Talia al Ghul

Origin

Talia is the daughter of the eco-terrorist Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's met Talia's mother at a festival in China, and after getting to know each other, eventually got married and had Talia. Talia's mother died after overdosing on drugs. When that happened, Ra's took his daughter on away, in order to teach her to defend herself, with Ra's personally teaching her hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. As Talia became a full grown adult, she was made second-in-command of her father's league of assassins. She is said to be the most dangerous non-meta woman on Earth. Talia is a love interest of Batman and mother of Damian Wayne.

Batman: Arkham City

In 2011, Rocksteady released the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, titled - Batman: Arkham City. Arkham City featured many characters and villains who were absent in the first game, two of which being the al Ghul family. Talia al Ghul plays a prominent role in the storyline, where she is voiced by Castle's Stana Katic. She has a distinct Arabian accent and appearance, with almond-coloured hair and a shade of tanned skin; the developers keeping the character loyal to her ethnic roots.

With Catwoman having her own separate gameplay, Talia is the romantic interest of Batman's throughout the story. There appears to be no mention of Damian, but rather, an on/off relationship. Such examples of this are Talia talking about " the night they shared in Metropolis" and Ra's himself claiming "I'll kill the only woman you've ever cared for".

Talia is introduced roughly half of the way into the story, when Batman is reduced to searching for Ra's al Ghul to take a sample of his blood for the cure to Joker's poison. Batman trails a member of Talia's personal guard beneath Arkham City, whereupon Talia and Batman meet for the first time since "that night in Metropolis". Talia refers to Batman as Bruce, obviously attributing to their relationship, but questions why he has come. Batman deceives her, claiming he wishes to take his place as the leader of the League of Assassins. After drinking a small dose of a Lazarus Pit extract and passing Ra's al Ghul's tests, Batman then reveals this was all part of his plan. In despair, Ra's threatens to kill Talia unless Batman kills him and takes control of the League. Using an advanced reverse-batarang (that loops behind the target and strikes them in the back), Batman saves Talia and beats Ra's down. Furious at both her father's lack of care and Bruce's scheme, Talia leaves the two men and disappears.

Later in the story, a weakening Batman confronts a now cured Joker. Unable to fight off the sickness anymore, Batman collapses and Joker appears to take advantage, but Talia appears, preventing him from doing so. Talia promises Joker the immortality of the Lazarus Pit if he spares the Dark Knight. This is all part of Talia's plan, as she places a tracking device within her clothing, allowing Batman to follow them. Unfortunately, Protocol 10 is activated by Hugo Strange during this time. Batman requests Alfred to track the signal so he can save Talia (as he knows the Joker will kill her just to get to him), but Alfred denies, stating it is Batman's responsibility to save the inhabitants of Arkham City. Reluctantly, Batman heads to stop Protocol 10.

Finally, having stopped Protocol 10, Batman confronts the Joker, who has Talia at gunpoint. Of course, being the trained assassin that she is, Talia quickly breaks free and impales the Joker, much to the dismay of Batman. As the Joker lies dead on the floor, Batman realizes something is terribly wrong. That wasn't the real Joker, but a copy portrayed by Clayface. Before he can act, Talia is shot in the back by the real Joker. Her last words are an apology to Batman.