League of Assassins
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The Sensei sought the destruction of Nanda Parbat as he saw it as a sanctuary from evil. Its destruction he claimed would bring about a period of unrest, dissension and revolution that would lead to widespread murder as well as destruction which would run rampant in society. Such an environment he believed would be rich for the Society of Assassins where they could reap the spoils of the carnage as their services would be sought after in great demand. (Brave and the Bold v1 #86) | The Sensei sought the destruction of Nanda Parbat as he saw it as a sanctuary from evil. Its destruction he claimed would bring about a period of unrest, dissension and revolution that would lead to widespread murder as well as destruction which would run rampant in society. Such an environment he believed would be rich for the Society of Assassins where they could reap the spoils of the carnage as their services would be sought after in great demand. (Brave and the Bold v1 #86) | ||
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| + | ===Demon Fang=== | ||
| + | As part of his latest goal, Ra's al Ghul decided to cull the world population but had to deal with the Justice League. To do so, he had stolen secret plans that Batman had made to combat the various Justice League members in case he had to oppose them. With these plans, he also tapped into the Justice League communicators with the League assassins target each of the heroes. (JLA v1 #44) | ||
===Changing Leadership=== | ===Changing Leadership=== | ||
Revision as of 14:05, 23 January 2016
The League of Assassins are a group that feature in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
It was held to be a criminal cartel known only among the darkest places in the world and had existed for around 500 years where they sucked at the richest veins in the world. (Justice League of America v1 #94)
To find an heir to his rule, Ra's al Ghul decided to test Batman who he deduced was really Bruce Wayne and was a man that his daughter Talia as her love. As such, he staged a fake kidnapping of his daughter and of Robin where Ra's appeared to Batman as an innocent asking for Bruce Waynes help. He would guide Batman to the Brotherhood of the Demon's stronghold in Calcutta as part of his test of Batman as he sought to have him as a son-in-law and heir to the cult. (Batman v1 #232)
League member Shrike was responsible for establishing the Vengeance Academy at Gotham that trained individuals to become killers and potential members of the League of Assassins. (Robin: Year One v1 #3) One of the students by the name of Boone would seek to learn every form of martial art and would arrive in Hong Kong where he met former operatives of the League of Assassins in the back streets. This encounter would see him meet with the 'Master' who turned the youth into a disciplined assassin that undertook contract eliminations throughout Asia as well as the former Soviet bloc. (Nightwing Secret Files & Origins v1 #1)
The Sensei sought the destruction of Nanda Parbat as he saw it as a sanctuary from evil. Its destruction he claimed would bring about a period of unrest, dissension and revolution that would lead to widespread murder as well as destruction which would run rampant in society. Such an environment he believed would be rich for the Society of Assassins where they could reap the spoils of the carnage as their services would be sought after in great demand. (Brave and the Bold v1 #86)
Demon Fang
As part of his latest goal, Ra's al Ghul decided to cull the world population but had to deal with the Justice League. To do so, he had stolen secret plans that Batman had made to combat the various Justice League members in case he had to oppose them. With these plans, he also tapped into the Justice League communicators with the League assassins target each of the heroes. (JLA v1 #44)
Changing Leadership
Under Nyssa Raatko's control, she made Lady Shiva the new sensei of the League and trained a new generation of assassins. (Batgirl v1 #68)
Following their master's death, the order of assassins had splintered with the loyalists following Talia Al Ghul and a fanatical splinter sect going to the Sensei. Once Ra's Al Ghul returned, the loyalists immediately flocked to his banner as he sought to transfer his mind into Damian Wayne's body. (Batman v1 #670) Damian fled from his grandfather and escaped to Wayne Manor where a group of assassins had been deployed to retrieve the boy. (Robin #168) Batman managed to dissuade Ra's from taking his son's body by offering to lead the way to the Fountain of Life in Nanda Parbat where Bruce defeated the Sensei. (Batman v1 #671)
Infinite Crisis
A year later, Talia al Ghul became responsible for blackmailing Kirk Langstrom and getting him to give her the Man-Bat formula. This serum was used to transform some of the assassins in the League into Man-Bats. These warriors alongside with the regular assassins obeyed her commands as well as acted as the personal bodyguards and army for Talia where she used them to carry out acts of retribution against her enemies. (Batman v1 #655)
In an effort to save her son, the assassin Shado went to Dr. Sivana who tasked her with killing Green Arrow. To accomplish this feat, she disguised herself as Ra's al Ghul and selected assassins to join a 'Shadow League' that believed served the League of Assassins but were in fact acting for an impostor. This group consisted of Metahumans that consisted of Bear, Tolliver, Ruck, Spike, Mazone, and their leader Targa. They believed they were a secretive part of the League of Assassins and were accidentally responsibly for badly injuring Connor Hawke. (Green Arrow and Black Canary v1 #11)
