Love hurts, especially when the one
you love is the sworn enemy of your parent. Talia al Ghul knows that better
than most. Then again, when the one you love is Batman, odds are you’ll
probably feeling a bit of sting no matter who you are.
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| Woman with a sword, scary and yet still appealing. |
Talia al Ghul is the daughter of
eco-terrorist, supervillain, and incredibly old guy Ra’s al Ghul. Pause for a
moment, the man’s name is pronounced Raysh al Ghul, you call him Raz when you
decide that you have too much blood in your body and want to lose it fast. Not
sure who told the cast off Batman Begins how to say it, but that person should
be slapped across the face. Back on task. Talia first met Batman when she was
kidnapped by a man by the name of Dr. Darrk, a defector of the League of
Assassins. And while she was “saved” by Batman, she also saved him by shooting
Darrk when the Bat’s back was turned. She was quiet taken with ol’ Bruce after
that escapade.
A short time later, Talia and Robin
(Dick Grayson) were kidnaped. This is the last time it happens, I promise. Ra’s, wishing to have his daughter safely
returned, invades the Batcave, reveals he knows who Batman is (give him a
prize) and tells Batman he wants to work with him to save their important
person. This entire thing (except the kidnapped Robin part) turned out to be
just an elaborate ruse for Ra’s to assess Batman, both his mental and physical
abilities. Batman of course passes with flying colors and Ra’s announces that
he’ll be a worthy successor and son-in-law. Batman, while very sorely tempted
to agree, rejects the offer despite his own attraction to Talia. A few years
later father and daughter consider Bruce to be Talia’s husband without his
consent. Despite this I don’t believe they ever really stopped him from seeing
other women… If I’m reading that right, then he gets off easy. Last guy I read
about who was in such a position couldn’t even dream about other women, without
his version of “Talia” appearing in his dreams to leave marks.
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| Don't want to tell you how to do your job Talia, But I think the plunging neckline detracts from that shirts effectiveness at stopping bullets. |
Several more years pass and Batman
eventually agrees to marry Talia after the death of her mother. Things work out
well for a bit, but Talia ultimately dissolves the marriage and fakes a
miscarriage. Her thought being that Bruce could never be safe with HER due to
her father’s previous dealings and Bruce’s own protective instincts. She’d rather
see him alive and away from her rather than be with him and risk him dying to
protect her from some assassin or another. She gives the baby up for adoption
in a small Arab town giving him the name Ibn al Xu'ffasch. Which means Son of
the Bat… Great way to give someone a big clue as to who his dad might be Talia.
Over the years she’s had to fight
Batman on several occasions due to her fierce loyalty to her father and Ra’s’
love of causing chaos. She’s attempted to leave the life of crime behind on a
few occasions but is always drawn back in. Her first real evil plan that I know
of involves using her and Batman’s son to distract the Dark Knight while the
League of Assassins kidnaps Dr. Kurt Langstrom (Man-Bat) and forces him to turn
her ninja into ninja Man-Bats as a part of a plan to kidnap the British Prime
Minister’s wife. Way to step up on being evil Talia. Side note, this son is
named Damian Wayne, and to be perfectly honest I’m unsure if he’s a retcon of
Ibn or if he’s supposed to be the second son of Bruce and Talia. The details
are a little muddled.
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| Don't know if the hair over one eye helps or hinders her ability to aim. |
Talia is at times Batman’s biggest
supporter and at times his worst enemy. She’s a complicated woman that always
seems to Bruce’s head spin like a top whenever she’s around. But then, that’s
love for ya.
Talia is a highly trained and
skilled assassin. She is physically on par with Olympic athletes, mentally on
par with Batman, and looks good in heels. She’s a master at a number of different
fighting styles and weapons. Really, I don’t know why Ra’s doesn’t just feel
secure that Talia’s his successor and just let her do her thing. Granted, he is
the definition of old school parenting so maybe such thoughts are beyond him. Despite
the fact that dear old Daddy al Ghul was born around the time of the Crusades,
Talia is about as old as she appears, I’d say mid to late thirties.
While Talia has no supernatural
powers of her own, she does have access to her father’s Lazarus Pits. The Pits
are pools of strange green liquid that can heal the most grievous of wounds and
even restore the dead to life. Though it has been known to cause insanity on
the first use. So there is a slight drawback. Presumably, if Talia were to
start, or perhaps continue, to use the Pits she could have an exceedingly long
lifespan like her father. Not sure if she has used the Pits, but the temptation
must be there.
Talia has appeared in a number of Batman’s
related franchises. This includes Batman:
The Animated Series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Batman Beyond.
 |
| It's complicated. |
She appeared in The Dark Knight Rises though her
affection for Bruce and her own personal backstory are greatly modified to fit
the movie. I didn’t care for the movie or her reinvention. Why? Because I’m one
of those guys that really hates seeing unnecessary changes to a character’s
background and connections to other characters. Talia loves Bruce, L-O-V-E love’s
him. She rarely refers to him as Bruce or Batman, instead opting to call him
Beloved. Strong positive feelings there. To see that element stripped away to
turn her into a revenge happy nut detracts from the character more than
anything. At least for me.
 |
| Yeah, not sure if I believe she "tricked" Bruce into making Damien. If you catch my drift. |
She is also seen in Son of Batman, a film adaptation of the Batman and Son story arc where we’re
introduced to Damian for the first time. Her own villainous role in the events
is instead given over to Deathstroke for…reasons. I haven’t seen it but the
concept sounds interesting.
She is in a supporting role in Batman: Arkham City, portrayed by Castle’s Stana Katic. She is there
mostly to try to convince Batman to become Ra’s successor. She saves Batman from
the Joker towards the game’s climax by offering the Joker immortality via the
Lazarus Pits and her support if he wished to be Ra’s successor. This is
revealed to be a ploy so that Batman could track them down later, but it doesn’t
end well. Get it from Steam and lose yourself for a couple hours. It’s pretty
great.
Talia’s on this theme week roster
because she is Batman’s ex-wife and mother of at least one of his children. You
can stop inviting an ex-girlfriend or even an ex-wife to Thanksgiving, but
Damian’s existence does mean that Talia is still an active part of Bruce’s
life. I have to imagine having mom and Granddad over at Wayne Manor gets a bit
awkward. Especially given the number of times they’ve both tried to snuff out
the Dark Knight. Families are complicated.
Talia is an interesting character
mostly because of her dual loyalty. On the one hand she wishes to be a dutiful
and respectful daughter. And on the other she wishes to protect the man she
loves. Two really conflicting desires when Dad orders her to kill Bruce. And while
I’m usually one to say that love conquers all, in Talia’s case it seems that
her loyalty to Ra’s trumps her feelings for Bruce. She draws the line at
killing him, but doesn’t stop from causing him pain every now and again.
Probably payback for dating harlots Bruce, just saying. She has proven to be a
dangerous foe in her own right and seems to be in a constant state of flux
between true villain and anti-hero. I hope to see her again in something Batman
related real soon. Next time, Daken, Wolverine’s problem child.
http://arkhamcity.wikia.com/wiki/File:Talia_al_Ghul_ArkhamCity.jpg
http://dcmovies.wikia.com/wiki/Talia_al_Ghul_%28DC_Animated_Film_Universe%29
http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Talia
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=50708
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Talia_al_Ghul_%28Earth-16%29
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