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David Cain (character)

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David Cain
Interior artwork from Batman: No Man's Land Secret Files & Origins #1 (November 1999, DC Comics), art by Damion Scott.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceBatman #567 (July 1999)
Created byKelley Puckett (writer)
Damion Scott (artist)
In-story information
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliationsLeague of Assassins
Notable aliasesOrphan
Abilities
  • Highly trained assassin
  • Master martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant
  • Expert marksman
  • Skilled in the use of knives and explosives
  • Espionage

David Cain is a supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. He first appeared in Batman #567 (July 1999), and was created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott.[1]

Fictional character biography

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The assassin

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David Cain is an esteemed assassin and ally of the League of Assassins who trained Bruce Wayne in his early years. However, Bruce has never used all of the techniques Cain taught him and has since surpassed him in ability.[2]

Cain desired a perfect partner with whom to carry out his assassination plans. Attempts to train young children resulted in failure, so he decided to conceive one himself. He found the perfect mother in a martial artist named Sandra Wu-San. He watched her duel her sister at a tournament and concluded that it was her sister Carolyn that was holding Sandra back from her full potential. He murdered Carolyn and ambushed Sandra with the help of Ra's al Ghul and his League of Assassins. In exchange for sparing her life, Sandra agreed to bear David's child and leave them in his care for him to train.[3]

The child, Cassandra, would be Cain's "One Who Is All", whose native tongue was one-on-one combat. This gave her the ability to read people's intentions simply by their body language. The latter was a special gift that only the Wu-San sisters and Cassandra knew. After bearing his child, Sandra set out to become Lady Shiva.[1]

The father

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Cain trained Cassandra in combat, but never taught her to read, write, or speak, rendering her illiterate and mute for most of her life. Cassandra later flees David's care after being forced to kill a businessman.

In Cain's first appearance in the No Man's Land story arc, Two-Face hires him to assassinate James Gordon. However, Cassandra spots him and saves Gordon's life. After she has burned Two-Face's money to void the contract and refuses to come back to him, Cain leaves Gotham, briefly moved to tears after learning that Cassandra has learned to speak.

Framing Bruce Wayne

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Lex Luthor later hires Cain to frame Bruce Wayne for the murder of Vesper Fairchild, during which he tests Bruce to determine if he is worthy of raising Cassandra.[4] Eventually, Cain concludes that Batman is worthy and turns himself in to clear his name.[5] He is later attacked by Deadshot, but fights back and shoots Deadshot repeatedly, intentionally leaving him alive to prove a point.

One Year Later

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Cassandra shoots her father, art by Freddie E. Williams II.

In One Year Later, Robin captures Cain and brings him to the League of Assassins as ransom to save Cassandra, only to learn that she has become their leader under the influence of Deathstroke's mind-altering serum.[6] Cassandra then shoots David, seemingly killing him, though his body mysteriously disappears.[1]

Batgirl

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In the 2008 Batgirl mini-series, Cain is revealed to have survived and begun working with Deathstroke to "cripple the meta-hero community". However, Cassandra stops him, after which he is arrested by Batman.[7][8][9]

The New 52

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In "The New 52", David Cain works for the villain "Mother", who influenced his upbringing of Cassandra. She believed that the perfect assassin could only be molded from exposure to a traumatic existence from a young age.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Jimenez, Phil (2008), "Cain, David", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 64, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  3. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 73–74. ISBN 9780345501066.
  4. ^ Beatty, Scott (2008), "Fairchild, Vesper", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 118, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  5. ^ Batman #605 (September 2002)
  6. ^ Robin (vol. 2) #150 (July 2006)
  7. ^ Batgirl #2
  8. ^ Batgirl #5
  9. ^ Batgirl #6
  10. ^ Detective Comics Volume 3: League of Shadows
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