DC Is Finally Giving Lady Shiva a Definitive New Origin and It’s About Time

Lady Shiva is one of Batman’s most dangerous villains. She’s one of the greatest hand-to-hand fighters to ever live, with some even considering her the best, although she’s been beaten enough by the other top two to make that a questionable assertation. Either way, she’s the deadliest assassin alive, having been the one trusted to train the League of Shadows, the elite of Ra’s al Ghul’s elite. Lady Shiva was born to be the best fighter alive, and yet despite all her prowess, she still died in her confrontation against the Unburied, giving up her life to save her daughter. But in her death, Shiva has given Batgirl the one thing she never did in her life: the truth about who she is. 

Batgirl #7 starts the “Book of Shiva” arc, which was promised to be a definitive new history for the assassin, and so far it has certainly delivered. In the wake of her death, Shiva had a book and recording shipped to her daughter, Cassandra Cain, who is heading someplace mysterious to face the unstoppable Unburied and learn her family’s connection to them. It’s chock full of emotional depth and of course high octane action and finally gives readers answers about DC’s greatest fighter.

Where Did Lady Shiva Come From?

Lady Shiva narrated that her earliest memories are of her parents and older sister always being on the run. They were always being chased, though the young girls did not know from what. Despite it all, Shiva specified that her parents truly loved their children. That made it all the harder when the Blood, the mysterious clan of assassins introduced earlier in the run as a reformed ally of Shiva and Batgirl, found them and killed their parents.

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Shiva and her sister ran, eventually finding solace in a mountain village. They were raised to young adulthood in a temple, where they were trained in martial arts. However, the Blood had a presence in the village, and when Shiva and her sister interfered in a Blood enforcer trying to extort an old woman, they accidentally revealed their true origin. The main forces of the Blood attacked, killing most of the sisters’ loved ones in the village, with their leader revealing that he is their paternal uncle, the girls being the result of a forbidden love. He offers to let them join him, but they refuse and once again escape into the wilderness. At this point in the book, Shiva warns Cassandra that her life was changed forever when she met Cass’s biological father, David Cain.

This Isn’t Rewriting Shiva’s Origin, It’s Expanding On It

Before this arc, we did have a type of origin story for Lady Shiva. We knew of her close relationship to her sister, which this arc builds up into an adoration, a love taken to a near dangerous obsession. According to older lore, David Cain convinces Shiva to help him create his ultimate assassin because he agrees to free her from her “shackles.” Effectively, he killed her family, and since Shiva no longer had anyone to anchor her in the light, she gave into the darkness inside her heart and lived only for herself. Cain gave her a kind of freedom, and she gave him a daughter.

“The Book of Shiva” promises that Cain’s arrival will shake Shiva to her core, and with how dedicated Shiva is to sticking beside her sister, it will certainly show us how Shiva’s warm love turns to an all consuming fiery hate, and then into a cold emptiness when her sister is dead. Shiva herself said it earlier in the run that her sister had all her soft, which was then given to Cassandra. This arc is shaping up to be an incredible character dissection for Shiva.

This issue didn’t just focus on the past, however, it also gave us some key insights into the present. We saw a part of the dark past of the Blood of Wu, which is apparently desperately trying to rewrite itself into something better than a group of assassins. We also saw how Shiva is connected to the group, establishing why the Blood was willing to assist her when the Unburied came after her. Similarly, a single panel the old woman the Blood enforcer assaulted was actually secretly selling the healing blue flower of the Unburied, further showing why the Unburied were seeking revenge on the Blood. Clearly the blue warriors weren’t nearly as hidden as they initially said. This all but promises that we will be finding out that Shiva did not just unearth the Unburied, but that they’ve always been a part of her life, as if it was all destiny for her, and now Batgirl, to face. 

No matter what is revealed next, I know I will definitely be picking up the next issue to learn exactly what Shiva’s leap from being a girl on the run to a true villain looked like. If you’re a fan of Lady Shiva or just enjoy epic comic book action, this isn’t something you can afford to miss.