Reboot One Batman Character

[godisawesome]

the problem with divorcing her origin from the Joker is that t really leaves her visual gimmick as quite a random thing. Having Batman with two unrelated clown themed villains is kind of redundant visually.

... What the hell, here’s an idea for getting Harley divorced from the Joker *earlier*, and redefining her in a major way while still honoring much of her genesis, while trying to incorporate more of her anti-heroic Deadpool-counterpart nature into the story.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel is very much the familiar figure as an aspiring and confident psychologist in Arkham who makes the mistake of thinking the Joker is telling her even a piece of the truth. He convinces her to break him out, and she does, but she never gets any time as Harley Quinn, Joker’s Girl Friday... because he immediately tries to kill her and dumps her in the chemicals at Ace Chemicals in a sick joke to her hypothesis about how lucky he was, since he intends for it to kill her.

However, Poison Ivy is already fond of and a friend of Harleen, and immediately arrives, managing to recover her dying form and help her heal. The process leaves Harley as the deranged loon we know and love, but now with a more embittered, sad clown element, where her constant barrage of jokes and humor very much givers over some serious issues, and where she’s more a vengeful clown against mostly the Joker and his gang, but also Gotham in general, as Posion Ivy’s ally instead.

...Eh, I actually kind of like the way Harley’s cartoon handled her transformation to make her have to face her own mistakes and decisions in the process, but I thought I’d give it a shot.

[Gotham citizen]

Hmn okay, Harley Quinn instead of falling in with the Joker becomes a student of Hugo Strange and is put on the staff of Arkham as one of the resident mad doctors.

This could be very good!

I want clarify a thing: I really love the concept to make the Professor Strange the Arkham Institute's Chief Psychologist and to make Harleen Quinzel his assistant, but the relationship between her and Joker must be preserved due to its importance in the definition of the character; it is important like the Uncle Ben's death in the Peter Parker's life. Maybe the Professor Strange could be the man who assigned Harleen to Joker in order to perform his crazy experiments with the people's mind, but her relationship with Joker must be preserved.

[godisawesome]

Here’s an idea I’ve had for a while.

Riddler

Honestly, a lot of this would just be with the tone and tenor of his portrayal. He’s not the nerd you make fun of, or the know-it-all you bully and beat up. He’s a maddeningly well informed, clever, and collected adversary, and is by and large rational, safe for his insistence on showing he’s smarter than you... however, he has enough dignity to not lose his $#!+ when someone actually answers his questions correctly, and it takes a lot to trigger a rant from him.

In general, a way to look at this Riddler is he’s the cool cucumber compared to the Joker. They’re both wildly misanthropic pseudo-nihilists, but Riddler holds himself as above everything, and his disconnect is a lot more icy and aloof. He’s a showman, like the Joker, but it’s not about entertaining himself; it’s about putting on a. Show where you admit his genius, whether through worship or fear.... and the trick should be that it often works.

Edward Nashton was Harvey Bullock’s partner at vice for years in the GCPD. They were a somewhat confusing pair of cops in a dirty precinct; Bullock was 100% fine with a bunch of corruption on what he believed was “victimless crime,” but was a lethally relentless crusader whenever he felt people were getting hurt, while Nashton was a brutally observant and calculating detective... but didn’t really have any passion for justice, and was mostly just into it for dealing with particularly devious mysteries. As time went on, Bullock got more detached and depressed about his job, Nashton got more insulted by the lack of inventiveness and arrogance of both his superiors and his suspects, as more than one case he took wound up with him having all the video effects he needed, but being bribed or threatened to drop it, with Bullock’s despair about it leaving Nashton to reluctantly drop cases.

Eventually, Nashton stopped pretending to care about right or wrong, and began to instead moonlight as a blackmailer he was “investigating” named Eddy Nigma. This proved addictive to him, as he got the power over others, and he began to expand his operations in that line of work - he’s about blackmail, information brokering, corporate espionage, political and personal sabotage by information release, and occasionally private detective work... all of which he demands his customers/victims humor him with by playing a timed riddle game at the end so they can’t just use their phone to answer it.

Basically imagine if Charles Augustus Milverton from Sherlock Holmes (or Magnusson from Sherlock) operated in Gotham City, but after you’ve wired him your money, he demands you answer a riddle, and if you don’t get it, the information gets released anyways. And one of his favorite ways to talk and act is by asking dangerous questions - like if he’s threatened by Sophia Falcone, he just asks if her ex-father-in-law knows what’s buried in his backyard. Or he gives a whole bunch of “riddles” that are actually cold cases for the GCPD that he solved when he was working for them, just to foment trouble and a mob war by letting people’s secrets come out in the worst way possible.

