Wednesday, April 20, 2011

R is for Ra's al Ghul

Ra's al Ghul (Arabic رأس الغول‎ for "The Demon's Head") was an eco-terrorist who has lived for over 600 years through the use of Lazarus Pits.


Over his long lifetime, Ra's has become a master planner, an expert fighter, and independently wealthy, making him one of Batman's most dangerous foes.



Through years of studying and practice, Ra's al Ghul had become one of the world's greatest hand-to-hand combatants, capable of matching Batman in battle. He was also a gifted swordsman and weapons expert.


Ra's al Ghul was the leader of a large and extremely powerful organization of ninja, and in possession of vast resources, finances and political influence. By regular dips in Lazarus Pits he had been able to live for over 500 years in his prime age.


In the film "Batman Begins", Ra's al Ghul is played by Liam Neeson, head of the centuries-old League of Shadows, a morally ambiguous organization that is dedicated to keeping order and justice in a world which it views as decadent and corrupt. For the first half of the film, he goes by the name Henri Ducard and acts as a mentor to a young Bruce Wayne, teaching him the martial arts trainings and ninjitsu methods that he will one day use as Batman.


This Ra's al Ghul figure was from "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" line released by Kenner. The mask that this animated Ra's al Ghul figure came with is supposed to resemble that of a demon, hence "Demon's Head" (Ra's al Ghul in Arabic) but it reminded me a lot of Anubis (Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις), the jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology.


2 comments:

Super-Duper ToyBox said...

oh, i like him!
i have a DCD Trinity Ra's al Ghul somewhere here...

alex teo said...

ooh, let's see him >_<