THE FANDOM ZONE 095: "Attack on Central City" is Up!

"Sometimes it seems like everyone else gets to have their love doughnut.  Where's my love doughnut?"
– Cisco "Vibe" Ramon, The Flash: "Attack on Central City"

That's right, Karen Lindsay and I are back with another big episode of The Fandom Zone Podcast!  

This week's reviews of comics on television include:

The Walking Dead 7x11: "Hostiles and Calamities"

Supergirl 2x14: "Homecoming"

The Flash 3x14: "Attack on Central City"

Arrow 5x15: "Fighting Fire with Fire"

Legion 1x04: "Chapter 4"

This time, we talk about things like my new Iron Fist Funko figure, my Next Stop Everywhere partner in time Jesse Jackson's cancer battle, Legion as a modern-day Twin Peaks, the classic Atari 2600 game Yars' Revenge, Eugene proving to Negan how useful he is, Eugene pretending to flip over to Negan's side, meeting Dean Cain and Margot Kidder in person, wondering why everyone at the DEO is so quick to trust Jeremiah, shooting a monitor to disable a computer mainframe, Mon-El waking up in Supergirl's bed, Jeremiah's exabyte flash drive, why it's cooler to have an army of gorillas in a human city than an army of humans in a gorilla city, Solovar being ready to kick Grodd's ass and eat bananas but being out of bananas, Barry proposing to Iris, the Infinity, Inc. villain superteam Helix, wondering if Adrian Chase has a twin, the missed opportunity with Prometheus' identity, Melanie's beat poet husband being on ice, wondering if everything in Legion Season 1 is all in David's mind, the first appearance of the Shadow King in X-Men (vol.1) #117, some feedback from Justina, and more!

You can now check out episodes of The Fandom Zone using...

Google Play Music -- HERE 

iTunes -- HERE

Direct Download MP3s/Libsyn -- HERE

The Fandom Zone on Facebook -- HERE

The Fandom Zone on Twitter -- @FandomZoneCast

And if that isn't enough for you, you can also check us out on YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!  Oh, and if you're interested in an officially official Fandom Zone Podcast t-shirt that all the cool kids are wearing, you can get those on TeePublic HERE as well!  Feel free to post a picture on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back next week, as Karen and I review new episodes of The Walking Dead, Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Legion, right here on The Fandom Zone Podcast!

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Casts Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca

The Discovery finally has her captain.

CBS has revealed that the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery has cast Jason Isaacs in the role of Captain Lorca, who will not be the show's lead character.  He will be the sixth Star Trek series captain, after William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula.

Isaacs joins Sonequa Martin-Green as lead character Lt. Commander Rainsford, Doug Jones as Lieutenant Saru, Mary Wiseman as Cadet Tilly, James Frain as Spock's father Sarek, Terry Serpico as Admiral Anderson, and Michelle Yeoh as the Captain of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

Isaacs, 53, is best known as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.  His films include A Cure for Wellness, Fury, Grindhouse, Elektra, Black Hawk Down, The Patriot, Armageddon, Event Horizon, Resident Evil, and Dragonheart.  He's appeared on episodes of Awake, Star Wars Rebels, Brotherhood, The West Wing, and Highlander: The Series.  Also, he has provided the voice of DC Comics characters Lex Luthor in Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Sinestro in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights), and Ra's al Ghul in Batman: Under the Red Hood.  

Set roughly a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series, the series follows the crew of the USS Discovery as they discover new worlds and civilizations, while exploring the franchise's signature contemporary themes.  The season-long storyline will revolve around "an incident and an event in Star Trek history that's been talked about but never been explored."

Star Trek: Discovery is currently scheduled to debut on CBS sometime in Fall 2017, with the remainder of the episodes airing on CBS All Access.

THE FLASH Casts David Dastmalchian as Abra Kadabra

What, did you think H.R. Wells waving his drumstick around like a wand and bowing like he's on stage were just weird personality quirks?

DC Comics revealed late yesterday that The CW series The Flash has cast David Dastmalchian as DC Comics supervillain Abra Kadabra, the last of Barry Allen's major Silver Age villains to appear on the series.

