Lady Shiva
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Lady Shiva is a fictional character created by DC Comics. Her real name is Sandra Woosan (or Wu-San, in some recent comics).
She is a martial artist who first appeared in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Master, though she is more closely associated with Batman, sometimes as an enemy, sometimes as an ally. She works as an assassin, selling her skills to anyone who can afford her price, normally killing her victims with her bare hands.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Becoming Lady Shiva
[edit] Pre-Crisis
After her sister was killed, a rich and powerful criminal named Cravat convinced Sandra that a 'spy' named Richard Dragon had killed her. There was a spark of what Sandra would become in her even then. Cravat saw that spark in Sandra and took advantage of her, sending her after Dragon for reasons of his own. Dragon was a world class martial artist. Knowing that she would have to be well-trained to avenge her sister, Sandra trained herself in martial arts. As she trained, she found that she had a natural inborn skill for the movements and the techniques. Her skills increased at an unheard of speed until she felt as though she was ready to find and challenge Dragon. She took on a new name for this battle - Shiva.
The battle she craved was not to be. After tracking Richard Dragon down and luring him to Cravat's hideout, Dragon managed to explain that Cravat had lied about the identity of Carolyn's killer. Cravat had used her for his own purposes in an attempt to kill Dragon. Cravat's underling, The Swiss, who had been the one to kill Carolyn, had already died in battle with Richard. With these revelations Sandra's purpose vanished. There was no need for her extensive martial knowledge and all of the training she had done. Afterwards she often allied herself with Richard, saying "I tolerate Dragon because danger seems to cling to him like fly to honey... and without danger my life is empty!" (Richard Dragon #7) Dragon hoped that she would learn to do good with her skill from his example, and attempted to coax her to explore the spiritual side of martial arts, to no apparent success.
Her time fighting evil with Dragon and Turner lasted only briefly, but served to prepare Shiva for the wandering existence her life would become. Richard Dragon decided to retire into the mountains, becoming reclusive. Ben Turner was brainwashed and eventually transformed into the Bronze Tiger. Shiva sought a path closer to her perception of her true self.
Due to recent revelations in the final issue of Batgirl (issue #73, February 2006, see Cassandra Cain), it is possible that Guano Cravat and Richard Dragon have been retroactively written out of Lady Shiva's post-Crisis origins, as there appears to have been no doubt in Sandra's mind from the beginning that David Cain was Carolyn's assassin. It also appears that her decision to become Lady Shiva stemmed entirely from events related to her sister's death and daughter's birth, rather than anything to do with Richard Dragon.
[edit] Post-Crisis
As children, Detroit native Sandra Wu-San and her older sister Carolyn spent virtually every moment of every day practicing the martial arts. Because of the girls' young age, talent, and unique bond as sisters, their practice evolved into a secret, perfected language that only they could share. Sandra loved her sister more than anything, and that love gave her the humility to hold back in her spars with Carolyn. An assassin named David Cain saw this spark in Sandra one day when he visited Detroit to see the amazing young women perform. Believing the spark he saw in Sandra was one he and she both shared, Cain decided to flame it by removing the restraint that held her back. One fateful day, Sandra found the bloody corpse of her sister, murdered in cold blood.
Discovering that David Cain had been the one to kill her sister, Sandra Wu-San hunted for the murderer, only to be lured into an ambush by Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, of which Cain was a member. Although she lost the battle, in the heat of the moment Sandra realized how much she had held back when fighting Carolyn and got a taste for just what heights she could attain with more experience--her life now had purpose. However, Cain exacted a price for sparing Sandra's life after the battle with the League. In order to be reborn as something new and terrible, Sandra agreed to bear Cain's child and leave that child for him alone to raise. The child, Cassandra Cain, was to be Ra's al Ghul's "One Who Is All," a perfected bodyguard whose only native tongue was an instinct for hand to hand combat and the ability to read people's intentions simply by observing their slightest muscle movements. With Carolyn gone, Cassandra and Sandra were the only two humans known to share this gift. The day of Cassandra's birth, Sandra also set out for her own rebirth, as the Lady Shiva: creator and destroyer.
[edit] Professional assassin
[edit] Meeting the Question
Shiva decided to go with her skills and natural talents, continuing to perfect her martial arts. During her time with Richard Dragon, she had become addicted to combat and life-or-death situations. Already a very accomplished martial artist, Shiva hired herself out as a mercenary in order to finance her activities and training. While doing right had been a factor in her life previously, it was becoming less and less of a consideration as she followed the path she set for herself. Her considerable skills allowed her to ask a high price for her services, and there were plenty of takers.