Gadgets and traps aren’t really his tools - Information is.

[Gaius]

Had kind of a joke one for King Tut. He actually is the reincarnation of some Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, since this is the DC Universe and that kind of thing exists. But that's pretty much it, no powers connected to it or anything. He just thinks being a reincarnation of someone from the past entitles him to ruling over Gotham.

[superduperman]

Batman and Joker are the same person. Bruce has multiple personality disorder caused by the death of his parents and it created a split personality that wants to hurt everyone. Batman and Joker have never met. Batman has only encountered his henchmen. Joker is less a person and more a mask. As much as Batman is.

[godisawesome]

Catwoman

This is more of a consolidation of a bunch of her Post-Crisis and New 52 elements, focusing on her origin and debut as Catwoman.

* Selina is the daughter of Louisa Falcone, without a doubt, but there is doubt about who her father was; Carmine “The Roman” Falcone was certain that Louisa was cheating on him with his bodyguard Leo “The Lion Calabrese,” but the answer isn’t clear, and Selina was secreted away to live with Calabrese’s girlfriend Helena Kyle, and grew up with her sister (either adopted or half) Magdalena “Maggie.” Selina herself doesn’t know who her father is, or that her mother is the notoriously private Louisa, but does have a picture of her that Helena gives her.

* Helena’s husband, who she married after Calabrese went to jail, ends up selling Helena out to the the Falcone’s, and the vengeful Roman had their house burned down, killing Helena and orphaning the two sisters at 12, who made their way to a convent-run orphanage in Gotham. Maggie settled in and prepared to be a nun, while Selina chafed under the restrictions, and since she was already a trouble-maker and occasional pick-pocket, she ran away from the orphanage - both sisters were traumatized by Helena’s death, and have a rough relationship where they still look out for each other in a quiet way.

* Selina survives for two to three years as a pick-pocket and small-time con artist, but it ends when she fall son extremely hard times during a bad winter... and she does end up being indebted to low-level Falcone henchman Stan, who makes her act as an underage prostitute for a year. Selina violently revolts eventually, and Stan beats her, and when Selina ends up at Thompkins clinic and refuses to find sanctuary with either child services or anyone else, Leslie tells her she needs to at least learn to either defend herself or get away before she gets beaten again, and offers her clinic as sanctuary to her if nothing else.

* Selina takes that message to heart, and tries to educate herself on some fighting techniques and parkour skills. She also escalates her activities to cat burglary, improving through a combination of persistence, luck, adaptability, and opportunism: she exchanges her services as a spy and local guide to the female Copperhead in exchange for some acrobatics lessons, masters lockpicking, and when confident enough in her skills, she kicks the crap out of Stan when she sees him employing Holly Robinson as her replacement and ends up taking the girl to Maggie’s convent (yes, the implication is that Selina has a strong enough Big Sister Instinct to be a bit hypocritical towards her “charges”.)

* Things start to come to ahead when she tries robbing a local martial arts school, and ends up impressing the handicapped teacher (I don’t know if he’d be the actual Armless Master or not) when she manages a scrappy and bloodied defeat of his top student, Kai. He allows her to leave, but when she hears from Leslie about the teacher’s rough life and financial struggles, she sneaks back in to return her stolen goods, and ends up accepting his invitation to help his granddaughter learn how to survive in Gotham’s streets in exchange for further education and friendship. This sees her skills and education start to increase, as her teacher gives her some pointers about blending in and standing out when she wants to, as well as showing her how to use a bit more finesse in her fighting, while she gains another possible sister figure in the teacher’s granddaughter. She also has her first costume as a thief, though the cat ears are just an affectation if her favorite hoody that she regards as lucky, that gets reinforced when Batman appears and seems to prove how dangerous iconography can be.

* One day, after the Batman has appeared in Gotham, Leslie’s clinic falls victim to a Falcone protection racket overseen by Sofia Falcone and her cousin, Johnny Viti. Maggie and Holly, who are there to help, get involved, and while Johnny begins making moves on an uncomfortable Holly, Maggie ends up having her last keepsake of her mother Helena stolen when she defends Holly and when Sofia recognizes it as belonging to her mother and supposedly given to the Lion as part of their affair.