According to DC, Abra Kadabra is described as "a criminal from a distant future whose advanced technological powers seem like magic, the time-traveling Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) holds a secret the Flash will stop at nothing to uncover."

Dastmalchian, 32, has appeared in a number of comic book adaptations, including the movies The Dark Knight as Thomas Schiff and Ant-Man as Kurt, and the Fox TV series Gotham as Dwight Pollard.  He'll be appearing in the film Blade Runner 2049, and his previous television roles include episodes of MacGyver (2016), 12 Monkeys, CSI: Cyber, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Almost Human, Intruders, Ray Donovan, The League, and ER.

Created in 1962 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Abra Kadabra first appeared in The Flash (vol.1) #128 as Citizen Abra, a man from the 64th century, a time when science has made stage magic obsolete.  Desiring a career as a performing magician, Kadabra stole a time machine and went back in time to find an audience to entertain, and soon clashed with the second Flash (Barry Allen).  He found that his magic was being overlooked, so decided to involve himself in important events.  When the Flash tried to stop a crime he was committing, he used a hypnotic device to make the Flash clap, enabling Kadabra to escape. He was able to send the Flash into space after challenging him to a fight at a theatre, but the Flash was able to change the course of the planetoid he was on so he could be sent back to Earth.  In a later battle, when the Flash passed a poster advertising Kadabra, he was turned into a puppet and used in the performance.  However, the Flash was able to restore himself slightly using the organic matter in his brain, which was not transformed, and then reversed Kadabra's ray so that he was restored completely before defeating Kadabra once again.

During the Underworld Unleashed storyline, Kadabra stopped using his technological implements and tricked five Rogues into selling their souls to Neron so he could gain genuine magical powers.  Abra Kadabra later kidnapped Linda Park, the girlfriend of the third Flash (Wally West), during their wedding and erased her from history, but was ultimately defeated with the help of Walter West, Wally's counterpart from an alternate dimension.

In the current DC Universe continuity, Kadabra confronted the Titans, first appearing as a bumbling and terrible party magician known as Mister Hocus Pocus.  When Lilith formed a psionic link with Wally West to try and uncover who or what removed 10 years of history from everyone's memories, she accidentally awakened Kadabra from within Mister Hocus Pocus.  Abra Kadabra revealed he was the one who made Wally disappear from the new timeline and vowed to destroy him.  Kadabra created younger puppet duplicates of the Titans to fight them, but when the puppet Lilith found Linda Park and told Kadabra of her importance to Wally, Kadabra realized that history was broken, knowing that Wally and Linda would not meet years from now.  

Abra Kadabra revealed to Wally that he removed him from time and everyone's recollection because Wally always managed to thwart his plans.  Kidnapping Linda, he then attempted to force Wally into a position where Wally would run himself into the Speed Force, believing that Wally would be unable to return without Linda as his "lightning rod."  However, Wally was able to return by using the Titans as his own lightning rod after talking with a representation of his memories of Linda in the Speed Force, which assured him that he could still win Linda back.  Abra Kadabra was soon defeated and sent into the timestream.

This will be the first time the character will appear in live action, although he has appeared in various animated projects, including Justice League Unlimited as a background character, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Young Justice (both voiced by Jeff Bennett).

The Flash airs Tuesday nights on The CW at 8 p.m. EST.

DAMN Good Movies -- LOGAN

You guessed it, I'm back once again with another movie take, this time on the movie Logan, based on the classic Marvel Comics superhero Wolverine.  As always, if you haven't seen the movie yet and you don't want it spoiled for you, then please step back from your computer or whatever electronic device you're reading this on and stop reading now.  If, however, you're wise enough to know that movie reviews with spoilers are always more interesting than the ones without them...well, bub...SNIKT!

After director James Mangold's 2013 movie The Wolverine was mostly well-received (apart from the third act), 20th Century Fox entered negotiations for a third solo Wolverine film starring Hugh Jackman.  Scott Frank returned to assist Mangold on the screenplay, and the film was eventually revealed to be a very loose adaptation of "Old Man Logan", a Wolverine comic book story by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven that focused on an older Wolverine in a desolate, alternate future where supervillains had been victorious.