Shiva was once hired by Reverend Hatch, the corrupt and insane power behind the mayor of Hub City. Hatch grew annoyed of the masked crimefighter known as the Question, secretly investigative reporter Victor Sage, and ordered Shiva to fight him. She defeated him with ease, but rather than have Shiva kill him, Hatch instead had more of his men beat the Question further, shoot him in the head with an air gun, and dump him into the river. Shiva had seen something in the Question, perhaps impressed by his potential skill, interested in his personality, or simply amused by the possibilities he presented - there is no way of knowing. Realizing that Hatch's men had not done their job properly (Sages' "Question" mask had softened the shot from the air gun, preventing the normally lethal projectile from going through his skull), and with no actual orders to stop her, Shiva later fished Sage out of the river. Later she would say that he had been dead when she found him and that she had resuscitated him. Shiva took Sage into the mountains to meet Richard Dragon, so he could have a chance to refine and improve himself. Whether she was more concerned with the martial arts Richard would teach, or with the spiritual awakening that Richard himself was trying to bring about, cannot be known - her interactions with the Question would show Shiva at her most enigmatic. Richard, for his part, would say that she helped Sage, because she saw a passion for combat in him (whereas Richard thought that Sage's passion was for curiosity). Regardless, Richard realized that for Sage to have a spiritual awakening he had to let go of the self-destructive behaviors Hub City brought out in him. Richard sent Sage back home. As he left, Sage met Shiva again, who ordered him to fight her. She ended the fight after a few moves (striking Sage on the chin when he asked if she was taking pity on him, and stating that she pitied no one). She explained the match by saying that she was not testing him, but rather testing her own perceptions. She thought she had seen a "warriors passion" in him that was lacking skills, and felt that she had been proved correct since he faced her a second time knowing she had destroyed him the first. Shiva concluded that she had been right about him and Richard wrong, but Sage proposed that maybe he had just been "curious" what would happen if they fought again. Shiva left without telling Sage why she saved him, and Sage adopted the identity of the Question again, futily trying to save Hub City.
[edit] Shiva and the O-Sensei
Her time with Hatch over, Shiva went on her own way, eventually returning to Manchuria to visit with her godfather the O-Sensei (teacher of Richard Dragon and the Bronze Tiger). The "master in many ways" had lived over 150 years, and had finally decided to die, and fulfill his promise to his wife by having his bones rest beside hers. The wife's family, angry at the O-Sensei, had hidden her remains and intended to fight him. Although this was actually no problem to the O-Sensei, he had Shiva select three warriors to aid him on his quest; she selected the Question, Green Arrow, and Batman. Shiva's actions while aiding her god-father on his final mission might well be described as being erratic, perhaps giving some insight into their relationship. At one point she seemed to accept his decision to finally die, only to turn to him and ask "is that necessary?" Soon after she slew several men for threatening the O-Sensei. Seeing something in his face Shiva angrily gestured at the men, saying "You disapprove? You thought the violence unnecessary?" After another look from the O-Sensei Shiva knelt before the old man, taking his hands in hers, and said "Well, they meant us ill. Besides, I like violence". Shiva returned with the O-Sensei to Hub City, meeting with the Question for the first time since she had left him with Richard Dragon. She used the Question to set up a meeting with Batman, her first meeting with the Dark Knight. Although Shiva needed Batman's aid, she nonetheless began fighting with the vigilante, only stopping when the O-Sensei said "Enough". She turned and began defending her actions, saying "You know I could not help myself. I had to test him. I had to". Notably, Shiva took some time from her journey to kill a number of slave traders, sparing the only one to successfully cut her and actually rewarding the man with a kiss to the forehead (although she still broke the man's arm). During this time, while seeking out Green Arrow, she first encountered and sparred with Black Canary. Although Canary apparently did not realize it until later, the two had both studied under Sensei Otomo for a period. After recruiting Green Arrow, Shiva returned again to Hub City. At this point, the insane Reverend Hatch had been dead for about a year, and Shiva saved the Question from the last of Hatch's men, killing them before idly setting fire to the fortune in money Hatch had embezzled from the city. Shive nursed the Question's elderly friend Tot back to health, after which the hero told Shiva that he could never seem to understand her. She replied: "Your mind is not ready to understand me. It may never be ready to understand me. Content yourself with this: I am outside" (the terms "Outside" and "Inside" had taken on a special meaning for the Question after training with Richard Dragon. Meditating was referred to as "going inside", and Sage, at one point, speculated that when he adopted his Question persona it "put on the outside what I was feeling inside"). Sage speculated aloud that if he kissed Shiva she would probably break a dozen of his bones. Smiling slightly she replied that she might do worse, but neither of them could know unless he tried. She then referred to the O-Sensei as "the one man I am certain I would not harm if he kissed me". Even with the aid of Batman, Green Arrow, and the Question, Shiva was unable to deliver the O-Sensei to the small island Batman believed the O-Sensei's wife was buried on, and the master was lost overboard during a storm. This may well have been intentional, however, for it was soon discovered that the wife's remains had likewise been lost overboard when they were being moved to the island.
