Ra's al Ghul (Arkhamverse)

"You've become what you've always fought against, and I will stop you."

- Batman to Rā's al Ghūl in Wonder Tower

Known as the Head of the Demon and leader of The League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul aspires to wipe the entire world clean of crime and pollution by eradicating most of the population. Possessing amazing stamina, martial art skills, and genius intellect, Ra's has formed a massive secret society throughout the world that is funded by his many business empires. Fueled by the chemicals of the Lazarus Pit, Ra's has spent centuries in pursuit of his goals, eventually meeting his most worthy adversary, Batman. Throughout their battles, Ra's believed the Dark Knight to be the perfect candidate for his right hand man and, eventually, his successor. Batman refused time and time again, resulting in Ra's forming brutal operations that threaten the existence of Gotham City and the world itself.

Lazarus and Wonder City
See also: Wonder City and Lazarus Pit

Late in the 19th century, Ra's Al Ghul appeared in Gotham City, a crime ridden location even back then, with plans to purge all criminals. However, Ra's eventually stumbled upon something much more intriguing; Solomon Grundy, formally known as Cyrus Gold, who was murdered and dumped in the Slaughter Swamp near the outskirts of the city. It appeared that the beast was created as a product of the strange chemicals that were in the swamp and the storm that raged the very same night Cyrus was murdered. Ra's had Grundy captured and taken to his private medical chamber where he ruthlessly experimented on the monster to understand how he came back to life. Locating the chemicals that revived Grundy, Ra's realized that the substance had amazing properties and were capable of rejuvenating a person even in death. It would seem that the electricity from the lightening from the storm that night amplified the chemicals and allowed Grundy to absorb it's abilities; Ra's would name this substance Lazarus.

Acquiring massive amounts of Lazarus, Ra's created an elaborate mechanism that allowed the chemical to grow in abundance in his secret chamber, eventually becoming known as the Lazarus Pit. Ra's had plans to use it to not only keep himself alive for years, but to also use it as free, renewable energy for the people of Gotham. However, he feared that he would fall victim to the same fate as Grundy if precautions were not taken and, as a result, began to ruthlessly torture and electrify Grundy while exposing him to Lazarus every time he is killed to revive him. Studying the results every time Grundy is revived, Ra's would alter the nature of Lazarus to suit his needs and eventually made the substance pure; all that was needed was enough exposure to electricity to make the pit a fountain of youth.

Ra's next approached Gotham's City Hall and negotiated with them to obtain the deed for the city itself. While the council members found Ra's negotiations amusing and ridiculous in nature, they soon took him seriously when he showed them more gold than have ever seen in their life from his old country. He was soon awarded the deed and immediately set to work, commissioning a new project to eradicate crime in Gotham, known as Wonder City. Importing slaves from his country, Ra's has them build this new city, brick by brick, while he developed robots from amazing technology way ahead of it's time; they would be known as the Wonder City Guardians. With the city completed, Ra's powered the foundations with the Lazarus chemical, making it a seemingly safe and renewable source of energy.

However, while the residents of Wonder City celebrated Ra's as a genius and a hero, Wonder City was actually a front to cover a violent and sinister conspiracy that was serving Ra's megalomaniac desires. Behind the scenes, hundreds of criminals and even potentially innocent individuals were captured and violently murdered by the Wonder City guardians. In the meantime, Ra's perfected the crown jewel of his city; Wonder Tower which rose over the entire city as a monument of prosperity, but was actually part of Ra's experiment to test the Lazarus Pit. Wonder Tower was actually a mechanism that connected to the Lazarus Pit through a complex network of pipes and attracted electricity during lightening storms, amplifying the chemicals of the Lazarus Pit and allowing Ra's to recover from any physical injury.

As Ra's continued to perfect this process, he failed to realize that long-term exposure to the pit leads to destabilizing side effects; it was driving the citizens of Wonder City insane. Violence, crime, and riots erupted onto the streets in a maddened fashion the likes of which Gotham has never seen before. Ra's refused to admit that his actions have caused the biggest crime wave in Gotham's history and did little to nothing to save his own city, completely blinded by his obsession with the Lazarus Pit. When he failed to act, the newly instituted City Hall did and ordered for the police to shut down the city, take all the residents to Arkham Asylum to be treated, and arrest Ra's.

As the troops went throughout the city, arresting all residents, Ra's vanished and abandoned his once prime utopia. Wonder City was almost completely destroyed from the raid and was shut down, with the new Gotham City being constructed over it as the years went on. Solomon Grundy in the meantime was left broken, physically, emotionally, and mentally, from his continuous torture and hundreds of deaths at the hands of Ra's. When troops discovered the beast in Ra's medical chamber, he viciously murdered them all and waited in the chamber for Ra's to return to murder him again; The Cryus Pinkney National History Museum would soon be built over the medical chamber containing Grundy.

Battles with Batman and Death
Eventually, Ra's and Batman crossed paths and had multiple battles over the years, with Ra's believing that Batman could serve as a worthy successor to his organization, The League of Assassins, and help him eradicate crime by destroying most of the population. Batman saw Ra's as nothing more than another madman and ruined his plans and operations at every corner, but no matter how much damage Ra's sustained during his battles, he would always return later in prime condition. This led Batman to believe that Ra's was actually supernatural as even the warlord claimed to be over 600 years old. In truth, Ra's returned to his old Lazarus Chamber in Wonder City, now part of the sewer network beneath Gotham, and converted it into his base of operations again and used the pit to recover from his injuries.

