Owls, and at one point the Joker. Though Lazarus Pits are undeniably powerful and useful, they come with side effects, both of which happen immediately after the user emerges. The user both becomes temporarily insane (although when it was used on the Joker, it temporarily rendered him sane) and gains increased strength for a brief period. Each of the Lazarus Pits can only be used one time by a user, however Ra's al Ghul's daughter Nyssa discovered a way to make the Lazarus Pits last indefinitely, though how she does this is never revealed.

Lazarus Pit·the pit·Lazarus Pits·the pits

The League of Assassins are a sect of highly trained warriors that act as bodyguards/mercenaries for the Brotherhood of the Demon criminal empire. They have sworn eternal loyalty to the man who calls himself Ra's al Ghul, the Head of the Demon. The League of Assassins was founded by Ra's al Ghul (exactly when is unknown) to be the "Fang that protects the Head." Members of the League demonstrated a willingness to die at a word from Ra's. They have included some of the most dangerous assassins in the world including Lady Shiva, David Cain, and master archer Merlyn. For much of its current history, any member to fail in an assassination was in turn targeted by the League (and indeed, one of its best-known members, the master-archer Merlyn was eventually forced to flee from the League, fearing for his life, having failed to assassinate Batman). In more recent years this policy has apparently relaxed somewhat. Ebeneezer Darrk, aka Doctor Darrk, was the first known individual assigned to head the League of Assassins by Ra's al Ghul. Darrk himself was seconded by the Sensei, a martial arts master from Hong Kong. Although many of the League's leaders over the years have been accomplished martial artists, Daark himself did not depend on physical prowess, and as an assassin, he instead relied upon careful planning and manipulation, ambushes and death traps, as well as a variety of cleverly concealed weapons and poisons. Although the League apparently had an inner circle of elite fighters as well as a large number of warriors trained in the martial arts, the League during Daark's tenure as leader reflected his personal methodology. Following a "falling out" with Ra's (the exact details of which were never made clear) Darrk kidnapped Ra's daughter, Talia. Batman became involved in this matter while attempting to bring the League to justice for a number of recent killings. Although he had connected the League to several assassinations over the years, all previous attempts to investigate had met dead-ends. Batman rescued Talia (the first time the two would meet, laying the foundation for all their future interaction) and Darrk died while trying to kill them. Under the direction of the organization's second known leader, the villainous Sensei, the League became more brutal and rebelled against Ra's' rule. Although The Sensei's methods closely resembled Darrk's, and the majority of the League's operatives showed little to no real skill in personal combat, The Sensei did show slightly more reliance on skilled martial artists. This version of the League is best known for two assassinations. As part of an initiation process, the operative known as the Hook was assigned to murder Boston Brand (who became Deadman after his death). Additionally, Professor Ojo successfully brainwashed Ben Turner (best friend and partner of Richard Dragon), creating an alternate personality dubbed The Bronze Tiger, and turning the master martial artist into a League operative. As The Bronze Tiger, Turner defeated Batman in personal combat while another League operative murdered Kathy Kane (the secret identity of Batwoman in pre-Crisis continuity, and a close personal friend of Batman's post-crisis). Eventually, Turner's training at the hands of the O-Sensei proved too strong for the League to fully break, and when he refused to kill Batman he was forced to flee the League. Not long afterward, the insane Sensei - no longer motivated by anything but a desire to raise assassination to an art - attempted to cause an artificial earthquake in order to kill a number of diplomats gathered for peace talks. Batman traced Ben Turner to a hospital, foiling a League attempt to assassinate the man. Turner could not fully remember the actions of his alternate personality (although years later, as a member of the Suicide Squad, he would reveal that the League had used him to kill a number of people) but he was able to aid Batman in uncovering The Sensei's latest plot. Although Batman was unable to prevent the earthquake, ultimately it was only The Sensei himself that died in the disaster, and control of the League returned to Ra's. It was more recently revealed that, prior to the betrayals of Doctor Daark and the Sensei, Ra's had grown tired of the fickle loyalties of his warriors. Ra's assigned David Cain to create a perfect bodyguard ("The One Who Is All"). After early attempts to raise such a person resulted in hopelessly psychotic children, Cain decided that he needed a genetically suited child and began searching for a possible mother. To this end he assassinated Carolyn Woosan/Wu-San, one of two astonishingly talented martial artist sisters he had seen fighting in an exhibition. Carolyn's sister, Sandra, swore revenge and tracked Cain down, only to be subdued by the combined might of the League. Both intoxicated and frightened by the levels of skill she was attaining now that she was no longer holding back for her sister's sake, Sandra agreed to be the mother of Cain's child. In return, the League spared Sandra's life and assisted her in further training. By the time Sandra gave birth she had surpassed the entire League in skill. She left immediately following the birth of her daughter, Cassandra Cain, rechristening herself Lady Shiva. Other stories would suggest that at some points afterward, Shiva worked as a member of the League, and eyewitness testimony from former League member Onyx indicates that she kept in contact with the League, although she apparently did not see her daughter. Although most of her appearances over the years show her working independently, she apparently had some degree of League membership and was called upon by Ra's to "rescue" Talia during the Hush storyline. In keeping