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| The Armless Master |
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The Armless Master. Art from Catwoman Annual #2, art by Jim Balent
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Unknown |
| Affiliations |
Catwoman |
| Abilities |
None, but a world-class martial artist and superb sensei |
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The Armless Master is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He was a martial arts master who first appeared in the Knightfall story arc, in which he was killed by Lady Shiva, who framed Batman for the deed thus arranging for Batman to be retrained through combat with the master's students.
It was later revealed in Catwoman: Year One that he had been the sensei to both Catwoman and Hellhound.
[edit] The Master of the Iron Hand
| The Master of the Iron Hand |
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The Master of the Iron Hand, art by Staz Johnson
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In Robin #49, Tim Drake (Robin) journied to France searching for martial arts instruction, and joined the dojo of the Master of the Iron Hand. The Iron Master taught both Robin and a young female student named Dava, who had come to him because she wished to learn his most feared technique, "The Whispering Hand". Dava, small but fast, had realized years earlier that she would have to end fights quickly if she was to be effective, and had become a master of "single blow techniques", attacks that could end a fight with a single move. Dava's mastery of these techniques had drawn the attention of Lady Shiva (earlier Dava had used her skills to kill the crew of a ship carrying weapons intended to kill the people of her homeland). Shiva, in her guise as the Tengu, arrived at the Iron Master's dojo seeking Dava. Dava, however, had left upon learning the Whispering Hand technique, and the Iron Master refused to give his student's identity or location. Robin, realizing that there was nothing he could do against Shiva, agreed to the Iron Master's wish to face Shiva alone. The Iron Master revealed that the Armless Master, who had been killed by Shiva (as the Tengu), had been his brother. Shiva recognized this, stating that the brothers had been legends in the Thai fighting circuits. At this point it was revealed that the Iron Master had no legs, and had once been known as the Legless Master, as his brother had been the Armless Master. He did battle with Shiva, but was defeated and killed, never revealing Dava's identity or location.
