10 Incredibly Dark Batman Moments To Haunt Your Dreams

7. The Rise Of Ra's

From: Various, but first in "Tales of the Demon" by Dennis O'Neil & Neal Adams. Ra's al Ghul has grown in popularity recently, in large part due to his role in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and his felt presence throughout the sequels. The Dark Knight Trilogy of course was excellent, and Liam Neeson did a fine job as Ra's, but certain elements of the comic book character were understandably removed to allow this version to fit within the more grounded and realistic world. Chief among these lost elements is the character's reincarnation, made possible by his bathing in the youth-bestowing Lazarus Pits peppered across the globe (essentially bubbling pools of Nickelodeon slime). The Pits were certainly alluded to in The Dark Knight Rises - what with Bale's Wayne being cast into a pit from which few "rise" and are "reborn" - but the supernatural image of a crazed regenerated man dripping with hot green goo doesn't exactly scream "realism." But it does make for a lasting image in the comics. Ra's is a character composed, refined, and sophisticated in his dealings, referring respectfully to Batman as "Detective". When he comes out of the Lazarus Pit, though, he is anything but elegant, as he is rendered temporarily insane (in most incarnations), and the only thing more dangerous than Ra's al Ghul is a Reincarnated Goo-Dripping Maniacal Ra's al Ghul. That may sound a bit silly, but the best writers are able to use this as a reflection of the inner demons of Bruce Wayne himself - as seen in the entry from "Venom" and as will be seen again in the next two entries, the distance between these external villains and the one behind the cowl can be frighteningly short.