with Ra's and Cain's plans, the League attempted to train Cassandra Cain from birth to be the ultimate assassin, unknowingly giving her the skills she would use as the hero Batgirl. After the death of Ra's, his firstborn daughter Nyssa Raatko formed a new League. Lady Shiva was recruited to serve as Sensei to this incarnation of the League, with the intent that Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) would lead the warriors themselves. Reflecting Shiva's emphasis for martial arts, the known members of Nyssa's League were all skilled in this area, and included the warriors Shrike, Kitty Kumbata, Wam-Wam, Joey N'Bobo, Tigris, Momotado, Krunk, White Willow, the twin warriors Los Gemelos, Ox, "The Mad Dog", Alpha, and Cristos. The new League was present when Mr. Freeze's wife Nora Fries was brought back to life as the monstrous Lazara, and several members died in the resulting chaos. Due to the conflict between their loyalty to Shiva and Nyssa and their near-worship of Batgirl as "The One Who is All", the League split at that point, with Ox, White Willow, and Tigris pledging themselves to Cassandra. Several more members of the League (including all the defectors except Tigris) died when the insane "Mad Dog" went on a killing spree. "The Mad Dog", it was revealed, had been one of David Cain's early attempts to create Ra's' perfect warrior. The Mad Dog had been considered useless as a child since Cain's methods had driven him murderously insane, and Ra's had ordered the child be killed. Nyssa, however, knew that the servant ordered to carry out this execution had instead released him into the wild, explaining how it was possible to recruit him. The Mad Dog was successful in killing Batgirl (who gave her life to protect the burqa-clad assassin Tigris). She was quickly restored to life in a Lazarus Pit by Shiva, in order that the two could face each other in a final battle. Batgirl won leaving Shiva on a meat hook suspended over the Lazarus Pit. While searching for the Swiss in Rome, Bane encounters Ra's al Ghul's daughter, Talia. She introduces Bane to her father, and eventually, Bane impresses Ra's so much that he chooses Bane as his heir (an "honor" he had previously imparted on Batman). Ra's al Ghul and Bane then launch a plague attack on Gotham in the "Legacy" storyline. Bruce Wayne, again costumed as Batman, gets his rematch with Bane in Detective Comics #701 (September 1996) and finally defeats him in single combat. Since then, whenever Batman and Bane square off in battle, their fights usually end in a draw.The alliance between Ra's and Bane fell apart when he attempted to mate Bane with Talia;only Talia was repulsed by the "oaf". For a time, Bane dedicated himself to destroying as many Lazarus Pits as he could locate;tp deny Ra's his immortality. Although most of its members had died or defected, the League survived the Infinite Crisis and was seen to play an important role in The Society's world-wide prisonbreak. Throughout the period of the aftermath, it remained under the control of Nyssa until she was apparently killed in a car explosion. Cassandra Cain has apparently taken over the League as its new leader, although she abandoned the league at some point prior to the Teen Titans storyline Titans East, where it is revealed that she was being drugged by Deathstroke. Furthermore, it appears that Cassandra was battling for complete control of the League of Assassins with Ra's Al Ghul's youngest daughter Talia, as well as the Sensei. Talia who would naturally assume control of her father's empire by default following Nyssa's death has recently been seen in the Batman & Son storyline, leading ninja members of the League of Assassins, against Batman. At the same time, several members felt neither Talia nor Cassandra were up to the role, and, after failing to recruit Black Canary's adopted daughter Sin, gave the leadership to the Sensei, who recently reappeared in the Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul storyline. In the One Year Later event, Talia later forced Kirk Langstrom to give her the Man-Bat formula which she used to turn some of its members into Man-Bats. In the series Green Arrow/Black Canary #11, a metahuman faction of the League of Assassins was introduced. They were involved in the abduction of an injured Connor Hawke. These groups members included Bear (a Mexican yeti-like man), Tolliver (a vampire), Ruck (a four-armed gunman), Spike (a female martial artist capable of creating energy blades), Mazone (a bearded Samurai), and their leader Targa (a telekinetic little person). However, although they thought they were being commanded by Ra's al Ghul, they were apparently duped by an imposter, Shado. It was later revealed that while Cassandra Cain was leading the League, she was really being drugged by Deathstroke the Terminator. In Batman and Robin #9 Deathstroke; Slade Wilson, reappeared, where it was revealed he has been doing freelance work for the League of Assassins. Working for Talia Al Ghul, Slade controlled the body and physical actions of the current Robin, Damian Wayne in order to kill Wilson's old foe, Dick Grayson, who had taken up the mantle of Batman. Deathstroke is able to control Damian's actions thanks to a neural-implant inserted into Damian's spine by his mother while it was being surgically replaced. Grayson defeats Deathstroke by taking advantage of the two-way connection between him and Damian by using a taser on Damian, the resulting electric shock overwhelming Deathstroke's enhanced senses. It was revealed Slade was doing freelance work for the League for quite some time, dating back to when he drugged Cassandra Cain. Following the Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, the League has been reformed under Ra's Al Ghul. In the Red Robin title, Tim Drake infiltrated the League of Assassins and tried to bring it down from the inside. After a deal with Ra's Al Ghul to save Lucius Fox's daughter, Tam, Tim was assigned his own task force under the condition they would not kill. After an encounter with the Council of Spiders, Tim's entire task force was eliminated, save for Prudence, the one member who Tim was able to save. Indebted to Red Robin, Pru remained in the League as a mole for the Bat-Family, regularly conferring with Tim and acting as an informant.

