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| Real Name: Unknown |
| Also Known As: The Demon's Head, Messiah of the Crimson Sun, The Eternal One, Head of the Demon, Leland McCauley |
| Place Of Birth: Egypt, Africa |
| First Appearance: Batman Vol.1 #232 (1971) Bronze Age Villain |
| Known Associates: Talia al Ghul, Nyssa Raatko, Sensei, Ubu, League of Assassins |
| Group Affiliation: League of Assassins |
| Base Of Operations: Worldwide |
| Grudges: Batman |
| Creators: Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams |
| Gallery: Click |
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| Ra's is trained in over 100 forms of martial arts, he is a master swordsman and trained in the use of numerous weapons spanning two centuries. Ra's possesses a genius level intellect with aptitudes in a wide variety of sciences and medicine, particularly in the field of alchemy. He is an expert strategist, tactician and leader. He also has a vast fortune and network of contacts. |
| Enhanced Abilities: Ra's al Ghul has lived for several centuries thanks to his use of Lazarus Pits, which he has utilised countless times, replenishing his aged, injured, or even dead body. As a side effect to numerous exposures to the pits, his strength, speed, stamina, agility, and durability has been enhanced. |
| Longevity: Ra's al Ghul has extended lifespan through the use of the Lazarus Pit. |
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| Ra's al Ghul was born between six to seven hundred years ago to a tribe of nomads in a desert somewhere in Arabia, near a city whose inhabitants' ancestors had journeyed to the Arabian Peninsula from China. Ra's was interested in science from an early age. Unable to learn any science living as a nomad, he abandoned his tribe to live in the city, where he could conduct his scientific research. He became a physician and married a woman named Sora, the love of his life. |
| Ra's discovered the secret of the Lazarus Pit, and he saved a dying prince by lowering him into it. The Lazarus Pit drove the prince, who was sadistic to begin with, completely insane. He proceeded to strangle Sora, on whom he had already had his eye for some time. The ruler of the city, unwilling to admit to himself his son's culpability, declared Ra's guilty of the crime and sentenced him to a slow and torturous death in a cage with Sora's corpse. |
| Ra's was set free by the son of an elderly blind woman, despite having failed to save her. The son felt he owed Ra's a debt for having eased his mother's suffering during her last few hours. Ra's and the son headed into the desert to seek the tribe that Ra's had been born into. Ra's convinced the head of his tribe, his uncle, to follow Ra's in his quest for revenge by promising the downfall of the king of the city. By understanding the germ theory of disease hundreds of years before anyone else did, Ra's was able to infect the prince with a deadly virus by sending him contaminated fabrics. When the ruler of the city came to ask Ra's to cure the prince again, Ra's killed both him and his son. Ra's then led his tribe to raze the city to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants. Subsequently, Ra's declared himself the "Demon's Head." |
| Ra's spent the next several centuries journeying the world. During this time, Ra's, his uncle, and the boy had all been using the Lazarus Pits to live their extended life spans until an incident in London, England. Ra's caught the boy writing his own memoirs in their original language, of which Ra's had forbidden all records. During a battle, Ra's killed the boy and fled to a Lazarus Pit, which he used. When he returned to their home in London, his uncle had vanished with the remnants of their historical records. |
| Over time, he would become a master of many forms of combat, notably fencing. He also built up vast wealth and created such organizations as the League of Assassins. |