[edit] Toward Sodom and Gomorrah
Shiva would encounter Sage twice more. By this point the city was beyond saving, with only a dozen trustworthy police, five judges, no jailspace, no money, repairs to be done everywhere, and a governor that had decided to just let the city go. It was repeatedly called a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah. Shiva first returned to Hub City to offer her services to one of the gangs ruling the city, but decided to kill the gang instead for sending unskilled men to kill her (the attempt on her life itself did not bother her). Upon encountering Sage she was dismayed to find that his doomed attempts to save the city had greatly atrophied his skill. Nonetheless she repeatedly saved Sage, along with his lover (the city's mayor) from assassins. She vanished soon after. Sage himself finally left Hub City (along with Tot and his lover's daughter), having finally been convinced by Richard Dragon that his crusade was no longer doing anything but destroying him. Shiva stepped out of the helicopter meant to pick them up, explaining while it had become a place they would leave, it was now something she would go toward. Sage and Shiva said their final words before she left toward the city.
| “ | "I never know what to say to you, Shiva. I'm afraid that if it's the wrong thing, you'll destroy me." "Ah. Then you have not yet understood the grand secret." "Which is?" "I cannot destroy you unless you permit me to." From The Question #36, by Denny O'Neil |
” |
[edit] After Hub City
Shiva continued to sell her services as a mercenary for the money and the challenge it brought her. Eventually, she crossed paths with the League of Assassins, and its leader, Ra's Al Ghul. Shiva’s primary concern is the perfection of her skills and she has kept close ties with the League over the years, though this has not stopped her from turning against them, such as during the Batman: Legacy affair.
Shiva was also hired to train prospective assassins, mercenaries or terrorists. She was training a small group of would-be terrorists in war-torn Lebanon when it came to light that she had something to do with the father of Jason Todd, the second Robin. This connection caused Jason and his guardian Batman to seek her out, thinking that she might perhaps be his mother. Batman and Shiva had met before and, eager to finally face a man of Batman's skills without interruptions, she knocked Robin unconscious and challenged the Dark Knight. At first Batman treated this challenge as simple vanity on Shiva's part but was quickly impressed enough by her skill, speed, and power to take the fight seriously. He soon realized that underestimating her could possibly kill him, and stopped holding back his full strength. It did however take Robin's intervention to knock Shiva unconscious and subdue her for interrogation. When asked if she was Jason’s mother, she laughed, finding the idea amusing, claiming to have littered dozens of babies across the globe. Batman gave her sodium pentothal, and Shiva admitted she did not have any children. Although it is true that Jason was not her son, it is later discovered that she did indeed have a child. Batman left her in the desert reasoning that a woman with her skills would soon free herself from her bonds. When Shiva warned him that they'd meet again, he muttered "Too bad": it is not specified if this was a contemptuous remark to a defeated opponent, or the dread, on Batman's part, of another beating by her.
Shiva began to track down those who referred to themselves as Shihan, "Master," or any other title proclaiming mastery of a martial arts form. She would learn what she could from them and, depending on their skill, kill them when they were of no further use to her. Shiva’s decision whether or not to kill a particular opponent seems to be based on whim.
[edit] Teaching a little bird
Later, Shiva developed a specific interest in Koroshi, master of the art of empty-handed fighting, after hearing that he had been defeated. Any time a true martial arts master is defeated, Shiva does her best to verify the fact and discover how it was accomplished. After gaining no information from Koroshi himself, she started to look for the man rumored to have defeated him, King Snake, to get the information from him instead. During her search, she met Tim Drake, who was undergoing training to become the third Robin. Tim was fighting King Snake's criminal organization, the Ghost Dragons, with the help of a former DEA agent, Clyde Rawlins. Shiva could see that Tim had the potential to become a great fighter, and decided to take him under her wing and trained him in martial arts. As a bonus, she offered to train him in one weapon - he chose the bo staff. Shiva mentioned, somewhat derisively, that it was not a lethal weapon, to which Tim replied that was the reason he had chosen it. At the end of his training, he defeated Shiva in a sparring match with the bo, and she gifted him with a collapsible bo staff which fit under his cape.
