DC Reveals New Backstory Of Iconic Batman Villain

Published Sep 20, 2026, 11:59 PM EDT

An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.

His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.

DC Comics stays consistently true to the medium's tropes by keeping its chracters' backstories in a state of flux as adjustments, modernizations, and retcons follow. Jonathan and Martha Kent are some notable additions to enrich Superman's backstory, and Batman's changes have had him play fast and loose with his "no kill" rule. But the same can be said about various villains across the DC Universe and its growing list of continuities, with its hottest one of the present flipping the script on classic antagonists. In the Absolute Universe, the League of Assassins has been raked over the coals so intensely it ceased to exist as its former self, with its leader, Sandra Wu-San aka Lady Shiva, changing with it.

Shiva has existed since 1975 and has typically been known as one of the greatest living martial artists in her various iterations, not always purely functioning as a villain but as part of the morally-gray world of her profession. But with the Absolute Universe, Shiva's ties to the Batman family were entirely to do with his greatest current adversary, Jack Grimm, known as the Joker in this continuity, who killed all but seven remaining members of the League of Assassins as led by Shiva. It's led to some interesting perspective on how she operates in the wake of enormous tragedy, while also creating an interesting sympathetic component to the League in its new form, that's worth visiting more closely.

DC's Absolute Shiva Debuted A Horrific New Backstory

With the Joker's demonic form tearing apart much of the League of Assassins in the prologue for Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow's Hand #1, Lady Shiva had little left to work with, but stayed dedicated to rebuilding her forces. Utterly out of Ra's al Ghul's shadow in this case with him most recently leading the Lazarus Corporation, Shiva's leadership of the League was characteristically strong and deadly, but ultimately open to worthy prospective members who endured the harsh journey to meet them. In fact, despite the massacre that ensued when the Joker successfully joined their fold as their best student, but then demanded she give control of it to himself, she firmly said, "No."

DC has made a pretty strong case for Absolute Batman's spin on the Joker to be a terrifying eldritch monster utterly swapping his classic dynamic as Jack Grimm with Bruce Wayne's, all while keeping his brutal penchant for killing. For a character to meet him and defy his wishes as one of the most powerful villains overseeing an order forged in evil is no mean feat. But as Shiva rebuilt the League into something new, she raised her daughter, Cassandra Cain, into a ruthlessly efficient fighter, even if it took her far too long to recognize just how well she'd done. In fact, in an emotional clash following Cassandra's disobedience to rescue a forsaken captured member, a trial by combat ensued that proved Shiva trained a worthy successor to lead the League's new iteration.

Absolute Cassandra Cain Debuted Its Universe's League Of Shadows

Shiva's training for Cassandra was an utterly uncompromising exercise in creating a hardened, independent fighter. She almost did too good a job, training her in the art of killing alongside many deadly martial arts, while also consistently claiming things like compassion would make her weak. But by challenging Shiva's claims directly after saving the Absolute Universe's Katana from the Ark-D location, Cassandra found a way forward for the League that even Shiva couldn't allow herself to see.

I am not the voiceless daughter. I am NOT the Demon's Hand. I am the SHADOW.

Strength lies in the darkness, where trusting hands reach out to find one another. Now with the Demon's Head. But with the Shadow's Hand.

The head gnashes and growls. And everyone falls in line. But the hand holds you up. Lets you come into your power. Together. And no one will be left behind.

This moment was the culmination of Cassandra's own belief system coming together across Absolute Cassandra Cain #1. Such words might otherwise be used just ahead of a definitive death blow, but instead, Cassandra's compassion shined through, allowing mercy and a moment of understanding with her mother. It's in the final panel that Shiva's backstory put her at a crossroads after trauma tore through everythign she'd built to this point, and Cassandra, by taking a symbolic victory and reshaping how the League in the Absolute Universe will operate. By challenging Shiva and seeing eye-to-eye with her, Cassandra recreated a deadly assassin group into the League of Shadows, rejoining Batman's world as Absolute Catwoman #4 draws near on October 14, 2026.