The Psychology Of Supervillains Club..June 2020 - Ra's Al Ghul

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The Psychology Of Supervillains Club…June 2020 - Ra’s Al Ghul

Welcome to The Psychology Of Supervillians Club. This month we will delve and dissect Ra’s Al Ghul . Step into his mind and determine what makes him tick

WARNING :
This club will be discussing darker aspects and elements within the DC Universe. These aspects and elements could be viewed as overtly violent, malevolent and possibly offensive to some.

  • We acknowledge that we are not mental health professionals, and are not able to provide any diagnosis or guidance in this regard.
  • This thread does not suggest or support any mental health diagnosis or any guidance of or for people in the real world. We are dealing with purely fictional characters within fictional worlds.
  • Supervillains are potentially driven by deep seated and often dark or disturbing concepts of what they feel is the right thing to do and why the villain is the hero of their own story.
  • We will explore if the supervillain is actually correct in their views and actions, are they justified in what they do and potentially would their fictional worlds be better off if they actually did win and defeat the hero.

The club gives this warning because some may find such discussions disturbing, distasteful, and/or possibly immoral and we want the community to be well aware of what the contents of these discussions can involve.

The Ground Rules: ( Yes…even villiany has to follow a few rules . Don’t take my word for it…Go ask The Legion Of Doom or The Crime Syndicate, they have rules too.)

  • Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • This is a “ safe space ” to explore a sometimes taboo topic…villainy. Why it’s necessary and possibly why villains are often more interesting than the heroes that oppose them.
  • Be respectful of the opinions of others. Did I mention that … Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • There is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” opinion here.
  • The views expressed are the opinions of the poster and deserve to be acknowledged as a valid opinion, even if you might disagree and debate items. What does that mean? Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines
  • We are dealing with the intricacies of the mind. The one thing we do know is that we can never be ultimately sure what is actually going on in the mind of a supervillian.
  • However, we can conjecture based on what we do know about them and form our own points of view on what makes them tick and have blast while doing it.
  • In case you missed it the 3 times earlier…Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines

Don’t be afraid to be bold, to challenge the status quo, to think in unique ways and be outspoken. Their is no “right” or “wrong” point of view here. There is what we each find in delving beneath the surface and into the mind of our Supervillian Of The Month.

Most importantly, have fun. Enjoy your process. Revel in it. Don’t be afraid to let some of your “evil” out. We’ve all got a bit of it in us somewhere. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t find villains interesting, now would we. :smiling_imp:2020-06-01T07:00:00Z → 2020-06-30T07:00:00Z

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Reminder: Posts must follow DC Universe Community Guidelines

Our June 2020 Supervillian of the month - Ra’s Al Ghul

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Not making his first appearance until June of 1971, Ra’s has been a very prolific supervillian in his near 50 years of existence. Appearing in nearly 200 issues available on the service. The team of Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, and Julie Schwartz created a special villain, when they created Ra’s Al Ghul.

Don’t forget to vote in the “Ra’s” pronunciation poll as well.

I picked out some comics I thought were classics or integral to DC continuity (Tower of Babel and Son of the Demon) and a few at random. So this is in no way a complete list.

Below are some video and comic book resources for Ra’s Al Ghul available on DCU.

This is by no means a definitive list.

Just a few pointers to some of his “adventures”. PLEASE feel free to add to it. Watching and reading the entirety of the resources below is not expected.

Comic Resources:
Batman 232 - First Ra’s Al Ghul appearance - (1940-)

Batman 244 (1940-

JLA 43 Tower of Babel Part 1 (1996-)

JLA 44 Tower of Babel Part 2 (1996-)

JLA 45 Tower of Babel Part 3 (1996-)

JLA 46 Tower of Babel Part 4 (1996-)

Son of the Demon

Batman Annual 26 (2010

Detective Comics 750 (1937-)

Video Resources:
The Demon’s Quest - Part 1 - BTAS: Season 1 Episode 60

The Demon’s Quest - Part 2 - BTAS: Season 1 Episode 61

Avatar - BTAS: Season 2 Episode 4

Showdown - BTAS: Season 2 Episode 13

The Demon Reborn - STAS: Season 3 Episode 11

Sidekicks Assemble - The Brave And The Bold: Season 2 Episode 6

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What resources you use or don’t use is up to you. The only limit is your imagination and deduction.

Use whatever materials you like in building up your case for his psychology. Although noting what you’re basing it on could be helpful as resources for the club and our members.

I know with the current pandemic circumstances, some folks may have more or less time on their hands than normal.

Since there are video resources, if someone one the club wants to volunteer to setup a watch-a-long for something Ra’s Al Ghul related, GO FOR IT!!

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Here are some questions to maybe think about. If you find any of them interesting, please let the club know your take. As always, posing your own questions is great too.

We certainly see Ra’s is obsessed with bettering the health of the planet. Why is it that he’s not really ever seen teaming up with Poison Ivy or Vandal Savage?

