| League of Shadows | |
 | |
| Appeared in | Batman Begins The Dark Knight Rises |
| Members | Henri Ducard Ra's al Ghul (Decoy) Bruce Wayne Bane Talia al Ghul |
The League of Shadows are a group of assassin Ninjas led by Ra's al Ghul.
History
Bruce Wayne facing Ra's al Ghul and other League's members.
Throughout history, the League of Shadows was a secret society that, in their minds, restored balance to places where the environment was affected by human corruption. Some of their activities were the sacking of Rome, starting the Black Plague, and the great London fire. An ancient and powerful organization, the League was based on a mountain in the Himalayas (though other bases around the world may have existed).
Attack on Gotham
At one time, when Bruce Wayne was but a child, the League attacked Gotham City. Infiltrating its infrastructure and manipulating the economy, it started a depression that was designed to destroy the city. However, the crime that resulted from it brought about the death of Thomas Wayne and his wife, Martha Wayne. This shocked the people of Gotham, most notably the rich and powerful, into saving the city from the depression.
Return to Gotham
A number of years later, Bruce himself joined the League to fight injustice. While traveling the globe, he was recruited from a Tibetan prison by a man named Henri Ducard, who saw great potential in the angry young man. After completing his training, he saw what the League really was, and left, destroying their base and the man he believed to be Ra's al Ghul himself. However, he saved Ducard, his teacher while in the League.
Bruce returned to Gotham City and became Batman to fight the city's crime, using Ducard's lessons in the martial arts, stealth, intimidation, and theatricality. Meanwhile, the League was busy bringing a fear toxin (created from a hallucinogenic blue flower grown near their Himalayan base) into Gotham by employing some of Gotham's criminals, most notably Carmine Falcone and The Scarecrow. After Batman put both men behind bars, the League was forced to act sooner than expected. Using a microwave emmiter stolen from Wayne Enterprises, they began vaporizing the city's water supply, which the toxin had infected. Everyone who breathed in the toxin turned on everyone else in fear.
Batman, with the help of James Gordon, was able to stop the League before it could vaporize all the water in the city. In the process, Batman left Ra's for dead on a train that crashed. Whether he survived is unknown, and the League's current activities, if any, are unknown. Though they may have disbanded with the death of their leader, the League's longevity would indicate that they may one day rise again.
Known Members
- Henri Ducard - Deceased
- Ra's al Ghul - Deceased
- Bruce Wayne - AWOL
- Bane - Deceased
- Talia al Ghul - Deceased
Affiliates
- Jonathan Crane - A doctor that weaponized the League's Fear Toxin.
- Carmine Falcone - A Gotham City mobster that smuggled the Fear Toxin into Gotham.
Trivia
- In the comics, they were called the "League of Assassins".
- Also, Henri Ducard was a man who Bruce Wayne trained with whilst in France, not in China. He was also not part of the League of Assassins.