The League of Assassins·the League·the League of Shadows

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's valet at Wayne Manor. He knows that Bruce is secretly Batman and aids him. Alfred Pennyworth, after a varied career, was employed as the Wayne family valet when Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. Alfred raised the young orphan and reluctantly aided him in his quest to become Batman. His many skills—ranging from cooking to medicine—make him Batman's staunchest ally, along with a formal demeanor that grounds the Dark Knight and deflects those who might otherwise suspect Batman's true identity. Alfred was originally nearly a completely different Butler character called Alfred Beagle, a retired intelligence agent who followed the deathbed wish of his dying father, Jarvis Beagle, to carry on the tradition of serving the Wayne Family. To that end, Alfred introduced himself to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson at Wayne Manor and insisted on becoming their butler. Although the pair did not want one, especially since they did not want to jeopardize their secret identities with a servant in the house, they did not have the heart to reject Alfred. That night, Alfred awoke to moaning and followed the sound to the secret door to the staircase to the Batcave and met his would-be employers in their superhero identities (Wayne had been injured while out in the field). As it turned out, the wounds were actually insignificant, but Alfred's care convinced the residents that their butler could be trusted. Since then, Alfred included the support staff duties of the Dynamic Duo on top of his regular tasks. Later, Alfred was reunited with his long-lost daughter, Julia Remarque. This character has yet to appear in the Post-Crisis comics. In the Post-Crisis comics' continuity, he first becomes indentified with the Pennyworth name in Batman #216 (1969). In Batman: Year One it is revealed that Thomas Wayne kept a bell in his private study to summon Alfred, implying he had been serving Bruce his entire life, staying loyal despite his vigilante crusade. At one point, Alfred along with Leslie Thompkins were Bruce's legal guardians following the deaths of his parents. Alfred's history has been modified several times over the years, creating assorted versions. In one such version, Alfred was hired away from the British Royal Family by Bruce's parents, and he virtually raised Bruce after they were murdered. Meanwhile, another version of Alfred's Post-Crisis life was slightly more closely linked to his pre-Crisis counterpart. In this version Alfred was an actor on the English Stage, who agreed to become the Wayne's butler, only so as to honor the dying wish of his father. At the time he begins working for the Wayne's when Bruce was but a young child. After several months, Alfred voices the desire to quit and return home to continue his life as an actor. However, these plans are momentarily forgotten when young Bruce returns home, after getting into a fight with a school bully. Alfred teaches Bruce to handle the bully strategically, rather than using brute force. Following Alfred's advice, Bruce manages to take care of his bully problem. Upon returning home, Bruce requests that Alfred stays, and Alfred agrees without a second thought. Following the Infinite Crisis however it appears that Alfred's history has been merged to combine both his pre and post-Crisis histories. He spent years as a member of the British Guard and later became a member of MI-5 before retiring and taking up his love of acting. Following his father's death, he then became the Wayne Family Butler. Whether or not the rest of his history has remained the same or has been yet again altered has not yet been revealed, although it has been occasionally hinted at. Following the murders of the Wayne Family, Alfred was named Bruce's legal guardian in the will left by Thomas and Martha, however, social services combated the will feeling that Bruce should not be raised by a servant. However, Bruce managed to remain in Alfred's care by, despite his young age, bribing the social service agent into allowing Alfred to raise him. Alfred would later aid Bruce in raising Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake, all of whom would be adopted by Bruce Wayne and become his partner Robin. He also had close friendships with other members of the Bat-Clan including Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain (the latter of whom would also be adopted by Bruce prior to his death). Alfred often acts as a father-figure to Bruce, and a grandfather to Dick, Jason, Tim and Cassandra. However, due to his rather cold personality, Bruce Wayne makes sure that at least some degree of the business relationship between the two always exists. He is also highly respected by those heroes who are aware of his existence, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the original Teen Titans. Alfred has also been romantically linked to Dr. Leslie Thompkins, though his relationship with her never came to anything beyond occasional dates, particularly after she apparently allowed Stephanie Brown to die from neglect. He also developed feelings for Tim Drake's stepmother, but again, nothing came out of it. During the events of Knightquest, Alfred accompanies Wayne to England and becomes enraged when Wayne insists on endangering his own health while paraplegic. This was the culmination of several weeks of Wayne's self-destructive behavior, and when Wayne returns to Gotham, Alfred remains in England, tendering his resignation. He spends some time vacationing in Antarctica and The Bahamas before returning to England. Dick Grayson tracks him down several months later and convinces him to return to Wayne Manor. In that story, it was revealed he had walked out of his own wedding years earlier. His resourcefulness came to the fore in the No Man's Land storyline, especially in Legends of the Dark Knight #118. Batman is missing for weeks, leaving Alfred alone to watch his city for him. He uses his skills as an actor, storyteller, medic, and spy to survive and collect information on the recently destroyed society. Alfred even uses hand-to-hand combat in a rare one-panel fight sequence between him and a pair of slavers that ends with his rescue by Batman. At a point in which Commissioner Gordon was shot and nearly killed, Alfred took notice that Bruce was behaving increasingly out of sorts. Feeling that Bruce had pushed his entire family as far away as possible, Alfred gave Bruce his resignation and left his employment. Alfred, however, continued to work with the Bat-family, going with Tim to the Brentwood Academy for Boys, working as his butler. Following Bruce being accused of murdering a girlfriend (actually executed by David Cain), Alfred returned to Bruce's employment. In Batman #677, agents of Batman's mysterious enemy the Black Glove attack and beat Alfred in front of Bruce and Jezebel Jet, severely injuring him. In the same issue, a reporter from The Gotham Gazette suggests to Commissioner Gordon that Alfred may be Bruce's biological father and that this may be a reason for the murder of Martha Wayne. Alfred later denies the entire story, agreeing with Bruce that it was a fabrication. Alfred is the last member of the Bat-Family to see Bruce alive, prior to his reported death at the hands of Darkseid. In Batman And The Outsiders Special, Alfred is seen apologizing at the grave's of Thomas and Martha Wayne at the loss of Bruce, commenting that he grieves as a parent, regarding Bruce as his son. Later, a secret panel in Alfred's room opens, the result of a failsafe planted by Bruce in the event of his death. Bruce leaves his one final task, and also gives him an