In 2015, Michael Green took over the screenwriting duties, and with the addition of Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Professor Charles Xavier, the story started focusing on the relationship between Wolverine and Professor X.  The movie almost included the return of Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, but the character ended up being cut from the final screenplay.  And with the eventual news that the film was going to be rated R, Wolverine fans began to hope that they might finally get to see the character cut loose.

The film opens in the year 2029, near the Texas/Mexico border, where an aged Logan is getting by as a limo driver who chauffeurs around drunk high schoolers going to prom and more drunk bachelorette parties.  In this future where mutants are on the brink of extinction due to a devastating virus, Logan lives a bleak existence with his mutant healing factor failing him, which allows his adamantium skeleton to poison his scarred and bushy-bearded body.  He hustles for prescription medication for a now-senile Charles Xavier, whom he takes care of with the help of another mutant, Caliban.  Xavier, we learn, is prone to seizures as a result of his failing mind, but very dangerous seizures that claimed the lives of several X-Men one year earlier.

Mangold makes the most of the film's setting, giving it a very Western feel without actually being a Western.  And Logan, as the film's old gunslinger, ends up being dragged back for one last ride.  One night, he's approached by Gabriela, a nurse for a genetic research corporation known as Transigen, who asks him to take her and a seemingly-mute 11-year-old girl named Laura to a place in North Dakota called Eden.  After being offered $25,000 as a down payment, Logan accepts the gig, only to find Gabriela murdered in her hotel room. The killers, Transigen's chief of security Donald Pierce and his gang of augmented cyborgs the Reavers, track Logan and Laura down at the abandoned smelting plant where Xavier is kept with Caliban, which leads to a thrilling escape as Logan, Laura and Xavier hit the road while poor Caliban is captured and force to use his powers to track them for Pierce and the Reavers.

As we head to Oklahoma City and dive into the film's Second Act, Logan learns through a phone video left behind by Gabriela that Laura was bred by Transigen using Logan's DNA sample, effectively making her his daughter and explaining her very Wolveriney attributes. He grows increasingly skeptical after seeing Eden and its coordinates in one of Laura's X-Men comic books, and Xavier ends up having another seizure after not taking his pills as instructed.  The Reavers track them down, but Xavier's seizure freezes everyone at the hotel in place, allowing Logan and Laura to take some of them off the board.

In scenes like this, Logan makes the most of its R rating, with Logan and Laura allowed to carve through bad guys like hot adamantium knives through butter.  The violence shown is brutal and powerful, as Wolverine is finally allowed to be depicted the way he always should have been in his solo films.  Jackman is more than up for the chance to cut loose at long last, but pint-sized Dafne Keen pretty much matches him step for step...and bloody cut for cut.

While the group takes refuge in a family's home, Xavier is mortally wounded by X-24, a Transigen clone of Logan in his prime, and ends up dying rather unceremoniously in the back of a pickup truck.  After Logan fights off X-24 so he and Laura can escape once again, he buries Xavier near the first lake he can find, and is soon forced to allow Laura to drive them the rest of the way to Eden.  He wakes up to find that Eden is a sanctuary run by the mutant Rictor and other young survivors of Transigen's breeding program.  

Once again, The Third Act proves a little troublesome for Mangold, but thankfully, nowhere near the level of The Wolverine.  The kids plan to make an eight-mile trek through the forest to the Canadian border, but of course, Pierce and the Reavers show up and capture them. Logan juices up on a serum to restore his strength and healing, which he uses to take out most of the Reavers in another brutal sequence.  The serum's effects wear off quickly, however, and the surviving Reavers bring him before Zander Rice, the head of Transigen. Rice reveals he was the one who engineered the virus that wiped out most of the mutants as revenge for Logan killing his father during his escape from the Weapon X program back in the day.  

Things gets a bit muddled, as Logan kills Rice and fights X-24 again, while Laura and the kids kill the remaining Reavers and take out Pierce.  Logan is fatally wounded by X-24, but Laura shoots him in the head with an adamantium bullet that Logan originally intended to use on himself.  Logan dies in Laura's arms, finally realizing what he really wanted was to be loved by family.  After burying Logan near a lake (apparently, lakes are necessary to bury someone), Laura turns his cross over so that it becomes an X, marking his passing as the last X-Man.  Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" sends us off, with no post-credits scene to reveal some silly twist that Logan isn't really dead.  The End.

