| “ | Crime, despair...this is not how man was supposed to live. The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome, loaded trade ships with plague rats, burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance. You are defending a city so corrupt, we have infiltrated every level of its infrastructure. When I found you in that jail, you were lost. But I believed in you. I took away your fear, and I showed you a path. You were my greatest student. It should be you standing by my side, saving the world. | „ |
| ~ Ra's motive rant to Bruce Wayne. |
Ra's al Ghul, also known as Henri Ducard is the main antagonist of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, serving as the main antagonist of Batman Begins and one of the two posthumous overarching antagonists (alongside Two-Face) of The Dark Knight Rises.
He is the leader of the League of Shadows with the purpose of jeopardizing Gotham City, thereby effectively destroying the city as he believes it to be beyond saving. He is also the father of Talia Al Ghul as well as the former mentor of Bruce Wayne, whose interaction with Ra's effectively led him into becoming "the Batman".
He was portrayed by Liam Neeson, who also plays Bryan Mills in the Taken triology.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- While he's easily heinous enough by the trilogy's standards, compared to the likes of Joker, Ra's comes off as a lesser evil for two main reasons:
- His tragic backstory. He was once a mercenary who secretly fell in love and married a local warlord's daughter. Upon discovering said marriage, the warlord exiled Ra's and condemned his wife to an underground prison called the Pit, where she birthed Ra's daughter Talia. When Talia was a preteen, her mother was raped and murdered by a group of inmates who Ra's later killed, upon which he deemed compassion a weakness his enemies won't share, hence why he excommunicated Bane from the League of Shadows: for reminding him of the Hell he left his wife to die in. Ra's and Talia last met on not-so-good terms because of this.
- Unlike Bane and Talia, he's a well-intentioned extremist with genuine affability. He truly believes he's saving the world by destroying its most decadent places, and there's not a trace of selfishness or sadism in anything he does. He also has a twisted degree of respect for Bruce since he was his former student, even offering him a chance to join the League of Shadows before the end, openly wishing they were still friends instead of enemies.
- Liam Neeson's performance is spectacularly charismatic as always.
- He uses a decoy to hide his true identity towards Bruce, subjecting him to intense physical training under the guise of "Henri Ducard" to drive Bruce on the path to become Batman. Bruce is rightly shocked upon discovering Ducard is the real Ra's.
- He uses Scarecrow to weaponize the League's blue flowers into a powerful fear toxin, dumping it into Gotham City's water supply under the guise of a mere drug trade. The true purpose of this ploy remains completely hidden from Batman, the GCPD, and even Scarecrow himself (who simply wanted to hold Gotham for ransom) for most of the film.
- He orchestrates the successful theft of a microwave emitter onboard a cargo ship.
- He nearly succeeds his plan in the end, hiding the microwave emitter in a SWAT truck while also orchestrating a mass breakout at Arkham Asylum to keep the GCPD at bay in the streets.
- Despite ultimately failing his goal to destroy Gotham, he gracefully accepts his own death, closing his eyes to meditate as Batman leaves him to die in the upcoming train crash.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- In general, he's the leader of the League of Shadows, one of the most dangerous and longest-lasting terrorist organizations in the entire world, responsible for Gotham City's economic depression. Furthermore, if it wasn't for the sheer powerful influence of Ra's, Bane and Talia wouldn't have continued his legacy by trying to nuke Gotham.
- He excommunicated Bane from the League despite Bane having committed no crime, because he reminded Ra's of the Pit.
- He tries to kill everyone in Gotham with Scarecrow's fear toxin.
- He burns down Wayne Manor and leaves Bruce to die, despite Bruce previously saving Ra's.
External Links[]
- Ra's al Ghul at the Villains wiki
- Ra's al Ghul at the DC wiki
- Ra's al Ghul at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki
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 Magnificent Baddies
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