emotional goodbye, telling Alfred he considered him as a father. Alfred then assembled a new team of Outsiders, now under his control, while continuing to serve as the Wayne family butler to Bruce's adopted children: Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain and eventually, Damian Wayne. Even after Bruce was returned, Alfred continued his work at Wayne Manor with Grayson while Bruce spread out as Batman Incorporated. After the timeline is reset, Bruce Wayne is once again working out of Wayne Manor with Alfred as his primary confidante. When the Joker mounts his latest attack against Batman, his first step is to abduct Alfred, prompting concern from the rest of the family that the Joker knows Batman's true identity, but Bruce affirms that the Joker just chose Alfred because of Wayne's connection to Batman Inc. rather than personal knowledge, later confessing to Alfred that he once 'tested' the Joker and confirmed that the Joker is incapable of acknowledging the idea that Batman may have another identity. During a major assault on Batman's life, Alfred is reunited with his long-absent daughter, Julia Pennyworth, an agent of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, when Batman finds her in Hong Kong and takes her back to Wayne Manor for medical treatment after she is stabbed with a samurai sword through the chest by a Chinese gang boss the two were hunting. Although Julia is initially hostile to Alfred, feeling that he has wasted his life going from a soldier to tending to a fop like Bruce Wayne, after Alfred is attacked by Hush and infected with a fear toxin, Julia discovers the Batcave and takes on her father's role to coordinate the Bat-Family's efforts. Alfred is briefly transferred to Arkham before it is attacked as part of the conspiracy, but he manages to survive the explosion and trick Bane into helping him reach an emergency cave Batman had installed under the asylum, the cave's defenses knocking Bane out and allowing Alfred to call for help. When Hush was briefly kept prisoner in the Batcave, he managed to break out of his cell and lock Alfred in it before sabotaging the Bat-Family's equipment via the computer as they fought various villains, including crashing the Batwing with Batman still in it. However, he was swiftly returned to captivity when Alfred escaped the cell and knocked Hush out, Alfred harshly informing Tommy that he was hardly going to be locked up in his own home. When the Joker mounted his final assault, feeling that Batman had 'changed the rules' in their last confrontation, he broke into the Batcave and cut off Alfred's hand. Julia was able to get her father swift medical treatment and he was reported to be in stable condition, but Alfred falls into a deep depression after Bruce's apparent death, even rejecting the idea of having his hand reattached as there was no point without Bruce to serve. However, after Bruce is discovered to be alive but with no memory of who he is or his life as Batman, Alfred tells Bruce everything that had happened in his life up to the point of the creation of Batman, but accepts Bruce's request not to learn any more, hoping that this would give Bruce a chance at a life without pain and the burning desire to be Batman, allowing his life as Bruce Wayne to finally begin. However, when the new villain Mr. Bloom launches a mass attack on Gotham, the amnesic Bruce pieces together enough information to deduce that he was once Batman, and convinces Alfred to subject him to a machine that will theoretically download all of his memories as Batman into his mind. Bruce's original plan was for this machine to be used to create a series of clones of himself that could be programmed to continue his mission, but although the process failed because simulations confirmed that the human mind could not handle Batman's trauma, Bruce comes through the process by having Alfred take him to the point of brain-death and then download his memories onto his blank brain. After Bloom was defeated, Bruce arranged for Alfred have his hand reattached. When the Flashpoint Batman and Bane took over Gotham, they held Alfred hostage as a deterrent to the Bat-Family. However, Damian eventually decided to attempt to stop them. After capturing the teenager, Bane went through with his threat and broke Alfred's neck, killing him. Attributes: 1. Skilled actor 2. Trained in emergency medical techniques 3. Proficient with mechanical and computer systems 4. Expert in domestic sciences 5. Unflappable manner 6. Unlike Batman, perfectly willing to wield firearms during times of crisis Alfred has taken on the role as Bruce Wayne's surrogate father after the death of his parents. Aside from that, Alfred is loyal, intelligent, caring, hardworking, tireless, sometimes sarcastic, wise, brave, bold, protective, kind and fatherly. Despite occasionally worrisome about Bruce's safety, he none the less supports him in his crusade to rid Gotham of crime as Batman and is very resourceful to him. Abilities: Genius Intellect: Alfred is a highly intelligent and resourceful man. Master Physician: Being a former combat medic, Alfred is a highly skilled and versatile physician, with the Wayne family resources, he can make and administer professional medication for the Bat Family's health care. He could provide first aid and suture wounds and remove bullets, perform arthroscopy and other advanced medical procedures to treat grievous injuries. Master Chef: As part of his butler duties, Alfred is a first rate chef, making the most delectable meals from haute cuisine such as gourmet meals for Bruce and social galas hosted at Wayne Manor to street food such as Chili dogs for Jason Todd. Most importantly, Alfred cooked meals in accordance to Bruce's specialized diets for crime fighting, incorporating knowledge of clinical nutrition and nutritional science to support and improve Bruce's health and constitution while still maintaining great taste. Expert Tailor: Alfred is a very skilled tailor, having frequently repaired and maintained many of Bruce Wayne's clothing from his suits, tuxedos to the Batsuit. Alfred's father, Jarvis Pennyworth, had previous served the Wayne family as their butler prior to his employ. His death motivated Alfred to take over the position to the Wayne family. Alfred also has a brother named Wilfred, an accomplished theater actor, and a niece, Daphne. Neither have been involved in his line of work, though have been involved in several of Batman's cases. The Earth-One version of Alfred was at one point romantically linked with Mademoiselle Marie. Through her, Alfred had a daughter, Julia Pennyworth. Unlike her parents, she was initially a journalist, though was involved in several of Batman's cases. During the New 52, Julia was reintroduced as Alfred's daughter with an unnamed woman. Similar to her father, Julia became involved in espionage and military organizations, such as MI6 and Special Reconnaissance Regiment. Like her father, Julia is aware of Batman's dual identity. Since the multiverse's recreation following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Alfred has served as the surrogate/foster father of Bruce Wayne after his parents' murder. Through Batman, he has served as as the surrogate grandfather to the various Robins and Batgirls, including Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain and Damian Wayne. One of Alfred's cousins is one of Europe's most skilled heart surgeons--at Alfred's urging;Batman bodyguarded him from an assassination attempt. Scott Snyder's All-Star Batman series introduced a clone of Alfred called the Dark Knight, created by the Nemesis Program agent Briar. Though more of a genetic template, Alfred arguably serves as the "biological father" of the clone.

