Henri Ducard
Henri Ducard is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Henri Ducard
He gained a reputation for operating as a international freelance trouble shooter. Interpol had hired him to track a terrorist by the name of Jeremiah who had evaded everyone for three years with Ducard tracing his target to Paris. Whilst there, a young Bruce Wayne attempted to secretly follow him with Ducard confronting him on the third day. Henri was prepared to kill Wayne when Bruce asked to become Ducard's apprentice and learn from him. (Detective Comics v1 #599)
Over time, he came to be a wanted man on four continents. Ducard was in Sri Lanka during a holy war where he was supplying arms and working for both sides on a non-denominational basis. It was then he received a call from a client in Gotham City who offered him a considerable payment to be involved in a case involving his former student Bruce Wayne. Though reluctant to leave, he decided to book a flight and travelled to the city where he was given a first-class ticket. He then met with his client who wanted to eliminate Bruce Wayne with Ducard wanting all charges against him dropped along with intercessions being made on his behalf to five other countries where he was wanted by the authorities. (Detective Comics v1 #600)
The British Secret Service hired the French mercenary Ducard to assassinate King Snake with him accepting the contract after negotiating a steep price. (Robin v1 #2) He was later at Hong Kong where Robin met him and Ducard told him that the apparently deceased King Snake had sent a cargo vessel filled with laundered money to Gotham City. (Robin v1 #5)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Henri Ducard was a master huntsman who's skill was such that every intelligence agency in the world would pay highly for his services. (Batman and Robin v2 #5)
One day, he encountered a woman named Felicity Strode who he fell in love with and she became pregnant with his child. Their son was named Morgan Ducard but when he was young he learnt that his mother had been an assassin hired to kill his father. However, she had fallen in love with Ducard which stopped her from carrying out her mission. By this point, her employers had threatened her to complete her objective otherwise they planned to kill her son. Upon discovering his mother's secret, Morgan stabbed her to death and his father Henri arrived on the scene. Whilst initially angry, Morgan convinced his father of his loyalty and earned his trust. It was then that Henri began training Morgan in the art of being a hunter with the pair being a brutally efficient team. (Batman and Robin v2 #5)
After his training in the far east in martial arts, Bruce Wayne sought out Henri Ducard to train him the trade of man-hunting. Whilst following him, Wayne came under attack from Morgan Ducard but managed to defeat him. By managing to prove himself the better fighter, Bruce managed to convince Henri to take him on as an apprentice. (Batman and Robin v2 #5) Henri Ducard as a result became one of the six men that trained Bruce Wayne that allowed him later to become Batman. (Batman and Robin v2 #4)
At some point, he met a young woman named Charlotte le Serf whose name had been scrubbed from every database. In many ways, she was similar to Bruce Wayne where he decided to train her. However, unlike Wayne, she had no compunction against killing and was terrifyingly good at her job. Over time, she came to work for some of the top agencies on the planet where she killed many people in her line of work but claimed that she was on the right side in an effort to make the world a better place. It was said that she did jobs no one else would do so until one day she simply vanished and decided to leave that life behind her. In reality, this was because she had met a man and fallen in love where the couple had a child together. (Batman: The Detective v1 #5)
Morgan Ducard later swore revenge against Batman and took on the identity of the assassin mercenary called NoBody. (Batman and Robin v2 #4) He in turn had a daughter named Maya Ducard who he had trained in his trade prior to his death at the hands of Damian Wayne. Maya Ducard took the identity of NoBody who continued the legacy of her grandfather. (Robin: Son of Batman v1 #1)
One day, a man named John Gallagher who had served as an accountant for a crime boss in Liverpool was saved from death by Batman. This same man was involved in a car accident that killed Charlotte le Serf's husband and child. The random nature of the death and lack of control led to Charlotte killing the man where she sought reason behind the loss. She came to blame Batman for saving Gallagher's life believing the Dark Knight to be an agent of chaos that needed to be stopped. Thus, she adopted her own masked identity where she began wearing a white costume based on Batman and took the name Equilibrium. (Batman: The Detective v1 #5)
In reality, he had survived the attempted murder thanks to a fine balance of painkillers, denial and Batman's intervention. Ducard then confirmed Batman's suspicion that Equilibrium was another one of Henri's protege's and one he ranked as good as Bruce Wayne. (Batman: The Detective v1 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that Henri Ducard was a remorseless pig who would do anything for money. He was known to lie in court simply out of enjoyment. (Detective Comics v1 #599) Greed was said to be his province and he was motivated by money. He believed that overtime and under enough pressure that morality tended to erode. (Detective Comics v1 #600)
