10 Comic Villains With The Best Motivations

9. Ra's Al Ghul

On the surface, Ra's al Ghul may just look like another typical criminal mastermind. He's in charge of his own League of Assassins, has lived for centuries thanks to the restorative effects of the Lazarus Pit, and has a feud with Batman. Pretty standard stuff, as far as supervillains go.

However, this isn't just any ordinary feud. Ra's is motivated by several factors: first and foremost his desire to save the world from humanity itself. He is aided in this quest by the League of Assassins (who get up to their own mischief in their own time), and his daughter Talia. Batman is only brought to his attention as he looks for an heir to carry on his struggle, and so he devises a series of tests to determine whether or not the Dark Knight is truly worthy enough to do so.

Eventually, Ra's comes to regard his rival as "detective", and deduces his secret identity. With this knowledge in hand, Ra's asks that Batman assume control over the League so that he can die peacefully, safe in the knowledge that his centuries spent on Earth won't be all for nought. He also requests that he marry Talia, and though Bruce does have feelings for her, he finds the League of Assassins to be too disagreeable; he simply will not violate his no-killing rule.

Thus sparks a decades-long rivalry between the pair, typified by resurrections, a secret birth and constant attempts from Ra's and Talia to get Bruce to see the light. Something more important, perhaps, dominates all of their proceedings however: a profound, mutual respect for the other. Simply iconic.