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth·Alfred Pennyworth·Pennyworth·Alfred

Jason Peter Todd first appeared in Batman #357 (1983) and became the second Robin, sidekick to the superhero Batman, when the previous Robin, Dick Grayson went on to star in The New Teen Titans under the moniker of Nightwing. Though originally popular, following a revamping of his origin by Max Allan Collins, the Jason Todd version of Robin was not well received by fans. For 1988's Batman: A Death in the Family story-line, DC Comics held a telephone poll to determine whether or not the character would die at the hands of the Joker, Batman's arch-nemesis. The character was killed off by a vote of 5343–5271. Subsequent Batman stories dealt with Batman's guilt over not being able to prevent Jason's death. However, in 2005's story arc Under the Hood the character was resurrected, eventually becoming the second Red Hood and assuming a new role as an antihero who resembles Batman in many ways, except with a willingness to use lethal force and weapons. Beginning in June 2010, Todd starred in "Red Hood: The Lost Days," a six-issue miniseries that was timed to coincide with the release of the DC animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, which was a movie adaptation of the comic series Under The Hood. The story, written by Judd Winick, concentrated on Jason Todd's lost years of globe-trotting and training after his death and resurrection before his return to Gotham. The initial version of Jason Todd had an origin that was a similar origin to the first Robin, Dick Grayson. Originally, like Grayson, Jason is the son of circus acrobats (the Flying Todds) killed by a criminal (Killer Croc) and is later adopted by Bruce Wayne. Distinguished by his red hair (as opposed to the black hair of Dick Grayson), Todd is unfailingly cheerful, wearing his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presents him with a Robin costume of his own. At that point, Jason dyes his hair black, and in later stories blossoms under Batman's tutelage. Following the revamp of the Batman mythos due to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason Todd is recast as a young street orphan who first encounters the Dark Knight while attempting to steal the tires of the Batmobile. Bruce Wayne sees to it that Jason is placed in a school for troubled youths. Jason earns the mantle of Robin a short while later by helping Batman apprehend a gang of thieves. However, Todd does not wear the Robin costume (an improved version of) until after six months of training. Batman realizes that while Jason doesn't possess Dick Grayson's acrobatic skills, he can become a productive crime-fighter by channeling his rage. He also believes that if he doesn't help the boy, Jason will eventually become part of the "criminal element." Jason also aided Batman while Gotham City was temporarily overrun by Deacon Blackfire. Unlike Dick Grayson or the pre-Crisis Jason, the post-Crisis Jason is impulsive, reckless, and full of rage. Jason Todd was the child of Willis and Catherine Todd, being raised in Gotham City. His father was a petty crook who ended up serving a prison sentence, and even after the sentence was served, his father did not return to the family. That left Jason alone with his drug-addicted mother, who he tried to take care of by ripping off car parts such as tires for cash. Sadly, his mother would soon die of an overdose and he would be left alone. He fended for himself just as he had taken care of his mother before, by continuing to rip off car parts. One night, Jason came across the Batmobile, which was parked in an alley. Batman had recently put new tires on the vehicle but had not replaced the hubcaps with the redesigned ones yet. This created an opportunity that Jason could not pass up. Batman caught him when he had already stolen one of the tires and was coming to take the others. Batman tried to put Jason in a boarding school for troubled kids, but this did not work out for Jason as the owner of the school was actually running a training ground for youthful criminals. Batman instead decides that perhaps the boy's anger could be channeled against criminals as Robin, or else the boy would likely end up a criminal himself. This is how Jason Todd became the second Robin. He was not the acrobat Dick Grayson was, but he was a strong kid with skills from life on Gotham's streets. On their first official mission as Batman and Robin, it was discovered that Jason's father was killed by the criminal Two-Face. Furious at the knowledge and the fact that Batman knew of it, Jason went on a rampage until at last, he confronted Two-Face. Rather than kill Dent, however, Jason mastered his anger and lets Dent be arrested, much to Batman's pride. While Jason soon proved to be one of Batman's most enthusiastic students, he was also the most troubled. Brash and impulsive, Jason's former life on the streets had left him with an ambiguous sense of right and wrong. This often placed Jason in opposition to the values his mentor was trying to teach him. Jason often uses excessive force to subdue criminals. In one adventure, asked to "hold off" villains, Jason instantly takes to firing at them with a gun, despite Batman's abhorrence for firearms. The most dramatic of these moral clashes, however, happened when Jason tracked down Felipe Garzonasa, a foreign national who had raped a young woman and later drove her to suicide. Moments after Jason arrived, Garzonasa plunged to his death from his apartment balcony. While the truth is still unknown, there is a distinct possibility that Jason pushed Felipe off the balcony, thereby breaking Batman's strict code against ever taking a life. Afraid of Jason possibly murdering someone, Batman asks Barbara Gordon, to come out of retirement as Batgirl, and work with Jason on a case, hoping that she might gain a better insight into Jason's behavior. Although the pair work well together, Barbara is unable to deny the darkness in Jason, which she later warns Bruce about. Jason later discovers his mother was not his biological mother and runs away to find the woman who gave birth to him. After following a number of leads, Jason finally tracks his