Leviathan (DC Comics)
| Leviathan | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Batman: The Return #1 (January 2011) |
| Created by | Grant Morrison (writer) David Finch (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization | Organized crime, terrorist |
| Leader(s) | Leviathan, formerly Talia al Ghul |
| Agent(s) | Dr. Dedalus (Otto Netz) The Heretic (Fatherless) Professor Pyg Son of Pyg Goatboy |
Leviathan is a fictional criminal organization in DC Comics, later revealed to be a schism of the League of Assassins under the leadership of Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul.[1]
The organization appears in a different form in the fourth season finale and fifth season of Supergirl.
Publication history
Leviathan was introduced in Batman: The Return (Jan. 2011) and was created by Grant Morrison and David Finch.[2]
Fictional team history
First incarnation
Leviathan is an organization founded by Talia al Ghul; upon leaving her father, Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins. Leviathan's liturgy is staunchly anti-capitalist and seeks to dismantle society and impose itself as the leaders of a new way.
Leviathan first became known to the heroes of Earth as a terror group who kidnapped the child of a Yemeni sheikh. However, Batman discovered that Leviathan was working with the sheikh and was planning to attack the world with mind-controlled children and engineered metahumans.[3]
Batman immediately connected the organization to an apocalyptic vision he had received while coming back from the dead, and positioned his Batman Incorporated organization to oppose them. After some moves, Leviathan seemed to form up behind Doctor Dedalus, a Nazi master spy imprisoned on the Falkland Islands, with a predicted lifespan of months due to Alzheimers. In the aftermath of Dedalus' breakout, further investigation showed that a paper trail showed a flow of child soldiers from training camps in the central African republic of Mtamba to locations around the world, for use by Leviathan in their campaign.
In Batman Incorporated's struggle against Doctor Dedalus' master plan, they struck, and hit empty locations, which were in fact pre-prepared traps by Leviathan. Recovering, they realized that Dedalus was a feint, designed to make them show their hand on the eve of the war. Via a telephone, the leader of Leviathan, Talia al Ghul, spoke from their new headquarters opposite the cinema on Crime Alley. Talia stated Leviathan's goal was war with Batman's followers and the destruction of civilization.
Talia took control of the League of Assassins and added its agents to the plan. The plan began by seeding mind-control chemicals in the Gotham food supply through the "Dark Tower" fast food chain, while taking control of the Brothers Grimm Syndicate, which controlled the club on Gotham's West Side. Using a combination of agents in the school system, the police, and the civil service, Leviathan worked to control Gotham's children.
Talia soon tells Batman that her creation of Leviathan has been all out of spite. As revenge for denying her his love and unwavering dedication to his crusade for justice, Talia created Leviathan as an expressed antithesis of Batman Incorporated. The Heretic is eventually shown to be the eponymous "Leviathan" of the organization; the "Third Batman" that is prophesied to send Gotham into chaos and destroy it. However, the Heretic continuously fails Talia and proves himself to be just as defiant as his genetic template, the then-deceased Damian Wayne. After killing the Heretic, Talia attempts to activate a "death ring" around the planet, established by worldwide Leviathan agents. Batman Incorporated disables the weapon, and Talia is killed by Kathy Kane. Their leader dead, the intelligence agency known as Spyral (another organization Doctor Dedalus was involved with) took over Leviathan's resources and the organization presumably collapsed in the wake of their defeat.
Upon returning from the dead, Talia ordered her most trusted assassin to kill one of Leviathan's underbosses, who had the intention to reveal the existence of the organization to the U.S. authorities. Trust inside the criminal network was shattered and when Talia died and then was resurrected, she was ousted from her position as leader of Leviathan. The organization then fractured into various factions, guided by competing leaders.[4]
Talia is taken to a Lazarus Pit in Khadym by those loyal to her and is resurrected from the dead.[5]
"And so we wait, patiently. Our tendrils spreading, unchecked, uncontrolled, unseen. Our hatred vaster than empires, and more slow. Our name, Leviathan!"
—The Leviathan Oath from Batman: The Return #1 (Jan. 2011)
Second incarnation
Another incarnation of Leviathan appeared in the pages of "Event Leviathan."[6] Leviathan has even taken over Project Cadmus as Batgirl discovered.[7]
Membership
- Leviathan - New Head of Leviathan.[6]
- Talia al Ghul - Former Head of Leviathan.[8][9]
- Professor Pyg - Lazlo Valentin at first appears to be working for Simon Hurt, but it is later revealed that he is actually working for Talia al Ghul.[10] He is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum after being captured by Batman (Dick Grayson) and Robin (Damian Wayne) in the first volume of Batman and Robin.
