- Target:
- DC Comics
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- DCcomics.com
Talia al Ghul (Arabic: تاليا الغول) is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, daughter of the supervillain Ra's al Ghul, a love interest of Batman, and the mother of his son Damian Wayne, the fifth Robin. She has appeared in over 200 individual comics issues.
The Talia character was created by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Bob Brown. The character's creation and depiction was inspired by other works of fiction, such as the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the Fu Manchu fiction. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #411 (May 1971). She is most commonly depicted as a romantic interest for Batman, a villain, or a combination of the two. Her father, the leader of a worldwide criminal empire, considered Batman the man most worthy to marry Talia and become his successor. Absent a spouse, Talia was considered as an heir to her father and his organization. While Batman is uninterested in the criminal empire, he has often demonstrated romantic feelings for Talia.
Talia has saved the life of Batman or helped him on numerous occasions. The majority of her criminal acts have been committed at the behest of her father and motivated by loyalty to her father rather than personal gain. She had been depicted as morally ambiguous or an antiheroic figure. Recent depictions have shown her to be more often an enemy of Batman and a supervillainess in her own right, such as leading the League of Assassins, as part of the Secret Society of Super Villains, and as the mastermind behind Leviathan.
IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time List ranked Talia as #42. She was ranked 25th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Talia has been featured in various adaptations in other media, most notably the 2012 Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight Rises, where she was portrayed by Marion Cotillard.
We the Undersigned feel that Grant Morrison has abused his power as a writer in the current inception of Batman Incorporated, systematically tearing apart the character of Talia Al Ghul to the point that she had become widely hated.
This is a cruel and barbaric act of any writer to do to a character that is not his creation, he was given the power to improve the character and the characters mythos not debase her as he did. We urge that DC Comics retcon the entire run of Batman Incorporated and give writer ship to someone who fully understands and loves the character of Talia Al Ghul, allowing them to do justice by giving her a story that she fully deserves.
The fans know that Morrison was working through his own personal experiences of divorce and in doing so he has stripped a beloved character of Talia Al Ghul so raw that she is barely recognizable anymore. Writers cannot be allowed to strip down a character that isn't even theirs to begin with.
We ask that DC do this not just for the fans of Talia Al Ghul but for the character herself she did not deserve to be treated that way and deserves the best writer to bring her back to being the woman we all know and love.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Getting Talia Al Ghul brought back to the pages of DC comics petition to DC Comics was written by Aimee and is in the category Arts & Entertainment at GoPetition.