Ra's Al Ghul (DC animated universe)
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| Dennis O'Neil Neal Adams |
Ra's Al Ghul, a DC Comics supervillain and enemy of Batman, consistently appeared in Batman: The Animated Series, and several of the related series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, played by David Warner.
The DC animated universe version of Ra's Al Ghul is probably the most consistent character with its comic books version, as was Talia and Ubu and the relationship they all have between them and Batman. Ra's, who is also six hundred years old in the series, is shown at first as a weakened, aged man who could barely keep up with Batman. After immersing himself in the Lazarus pit, however, he becomes a physical match for him. He constantly refers to Batman as "Detective".
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[edit] Appearances
- Off Balance
- The Demon's Quest, part I
- The Demon's Quest, part II
- Showdown
- Avatar
- The Demon's Reborn (Superman: The Animated Series)
- Out of the Past (Batman Beyond)
[edit] DCAU Biography
He first makes a brief cameo, at the end of Off Balance, which focuses on the first meeting between Batman and Talia (Ra's daughter) and their chemistry working together. Talia concealed her identity from Batman, pretending to help him recover a stolen weapon, only to ultimately betray him as ordered by her father. Ra's was seen at the end of the episode, communicating with Talia via video link as she returned to him and the weapon explotes.
He later made his first major appearance in the two-part episode, The Demon's Quest, scripted by Dennis O'Neil and modeled after "Daughter of the Demon". Here, his ecoterrorism mirrored that of his incarnation in the comics; he attempts to destroy the world by setting off bombs in all the world's Lazarus Pits, drowning the world in the liquid. He even calculates a precise estimation of the casualties his plot would create, to ensure that the world was not completely annihilated, as per his plans. Batman, however, stoppes the bombs and Ra's himself falls into a Lazarus Pit after a sword duel with Batman.
One departure from the comics, however, was the revelation that Ra's also had a son, Arkady Duvall (voiced by Malcolm McDowell), whom he considered too unstable and cruel to inherit his empire, especially when he was defeated by Jonah Hex in the 19th century. However, in Showdown, the Shadow Society breaks the now senile Arkady out of the institution where he is still kept and leaves batman a tape in which Ra's explains to Batman how they both losed an attempt to invade the United States to Jonah Hex, tho then reveal the nature of their bond. Batman decided to let Ra's Al Ghul this time.
Later appearances show Ra's focusing on prolonging his life even longer to complete his goals. In Avatar, Batman and Talia follows him to Egypt, where he is planning to wakeup a goddess in order to get inmortality. There, they recue Ra's from the goddess who turns out to suck his youth instead. After saving him, Batman tries to apprehend Ra's Al Ghul, but the detective is betrayed by Talia in favor of letting her father escape.
Ra's Alghul doesn't appear in The New Batman Adventures, but makes an appearance in Superman: The Animated Series, in which he targets Superman in an attempt to steal his powers and save his life. His aspect is more deteriorated than in previous appearances, but as he brefly gets Superman's powers, he gets pumped up like Bane.
Ra's is also featured in Batman Beyond, although there was a twist to his reappearance; he has taken possession of his daughter's body after his own death, replacing her mind with his own and using it to trick the elderly Bruce Wayne into accepting a series of dips into the Lazarus Pit to rejuvinate him enough to do the same to him. Ra's fights Terry McGinnis, Wayne's successor as Batman, and dies in an explosion while trying to save his mind machine. Bruce Wayne pettied who his life ended up with no dignity.
Ra's plays a role in the Near Apocalypse of '09 mentioned in Justice League Unlimited.
[edit] Design
As his background, Ra's Al Ghul design doesn't change much from the comics. The most significant differences are the thick eyebrowns he has in the series and the fact tha he wears the green suit with cape more often.
He is also among the charters that never changed designs after Batman: The Animated series. In The Demon Reborn, because of the circumstantial lack of effect of the Lazarus pits, he look around three decades older with no hair, bigger nose, longer white eyebrows, bad teeth and using a wheelchair, then he gets the regular look back but bulked up after getting Superman's power, but he eventually goes back to hes regular look.[edit] Action figures
[edit] Talia
- Talia is Ra's Al Ghul daughter. She is in conflict betwen her love for her father and her love for Batman.
[edit] Ubu
[edit] The Shadow Society
[edit] See also
- Ra's Al Ghul, the original version from the comics.
- Ra's Al Ghul, from the Batman Begins movie.
[edit] External links
- The World's Finest, a site with a complete guide to the DC animated universe. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
- Ra's Al Ghul at DCAUResource.com
- The Animated Batman, an Unofficial Guide, a site with a complete guide to Bruce Timm's Batman. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