*Selina finds out, gets pissed, and ignores the warnings from the other women and makes a b-line for the Falcone Penthouse, intending to steal back Maggie’s necklace and hurt the Falcones. It takes all her current skills, but she manages to break in, make it to the Falcone family safe... and here is where she first sees a picture of Louisa Falcone and realizes who her mother is. Incensed and angry, she decides to try ransacking the entire house of anything valuable or damaging, stuffing disks, thumb drives, papers, and jewelry in her packs and on her arms. The jewelry she steals from Sofia’s room... and Sofia finds her and they start a huge fight (since Sofia is built like a brick house and the scariest of the Roman’s acknoweldged kids.)

*Selina gets cornered, and for the first time meets the Roman himself, who comes out to interrogate her about who sent her, even personally threatening her with a gun... but this is the night Batman comes for Johnny Viti, who’s been hiding in his uncles’s house, so they’re interrupted by the Bat coming in, and Selina uses the distraction to scar Falcone’s face and make a break for it. She briefly confronts Batman, but he’s not there for her as she escapes, which makes it look like she works with Batman.

*Selina makes it back to Thompkins clinic with a few bruised ribs, a treasure trove of jewelry and compromising data on the Falcones, and an absolute ecstasy at the sheer adrenaline rush of the night. She tries to give Maggie back her necklace, but Maggie angrily refuses it, since Selina almost got herself killed getting it. Selina spitefully claims it for herself than, and starts looking to fence some of the goods...

*Which causes her problems when handful comes the jewelry clue in Sofia where the thief lives, and she sends her men down there. They contact Stan, who takes them to Maggie, who they take hostage to Force the thief to turn herself over. Holly tells Selina, who is now horrified and angry in equal measure, and uses some of her goods to get better equipment as she goes to try and steal her sister back.

*She arrives to survey the hostage site... and Batman drops in behind her. He’s there to rescue Maggie as well (Leslie Thompkins told him) and, if possible, to acquire all of Selina’s compromising information on the Roman. He orders her to stay put. She immediately disobeys, and while he manages to takes down the mooks, Selina rescues Maggie, though Stan falls to his death in the interim.

*Batman tells her he’s willing to let her slide, provided she turns over the goods and retires as a thief. The last part is what incenses Selina, who drops some of the data... but refuses to relinquish the jewelry, especially the necklace. Batman and her briefly tango, with him seeming to win, but when he’s got her in a bear hug, she distracts him by kissing him, sucker punching him and clawing him, before managing to just flat out escape him in their first chase.

*Selina uses some of the capital from her first major heist to start a legitimate front for her own fencing, and redoubles her efforts to become the best thief in Gotham, including doubling down on her positive relationships with Leslie Thompkins and the Armless Master to make sure she has more sanctuaries to return to and more skills for defending herself.

[godisawesome]

Here’s another, though briefer:

Bane

First big change: Peña Duro is a much larger prison complex, and incorporates about an eighth of Santa Prisca’s surface area, including an old Spanish Fort where the worst prisoners are kept. It was actually used as a special isolated prison by the superpowers during the Cold War - Santa Prisca is so inhospitable and isolated, and it’s prison so strong, it was the perfect nowhere and no place to store people you wanted for later.

Bane was born in prison as is traditional, but here there are three major twists - Bane had access to some of the most dangerous criminals and saboteurs from the world for his training, he actually revolted and conquered the prison right *before* the Venom experiment and in fact did it so he could ensure that he recovered the final version of the formula before killing the doctors who developed it so he alone had the secret... and after receiving his transformation, he sought out Ra’s Al Ghul and offered his services, ostensibly so he could better avenge himself on the world.

Ra’s sought to his last bit of “education,” and promoted Bane to the rank of Ubu...
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...but Bane knew he was only viewed as a tool, and always intended to wait until the opportune moment to strike. He did so during one of Batman and Al Ghul’s clashes, almost perfectly timing it so that he would have successfully usurped control of much of The Demon’s secular components and killed Ra’s, and stripped his Ubu army of its pointless ceremonial elements to create his purely utilitarian first armor:

C63A210C-1715-4E31-9828-74271A2C6DE6.jpg
... but Batman managed to come out on top of the three way clash, so Bane “only” left with a small splinter faction loyal to him, a comparatively crippled Demon organization not quite able to hunt him down and finish him off, and a score to settle with Batman... who Bane noted had allowed him to live, so he feels an odd sort of competitive respect for Batman as his personal motivation. Bane improves and refines the Venom formula and creates a delivery system that actually runs through his body instead of having exposed tubes and cords along with an breathable cocktail of anesthetic drugs to make sure the pain doesn’t overwhelm his common sense... with the cost being that he’s basically guaranteed a short life without something like the Lazarus Pits to fix the incredible havoc he’s wreaking on his body, and a constant need for different drugs and treatments to maintain his body as his main weapon. He also organizes his stolen piece of The Demon organization into a giant mercenary army that makes him money, including inmates of Santa Prisca he releases to do so; his army is now called the Company of the Condemned.