Okay, time for some random thoughts about the various Logan characters:

WOLVERINE/JAMES "LOGAN" HOWLETT -- In his final (presumably) outing as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman gives his strongest performance yet.  He throws himself into his role as an older Logan, making him vulnerable and a far cry from the short-tempered X-Man in black leather we first met in 2000.  Jackman seems determined to give his favorite character the sendoff he deserves, which makes Wolverine's last ride even more powerful.

PROFESSOR X/CHARLES XAVIER -- Patrick Stewart, who may or may not be done with his character as well, reminds us once again of why he deserves to have the title "Sir" attached to his name.  As a senile Xavier in his '90s, Stewart is heartbreaking to watch as a feeble Professor X, but he still comes off as the dreamer he's always been while trying to convince Logan that Laura is an example of hope.

X-23/LAURA KINNEY -- Dafne Keen, holy shit, this kid.  Generally, you don't expect too much from child actors, apart from hoping they can at least delivery their lines well, so it's a welcome sight when those expectations are exceeded.  Keen's character Laura spends the first half of the film mostly scowling and raging, quite well in fact, until she suddenly turns into a Spanish-speaking motormouth that quickly shuts Logan down.  It's literally a killer performance, and makes Keen someone definitely to watch in future films.

DONALD PIERCE -- As the cyborg leader of the Reavers, Boyd Holbrook's Pierce with a Kentucky drawl is a big change from the aristocratic Hellfire Club member from the comics, but far more memorable.  He injects what could've been an unremarkable role with a true sense of menace, at least until his final scenes where he suddenly becomes someone the Transigen kids can gang up on and take out far too easily.

CALIBAN -- If you remember Tómas Lemarquis as Caliban in X-Men: Apocalypse (be honest, of course you don't remember him), you'll find Stephen Merchant's version much more interesting.  As an albino mutant allergic to sunlight, Caliban has a rather obviously vulnerability that Pierce easily exploits, but it's terrific to watch Merchant play Caliban as the snarky Alfred Pennyworth to Jackman's Batman.

ZANDER RICE -- After a brief flashback scene early in the film, Richard E. Grant doesn't turn up until the end of the film to explain why all the Transigen stuff went down.  With the motive simply being Rice wanting revenge for Wolverine killing his father, it feels almost merciful to the audience that Logan quickly shoots him in the head and moves on.

All in all, Logan is the Wolverine film we've always wanted.  Even better, it's the X-Men film we've always wanted.  It's been a long road since the first X-Men film in 2000, with a lot of ups and downs, but Logan raises the bar for superhero films to become something more than popcorn flicks that critics look down at with their snobbish noses.  To put it simply, this is Marvel's Dark Knight, another game changer that shouldn't be dismissed or easily overlooked come award season.

And for those who may be wondering, here's the updated list of my Top 20 Comic Book Films:

1. Superman (1978)
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
3. The Avengers (2012)

4. Batman Begins (2005)
5. Logan (2017)

6. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

7. Man of Steel (2013)

8. Doctor Strange (2016)

9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

10. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
11. Spider-Man (2002)
12. Iron Man (2008)

13. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
14. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
15. Watchmen (2009)
16. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
17. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

18. X-Men: First Class (2011)
19. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

20. Deadpool (2016)

THE FANDOM ZONE 094: "Self Control" is Up!

"Prove to me that you're not a frickin' robot.  Because it looks like you're malfunctioning."
– Daisy "Quake" Johnson to Jemma Simmons, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "Self Control"

You guessed it, Karen Lindsay and I are back with another HUGE episode of The Fandom Zone Podcast!  So huge, in fact, we're splitting it into two parts!

