DC Comics martial artists
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Over time the DC Universe has become home to a large number of distinctive fictional martial artists. These characters range from professional martial artists to vigilantes and career criminals. Some were originally intended to be martial artists, such as Lady Shiva and Richard Dragon, whereas others were given their martial arts skills at a later date (as with Green Arrow [Oliver Queen]), or had their martial arts training added via retroactive continuity.
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[edit] History
During the Golden Age of Comics several of the more notable martial artists in the DC Universe were created, although at the time they were likely not intended to be students of Asian martial arts, but of Western arts such as boxing or wrestling. Batman and Robin were DC's first superhero characters to practice Asian martial arts; Batman is first shown using a "jiu-jitsu trick" in Detective Comics #36, and Robin learns jiu-jitsu and boxing from Batman in his first appearance.
Characters created in the 1960s included Judomaster ( originally a Charlton Comics hero later incorporated into the DC Universe), and The Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The 1970s introduced many of the best known characters with a strict martial arts background, including Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger and others. The 1980s saw the introductin of a new Robin, Tim Drake, Deathstroke, Katana, Cheshire and others. In the 1990s many more martial artists were created, including such well-known characters as Bane, Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke), and Mister Terrific (Michael Holt).
[edit] The DC Universe's martial artists (ordered by instructor)
"Schools" are labeled by their oldest known instructor. All students of that instructor are numbered, and every individual taught by a student is lettered.
Where a character has multiple instructors listed, an attempt has been made to indicate how many other instructors that character has listed.
[edit] Master Kirigi
- 1. Batman (1st of 2 instructors listed)
- A. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
- B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
- C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 3 instructors listed)
- D. Stephanie Brown (Robin IV)
- E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
- 2. Bronze Tiger (1st of 2 instructors listed)
- A. Cassandra Cain (2nd of 5 instructors listed)
- B. Gypsy
- 3. Various members of the League of Assassins
Although Bruce Wayne studied under many martial arts masters while training to become Batman, Kirigi, a master of ninjutsu, is perhaps the best known. Kirigi cares little about who he teaches his skills to, apparently only concerned with what he can gain as an instructor in return. Because of this, Kirigi has taught ninjutsu to several members of Ra's an Ghul's League of Assassins. When Ben Turner saught out Kirigi for aid in controlling his anger, Kirigi instead attempted to exploit the talented young warrior, driving Turner away.
Batman himself has taught several others, particularly the four Robins, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Stephanie (Spoiler) Brown. He also gave some supplementary instruction to Cassandra Cain, the most recent Batgirl.
[edit] The O-Sensei
- 1. Richard Dragon
- A. The Question
- B. Huntress
- C. Barbara Gordon (Batgirl II, Oracle)
- 2. Bronze Tiger (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
- A. Cassandra Cain (2nd of 5 instructors listed)
- B. Gypsy
- 3. Lady Shiva (1st of 3 instructors listed)
- A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
- B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
In 1974 Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry wrote the novel Dragon's Fists, introducing the O-Sensei, and his two students Richard Dragon and Ben Turner. O'Neil later incorporated them into the DC Comics Universe.
The O-Sensei was a Japanese Army Captain stationed in Manchuria in 1895, who took on an honor debt to devote his life to studying the martial arts. He became a "master in many ways", and later taught the troubled Ben Turner (the Bronze Tiger) and the thief Richard Dragon, helping them find inner peace while turning them into skilled martial artists. Later stories introduced the O'Sensei's god-daughter Lady Shiva, another of his students. Shiva, Turner, and Dragon are considered among the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe. Dragon and Turner became members of a government agency for a time. Dragon eventually retired, and took up teaching others as a way of pursuing the next stage in his life. His students included The Question, Huntress, and Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl. Turner, on the other hand, was brainwashed by Ra's an Ghul's League of Assassins into becoming The Bronze Tiger. Durng his time with the League he helped train Cassandra Cain, the future Batgirl. Turner eventually broke free of his brainwashing. Shiva's thirst for improving her martial arts skills led to her seeking employment as a mercenary and assassin. The O'Sensei himself recently passed away, having decided he had lived long enough.