The New 52
After the death of Talia, the League had fallen into disarray with reconstruction being made to the organization and Ra's Al Ghul preparing to get his revenge against Bruce Wayne. (Batman Incorporated v2 #13) With the threat of the Untitled facing the League, Bronze Tiger led his fellow assassins in capturing Jason Todd. This was because it was deemed that the Red Hood would be the only one capable of defeating their god-like foe. Thus, they made him the new leader of the League and asked him to command them against their enemy. (Red Hood and the Outlaws v1 #21)
A splinter faction from the assassin's emerged who called themselves the League and believed the parent body was outdated. Instead of operating in the shadows, this group instead committed slaughters in the open in daylight. To combat this threat, the United States government secretly had Amanda Waller dispatched the Suicide Squad to infiltrate this extremist terrorist League. (New Suicide Squad v1 #9)
Overview
His followers would consist of a large cult that was known as the Brotherhood of the Demon. (Batman v1 #232) The Demon was a much wider criminal cartel which the League was held as being only a branch of it. The League of Assassins was considered its power and were also known as the Demon-Fang. (Justice League of America v1 #94) Among its many names also included the Society of Assassins. (Strange Adventures v1 #215) Such was the extent of the organization of the Sensei that it was considered that its tendrils stretched everywhere which allowed it to reach out and crush any virtue or goodness in the world. (Secret Origins v2 #1)
Inflicting death was considered the sacred calling of the cult and a sublime art to slay their enemies at the hands of their assassins. Such was their devotion that the Society held that it would long exist even after all its current members had died. As such, the group itself was considered more important than the individual as well as the performance of their duty. (Strange Adventures v1 #215) The price of failure within the League was death. (Justice League of America v1 #94) The elite footmen had no capacity for mortal fear and learnt complete control over their hearts and minds. (Robin: Son of Batman v1 #8)
Among the deadliest killers within the League were the Seven Men of Death. (Red Robin v1 #11) For a time, there existed a group within the assassin organization known as the Shadow League. This consisted of superhuman individuals with powers and abilities who were unseen and unknown even to the rest of the League of Assassins. It was claimed that they served Ra's al Ghul directly as his "Unseen Death" though in truth they served an imposter. (Green Arrow and Black Canary v1 #11) At another point, an extremist faction splintered from the ranks of the assassins and called itself the League. It believed the parent organization was outdated and detached along with being weak. Instead of operating in secrecy, the splinter League believed in operation openly and slaughtered their ones in daylight. (New Suicide Squad v1 #9)
A site of particular significance was the secret city of assassins known as Eth Alth'eban, which meant Snake's Nest in Arabic. This majestic beautiful settlement that represented the world that Ra's Al Ghul wanted to bring to the world. (Red Hood and the Outlaws v1 #22) Another base was known as the Cradle which was the closest thing that could be considered a headquarters for the League. (Red Robin v1 #5)
Members
- Sensei : He controlled the Demon-Fang which was considered the power of the wider criminal cartel known as the Demon. (Justice League of America v1 #94)
- White Ghost :
- Ebeneezer Darrk :
- Lady Shiva :
- Bronze Tiger :
- Viper :
- Cheshire :
- Merlyn :
- Onyx :
- Hook :
- Anya Volkova :
Notes
Alternate Versions
- In Birds of Prey: Future's End v1 (2014), a possible future showed Black Canary becoming the new leader of the League. Dinah stated she joined the League in order to destroy it but instead became its leader with the various women operating as her Red Sisters that she trained as their sensei. As such, it consisted largely of women and Dinah Lance referred to them as her Red League who freed women that were abused and imprisoned that were later offered training as well as membership into the organization.
In other media
Television
- In Young Justice, they make an appearance in the episode "Infiltrator" where they are called the League of Shadows who captured the scientist Serling Roquette and were forcing her to develop a piece of nanotechnology called the Fog for their use. Red Arrow arrives on the scene and helps in her escape but the device remains in the assassins hands who begin using it to steal vital secrets from various business groups. They also dispatched Cheshire and later additional assassins to eliminate Dr Roquette when she was attempting to shut the Fog down but were stopped by the Team. In "Targets", Ra's Al Ghul dispatched them to apparently end Lex Luthor's peace summit between North and South Rhelasia but its revealed afterwards that the League were working alongside the Light. In "Summit", a number of assassins were summoned to deal with the Team of young heroes only to be overwhelmed by them and ambushed after its shown that several of the heroes were disguised as the League leading to their defeat. In this series, the members of the League included Ra's Al Ghul, the Sensei, Sportsmaster, Cheshire, Black Spider, Hook, and Professor Ojo.
