Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Avatar

If Ra's last episode was a tribute to classic Bond movies, this episode paid homage to Indiana Jones. Once again, seeing Bats and Talia team up was a lot of fun, even if I never quite understood what the grand plan really was.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Batman Villain Tiptoes

No, these aren't shows, but these gifs of Bat-foes tip toeing are mighty mesmerizing.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Demon's Quest

 This epic two-part globetrotting tale introduced Ra's al Ghul not only to me, but to the animated world of DC. True, he did appear in Off Balance, but this outing cemented his status as a worthy A-list villain for the Dark Knight. In many ways, Ra's engineered test played out like a James Bond movie, full of thugs, traps, exotic locales, Talia as the Bond babe, and even a great score. The episode even featured skiing assassins, a Bondian trope.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Off Balance

 Not only does this one feature two substantial character debuts with Count Vertigo and Talia (three if you count the cameo by Ra's), but I consider this a milestone in the animated series. A lot of that may be in my head, but before the animated series I was not very familiar with the character of Ra's al Ghul. For the first half of this series, he was no where to be found, but with Off Balance, that world would be opened setting the stage for some epic clashes in the remaining episodes. And while I will take people's word for it that Ra's was big in the comics in the 70's, I credit his depiction here as much as anything with his eventual integration in the modern Batman movies. I could be completely wrong off course, but that's just my take. 

Onscreen History of Talia al Ghul

First appearing in Detective Comics #411 in 1971, Talia al Ghul AKA تاليا الغول‎ , now estranged daughter of super villain / eco-terrorist / leader of the League of Shadows Ra's al Ghul has played a major role in the life of the Dark Knight. As a sometimes love interest and sometimes villain, Talia is the mother of current Robin and Batman heir Damian Wayne.