Ra’s, has a strict code of honor and rules. Especially within the League of Assassins. Why do you think that is?

His intellect, tactical & strategic thinking are often equal or greater (see Tower of Babel) than Batman’s. How evenly are they matched?

What do you think of “Son of the Demon”? Batman has shaken off fear toxin, hypnosis and other forms of mind control. How conscious was he in his relationship with Talia in “Son of the Demon”? Did he not try as hard to fight the effects because of his feelings for Talia? (It might also be interesting to know if you are a Bat/Cat ‘shipper’ and does that color your opinion?)

How do you pronounce "Ra’s"
Rashe can also have the phonetic pronunciation of “Raysh“.

  • Raas
  • Rashe

0 voters

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Without further ado, we delve into the mind of Ra’s Al Ghul (The Demons Head).
Let the adventure begin!!!

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Neil Adams was on DC Daily recently and he pronounced it Raas.

Fun fact: I am older than The Demon’s Head.

While the focus of this club is the villain, this month promises more Batman comics, which I am looking forward to.

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I certainly predate Ra’s creation.
However, it depends, Denny O’Neill has said that the original pronunciation is Rashe, because Julie Schwartz daughter was studying Hebrew when they invented the character and the Hebrew pronunciation is Rashe.

So the jury is still out. Even the creators make the topic debatable. Which is part of the fun. :smiley:

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I was Raas until BTAS. I assumed ‘Ra’ was the Egyptian sun god and it was possessive. the ‘al Ghul’ of Ra. And it was a comic book, therefore easy to run with. Natch.

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I think the Denny/Julie connection is why BTAS used Rashe. I do recall an interview with Denny that the issue of pronunciation came up in BTAS because it was the first time it had ever been “said” by a character in a non comic book medium.

The nearest Hebrew translation i can find is ראש השד
Which reads, right to left don’t forget, head & demon.

Certainly the debate rages because in some middle eastern languages, the American spelling is pronounced Raas.

I actually like the Rashe pronunciation, to me it sounds more menacing. Probably because the “sh” sound in English is stronger than the “long a” sound.

I think it’s one of the more fun debates in DC Comics. Which is why I thought a poll would be interesting.

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I’ve also heard rashe is the pronunciation they were going for but for some reason I tend to go with raas. Which is strange because I tend to be a stickler for what’s proper. Maybe raas just rolls off the tongue better lol​:four_leaf_clover:

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I think one of the reason I like “Rashe” is it forces that half beat between Ra’s & Al Ghul. Especially since Ra’s is a title. Like general or emperor or king. And when those type of titles are used they most often have that same half beat.

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phonetically, wouldn’t it be Raysh? because now i am seeing “Rashe” as rash with a silent olde english E

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That could be a better phonetic spelling. Very good point. I can’t update the poll.

Many thanks @AntLeon

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I actually use both because I’ve never really known. It’s all so confusing!

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Just started Tower of Babel. The storyline link has issue 42 as the first book, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with it. i had to find out the hard way. If you are looking for some Superman and Atom action, it is definitely worth a quickie.

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Also, there is a 2003 Trinity that features Ra’s that might be worth looking into. World of Wonder read it somewhere in 2019.

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Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with that. That was why I put the Tower of Babel as links to the four issues.

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I guess if i were a more responsible member, I would report it to the DCU Overlords.

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Okay, but is “Raas” pronounced as “Razz” or “Rozz”?

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In the silver age books, I did notice the bar over the ‘a’ which would indicate a long sound. But it still doesn’t explain the ‘sh’ sound in the allegedly correct pronunciation. those two books seemed more about Ra’s testing Batman. there was more bat-deduction in 232 and a kind of ghost in the machine save for Batman in 244. plenty of Batman/Talia ship fodder. I presume Damian is conceived in Son of the Demon. i have seen Damian more in the current slate of movies, but have read him in the TMNT team-up books.

Halfway through Tower of Babel. they are doubling down on Ra’s’ rabid environmentalism. which might not be the best way to put it. But in order to save the world, he’s gotta murder at least half the of the planet’s population (Thanos would be proud), perhaps more, while leaving the rest of the planet intact (Wildlife and where they live: seas, forests, etc).

I will also assume there is some sort of division with those that ship Batman & Catwoman vs those that ship Batman & Talia, something not dis-similar to SuperWonder vs WonderTrev.

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It did get reported by @wilkinswontkins

And yes Son of the Demon is the Damian conception story.

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I am tempted to read 47 to see if there is any other aftermath. Batman is kind of villainous in this arc, especially if he is going to exclaim “I did this to you!” What I would have liked to have seen is Batman at least saying my methods were to incapacitate and not to be lethal, as in JL: Doom, but it would seem he opted for lethal means. I also would have preferred seeing how Ra’s got the intel, unless i missed it because i read comic books kind of fast.

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UPDATE: now i have to read 48 and 49 to finish this Queen of Fables arc

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