And of course, I never got to it. I realize that just because the month is over doesn’t mean we still cannot revisit the character. But we have a schedule and should keep to it.
SN: you realize, with every post, I am just one step closer to killing this thread.
No worries @AntLeon
I’m behind and won’t have Mirror Master thread up until tomorrow or Friday.
(Sorry club members, June has been a weird month for me.)
So, technically, still under deadline…
Absolutely and always.
Okay, so I stopped after Babel, because I’m so close to reaching Son of the Demon in my personal reading, and I didn’t want to skip ahead. So my take on Ra’s is limited to how he’s been portrayed in the past. Sorry!
I’m not sure Ra’s ever sees himself as a villain, whereas I think Vandal might, but is untroubled by it. I can also easily imagine Vandal getting irritated by Ra’s codes of conduct, while Ra’s might consider Vandal’s more straightforward methods base or possibly vulgar. They both admire the strength of their daughters (more on this in a minute), so I’m not sure they’d discredit Ivy based on her sex, but I do think she’s too emotionally invested to be taken seriously by either. If bad guys were ever allowed to truly win by the writers, it’d make sense for them to form an alliance long enough to accomplish their objective, even if there’d be a war between the three in the aftermath.
I feel like Ra’s is constantly “on.” If pushed to his limit, and seen at his rawest, I think that conduct might be forgotten and he’d be more like Vandal than he would ever admit. As for why he has his code… lot of theories come to mind! He came from uneducated and poorer roots, but worked his way up in the world, educating himself and building a power base from scratch. Etiquette and rigid structure might be something he witnessed, and thus admired and adopted, as he moved up through social ranks; or it could be his way of distinguishing (justifying?) himself as being above other villains; or perhaps they’re the traits he thinks necessary of a leader, and so he leads by example.
I think if Batman were not the hero of the story, he’d be squashed by Ra’s. They’re both geniuses; they both have fanatical levels of drive and discipline. Ra’s has the upper hand in that he knows where Bruce is located 24/7, but every time he makes an appearance in a Bat title, it feels like Bruce has to run around trying to track down his base of operations. If Ra’s has a weakness, I’d say it’s his ego/sense of entitlement. He’s too guilty of the usual villain trope of… “The hero is obviously defeated, so I’ll walk away without finishing the job!” Also, while Bruce never fully puts his confidence in anyone other than himself, Ra’s is so sure of himself that he doesn’t doubt the obedience of those closest to him — most pointed example being Talia. Obviously that’s led to the ruin of his plans on more than one occasion. (That last part is in direct contradiction with what @DeSade-acolyte said, so I might need to reexamine that line of thought.)
Like I said, I can’t jump in on the Son of the Demon story specifically, but I gotta say that one thing that cracks me up in fandom is how vehement shippers get when it comes to pairings. It’s perfectly possible for Bruce to have truly loved both of these women for different reasons. In Talia, he had an adoring, beautiful intellectual who seemed content to build her life around the mission of the men in her life, which had to feel like a bit of a jackpot to a guy like Bruce. And I think Talia’s forwardness, while unnerving at first, held some appeal, too. By knowing his secret identify from almost the start, she recognized him more wholly, and that had to be a weight off of his shoulders.
I’m not sure if I feel that he’s sexist… I guess I picture Ra’s treating a son with the same (archaic) sense of superiority and familial expectations. Helicopter parenting. 
That blows my mind. I haven’t read the story yet, but that seems wildly out of character to me. I could maybe see some questionable coercion scenarios if Ra’s finally won and had his new kingdom of mankind, but r@ping a captive? Ehhh. What’s he got to gain?
Edited so as not to have the post blocked. Gah.
That blows my mind. I haven’t read the story yet, but that seems wildly out of character to me. I could maybe see some questionable coercion scenarios if Ra’s finally won and had his new kingdom of mankind, but raping a captive? Ehhh. What’s he got to gain?
i let my post stand and awaited approval.
I can entertain saying such a thing as a mindgame to keep the prisoner more controllable. but i don’t think he was drawn that way in the panel(s) in question.