- In Beware the Batman, they make an appearance in the episode "Safe" where Lady Shiva dispatches a number of them to capture the scientist Jason Burr but were thwarted by the intervention of Batman and Tatsu Yamashiro. A surviving assassin gets eliminated for his failure and Shiva dispatches another group led by Silver Monkey to capture the scientist leading to an attack on Wayne Manor. During this time, Silver Monkey fights Yamashiro and reveals that she used to be a member of the League of Assassins. This news intrigues Lady Shiva who despite Silver Monkey's defeat contemplates on their next plan of action. The League openly acted under the direction of their master to acquire Jason Blurr's Ion Cortex that was used to institute a blackout across Gotham City. In this setting, Ra's al Ghul demanded control of the city in order to tear it down and make it anew. The assassins were responsible for secretly removing the Police Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department when he refused the League's demands. They were defeated when Batman reversed the chant of the Soultaker sword causing the souls within it to be free that attacked Ra's al Ghul and dragged him to the depths.
- In Arrow, the League make an appearance in the episode "Broken Dolls" when an agent of Ra's Al Ghul confronts Black Canary and asks for her to return to his service. Moira Queen was shown to know of the League and that they believed in a code of honor. She later informed Ra's al Ghul of Malcolm Merlyn being alive leading to the League seeking to kill him. According to Sara Lance in "Deathstroke", Tibetan pit viper venom was a favored poison used by the League. Sara calls Nyssa and the League in "Unthinkable" to help fight Slade Wilson's Mirakuru enhanced army that was ravaging Starling City. Nyssa along with seven of her assassins where she stated that they did not take prisoners where they helped Oliver Queen in battling Deathstoke's forces. In "The Magician", they were known to make use of ghost-ink as a means of concealing secrets that could only be uncovered with heat. It was also shown the League followed a code of conduct that Malcolm Merlyn violated with his Undertaking leading to him becoming wanted by the assassins. They would believe him dead after the Undertaking but they would later receive word from Moira Queen informing them that he was alive whereupon they began to hunt him down. In "The Fallen", Oliver Queen was selected to become Al Sah-him who was heir to the Demon and thus successor to Ra's al Ghul.
Films
- In Batman Begins, the League of Shadows appears as a group that trained individuals in a number of martials arts including ninjutsu, jujitsu and several forms of Kung Fu. Their leader was a person called Ra's al Ghul and one of their top trainers was Henri Ducard. Bruce Wayne was recruited by them and trained under Ducard for an unknown length of time. Wayne was intended to lead the League to Gotham City where they intended to burn it to the ground in order to remove the corruption inherent in society but he rejected them after he refused to kill a criminal with this being an act to prove his loyalty to the League. Thus, he turned against them and seemingly killed Ra's al Ghul though saved the life of Henri Ducard. In reality, Ducard himself was the real Ra's al Ghul and continued his plan to destroy Gotham and brought his followers to the city on Bruce Wayne's birthday. At this point, Wayne had adopted the guise of the vigilante called Batman and Ra's revealed that he showed that the League worked to restore civilization as Gotham had grown decadent and that they operated by bringing a balance in human history. Their acts included sacking Rome, loading trade ships with plague rats, burning London to the ground and similar events. In Gotham, their plan was to use a stolen Wayne Enterprises microwave emitter to scatter Scarecrow's toxin around the city to cause the inhabitants to kill each other in a state of fear. Batman ultimately managed to defeat the League where Ra's himself was left to die on a train that crashed into building thus seemingly ending their plan of destroying Gotham.
- In The Dark Knight Rises, its revealed that Bane became an inductee into the League of Assassin's after he cared for a young Talia Al Ghul. During their training, Ra's Al Ghul could not accept Bane and had him excommunicated from the League with Talia departing as well. After her father's death, she decides to fulfill his plans and has Bane embark on a mission to steal an experimental power generator in order to turn it into a bomb to destroy Gotham.
- In Son of Batman, the League was shown as being established by Ra's al Ghul with Deathstroke being among his top ranked lieutenants with their goal being the ecological balance of the world. At some point, Talia al Ghul fell in love with Batman and became pregnant with his son Damian without his knowledge. This boy was raised among the League who were to be his inheritance when he grew up as he would command them. This development angered Slade who had intended to marry Talia and become the new leader of the League of Assassins. As a result, he orchestrated a coup that attacked the League's headquarters killing Ra's al Ghul and Talia's brother with Talia herself being captured though Damian Wayne managed to escape where he was taken to his father in Gotham City.
Video games
- In Arkham City, the League appears where they accompany Ra's al Ghul in his plans for Wonder City.
- In Arkham Origins, female assassins from the League make an appearance alongside Lady Shiva.
- In Young Justice: Legacy, assassins from the League accompany Cheshire in order to kidnap Dr Helena Sandsmark in Olympia.
Appearances
- Batgirl v1 #68:
- Batman v1 #670:
- Batman v1 #671:
- Red Robin v1 #5:
- Red Hood and the Outlaws v1 #21: (2013)
- Batman Incorporated v2 #13: (2013)
External Link
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