mother, Sheila, to Ethiopia, where she works as an aid worker. While Jason is overjoyed to be reunited with his real mother, he soon discovers that she is being blackmailed by Joker, who is using her to provide him with medical supplies. Sheila herself has been embezzling funds from the agency and as part of the cover-up, she hands her own son, who arrives as Robin, over to the Joker. The Joker brutally beat the boy with a crowbar and then left Jason and Sheila in the warehouse with a time bomb. Sheila and Robin try desperately to get out of the warehouse but are still inside as the bomb goes off. Batman arrives too late to save them and is only able to hold Jason's lifeless body in his arms. The bodies are taken back to Gotham City for burial. For the next decade's worth of stories, Jason's death haunts Batman, who keeps Jason's costume on display in the Batcave. Batman considers this his greatest failure: not properly training Jason in his role as Robin, and failing to protect him from the Joker. In the years to come, he would erect a memorial in the Batcave made from Jason's uniform. Years later, while trying to discover the identity of a mysterious figure plotting against him (who turns out to be Hush), Batman discovers that Robin (Tim Drake) has been kidnapped. When he confronts the kidnapper he discovers, much to his surprise, that the kidnapper is apparently an adult Jason Todd. Batman subdues this mystery "Jason" and discovers that it is Clayface impersonating Jason. It is later revealed that Jason indeed had died at the hands of the Joker, but when Superboy-Prime alters reality from the paradise dimension in which he is trapped (six months after his death), Jason is restored to life and breaks out of his coffin (with his bare hands), walked away from the graveyard (approximately 12 miles) before collapsing and thereafter is hospitalized, as the injuries inflicted by the Joker had not fully healed. After spending a year in a coma and subsequently, as an amnesiac vagrant, he is recognized by a petty criminal who soon informs Talia Head. After some time, Talia restores his health and memory by immersing him in a Lazarus Pit in which her father Ra's is also bathing. It is suggested at that time that exposure to the Pit's energies together with Al-Ghul might have affected Jason's personality. On Talia's advice, Jason determines his death was never avenged and prepares to confront Batman by traveling across the globe in the same path of training as his mentor. When Batman expresses no remorse for sparing the Joker's life after Jason was killed, Jason is further enraged and takes up the mantle of the Red Hood. Shortly after the events of War Games and War Crimes, Jason Todd reappears in Gotham City as the Red Hood, hijacking a shipment of Kryptonite from Black Mask. In the midst of a battle with Batman, Nightwing, and Mr. Freeze, the Red Hood gives them the Kryptonite back, and tells them he has gotten what he truly wanted: a "lay of the land." Shortly afterward, the Red Hood finds the Joker (driven out of Gotham by Hush) and beats him with a crowbar just as the Joker had once beaten Jason. Despite the violent beating, Jason spares the Joker, intending to use him later against Batman. The Red Hood assumes control over several gangs in Gotham City and starts a one-man war against Black Mask's criminal empire. Overall, he strives to cleanse the city of its corruption, such as drug dealing and gang violence, and to kill the Joker in revenge for his own death. Because of his anti-heroic activities, he repeatedly comes to blows with Batman and several of his allies. A Robin mask was found in the Batmobile, which never belonged to Dick or Tim, but it was of the style that Jason wore as Robin. Around this time, Batman discovers that Jason's coffin has always been empty, and he begins to question whether or not Jason had actually died. Despite his return, Jason's Robin costume remains in its memorial display case in the Batcave; when Alfred asked if Bruce wanted the costume removed, Bruce replied that the return of Jason "doesn't change anything at all." Knowing that Tim Drake has not only replaced him as Robin but is reportedly a better Robin than he had been, Jason breaks into Titans Tower to confront Tim. Wearing an altered version of his own Robin costume, Jason quickly immobilizes the other Titans and strikes him down in the Tower's Hall of Fallen Titans. Furious that no memorial statue was made for him (despite his short tenure as a Titan), Jason demands that Tim tell him if he is really as good as Jason has been told. Tim says “Yes” and passes out. As he leaves, Jason tears the 'R' emblem from Tim's chest. In the Epilogue, Jason has apparently developed a grudging respect for his replacement as he states, "I'll admit. He's good." Jason is also left wondering if perhaps he would have been a better Robin and a better person had he had a life like Tim's and friends like the Titans. Jason's return crescendos when he kidnaps the Joker and holds him hostage, luring Batman to Crime Alley, the site of their first meeting. Jason asks Batman why he has not avenged his death by killing the Joker, and Batman tells Jason that he will never cross that line. An enraged Jason explains that even ignoring all the people he's killed and the crippling of Batgirl, he believed that after his death at the hands of the Joker, he'd finally be able to kill him, "doing it because he took me away from you". Despite this, Batman explains that it is not too hard for him to kill the Joker, it would be too easy; he has never once not fantasized about taking the Joker somewhere private and torturing him for maybe weeks before finally killing him, but refuses to go to that place. Jason offers Batman an ultimatum: Jason will kill the Joker unless Batman kills Jason first. Holding the Joker at gunpoint, Jason throws a pistol to Batman and begins to count to three while standing behind the Joker, leaving Batman with only a headshot if he wants to stop Jason pulling the trigger. At the last moment, Batman throws a batarang that cuts down an object and slices Jason's neck. The Joker takes advantage of the situation, detonating nearby explosives that engulf the platform