This week's reviews of comics on television include:

The Walking Dead 7x10: "New Best Friends"

Supergirl 2x13: "Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk"

The Flash 3x13: "Attack on Gorilla City"

Legends of Tomorrow 2x12: "Camelot/3000"

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 4x15: "Self Control"

Arrow 5x14: "The Sin-Eater"

Legion 1x03: "Chapter 3"

This time, we talk about things like our inactive Dangerous Habits podcast still getting likes on Facebook, the AC/DC song "Thunderstruck", wondering where The Fandom Zone TV show is, wanting Walking Dead communities that actually speak normally, Jadis the Vulcan, Rosita the big ball of hurt, Daryl lying to Carol, Morgan wanting his stick bad, The Walking Dead becoming the world of Mad Max, Karen not being able to pronounce "Mxyzptlk", Sterling Gates' Supergirl comics, Q and Trelane being ripoffs of Mr. Mxyzptlk, Mon-El as "Moan-El", Maggie ruining Alex's Valentine's Day, Twitter not spelling Jesse Quick correctly, Alchemy Jones and the Kingdom of the Gorilla Skull, Keith David as Spawn, wanting to see Grodd vs. King Shark, Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland's Camelot 3000 maxi-series, Damien Darhk as the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Legends of Tomorrow borrowing Mr. Clever from Doctor Who, FitzSimmons shippers crying out in terror, the return (sort of) of Grant Ward, wondering if Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 will happen, the Bads of Prey, wondering who feeds Deathstroke on Lian Yu, Melanie Byrd and her coffee maker, David's false memories, more of the Devil with Yellow Eyes being the Shadow King, Karen's childhood trauma with Grover from Sesame Street, some feedback from Justina, the Rick Tyler Hourman, and more!

You can now check out episodes of The Fandom Zone using...

Google Play Music -- HERE 

iTunes -- HERE

Direct Download MP3s/Libsyn -- HERE

The Fandom Zone on Facebook -- HERE

The Fandom Zone on Twitter -- @FandomZoneCast

And if that isn't enough for you, you can also check us out on YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!  Oh, and if you're interested in an officially official Fandom Zone Podcast t-shirt that all the cool kids are wearing, you can get those on TeePublic HERE as well!  Feel free to post a picture on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back next week, as Karen and I review new episodes of The Walking Dead, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legion, right here on The Fandom Zone Podcast!

MARVEL'S INHUMANS Casts Ken Leung as Karnak

I don't see a flaw with this casting.

Marvel has revealed that the upcoming ABC television series Marvel's Inhumans has cast Ken Leung as the Inhumans' martial arts master, Karnak.  The 8-episode series will explore the never-before-told epic adventure of the Inhuman royal family.  Leung joins Anson Mount (Black Bolt), Serinda Swan (Medusa) and Iwan Rheon (Maximus the Mad) in the series.

Karnak is described in the announcement as "Black Bolt’s cousin and closest advisor.  His gift is an ability to see the fault in all things – people, plans, structures, everything.  He’s Black Bolt’s most ardent supporter and strategist and is often seen as the royal family’s planner and philosopher."

Leung, 47, is best known as Miles Straume on the ABC series LOST and recently appeared as Admiral Statura in the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  His other film appearances include X-Men: The Last Stand (as Kid Omega), Red Dragon, Saw, Saw V, Vanilla Sky, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Rush Hour.  He's also appeared on episodes of The Night Shift, Zero Hour, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, The Sopranos, Oz, and Law & Order.

Executive Producer Jeph Loeb remarked, "Ken brings both a wisdom and a power to the role that no one else could match.  His Karnak will be awesome."

Executive Producer and showrunner Scott Buck added, "Ken Leung has a great natural intelligence that reads clearly and will add depth and complexity to the very complicated character of Karnak."

Created in 1965 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Karnak first appeared in Fantastic Four (vol.1) #45 as Karnak Mander-Azur, the brother of Triton and the cousin of Black Bolt, who was never exposed to the mutagenic Terrigen Mists so he never developed additional powers. Triton's Terrigenesis was so extreme that his parents, Mander and Azur, begged that Karnak not have to endure the procedure.  Instead, he was sent to a monastery, where he became a martial artist who can find the weakness in anything and then use his training and strength to exploit it.

