I was not reborn in the Lazarus Pit. I was transformed by it. Its waters and my blood... made one. This was the gift of The Demon. I am a son of his vision. He has come to rescue the world. He is a messiah. They call us metahumans, but we are not human at all. We are more. I was born to take power from those like us. Ra's al Ghul gave me the power to change us. Evolve us. 
- — Ishmael src
Ishmael was a member of the League of Assassins.
History
Ishmael was a destitute man who was kidnapped as a part of the Ark Program, secretly funded by a group of wealthy individuals to create a personal army of metahumans. Batman destroyed the program and Ishmael had gained superhuman abilities, in addition to being able to leech the power of other metahumans.[1][2]
Ra's al Ghul dipped him in a Lazarus Pit when he started dying due to the experimentation on him, this made him functionally immortal and gave him the power to regenerate himself. Ishmael came to believe in Ra's al Ghul's vision of destroying the world to save it and trained himself hard to become a fierce warrior in his service.[3]
He first killed Gabriel Ramos, another one given metahuman abilities by the Ark Project and tossed his daughter Sofia on a fuel truck to show her that she had metahuman abilties as well.[1] Later, he would kidnap her despite Kaliber and The Outsiders trying to stop him, bringing her to Khadym for Ra's.[2]
Ra's manipulated Sofia when she was drugged and egged her on to kill him, in order to let go of her inhibition to violence. As she prepared to strike the killing blow, he told Ishmael to wake her up from her trance as his plans had succeeded.[4] Ishmael would later assault Orphan and Signal in Gotham City, baiting them to follow him.[5]
Once they found him, he showed them Karma who he claimed was kept prisoner by Batman the whole time, so they would turn against their mentor. Orphan was defeated by Lady Shiva while Ishmael would incapacitate Signal, showing him the true extent of his power and how he could manipulate darkness. He later kidnapped Signal for Ra's, but he was freed by Orphan after she knocked Ishmael from the truck transporting them.[3][6]
Ishmael later killed Black Lightning's friend Tina, who also worked as a teacher in school in Metropolis, on orders from R'as. After Black Lightning and Lady Shiva, who had betrayed Ra's, tried to have Martina Dementieva tell them about what Ra's had purchased from her, they were confronted by Kaliber, Ishmael and Karma.[7] Black Lightning and Shiva defeated him together, knocking him out in the process. However, Kaliber, who was revealed to be a double agent for Ra's, detonated bombs across the town, and forced The Outsiders to let them go and save the innocents.[8]
Following this encounter, Kaliber, Karma and Ishmael returned back to Ra's and they went to Khadym, a country operated by the League. There, in a part of the desert called the middle sands, they found the crashed alien spacecraft that Martina had gotten her alien weapons from, which sitting in their backyard the whole time. After killing the arms dealers there, Ra's entered the ship, where he found an orb capable of granting it's user geokinetic abilities. Realizing that he could do whatever he wanted with this orb, he decided that Kaliber and Karma outlived their purpose and killed them. He then commanded Ishmael to wait for the Outsiders until they arrived and give them a holographic transmitter before stabbing himself.[9]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Unique Physiology: Ishmael was turned into a metahuman because of the Ark project. In addition, the water of the Lazarus Pit has also given him additional powers.
- Immortality: Due to the water of the Lazarus Pit merging with his blood, he is functionally immortal.[6] However, he can still be killed through methods like drowning.[8]
- Power Absorption[1][2]
- Power Manipulation: Ishmael can manipulate powers of other metahumans and is also able to unlock their full range of powers, an ability he has gained from Ra's al Ghul.[6]
- Regeneration: He can reattach his limbs even after they are severed.[2]
- Superhuman Strength: He is easily able to stop vehicles with his body[1] and break through walls by leaping through them.
- Superhuman Durability: He can stop vehicles with his body frame without being fazed and recover from broken bones easily without any permanent damage.[1][6] He is also immune to pain.[8]
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Shield
Weapons
- Scimitars
Notes
- Ishmael has no visible cornea or pupils, this doesn't seem to hinder his ability to see however.
Trivia
- Kaliber when he debuted was a supposed pastiche of Cable and Ishmael was supposed to be a pastiche of Ahab. Both Ahab and Ishmael are named after characters from Moby Dick.
Related
- 12 Appearances of Ishmael (Prime Earth)
- 4 Images featuring Ishmael (Prime Earth)
- 2 Quotations by or about Ishmael (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Ishmael (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #6
- ↑ Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #3
- ↑ Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #7
- ↑ Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #10
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #11
- ↑ Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 3) #12
  League of Assassins member |
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