King Snake was creating a virulent plague. The three attempted to stop them from releasing it, but the Ghost Dragons escaped with a few of the canisters. After tracking them to Hong Kong, they eventually defeated King Snake, though Rawlins died in the attempt and Shiva mostly watched the proceedings. Shiva ordered Robin to kill King Snake while he hung from a building to signify his 'graduation' and thus become her 'weapon'. Robin, of course, refused to do so and left. It is believed that Shiva threw the King Snake off the ledge of the building theoretically to his death, though later it would be revealed that he did actually not die.
[edit] Getting involved with Gotham
After Bane broke Batman's back, he sought out Shiva to help him regain his skills and fighting spirit. She deemed him unworthy of her efforts. Out of respect for what and who he was before his back was broken, she devised a training regimen for him. As part of this training, Shiva killed the Armless Master (a sensei living in Gotham, most notable for having trained Catwoman), while wearing a tengu mask, making sure that his death was witnessed, and word of it passed on to his best students. Knowing that the Master's greatest students would be seeking revenge against the "Tengu Mask" warrior, Shiva then made Batman wear the mask while performing training missions. He was taken by surprise when he was attacked by the master’s students, who mistook him for Shiva. He defeated all of them in turn. Shiva was attempting to "complete" Batman’s training by manipulating him into killing an opponent. Batman fooled Shiva into believing he had done so, using a false imitation of the Leopard Blow killing technique she had taught him. Shiva later discovered the truth, but did not seek vengeance.
When the Gotham Earthquake hit, Shiva's former pupil Robin had been furthering his training in Paris. While there, Robin met a young woman named Dava who had been a part of a Middle-Eastern rebel alliance. Dava had left her home to train herself in martial arts techniques that could defeat a foe with the first blow (many of them lethal). When Dava informed Robin that she would soon seek out Shiva and learn the Leopard Blow, Robin grew concerned and followed Dava back to her home country. His concerns were with good reason when it turned out that Lady Shiva had heard of Dava and desired to battle her.
Robin agreed to work with Dava on an assault of an enemy base, at which point he discovered that Dava had access to a chemical which gave the user periods of super-speed. Dava then kissed Robin, giving him super-speed to aid in their mission. It was at this point at which Shiva appeared, demanding to fight Dava. Robin however jumped in first and using his super-speed fought Shiva. Unfortunately Robin found himself unable to hold back as he fought, and ended up not only defeating Shiva but killing her.
However, he quickly administered CPR which revived her. This also transferred some of the super-speed chemical into Shiva, however, and she used this ability to quickly kill the soldiers while Robin and Dava made their escape. Shiva vanished immediately after.
After the earthquake in Gotham, the Brotherhood of the Monkey Fist held a martial arts tournament in the ruined city, attempting to prove their worthiness and skill after having been dishonored. Under the alias "Paper Monkey," she fought and defeated many other competitors. Her final opponent was Connor Hawke, the Green Arrow. Though it was a very close and taxing contest, Shiva was the winner. Robin had saved Shiva's life previously and asked her not to kill Connor, trading a life for a life. After warning Robin that using the favor now meant she would challenge and kill him when he was older, she refrained from killing Connor.
Over the years, Shiva amassed groups of followers who seem to worship her as an incarnation of Shiva, the Hindu goddess of death (Shiva within the Hindu mythology actually is both male and female). Shiva pays them little attention, other than occasionally using them as lackeys or killing them when it suits her whims. Some of her followers have even created temples to honor her victories. There was one such temple in Gotham, which she destroyed, and there are likely others around the world. Her followers are nearly as obsessed as she is, though they do not come close to matching her skills.