Bane does Knightfall, but smarter, releasing only certain villains at certain intervals to make sure that Batman gets worn down but also so that he doesn’t have to worry about rivals afterwards. When he beats Batman and breaks him, he intentionally avoids killing him as a way of honoring the mercy Batman showed him, and in hopes of a possible rematch. He also doesn’t stay in Gotham; it’s a fiefdom he controls for a while, not his headquarters or prime city. He makes the gangsters pay him tribute (Including Catwoman, who he promotes to boss of the East End to keep her from sabotaging any rival on that area) and follow the orders of his “steward” Bird, and leaves to conquer more cities in the same way, while also waging a shadow war against the remains fo Ra’s’s organization.

When Bruce comes back to retake Gotham, he has to ally with some of the crime lords (aka, Catwoman and Penguin) to take down Bird and draw Bane back, and has to defeat him with a massive and well coordinated strategy involving a lot of people... and even then, Bane manages a get-out-of-jail card, willingly volunteering for the Suicide Squad when taken into custody, and eventually escape to retake Santa Prisca, his international criminal empire and army, and basically acts as a rival to both Batman Inc. and both The Demon and Leviathan.

[Shadowcat]

7BC4403A-0591-401D-AB73-E88D2543A630.jpg
Not so much a reboot, but much more a ;7?@ the patriarchy movement, where we have Talia Al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Cheshire, and Shado create a coalition to control the Asian continents underworld. Each woman would create their own criminal organization called Pixiu, and they’d divide it up into fiefdoms.

[Tsukiakari1203]

I would reboot the character of Orpheus. Calling back to his origin story and the etymology of the name, sound and music would be his primary tools. Instead of being young and inexperienced like when he was introduced, Orpheus' exploits in Gotham predates Batman's. Let's say he has a wife who is kidnapped by supervillains for whatever reason and he makes a deal to get her back. He must work for these criminals, using his skills as a sound engineer and dancer to fight enemies with advanced technology and a suit of armor. Part of the deal working for these criminals is he must never inquire where his wife is, what she's doing, what they want with her, or ever try to save her, until the deal is complete. He feels like it's taking too long and attempts to rescue her but it turns out she was dead the whole time and they were blackmailing Orpheus, he decides to use his power for good and becomes allies with Batman to help him make better decisions as a vigilante. an origin that ties to the Greek mythology of Orpheus, let's say he is a character that lives and breathes within musical sounds and is most powerful when these sounds are at their peak, either literally or figuratively

As someone who likes Gavin and greek myths, I love this and it's perfect for him

[Tsukiakari1203]

My Bette Kane one. She's born to a father who didn't really want her and spent most of her childhood with her uncles and aunt. She is raised in California, doing beauty pageants and playing tennis so she can be in the Olympics. She adored her Uncle Nathan and Aunt Kathy the most. She's devastated by his death and it leads to her being closer to her Aunt Kathy. One summer, she figures out her Aunt Kathy is the Batwoman. She insists that she assist her Aunt in the field. Kathy agrees and she becomes "Bat-Girl". At the end of the summer, Kathy tells her to stop being Bat-Girl and to never come back to Gotham. Kathy "dies" soon after. Bette competes in the Olympics and wins gold. She ignores her Aunt's advice and goes back to Gotham. She tries to become Bat-Girl again but there's a new one in town. Bette's angry at Bruce for letting this girl use the name that was her's. She heads back to California and decides to train and become a better fighter. She hears of a new team of heroes called the Titans. She decides to resurrect her Bat-Girl identity and tries to join the team. She's told "no". So she gets in contact with fellow Californian heroes. They decide to become the Titans West. After people kept thinking she was a knockoff of Barbara, Bette changed her name to Flamebird. She got the name from a story that her Aunt Kathy had told her about Kryptonian vigilantes. Titans West eventually disbands when Hawk and Dove went solo and Beast Boy joined the Teen Titans. She moved to Gotham and discovered her Aunt was still alive and had told Bette to stay away because she was worried that her father (Otto Netz) wanted to recruit her to Spyral. When she heard that Kate had become the new Batwoman, Bette decided Kate needed a partner and volunteered herself. Kate took some convincing but eventually agreed due to Bette having more experience.