they are on and sending them plunging into the bay. Jason resurfaces one year after the Infinite Crisis patrolling the streets of New York City as a murderous version of Nightwing. Jason shows no intention of giving up the Nightwing persona and continues to taunt Dick Grayson by wearing the costume and suggesting that the two become a crime-fighting team. Grayson refuses to join his side and methods of crime-fighting. Not long after the two Nightwings meet up, Jason is captured and imprisoned by unknown mobsters. Rescued by a reluctant Grayson, the two join forces to defeat the Pierce brothers. Jason leaves New York City and the Nightwing mantle to Grayson, along with a telegram telling Grayson he has returned to normal and still considers them family. Jason appears once more in several issues of Green Arrow alongside Brick as part of a gun-running organization, which brings Batman to Star City. Jason's true motives are shown in the third part as he kidnaps Mia Dearden (Speedy) in an effort to convert her to his side, feeling that they are kindred spirits, cast down by society and at odds with their mentors. The two fight while conversing but when Jason is unsuccessful in his bid to turn Mia, he settles for blowing up her high school. Mia is deeply troubled by what transpired between her and Jason but ultimately decides to stick with Green Arrow. At the start of Countdown, Jason Todd resumes his persona as the Red Hood and rescues a woman from Duela Dent (aka Two Face's Daughter). After a Monitor shoots and kills Duela, he attempts to kill Jason but is stopped by a second Monitor. This second Monitor apologizes to Jason before they both disappear, leaving Jason alone with Duela's body. Later, at Duela's funeral, Jason hides until all of the Teen Titans have left except Donna Troy. Jason tells her what happened the night of Duela's death, and about the dueling Monitors. He knows that both he and Donna Troy have come back from the dead, and wonders which of them is next on the Monitor's hit list. The two are then attacked by the Forerunner, but before she can kill them, the apologetic Monitor stops her, and recruits Jason and Donna for a mission to the Palmerverse (a section of the Nanoverse discovered by Ray Palmer), in an attempt to find Palmer. During the trip, Jason takes it upon himself to name the Monitor "Bob". On Earth-51, Jason meets that world's Batman. It was shown that this version of Batman had begun to use lethal force when his Jason died. Jason Todd of New Earth is then given a new costume and the codename, Red Robin. Earth-51 Batman had originally planned to give those to his Jason, but he died before it was time. During a final confrontation on Earth-51, Batman is killed, much to Jason's fury. After landing on Apokolips and battling against Darkseid's forces, the team returns to New Earth, Jason once again turns his back on life as a costumed hero, and returns to his old ways of dealing with crime. Following Batman's disappearance during the events of Batman R.I.P. Jason begins manipulating the Gang Wars in Gotham, so as to take control of them. Unfortunately, Jason's approach leads to more bloodshed and violence. With both Nightwing and Batman unavailable, it falls to Tim Drake to deal with the mess Jason created. Jason however, asks Tim to join forces with him, though Tim, of course, refuses on the grounds that Jason's methods are too questionable. This leads to a confrontation between Jason and Tim Drake, which is interrupted by the arrival of another Red Robin, whose identity is initially a mystery but later turns out to be Ulysses Armstrong. Due to a combination of Red Robin's involvement and a gun-toting gang member, Jason was shot in the leg and arrested by police. Upon the resolution of the gang war in Gotham, Tim Drake - under a pseudonym visited Jason in prison to give him the Justice League access code to release himself from prison, due primarily to the fact that Tim believes that Jason should be given another chance at redemption. Following his escape, Jason continues on the mend and is summoned by Tim to come to the Batcave, where Batman has left his Last Will and Testament statement for him. After hearing the statement in private, Jason prepares to leave, not revealing what he was told, although he does pause before his old costume and the tattered remains of Batman's. It is later revealed that the message left for Jason was Bruce admitting that of all his failures, Jason was the biggest. Bruce states that he regrets never offering Jason any help or feeling for his obvious emotional hardships, but instead dressing him up as Robin and putting him in constant danger. These words, however, only cause Jason to snap completely, leading to the events of the Battle for the Cowl. Following his escape from prison, Jason apparently decided to put a bid in for the Bat-mantle. He wore a black and grey Batsuit with two handguns, various other weapons, and a mouthplate. He is also living/operating out of an abandoned Gotham subway system. His inner monologue demonstrated that he'd always had a desire to eventually replace Batman, and his displeasure with Batman becoming a public figure, rather than an urban legend. Jason begins his war on crime using lethal tactics and leaving slips of paper saying "I AM BATMAN". After Jason manages to take down a group of thugs, he then escapes only to have Nightwing and Damian Wayne on his tail. Nightwing deduces that the impostor is Jason Todd. After a short quarrel, Damian is shot by Jason. At the same time, Tim Drake begins a search to stop the impostor and dresses as Batman in order to demonstrate how the real Batman would have acted. Tim finds Jason Todd's "Batcave" in a subway station and is saved from a booby trap by Catwoman, who knows Tim is behind the mask. Jason ambushes them, disposing of Catwoman, and then getting into a fight with Tim before impaling him in the chest with a Batarang, exclaiming "One more to go". After questioning himself, following Damian's near death, Nightwing goes forth against Jason, intending to take down Todd once and for all. The pair battle, all the while with Jason claiming that Tim is dead, unaware that Tim survived and was saved by