Christian Bale’s Batman came across a variety of villains in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but the biggest villains in the trilogy were the League of Shadows, and here’s everything that Ra’s al Ghul and company were responsible for in this version of Batman’s universe. After the failure of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin in 1997, the Caped Crusader made his return to the big screen in Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005, which explored the origin story of the title character, following Bruce through his training and decision to become a vigilante, to his confrontation with villains Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), and Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson).
The latter introduced himself to Bruce as Henri Ducard and recruited him to the League of Shadows, where Bruce trained in different types of combat, but Bruce didn’t share the League’s ideas and dangerous plans and left the group, but Ra’s al Ghul went after him some time later. Ra’s al Ghul revealed to Bruce that the League of Shadows’ purpose was to restore balance to the world by enacting purges at various points in history, and shared with him some of the events in history that the League of Shadows caused – and here are all six events the League of Shadows were responsible for in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, both before the events of Batman Begins and throughout the trilogy.
6 The Sacking of Rome
The first historical event Ra’s al Ghul mentions as being one caused by the League of Shadows is the sacking of Rome. However, there have been different sackings of Rome throughout history, beginning in 390 BC after the Battle of Allia, but the one Ra’s al Ghul referred to is most likely the one from 1527. After the capture of the city of Rome in 1527, which was then part of the Papal States, the troops of Charles V, formed by 14,000 Germans, 6,000 Spaniards, and Italian contingents took over the scarcely defended Rome and began looting, slaying, and holding citizens for ransom. The Sack of Rome is often cited as the end of the Italian High Renaissance and had lasting ripple effects throughout European culture and politics, and among the many consequences of it is the permanent split between Catholics and Protestants.
5 The Black Plague
Ra’s al Ghul also claimed in Batman Begins that the League of Shadows started the Black Plague, and that would be, arguably, its worst attack. The Black Plague, mostly known as the Black Death or simply the Plague, was a bubonic plague pandemic in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. The Black Death is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, and its origin is disputed, though it was reportedly introduced to Europe during the siege of the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea by the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg in 1347. The plague was most likely carried by fleas living on black rats that hid on the Genoese ships, quickly spreading through the Mediterranean Basin to North Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe. However, recent studies discovered a sudden surge of deaths from the Black Death in what’s today Kyrgyzstan, in the late 1330s, implying that the initial spread might have not been the result of Mongol conquests. The signs and symptoms of the bubonic plague were high fever, headaches, painful aching ts, nausea, vomiting, and the appearance of buboes in the neck, groin, and armpits.
4 The Great London Fire
The next big attack from the League of Shadows was the Great Fire of London from September 2 to September 6, 1666. The fire started in a bakery in Pudding Lane, but it spread due to the delay in the use of the major firefighting technique of the time (this due to the indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth) and the wind fanning the bakery fire into a firestorm. By the next day, the fire had pushed into the heart of the City of London, and by the following day, it had spread over nearly the whole City, destroying St. Paul’s Cathedral. The fire was finally stopped thanks to the wind dropping and the Tower of London garrison using gunpowder to create effective firebreaks that stopped further spread. Although the Great Fire of London is believed to have taken the lives of only a couple of residents (around six or eight, depending on the source), some historians believe the number was higher, but didn’t run into the hundreds.
3 The Gotham Economic Depression
Now fully entering the universe of Batman, specifically the one in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Ra’s al Ghul also said that the Gotham Depression was caused by the League of Shadows. The Gotham Depression happened when Bruce Wayne was a child, and it was due to the League of Shadows viewing Gotham as having succumbed to decadence and corruption, and the only way to restore balance (according to them, that is) was by destroying Gotham. The Gotham Depression led to much of the city descending into poverty, and Thomas Wayne almost bankrupted Wayne Enterprises by helping the city with the building of a cheap public transportation system. After the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the wealthy citizens of Gotham began to do more to help the city and continued to do so for decades until the League of Shadows returned with a new plan to destroy Gotham.
2 The Fear Toxin
The League of Shadows’ return to destroy Gotham was thanks to the Fear Toxin, which was made from a hallucinogen blue flower that grew near the League’s Himalayan base. The League of Shadows made an alliance with Dr. Crane and Falcone to bring the Fear Toxin into Gotham, with Crane testing it on his patients in Arkham Asylum and Falcone sneaking in the necessary ingredients for the toxin. Crane carried his own supply of the Fear Toxin and used a special mask that resembled a scarecrow in order to protect himself from the effects of the toxin and terrorize his targets, while the rest of the toxin was first poured into Gotham’s water supply and with the help of a microwave emitter, the League would vaporize Gotham’s water supply so the toxin would be breathed in by every Gotham resident. Luckily, Batman and Jim Gordon stopped Ra’s al Ghul and the League before they could vaporize the city’s water, saving Gotham while Batman left Ra’s al Ghul to die on a train that was going to crash.
1 The Failed Nuclear Annihilation of Gotham
The death of Ra’s al Ghul wasn’t the end of the League of Shadows, as a new leader rose to power: Talia al Ghul, his daughter. With the help of Bane, another trainee of the League, Talia looked to finish her father’s work and destroy Gotham, and for that, she infiltrated the city posing as Miranda Tate and becoming a Wayne Enterprises board member, through which she funded the creation of a nuclear fusion reactor. The reactor was later weaponized and turned into a nuclear bomb, with which Talia intended to destroy Gotham. Talia was killed when Batman caused her truck to crash, and in order to save Gotham, Batman took the bomb far away to detonate it over the water, which also allowed Bruce to fake his death, bringing the Dark Knight trilogy to an end.
