Ra's al Ghul: Who He Is and Who Plays Him in the Batman Films

Ra's al Ghul is the head of the League of Shadows, the secretive order that trains Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins (2005), the first film of Christopher Nolan's trilogy. The man Bruce actually meets after a stay in a Bhutan prison is Ducard, played by Liam Neeson, who recruits him into the League and trains him to face his fear. The figure billed as Ra's al Ghul in that film is played by Ken Watanabe, so the name covers two performers and two faces.

What is he known for? In the film he is the man who wants Gotham destroyed, and he treats Bruce's training as a first step toward that goal.

Is Ra's al Ghul Arab or Chinese? The films never name a nationality for him. The credits bill Watanabe's role as "Asian Man / Ra's al Ghul" and Neeson's as Ducard, so the screen character is defined by his order and his plan rather than by a homeland.

Comics readers may look for the League of Assassins and the Lazarus Pit. The Nolan films call the order the League of Shadows, and in Batman Begins Ra's meets his end in a monorail crash rather than anything resembling a pit.

As for power, the plot turns on a stolen microwave emitter and Dr. Crane's fear toxin rather than on any gift of his own, and it ends with a fight between him and Batman on the monorail. For the wider rogues gallery, see our guide to Batman villains.

Ra's al Ghul starts Batman Begins as a name spoken in a Bhutan prison and ends it as the villain behind Gotham's worst night. Ducard drills Bruce in the League of Shadows, but the lessons break down when Bruce refuses to execute a criminal and discovers the League intends to wipe out Gotham. Bruce sets the temple ablaze, and the figure billed as Ra's dies in the collapse while Bruce drags Ducard to safety.

The twist lands back in Gotham at Bruce's birthday party, where Ducard announces he is the real Ra's al Ghul. That makes Liam Neeson's character the true leader, and his scheme is to vaporize the city's water supply with a stolen microwave emitter so that Dr. Crane's toxin spreads as a gas and triggers mass panic. The League burns Wayne Manor and frees the Arkham inmates into the Narrows to keep the police stretched.

The last act is the monorail chase. Batman and Ra's fight aboard the train carrying the emitter, and Gordon wrecks the track with the Tumbler so the train crashes. Batman gets out, Ra's does not.

His story does not end there. In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Miranda Tate is revealed as Talia al Ghul, his daughter, and she is the true mastermind behind the siege of Gotham.

Ra's al Ghul is related to Batman as a mentor turned enemy, not by blood. He trains Bruce Wayne as Ducard, shapes the vigilante Bruce becomes, and then tries to destroy the city Bruce is trying to protect.

His most direct family tie is to Talia al Ghul, his daughter, who is revealed in The Dark Knight Rises as Miranda Tate. She finishes what he started. Her ally Bane is a former member of the League of Shadows, so the order Ra's led supplies the villain of the third film as well.

The other links run through Batman Begins. Scarecrow, Dr. Crane, supplies the toxin that Ra's wants to spread through Gotham's water. Ducard appears at Bruce's birthday party and reveals himself there, and Alfred helps save Bruce from Crane's drug earlier in the film. James Gordon delivers the decisive blow to the monorail track. Rachel Dawes is the voice in Bruce's life that argues revenge is not justice, which is the opposite of what the League teaches.

Ra's al Ghul is killed at the end of Batman Begins when the monorail carrying the emitter crashes.

Earlier in the film, the figure billed as Ra's dies in the collapse of the League's temple while Bruce saves Ducard. Ducard then reveals himself as the real Ra's, and it is he who rides the doomed train, where Batman escapes and Ra's does not.

After that, Ra's lives on only through others. His daughter Talia al Ghul revives his plan in The Dark Knight Rises, so he casts a shadow over the third film even though he is gone.

In my opinion, the best Ra's al Ghul moment is the birthday party reveal in Batman Begins. It works because the film has spent its first half making Ducard feel like a friend, so when he says he is the real Ra's, the earlier training scenes change meaning in hindsight. It could be argued that this is the best mentor twist in any Batman film.

The second is the temple burning, where Bruce chooses not to execute a criminal and then pays for that choice with fire. It shows the line between Bruce and the League in a single set piece, and it gives the later monorail fight a moral edge that a simple chase would lack.

The third is the monorail itself. Gordon destroys the track with the Tumbler so the train crashes, and Batman escapes while Ra's does not. Perhaps the quiet payoff is that the decisive blow comes from Gordon rather than from Batman. If you are new to the series, start with Batman Begins and then continue through The Dark Knight Rises to see how far his plan travels.