She dislikes being called "Betty" by people that aren't her family or the original Titans West.

[godisawesome]

Here’s a goofy one that I don’t take very seriously:

Cavalier

Hudson Pyle is one of Alfred’s old friends, and is kind of like a more adrenaline junkie and slightly amoral version of Pennyworth. They were both British Intelligence agents - Pennyworth more fo a straight up James Bond type, while Pyle was more of a wet work specialist - and Pennyworth even got the discharged Pyle a job at the theater he’d been recruited from originally. Where Alfred is more of a consummate professional, whether in intelligence work, acting, or being a personal assistant, Pyle was always more openly enthusiastic and risk-taking.

So, while Alfred was more likely to manipulate intelligence assets subtly, and more likely to play the role of Claudius in Hamlet, or to be a utility supporting character and do it *very* well, Pyle was more likely to have fun openly intimidating assets into doing what he wanted, and was going to ham it up as MacBeth or Laertes in a role that gave him an excuse to do fight scenes.

And while Alfred became Bruce Wayne’s pseudo-guardian and teacher, Pyle wound up becoming young Mortimer Drake’s family bodyguard and later pseudo-father figure... partially because he and the widowed Mrs. Drake were having an affair.

Years ago, before Bruce returned to Gotham, Pyle had to free the Mortimers from a blackmailer, and wound up doing some jobs for the blackmailer. He found just doing the jobs secretly boring, so he dressed as an old-school swashbuckler and used a sword as his personal defense weapon... and became briefly addicted to the thrill, mixing some burglary with occasional moments of roguish valor against lowly muggers and murderers. The Cavalier identity was coined by the papers, and he became a local legend -

- until Mrs. Drake killed one of her blackmailers, and Pyle stopped playing around and slew the man’s other cohorts to cover up her deed and free her and young Mortimer of the threat...

...But years later, as Batman is establishing himself in Gotham, a now bored and older Pyle discovered that Tiger Shark has gotten ahold of both the original blackmail material and evidence of their cover-up. Mrs, Drake has passed away in the interim, and Mortimer’s an ambitious-less rake Pyle disapproves of... but, given an excuse to take up the Cavalier mantle again, he does. Mortimer finds out, is shocked, and ends up captured by Tiger Shark... and in an ensuing struggle between Tiger Shark, Batman, and Cavalier, Pyle ends up winning a duel against Tiger Shark at the cost of his life.

...Nad Ortimer Drake, inspired, takes up the mantle himself - which causes a headache for his second cousin, Timothy, when Tim ends up as Robin.

[dropkickjake]

I'd reboot Agent 37, specifically. Dick can keep his circus origin, owls included. He can keep all his history: Robin, Titans, Nightwing, Bludhaven, Batman, Back to Nightwing, et c. The point of diversion and reboot would be his transition into Spyral. Rather than have it be tied to the Forever Evil event (and his woeful jobbing and dare I say fridging therein) and having Batman send him in on a mission, Dick would be his own motivating factor. Dick becomes aware of Spyral on his own, not Bruce. Dick decides to infiltrate them on his own. Dick fakes his own death. He can keep Batman or Babs or whoever as a contact, but he is in there on his own mission, not Batman's. I'd have Dick retain his role within Spyral and really attain status as one of DC's premier spies. James Bond meets Batman.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

The Ric Grayson arc would've worked better if Dick was still in Spyral. If he got shot and lost his memory, he would end up believing his cover story without knowing he's a double agent. There's some interesting stuff you could do there.

[the nomad]

Damian Wayne

I think Damian should have stayed within the League of Assassins and became Ra's Al Ghul and his Mother's successor or at least successor in training. It would be interesting to see how Bruce would deal with the fact that he can take in all these orphans and train them and turn them into positive people but he cannot save his own flesh and blood. Would he ever stop trying? Could he bring himself to beat his son like he general does Ra's.

[godisawesome]

Resurrecting this thread for fun, and because I want to see if I can supply some ways to avoid some problematic aspects of...

