The Dark Knight Rises Ultimate Trilogy Trailer
The League of Shadows was an organization led by Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins and led by Talia in The Dark Knight Rises.
History[]
The League of Shadows was an ancient and powerful secret society whose stated purpose was to restore balance to the world by enacting purges at various points in history. They targeted places they deemed were the greatest sources of civilization's corruption and decadence, places that led to suffering and injustice. Acting as a self-appointed check against human corruption for thousands of years, the previous activities of the League included the Sacking of Rome, the Black Plague, and the Great London fire. By 1984, they attacked Gotham City by plunging it into an economic depression, but this was stopped by Dr. Thomas Wayne when he nearly bankrupted Wayne Enterprises to build a monorail system for the city. At the same time, a foreign mercenary from an ancient part of the world joined the League after being exiled by the warlord that he worked for because he married the warlord's daughter, who was imprisoned along with her unborn daughter in an ancient well-like pentitentery known as the Pit as price for her husband's exile. The mercenary became Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows, and one day his child, Talia, found her way back to him after escaping from the Pit with the aid of a fellow inmate called Bane. The League stormed the ancient prison to help Ra's exact revenge for the death of his wife and in the process rescued Bane, who was gravely mutilated by the other prisoners for helping Talia escape from them. Talia and Bane were then trained by the League, but Bane was excommunicated by Ra's for becoming a reminder of the hell he left his wife to die in and for loving Talia. Talia resented her father's decision, and couldn't truly forgive him until his tragic death. The League was based on a mountain in the Himalayas, though other bases around the world may have existed.
The men who have sworn allegiance to the League of Shadows come from many different backgrounds; former soldiers, mercenaries, assassins, petty criminals, and ordinary men. However, all of them share a common similarity of hating what they define as evil and a desire to serve what they call true justice. Every member of the League of Shadows is fanatically loyal to the League's cause. It is this fanaticism in which every warrior knows that he is expendable, his life forfeit, if it means fulfillment of the League's plans. They are trained in the arts of theatricality and deception.
Batman Begins[]
While traveling around the world to seek the means of fighting injustice, Thomas Wayne's son Bruce joined the League when Ra's al Ghul confronted him in a Himalayan prison under the alias "Henri Ducard" and offered him a path. Though still traumatized by the murder of his parents during the Gotham depression, Bruce had already learned to give up on the idea of revenge before leaving the city and agreed be mentored by Ducard under a Ra's al Ghul decoy. However, during the final test in his training, he was asked to act as an executioner and learned what the League's purpose with him really was about; the society wanted him to lead them in a second attempt to destroy Gotham. In response, Bruce instead started a fight with the League, destroying their base and leaving the the man he believed to be Ra's al Ghul to be killed by falling debris. He then saved an unconscious Ducard from sliding off the mountain, and left him in the care of a healer in a nearby village.
Over seven years after his disappearance from the city, Bruce returned to Gotham and planned to root out the criminality and corruption organized there by mafia boss Carmine Falcone for justice to take. To do so, he applied for a job in his father's company and borrowed protective equipment from its chief activist Lucius Fox. Inspired by his childhood fear of bats, he used them and Ducard's lessons in the martial arts, stealth, intimidation, and theatricality to take up the vigilante persona of "the Batman", setting up a base in the bat-infested caves of Wayne Manor. Meanwhile, the League was busy bringing a fear toxin (created from a hallucinogenic blue flower grown near their Himalayan base) into Gotham and having Dr. Jonathan Crane, a corrupt psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, to weaponize it
The Dark Knight Rises[]
Eight years after former Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent's death the League Of Shadows resurfaced led by Bane a masked vigilante and revolutionary intent on fulfilling former leader Ra Ahul's density of destroying Gotham City. They initiated this by capturing famous Russian Nuclear Physicist Doctor Leonid Pavel. Then they established a base of operations underground in Gotham's sewer systems and collaborating with corrupt businessman John Dagget to build explosives around the entire of Gotham city they would use in the next phase of their plan. Then after Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon discovered their underground hideout the League of Shadows bankrupted Wayne Enterprises Board Member Bruce Wayne by performing a robbery on Gotham's Stock Exchange. This forced Bryce Wayne to vacate his board position to love interest and close friend Miranda Tate (secretly loyal League of Shadows member Talia Ghul) who then took over the company and its fusion reactor project. Next, a bankrupted and homeless Batman attempted to defeat Bane once and for all in one and one combat. Sadly Bane easily defeated Batman and in this fight broke his back before then imprisoning a physically broken Bruce Wayne in a prison known as the Pit. Shortly after his fight with Batman Bane initiated his plan and performed the following acts to accomplish it.
Converting the fusion reactor into a nuclear weapon (that would secretly explode after five months)
Destroyed an entire football field, trapping all the city's cops underground except for Detective John Blake and Commissioner James Gordon
Threatening nuclear destruction should any Gotham citizen attempt to flee the city
Introducing Martial Law in Gotham
Trying Gotham's powerful & influential citizens in Kangaroo Courts
Revealing the shocking truth behind Harvey Dent's death and the crimes he committed before then releasing all of Black Gate Prison's inmates.
This merciless and brutal occupation of Gotham City continued for five months and during this occupation, Bane's men murdered and killed anyone who attempted to stop the League Of Shadows. Then one fateful night and only days before the bomb was going to off thus destroying Gotham City Entirely Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City after finding the will needed to escape from the pit. Thus Batman's return to the city inspired its police force to stop and end the League of the Shadows occupation once. This inspiration provided by Batman's return led to a massive final battle between Gotham's Police Force and Bane's army. Throughout this battle's early stages, the Police suffered many losses, meanwhile, Batman managed to defeat Bane after studying his weakens whilst trapped in the pit and James Gordon managed to block the bomb's signal. Sadly just as Batman, James Gordon, and the Police were about to achieve victory Batman was betrayed by Miranda Tate. In this betrayal, Miranda revealed she was Talia Al Ghul daughter of Ra's AL Ghul who escaped the pit as a young child, befriended fellow prison inmate Bane, and returned to Gotham to avenge her father's death and achieve his destiny of destroying Gotham. Then after betraying Batman Talia reinitiated the bomb's countdown, fled from Batman's position, and flooded the emergency reactor to ensure the bomb could not be reconnected to the core. However, Batman was up to the task and pursued Talia in an epic case throughout the city after Selina Kyle (Cat woman) murdered Bane. Sadly after Batman finally caught Talia it was too late as the reactor chamber had been flooded and she shortly therefore died. This left Batman with only choice and he flew the bomb away from the city m and Into the ocean moments before it exploded. This act of heroism from Batman saved Gotham City from nuclear Destruction and allowed the police force to achieve victory over the League of shadows.