The League of Shadows
Image taken from about.com
In the Batman mythology, the League of Shadows is an organization of assassins. Their duty in life is to use their own form of justice to set the world the way they see to be right. Their history includes ridding the world of corrupt societies such as Rome. In the fictional history, members of this league were among the ranks of the Visigoths, a barbarian tribe that conquered Rome. When the city was breached, members of the league targeted and killed high-ranking officials while all around them the city burned to the ground. The league stayed silent for many generations, until unleashing one of the worst atrocities in human history: the Black Plague.
The league unleashed terror upon the world by loading plague ships with plague rats. The black death killed thousands and forced Europe to almost start over from scratch. The Great Fire of London was also the work of the league. Henri Ducard, a member of the league, mentions to Bruce Wayne that “every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.” This ideology comes to an end when Bruce Wayne confronts the league and destroys their headquarters.