In his comics debut, Karnak first appeared as a member of the Inhumans when he attempted to retrieve his cousin and queen, Medusa from the outside world and take her back to Attilan.  This led him into conflict with the Fantastic Four, the first humans he met, who were harboring Medusa after rescuing her from the villainous Frightful Four.  Karnak battled Maximus alongside the Inhuman Royal Family, and became trapped in Maximus' "negative zone" barrier around the Great Refuge.  He was freed from the "negative zone" barrier along with the rest of the Inhumans by the Fantastic Four and left the Great Refuge with the Royal Family to visit the outside world.  He teamed with the Thing, Human Torch, and Black Panther against the Psycho-Man, and aided the Inhuman Royal Family in defeating Maximus' next attempt to overthrow the Great Refuge.

Following Attilan's destruction during the Infinity storyline, Karnak went on a rampage in New York at the start of the Inhumanity storyline, and was stopped and imprisoned by the Avengers.  After warning Medusa to forget what she knew in order to prepare for a coming cataclysm, Karnak commited suicide by leaping out of one of the windows in Avengers Tower.  Karnak wound up in a strange afterlife that he believed to be Hell, but he and an ally he met there successfully found a door out while holding off strange creatures.  Karnak used his ability to see the weakness in things to open the door, and found himself bursting out of the NuHuman Lineage's chest in the real world, killing Lineage in the process.  He realized that what he thought was Hell was inside Lineage, as Karnak is one of his ancestors. Karnak told Medusa he knew that she has been an outstanding queen in his absence and rejoined her council.

This will be the first time the character will appear in live-action, although he has been in several animated projects, including Fantastic Four (1978, voiced by John Stephenson), Fantastic Four (1994, voiced by Clyde Kusatsu), Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The first two episodes of Inhumans will first debut in IMAX theaters on September 4, 2017, followed by the ABC television series two weeks later.

GOTHAM Casts Alexander Siddig as Ra's al Ghul

Hey, if Arrow can do it...

Variety has word that the Fox series Gotham has cast Alexander Siddig as DC Comics supervillain Ra's al Ghul, who will appear later in the show's third season after it returns in April.

According to the article, Ra's al Ghul is described as "As Bruce (David Mazouz) pulls the veil off the Court of Owls, he learns the man pulling the strings is in fact Ra’s al Ghul.  A man shrouded in mystery — and the leader of the international criminal organization the League of Shadows — Ra’s al Ghul uses his cunning and deception to lay waste to his enemies, and will prove to be Bruce’s most dangerous adversary yet."

Siddig, 51, is an English-Sudanese actor best known as Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and as Prince Doran Martell on the HBO series Game of Thrones.  His film roles include Clash of the Titans (2010) as Hermes, The Fifth Estate, Kingdom of Heaven, and Reign of Fire.  He has also appeared in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Peaky Blinders, Atlantis, Primeval, Waking the Dead, Merlin, 24, and Spooks.

Created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams in 1971's Batman (vol.1) #232, Ra's al Ghul first appeared as an international criminal mastermind whose ultimate goal is a world in perfect balance.  He believes that the best way to achieve this balance is to eliminate most of humanity, usually assaulting the world's human populace with a biological weapon, such as a genetically-engineered virus.  His lifespan has been extended several centuries by the Lazarus Pits, reservoirs of rejuvenating chemicals that restore the dead and dying to life.

Ra's considers Batman his worthiest opponent, addressing him as "Detective" out of respect for his intellectual brilliance, and has frequently sought to make the Dark Knight his successor.  He is also one of the few criminals in Batman's rogues gallery to have deduced his secret identity as Bruce Wayne, and keeps silent on the matter due to the same sense of respect for Batman and his daughter, Talia, with whom the two share a son, Damian Wayne.

Siddig will be the third actor to portray the character in live action, after Liam Neeson in the films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises, and Matt Nable on the television series Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.  The character has also appeared in various animated projects, including Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond (voiced by David Warner), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Peter Woodward), Young Justice (voiced by Oded Fehr), Beware the Batman (voiced by Lance Reddick), Batman: Under the Red Hood (voiced by Jason Isaacs), Son of Batman (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito), and Justice League vs. Teen Titans (voiced by Terrence C. Carson).

Gotham returns to Fox on Monday, April 24th at 8:00 p.m. EST.