[edit] David Cain
- 1. Batman (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
- A. Dick Grayson (Robin I)
- B. Jason Todd (Robin II)
- C. Tim Drake (Robin III) (1st of 2 instructors listed)
- D. Stephanie Brown (Robin III, Spoiler)
- E. Cassandra Cain (Batgirl IV) (1st of 5 instructors listed)
- 2. Cassandra Cain (4th of 5 instructors listed)
- 3. Lady Shiva (2nd of 3 instructors listed)
- A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
- B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
- 4. The Mad Dog
David Cain is one of the world's premier assassins. He was one of the people who trained the young Bruce Wayne in the skills that he would use as Batman. A lonely but thoughful man, and a member of Ra's an Ghul's League of Assassins, Cain came up with the idea of creating a perfect martial artist. Al Ghul, wishing to have a perfect and completely loyal bodyguard, assisted Cain, giving the assassin a number of infants to raise. When these early "experiments" proved unusable, Cain decided that the answer to his problem lay in genetics. He murdered Caroyln Wu-San, one of two exceedingly skilled martial artist sisters he had seen in a tournament. The surviving sister, Sandra Wu-San tracked Cain down for revenge. However, without Caroyln holding her back, Sandra began to reach new heights of skill. When The League of Assassins defeated her, she agreed to become the mother of Cain's child in return for freedom and training. Sandra renamed herself Lady Shiva, and left after her daughter was born, travelling the world and honing her skills by any way possible. Shiva and Cain's daughter, Cassandra, was trained from birth to be an unparalleled fighter. She rejected the destiny as a killer that her father had decided for her, however, and became the most recent Batgirl instead. As Batgirl she received further training from Batman and Lady Shiva. More recently, she has apparently changed her mind and took over as head of the League of Assassins.
[edit] Sensei Otomo
- 1. Black Canary
- 2. Lady Shiva (3rd of 3 instructors listed]]
- A. Tim Drake (Robin III) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
- B. Cassandra Cain (3rd of 5 instructors listed)
[edit] The Armless Master
[edit] The Master of the Iron Hand
[edit] Shrike II
- 1. Dick Grayson (Robin I) (2nd of 2 instructors listed)
- 2.Shrike IV
[edit] Natas
[edit] Chuck Dixon's Bronze Tiger
- 1Chuck Dixon's Richard Dragon
- A. Nightwing
- B. Batman
- C. Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
In 2004, Richard Dragon was revived by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel as well as the character revamped, but only to be cancelled after twelve issues. In this short series Richard Dragon's life as a thief are replaced to be that of a bullied school-kid who is eventually taught martial arts by an older Bronze Tiger. This version of Dragon then went on to train many talented but nameless students most notably, it appears, Batman who then refers his own student, Dick Grayson (Robin I, Nightwing). Nightwing even alludes to this training when he encounters Dragon in Bludhaven. The second Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) is another student pictured recieving tutelage from Dragon in this storyline. This version of Richard is difficult to reconcile with other characters' canon, especially The Question. The comic book 52 prominantly features the version of the Question trained by the earlier version of Richard Dragon, and lists several appearances of the earlier Richard Dragon as "Required Reading". The Chuck Dixon version may no longer be in continuity as a result.
[edit] Others
- 1. Cassandra Cain (5th of 5 instructors listed)
- 1. Avatar
- A. Nightshade
- Anarky
- Arsenal
- Azrael
- Andrea Beaumont
- Asano Nitobe (Last living Ninja master, trained Paul Kirk, Manhunter)
- Black Orchid
- Catman
- Cheshire
- Constantine Drakon
- Doctor Mid-Nite
- Green Arrow I (Oliver Queen)
- Green Arrow II (Connor Hawke)
- Mister Terrific (Michael Holt)
- Kana, the Shadow Warrior (WWII hero)
- The Karate Kid
- Katana
- King Snake
- Manhunter
- Marco
- Nightblade (member of the Blood Pack)
- Onyx
- Orpheus
- Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
- Prometheus
- Ravan
- Savant
- Savitar
- Sensei
- Shado
- Shrike
- Terry Sloane
- Tigress
[edit] List of Minor Martial Artists in the DC Universe
[edit] Sensei Otomo
A Japanese martial artist who had a dojo in Hong Kong. Sensei Otomo first appeared in the Of Like Minds storyline in Birds of Prey, in which he was fondly remembered by Black Canary as one of her martial arts teachers. He was very affectionate to his young pupil, giving her the nickname "Siu Jerk Jai" or "Little Bird". However Canary felt that this was preventing him from giving her the full benefit of his wisdom, and so she reluctantly left his dojo. In the Sensei and Student storyline, Canary visited Otomo on his deathbed. Lady Shiva, who had also trained with Otomo (although at a different time from Canary) also paid her old master a final visit, claiming that it was simply because when she learned that one of the world's greatest martial artists was dead or dying she preferred to verify it herself. Otomo asked that Shiva never kill Canary, and asked that Canary never attempt to bring Shiva to justice. The two agreed. Sensei Otomo was not given the chance to die peacefully, however, and was murdered by Cheshire as part of a complicated scheme for revenge against Black Canary.
