Christopher Nolan’s best Batman villains, ranked by how iconic they are

3. Ra’s al Ghul

Liam Neeson might be known for fighting villains but he’s pretty great at playing one too and that is perfectly shown in his portrayal of the leader of the League of Shadows, Ra’s al Ghul. We first see him in the first film, Batman Begins, and then briefly in The Dark Knight Rises.

When we first meet him, Ra’s is known as Henry Ducard and trains Bruce Wayne in martial arts and stealth in the Himalayas. But when he tells Bruce to kill a murderer, Bruce refuses and burns down the temple. Bruce does save Ra’s but that doesn’t stop the villain from coming to Gotham to wreak havoc on the city and its people.

He not only sics Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA Scarecrow on the city with his mask and by putting the fear toxin into the water supply, but he also has a hand in Gotham’s economic depression that indirectly caused the murder of Bruce’s parents.

While the Joker and Bane might be more memorable, Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows hit the city Bruce loves systematically through the economy and the water. Bane is pretty small beans by comparison. It takes a runaway train that crashes to end up killing him.

We don’t get much of Ra’s backstory until The Dark Knight Rises where we find out his life was much more tragic than first thought. He was exiled for falling in love with a warlord’s daughter and went on to later be reunited with their child who was stuck in the Pit after his lover’s death and ultimately, he comes back to save Bane.

He may not play a bad guy too often, but this role proves that when he does, Liam Neeson does a pretty good job of it.