[edit] Mother knows best
Shiva's daughter, Cassandra, at age 8, fled David Cain's charge after being horrified after killing a man during her first assignment as an assassin. She then wandered the world without a spoken language but seeking redemption, eventually finding herself in Gotham City during the events of No Man's Land. Seeing promise in Cassandra, Batman (Bruce Wayne) and former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, gave Cassandra their blessings to take up the mantle of Batgirl, undoubtedly attracting the attention of her mother, Shiva. Without telling Cassandra of their relationship, Shiva challenged her to a battle to the death. To Shiva's disappointment, she defeated Batgirl soundly due to the inhibiting block that learning language from a psychic had effected on Cassandra's physical skills. Shiva did not kill Cassandra because she wanted to fight her at her peak. She then promised to teach her the secret of regaining her abilities under the condition that they have a rematch in one year's time. The secret to being undefeatable, Shiva instructed, simply was to not fear death--even to seek it. Cassandra was soon back on her game.
Shiva appeared to fight Batgirl at the Forum of The Twelve Caesars. Initially, Shiva defeated Batgirl, rendering her clinically dead. Realizing that Batgirl had not given her all, Shiva revived her. Batgirl admitted to Shiva that she had been fighting suicidally, harboring a death wish due to the fact that Cain had forced her to kill a man with her bare hands when she was only a child. Her ability to perfectly understand the agony of her victim traumatized Batgirl. Having now overcome her death wish, Batgirl fought Shiva again, shattering the sword she wielded. In the midst of battle, Batgirl accused Shiva of having a death wish herself, and that she was really only traveling the world and fighting other martial artists in search of her own death. Batgirl defeated Shiva by breaking her jaw, but refused to kill her.
[edit] A new sensei
Shiva decided after her defeat to become a sensei, both for Bird of Prey Black Canary (Dinah Lance) and the new League of Assassins. Cassandra began to suspect that Shiva was her mother, but could not provoke Cain into an admission. She then embarked on a search for Shiva, finding her with the League of Assassins under the control of Nyssa Raatko, Ra's al Ghul's eldest daughter. When Cassandra sacrificed her life to save a former League of Assassins member Tigris from an attack by Mad Dog, her own predecessor and unsuccessful experiment of David Cain, Shiva realized that Cassandra was not a pawn of Batman, but that she made her own mind up to be a preserver of life. Shiva decided to resurrect Cassandra in a Lazarus Pit to reveal the truth of her heritage to her and fight her one more time.
The battle ensued when Cassandra seemed determined to end Shiva's reign of destruction, and Shiva admitted that that was the reason she agreed to give birth to her. To Shiva's satisfaction the fight was evenly matched and Cassandra ultimately won by dodging Shiva's Leopard Blow strike and snapping her mother's neck. Shiva, still alive, refused Cassandra's attempt to heal her in the pit. Cassandra granted her mother's deathwish, but still unwilling to kill, decided to suspend her precariously over the Lazarus Pit before she left to renounce her role as Batgirl and find her own place in the world. Due to later events, it is most likely that Shiva's body fell into the Pit and brought her back to life.
[edit] One Year Later
- See also: One Year Later
Having switched places with Black Canary in order to allow them both to experience each other's life experiences, Shiva joins Oracle's covert team of female operatives known as the Birds of Prey (with Canary hoping that spending time with them would soften Shiva), using the name "Jade Canary". However, she retains her hard and cold personality. Oracle semiseriously refers to Shiva as being possibly sociopathic, and refuses to call Shiva by the Jade Canary title, even though Shiva (as part of the deal with Canary) has taken to wearing Black Canary's boots and trademark fishnet stockings (though she hates wearing them).
Shiva continues to perform solo-work however, and visits Robin to assist him (much to Robin's chagrin) in discovering the truth behind Batgirl's recent disappearance and recent upheaval within the League of Assassins. She refuses to allow herself or Oracle's team to be involved, and instead trusts her former pupil to handle the situation. It appears that she holds no ill-will towards Cassandra as she informs Tim that she hopes that her daughter is well.
During a recent mission, Oracle's team confronted the villain Prometheus, whose helmet allows him to copy the skills of 30 of the world's greatest martial artists, including Shiva herself. This had allowed him a victory against Batman in the past. Shiva believed that his files on her would be out of date, and that she would be able to defeat her "old self". She seemed unconcerned about the skills of the other 29 fighters, and apparently decided to attack Prometheus head-on. Prometheus, however, had more up-to-date files than Shiva suspected, and in three seconds had knocked her to the ground. After this defeat, Shiva vanished, leaving a message for Black Canary: "Tell the Canary, I release her."
Stripped of her chance to mold Black Canary in her own image, and stripped of Sin, the young girl who was next in line as her successor, Shiva was last seen talking to Bethany Thorne, daughter of the now dead Crime Doctor. It appears that she is yet again hoping to train a new heir in the art of her deadly and lethal form of martial arts.