Damian and the Squire. The battle accumulates to Nightwing kicking Jason off a speeding train. When Dick attempted to help Jason, the other man refused and fell to his supposed death, though claiming they would see each other again soon. This allowed Dick to officially assume the mantle of Batman. Jason survived his fall and gave up his claim to Batman's mantle. Dick was Batman now, and Jason set out to become Dick's direct competition. He reworked his Red Hood identity to be more dramatic and attention-grabbing by creating a costume for it, a costume very similar to the original Red Hood outfit the Joker had used. Also, he stopped dying his hair black and allowed it to grow red again with a small gray streak left by his previous exposure to a Lazarus Pit. To complete his transformation, he even found himself a sidekick. This was Scarlet, the daughter of a criminal and the victim of Professor Pyg's practice of mutilation. His intent was for them to become Gotham City's new dynamic duo, supplanting the old one. With his new partner, Jason resumed his brutal and lethal methods of dealing with criminals, but now there was a twist. Using the media and the Internet, he exposed his methods to the public and actively marketed them as the way things should be done. Public opinion was actually at least somewhat in his favor, especially after he showed Batman and Robin protecting Penguin from him and Scarlet. He was able to keep ahead of Batman and Robin, getting to criminals first and evading their attempts to apprehend him. That lasted until he tracked down a criminal who got away from him to finish what he had started. Batman and Robin arrived to stop them, and the two duos fought. The fight went in Jason's favor. Instead of the two heroes capturing him, he captured them, stripped them naked, and locked them out of his way for the time being. His plan was to reveal to the world on a Twitter webcam, the identities of Batman and Robin if the public offered enough attention to it. It was then that Jason and Scarlet were ambushed by an assassin called Flamingo. He took two shots from a sniper's rifle, shattering his helmet. While Batman and Robin escaped from his trap, Todd and Scarlet attempted to combat against Flamingo. However, both of them proved inferior to Flamingo's skills, and it was only with the timely arrival of Batman and Robin that they were not killed. Jason used the Dynamic Duo as a cover, and proceeded to crush Flamingo with a truck, while Damian threw himself in front of an attack to save Scarlet, leaving him crippled. Scarlet escaped, and Jason was again taken into police custody. As he was dragged away, however, he shouted at Dick that if the Lazarus Pits could revive him from the dead (a half-truth), then why hadn't Dick done it for Bruce? Strength: Jason Todd possesses the normal human strength of a 6-foot, 225-pound young man who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise. Jason is capable of lifting over 1000 lbs. Abilities: 1. Lazarus-Enhanced Capabilities 2. Peak Human Conditioning 3. Peak Human Strength 4. Peak Human Speed 5. Peak Human Stamina 6. Peak Human Agility 7. Peak Human Reflexes 8. Peak Human Durability 9. Master Martial Artist 10. Master Marksman 11. Weapon Master 12. Skilled Swordsman 13. Expert Acrobat 14. Genius-Level Intellect 15. Expert Tactician & Strategist 16. Master Detective 17. Expert Computer Hacker 18. Expert Inquisitor 19. Expert Escape Artist 20. Master of Disguise 21. Expert Vehicular Driver 22. Expert Bomb Assembly and Defusal 23. Expert Tracker 24. Expert Leader 25. Occultism 26. Expert Intimidator 27. Indomitable Will 28. Master Spy Red Hood Costume: After his resurrection and return to Gotham, Jason used the guise of Red Hood. The first costume consisted of Jeans, a T-shirt, a Biker Jacket, A domino mask that is held in place by Spirit Gum, and The Red Hood Mask. His mask contains a Radio Transmitter and Receiver as well as Night Vision. He has Gauntlets that contain compartments for his weapons, which are deadlier. His weapons of choice are a pair of customized Jericho 941s, fitted with extra serrations and mini red dot sights, an assortment of shurikens, and a flame dagger, a replica of one of Ra's Al Ghul's weapons. His second costume has the Red Hood Mask, which is still metallic, although it appears to have been modified. He wears a white and Grey costume which also comes with a cape. In the middle of his chest is a Red Skull. He uses lethal force by means of his two red pistols. The third version of the costume is similar to the first with the exceptions of a red bat emblem on the chest, a brown biker jacket, and a more form-fitting mask with Jason's mouth visible and a distinct absence of a domino mask underneath instead he has a mask like his old Robin mask under the hood. Jason's new outfit possesses tech and weapons inside it similar to the Batman Beyond suit. So far shown are glider wings housed in the forearms and a grappling hook with reticle aimer on the left forearm. Jason's helmet or "hood" provides a moderate degree of protection. When a Talon stabbed it with a knife cracking it, Jason was shocked that a knife was able to do that and stated that no knife should be able to crack his hood. Also, Jason used a dosage of Venom while on a mission with Supergirl. His most recent suit consists of the standard biker jacket, jeans, and metallic mask. However, he now wears an armor-like shirt with the red bat emblem. He also modifies his attire with technology regularly, with one suit containing retractable blades along the arms. His most recent suit has a taser powerful enough to stun an Amazon while on a low charge. He also wields pistols that fire normal bullets along with other types of ammo such as sedative injectors and anti-tank rounds. In most, if not all instances, Jason usually carries a firearm with him. He usually only carries dual pistols with him, but will use whatever gun he feels suits his purposes. Transportation: 1. Motorcycle 2. Car 3. Helicopter 4. Boat Weapons: 1. Automatic Handguns 2. Tasers 3. Grenades/Other Explosives 4. Batarangs 5. Electric Wings 6. Knife 7. Twin Blade Katanas 8. All-Blades 9. Crowbar

Jason Todd·Jason Peter Todd·Jason·Todd+4