- The Heretic (Fatherless) - Mysterious agent of Leviathan in a bat-like costume.[11] The Heretic is a clone of Damian Wayne, first seen as a fetus in the first volume of Batman and Robin, whose growth has been accelerated to adulthood by way of a bio-engineered whale carcass.[12] After killing Damian Wayne, the Heretic is defeated (but not killed) by Batman when he is run through with a sword.[13] He is then finished off when Talia al Ghul kills him and blows up his body along with Wayne Tower.[14]
- Son of Pyg - Son of Professor Pyg. Real name Janosz Valentin a.k.a. Johnny Valentine.[15] Later defeated by Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) during a plot to turn a group of teen mercenaries-in-training into agents of Leviathan.[16]
- Dr. Dedalus (Otto Netz) - Former Nazi scientist, and agent of Leviathan and the biological father of Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman. Later killed by the new Robin using a concealed knife.[17]
- Goatboy - Gotham City-bred taxi driver-turned-assassin in light of Talia's billion dollar bounty on Damian.[18] Later killed by Lumina Lux.[19]
- Silencer - Honor Guest was an assassin in Leviathan but quit.[20]
- Quietus - A Leviathan underboss.
- Wishbone - Ran the magical division of Leviathan.[21]
- Gunn - A Leviathan underboss. He's killed while fighting Quietus and Silencer in Khadym.[22]
- Jonah 9 - A Leviathan underboss.
- Raze
- Rutger Orestes - A Leviathan underboss that was murdered.[23]
In other media
Television
Leviathan appears as a secret organization in the Arrowverse series Supergirl, that now sees its historical manipulation of human events as insufficient to prevent humanity's perceived threat to Earth itself. Its currently revealed leaders include Rama Khan, Gamemnae (who posed as Obsidian Tech board of directors member Gemma Cooper), Tezumak, and Sela, extremely durable aliens from Jarhanpur, a sister planet of Krypton, with mutual knowledge of and language exchange with Coluans. The organization employs humans to assist in manipulating present day Earth society: an elderly human woman named Margo Morrison (portrayed by Patti Allan) who works in middle-management, and an unnamed elderly human man (portrayed by Duncan Fraser) and operatives like assassin Eve Teschmacher and Rip Roar. Rama Khan exhibits superhuman powers of seismic and earthen-materials manipulation including kinetic control of kryptonite, Gamemnae has technopathic abilities, Tezumak has pyrokinetic abilities, and Sela has electrokinetic abilities. The Jarhanpurians have also utilized advanced technology and cosmetic modification to advance their goals, to influence human society, as weapons against Supergirl and Martians, and manipulating events throughout Earth history, including the extinction of the dinosaurs, the destruction of Pompeii and the bubonic plague. Post-Crisis Leviathan was not aware of Crisis events; only Supergirl's core Crisis team retained knowledge of Leviathan's threat to human society. Lex Luthor, unaware of Leviathan prior to Crisis, worked with Lena Luthor in a plot to infiltrate the organization by winning the favor of Gamemnae, who has ties to the board of the Obsidian Tech and Andrea Rojas/Acrata. Lex orchestrated events of Obsidian's Platinum virtual reality system's flaws that lead to Margo overseeing the kidnapping of Platinum's comatose victims, and Margo's subsequent murder as Lex "rescued" the victims. Lex gifts Gamemae with the return of a long-ago-stolen Jarhanpur weapon, which is a threat against Kryptonians.[24][25][26][27]
Film
The Heretic appears as a supporting antagonist in Batman: Bad Blood, voiced by Travis Willingham.
References
- ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ^ Batman: The Return #1
- ^ Batman: The Return #1. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #7. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #10. DC Comics.
- ^ a b Event Leviathan #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Event Leviathan #3. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #13. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #3. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: The Return #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #7. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #8
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #12. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 1 #4. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Incorporated Vol. 2 #4. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #1. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #9. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #9. DC Comics.
- ^ The Silencer #8
- ^ Burt, Kayti (18 November 2019). "Supergirl Season 5 Episode 7 Review: Tremors". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- ^ Atkinson, John (25 March 2020). "Supergirl Season 5 Has Forgotten About Its Main Villians". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ Netzley, Sara (3 May 2020). "Supergirl recap: The Lex-laid plans..." Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ Netzley, Sara (11 May 2020). "Supergirl recap: The fantabulous emancipation of one Lena Luthor". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