[edit] Greatest martial artist in the DC Universe?
For many years, there has been ongoing debate among comics fans on whether or not Shiva is the greatest martial artist in the DC Universe. The other primary candidates are:
- Batman
- Richard Dragon
- Bronze Tiger
- Deathstroke the Terminator
- Green Arrow (a.k.a Connor Hawke)
- Batgirl IV (a.k.a. Cassandra Cain)
Batman defeated her in Batman #427 (December 1988), but with the help of Robin. Batman has stated on other occasions that he considers her to be better than him. In Batman #509 (July 1994), Batman thinks to himself that Lady Shiva "may well be the best fighter alive." In Batgirl #27 (June 2002), Batman states, "Even I've never beaten Shiva hand-to-hand." In the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" storyline, Batman managed to incapacitate Shiva in combat, as revenge for "the beating she gave Catwoman"; at the time, Batman and Superman were being attacked by a group of supervillains under the influence of Grodd's mind-control, so it is unclear whether or not Shiva was likewise being controlled or if she was performing at her full capacity. In the comic, Batman speculates that she may be fighting of her own volition since she is a mercenary, though her behavior was similar to the other villains who were mind-controlled. However, this defeat is questionable, especially since Batman had never been able to defeat her before.
Shiva was also temporarily killed and revived by Tim Drake in an issue of Robin, when the Boy Wonder was moving at superspeed brought on by a Middle-Eastern drug.
In the Brotherhood of the Fist storyline, which concluded in Green Arrow v2, (August 1998), Lady Shiva sought out the second Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, because she had heard about his fighting ability. She defeated him in single combat.
The only person other than Batman (whose defeat is questionable given that mind control could have been involved) who has ever defeated Lady Shiva in single combat was the fourth Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, in Batgirl #25 (April 2002). Cain turned the tide of the battle after revealing that she knew Shiva had a deathwish, shocking the assassin. Batgirl then defeated her again, "killing" her in the last issue of Batgirl, #73 (April 2006). However, as Cassandra was now aware of their mother/daughter relationship at this point, and due to Shiva's belief that her purpose in having Cassandra was to create someone who could defeat her, it is likely that Shiva held back.
In the 2004/05 Richard Dragon series, Richard Dragon managed to maneuver Shiva in position so that he could kill her with the Leopard Blow, but was blindsided by Shiva's henchmen before he could strike. Shiva was enraged, and demanded that they not interfere further. The fight began again, and this time, Shiva managed to kill Dragon using the Leopard Blow. After this, Dragon was resurrected by the demon Neron, who Dragon had previously made a deal with to kill Shiva for her soul. Since he had failed, Neron wanted to make Dragon another deal, but since losing to Shiva wasn't one of the options given to him earlier, he was free from the demon. The Richard Dragon series no longer appears to be canon, however.
The Leopard Blow is Shiva's trademark finishing technique, which she uses to kill her strongest opponents. What it is exactly is not entirely clear, having changed as it has appeared in comics by different writers. In Batman #509, Shiva demonstrates the Leopard Blow as a move in which one folds the foreknuckles inward and strikes with the heel of the palm. Later, in Legends of The Dark Knight #62, Bruce Wayne identifies the Leopard Blow more specifically as a move in which one uses the heel of the palm to drive the "nasal bones" into the brain (this ability is a common urban legend in the martial arts). In the Richard Dragon miniseries, however, the Leopard Blow is clearly depicted, both in the art and narration, as a maneuver wherein one first draws the hand back and above the head, and then thrusts it forward with the fingers straightened, driving them through the skull and brain. Both Batman and Richard Dragon have learned the Leopard Blow from Shiva, but choose not to use it.
Prometheus, a villain with the skills of 30 of the best martial artists on the planet programmed into his helmet, is of the opinion that Lady Shiva is the third best martial artist in the world. However, not being a true martial artist himself, Prometheus' opinion carries little weight.
Unfortunately, the debate as to who is the best martial artist in the DCU is limited to pure conjecture. However, given her extensive background and history in the DCU, and the fact that she is at least partially responsible in the training of many of the other martial artist's which occupy this list - it is likely that Shiva is, in fact, the greatest martial artist in the DCU.
[edit] Lady Shiva in other media
Lady Shiva is portrayed by Sung Hi Lee in the Birds of Prey TV series. Here, she is about equally skilled as Barbara Gordon and Huntress.