Over the years, Ra's eventually came to learn of Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne, but did not intend to use this secret to ruin the hero, but rather sympathize with him and use his tragic origin as persuasion to help him eradicate crime, the same aspect of society that took Bruce's parents. No matter how tempted he may have been to help Ra's, Batman never let his moral code down and continued to refuse Ra's, even if that meant he could never be with his beautiful daughter, Talia al Ghul, whom he fell in love with.

Having put multiple operations and contingency plans in order, Ra's was eventually visited by a peculiar professor named Hugo Strange who had located Ra's with a proposition of his own. Strange told Ra's that he had the tools and abilities to destroy crime in Gotham and proved his intellect to the warlord by revealing that he had accurately deduced Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne. Ra's was highly impressed by Strange's deduction and decided to give him the chance to prove his worth as a potential successor for his army and empire. Strange gladly agreed and revealed to Ra's his plans to construct a new prison compound known as Arkham City, an anarchic war zone where every criminal in Gotham would be thrown in for eventual extermination through a military operation known as Protocol 10. Ra's was further impressed with Strange's plans and agreed to fund his operations and provide him with unlimited resources to see his plan through the end. If Strange would succeed and kill Batman, Ra's would make Strange his successor, though he doubted that Strange would succeed and saw him as little more than a pawn to eliminate crime in Gotham.

Eventually however, Ra's and Batman engaged in a fight so brutal that it cost Ra's life; most likely as a result from his own operations that spiraled out of control. Batman took Ra's corpse to Arkham Asylum to ensure that Ra's would remain dead and secured by the authorities in the mental institution.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Rā's al Ghūl's name is written on a toe tag of a corpse in Batman: Arkham Asylum, playing on the fact that he is immortal. The body lies in a vault in the old Arkham Mansion, where it mysteriously vanishes towards the end of the game. The name-tag of the dead body is seen on the floor near the open morgue door, hinting that his body was retrieved by one of his followers during the confusion of the Arkham riots.

Batman: Arkham City
After retrieving his body, Rā's followers took it to the underground Wonder City and used the Lazarus Pit to bring him back to life, though he was still severely bruised and barely clinging to life. After being exposed to the Titan Poison that is slowly killing the Joker, Batman is shown a enzyme strand by Mr. Freeze that is needed for the cure to become functional. Batman quickly realizes that this enzyme can be found in Ra's blood and, via a tracking chip he placed on a member of the League of Assassins, sets out to find him. His search leads him to the remains of Wonder City beneath Gotham where he is reunited with Talia. Near death and knowing that he must see Ra's, agrees to undergo the Trials of the Demon and speaks to Ra's first on the spiritual realm.

After emerging from his Trial, Batman proceeds to the final test where he must kill Ra's himself and assume leadership over the League of Assassins. Ra's is overjoyed to see that Batman will finally take his place as leader of the League; nonetheless, Batman reveals that he has double-crossed Ra's and that he will not kill him. Batman and Ra's fight one another until Talia intervenes, where Ra's quickly threatens the life of his own daughter. Angry at both Talia storms off and Batman gets his blood sample from Ra's, quickly delivering it to Freeze for analysis.

Ra's, while initially fearful of continued use of the Lazarus Pit returns once Protocol 10 has been implemented in Arkham City and joins Batman and Hugo Strange in Wonder Tower in the center of Gotham. There it is revealed that Ra's was behind Arkham City all along and provided League resources to its development so that crime could be eradicated in Gotham. With Strange having outlived his usefulness, Ra's stabs him in the back with his sword and looks out on Gotham as it burns. Strange is not dead and engages Protocol 11, which Ra's was unaware of. The Wonder Tower explodes via a self destruct protocol, but not before Batman and Ra's were able to escape.

Ra's and the Dark Knight continue to struggle with one another as they fall from the destroyed Wonder Tower. Ra's, defeated, sees his only avenue to win is plunging his sword through his own chest and into the Batman. Nonetheless, Batman has anticipated this attack and is able to pull away in time, resulting in Ra's killing only himself. Batman glides to safety while Ra's violently lands on the logo of Arkham City and is impaled, his body later disappearing after the battle with his sword struck into the ground underneath the main gate.

Trivia

 * Despite Ra's al Ghul's key role in the plot twist, his actual screen time is very minimal; in fact, his daughter, Talia al Ghul, has much more screen time, even though she is less important to the plot.
 * Fans have stated that with The Joker dead, they hope to see Ra's al Ghul become the main villain in a future installment to the series.
 * Ra's' army mining throughout Wonder City after their return is the cause of the seismic activity that caused part of Arkham City to be submerged in water.
 * In both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City Ra's corpse vanishes from its location through unknown circumstances.

Game Over lines
thumb|300px|right|Ra's al Ghul's game over screens.
 * "You disappoint me, Detective."
 * "It appears I chose unwisely, Detective."
 * "And the hunt for my successor goes on."

Gallery

 * Ra's al Ghul (Arkham series)/Gallery