He always tended to be the last person to leave a plane as it meant that the crowd had thinned out and made it easier to see if he was being watched. Henri had said that he was not amused by threats made against him. (Detective Comics v1 #600)
On moments of clarity during detective work, Ducard referred to these as "lancer du chapeau" or "toss your hat" instant. (All-Star Batman v1 #8)
He was once married to a woman named Felicity Strode who was an assassin sent to kill him but became pregnant with his son named Morgan Ducard. (Batman and Robin v2 #5) His son Morgan Ducard was said to share many of the same traits as his father. (Batman and Robin v2 #4)
Morgan in turn had his own child with this being a daughter named Maya Ducard. However, he never imparted none of his skills to her and refused to train her where she only learnt by watching him from the shadows. In fact, he neglected her and leading to her yearning to be part of a family but instead he looked to have Damian Wayne as his heir. After his death, Maya came to take his code name of Nobody for herself and initially sough to avenge her father's death. (Robin: Son of Batman v1 #2)
At Gotham, he read about the masked vigilante known as the Batman and found his detective talents to be highly overrated. Ducard held that it did not take a remarkable intellect to fight street crime with luck and timing being the operative skills. However, what interested Ducard about the vigilante was that he was a lightning rod to a certain breed of psychotic supervillains who all engaged in grandiose schemes that were all theatrical to him. Henri believed that Batman had a very poor understanding of the world. (Detective Comics v1 #600)
Another one of his proteges was a woman named Charlotte le Serf who he saw as much potential as Bruce Wayne. He took her under his wing as he considered her special where she became a trained operative and assassin who looked to make a difference in the world. By adulthood, she came to marry and leave her old life behind with Ducard having a picture of her family. This was because Henri and Charlotte were close which was why he kept the picture close to him. However, one day, Charlotte lost her family in a freak accident where she could not accept the random nature of the death and loss of control. This caused her to go rogue where she took on the masked identity of Equilibrium as she blamed Batman for saving the man that killed her husband and child's death. (Batman: The Detective v1 #5)
Powers and abilities
He was stated to be the best manhunter in the world. (Batman and Robin v2 #4) In fact, it was said that there was no more skilled a hunter in the hemisphere than himself. (Catwoman v2 #17) Ducard was said to be a deductive genius. It was difficult to find him as he moved around a lot in his life. (Detective Comics v1 #599) He did not consider Bruce Wayne to be better than him though because Ducard did not believe in doing everything himself. (Batman: The Detective v1 #2)
Ducard was capable of using common household objects as potential weapons in his hands. (Detective Comics v1 #600)
In the course of his life, he had said that there were two best trained people he had ever taken under his wing as his proteges. (Batman: The Detective v1 #2) These two people were Bruce Wayne and the other was Charlotte le Serf. (Batman: The Detective v1 #5)
Notes
- Henri Ducard was created by Sam Hamm and Denys Cowan where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #599 (April, 1989).
- In Detective Comics v1 #996, Ducard was shown to had been on the run from a mysterious creature hunting people connected to Batman but it was revealed that this was simply a simulation in the Bat-Computer.
Alternate Versions
- In Batman/The Shadow v1 #1 (2017), Henri Ducard appeared in the alternate reality setting where he was regarded as the World's Greatest Manhunter. Bruce Wayne sought him out to help him with a case namely the murder of an orderly from the Arkham Asylum Food Service named Lamont Cranston. In reality, he was actually the alternate identity of the Shadow who once knew Batman's grandfather Patrick Wayne.
In other media
Television
- In Gotham Knights, Henri Ducard appeared in the setting of the live-action television series in the episode "Night of Owls", where he was portrayed by actor Charles Mesure. It was noted that he was had been responsible for training Batman. However, this version had ties to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes where according to their wishes he was told to train their son Turner Hayes following their death.
Films
- In Batman Begins, Ducard was referenced in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Liam Neeson. This version was simply an alias used by Ra's al Ghul who hid his true identity from Bruce Wayne when he sought out the League of Assassins for training.
Video games
- In Batman Begins, Ducard was the identity used by Ra's al Ghul in the video game adaptation of the film where he was voiced by actor Liam Neeson.
Appearances
- Detective Comics v1: (1989)
- Robin v1:
- Catwoman v2:
- Batman and Robin v2:
- Batman: The Detective v1:
- Batman: The Knight v1:
External Links
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