Ra’s Al Ghul

A lot of this is some frustration I have with the secret society trope thanks to so many idiots readily believing it in the real worldtoday, as well as trying to come up with something different from eco-terrorism, but still fitting the idea of Ra’s having extremist methods with ambiguously moral causes, and trying to add some “steroids” to his search for an heir and towards the idea of him being a pseudo-father figure to Bruce that makes sense.

- The man known as Ra’s Al Ghul has lived at least 200 years, with rumors putting him at far older than that, but the man himself will testify that, at first, he used the rejuvenation and healing power of the Lazarus Pits (revealed to him by Vandal Savage as payment for saving the life of one of Vandal’s children during one of Vandal’s less megalomaniacal periods) to explore the world; the doctor he was then had an insatiable curiosity and wanderlust, and rather than being some always in the background nefarious chess master, he was for quite some time a somewhat altruistic “errant adventurer.”

- Eventually, he grew weary of his long, lonely life, and settled down in his homeland in the early 1900s, which by then had become part of... Quarac.

- He became an elderly man, and the patriarch of a large clan he cared for and loved. But in his elderly state, he couldn’t protect them when the Quaraci Civil War led a tank unit to his village. Everyone was killed, save for him, and he crawled, bloody, beaten, and enraged beyond all reason, to the last Lazarus Pit he had located. It’s likely he technically died before he actually fell into the Pit, which would make the emerging figure a somewhat more ambiguously human figure.

- Now rejuvenated again, but now seeking bloody vengeance, the doctor tracked down and slew the entire tank unit that murdered his family, only to find that his eyes had been opened to the greater horror of the war around him. His vengeance didn’t cool, it simply redirected itself, and he spent the next few decades becoming a highly secular and incredibly ruthless warlord, with his faction called Al Ghul by all sides and all partisans, and his code name Ra’s Al Ghul heard for the first time, which he grew to grimly enjoy.

- As each victorious faction in Quarac disappointed him and slipped into further corruption and instability, Ra’s grew less and less patient with his homeland, and the sometimes feckless or clumsy foreign intervention also drew his ire. The Al Ghul organization spread its hands towards all sorts of stuff, and became a major regional power, helping to kick off the kind of hi-tech espionage stuff that lead to the formation of Checkmate and other such agencies. He also fathered Nyssa and Dusan around this time.

-This all came to a head when Ra’s eventually grew so contemptuous of the leadership of his country that he basically “rage-quit” the country... by detonating a hydrogen bomb in the Quaraci capital mid battle. The horrible punishment he unleashed is why Quarac, Bialya, and Polkistan remain in stable messes even in a more hi-tech and fantastical world. It’s also part of the reason he’s so feared - he’s the guy who one-upped even the Us in using nuclear power as a weapon.

- As part of his “rage-quitting,” though, Ra’s temporarily abandoned his organization, allowing it to split into the League of Assassins and the Society of Shadows, and sought some kind of peace in retirement... where he met Talia’s mother and conceived Talia. He had a few years of peace he covetously enjoyed...

- Until the day Damien Darrk, who had assumed control fo the League of Assassins, sent a kill squad after Ra’s and his new family. Ra’s defended his family, but just like years ago in Quarac, he failed to prevent the death of his new wife. He brought Talia to Nyssa’s faction of the Society of Shadows, and set about rebuilding and reuniting the Al Ghul faction...

- But he needed more strength, and he needed to regain his edge, so he managed to enroll himself into Master Kirigi’s ninjitsu school in the mountains of Korea. The school had numerous students under different pseudonyms. Ra’s took the pseudonym “Oni” and wound up paired with a young man named “Tengu” - Bruce Wayne. They formed a close friendship, even when they separated.

- After uniting the Al Ghul organization, Ra’s now seems determined to do one thing above all else; secure the safety of his family to the future, and ensure their safety from everything. And he knows he can’t do it forever do to the lessening impact of the Lazarus Pits... and he just doesn’t want to. For this reason, he has deposed leaders, triggered conflicts, and unleashed a new spate of attacks across the globe, to eliminate threats and bring judgement on those he believe have evaded it for too long... but also scoured the world for candidates to replace him and carry out his vision.. He wants control and security from the shadows... and that’s why he wants Bruce as an heir. Bruce having standards and rules is actually an appealing trait to Ra’s - he believes that Bruce will inevitably “have his eyes opened” as he himself did, but is also a good man, and he believes a “good man” must control Al Ghul.