Warning: spoilers ahead for DC: The Doomed and The Damned #1!
Batman has one of the largest rogues' galleries of any other hero in the DC Universe, and many of them have some pretty extraordinary powers and abilities. Some are even immortal. In DC: The Doomed and The Damned #1, DC Comics has collected a group of short but spooky stories in one issue for readers to enjoy, and one such story involves two of Batman's immortal foes at war with one another: Ra's Al Ghul and Solomon Grundy.
Ra's Al Ghul is known as the Demon's Head, operating as the undying leader of the League of Assassins. He attributes his long life to secret pools across the globe known as Lazarus Pits. By bathing in their waters, Al Ghul is able to extend his life, even after being killed. However, with each baptism a piece of his soul is taken, making him more and more ruthless and slightly more prone to madness. While he does one day hope to die, he refuses to do so until he can find a worthy successor to take his mantle. For a long time, Al Ghul has believed Batman himself to be the one destined to supplant him, but the Dark Knight's refusal to kill Ra's and lead the Assassins has seemingly cursed Ra's to continue living on as the Demon's Head. However, DC: The Doomed and The Damned #1 reveals that the Lazarus Pits are failing, and Ra's is dying.
As a means to reignite the failing power of the Pit, Al Ghul goes in search of the resurrecting swamp zombie rumored to reside in Slaughter Swamp. In the story "7 Days" from writer Marv Wolfman with art by Tom Mandrake, Ra's Al Ghul dubs the zombie Solomon Grundy, based on the 19th century nursery rhyme of the same name he used to tell to his daughter. Al Ghul immediately engages in battle with Grundy, as he believes that in order for his Pit to be revived, Grundy must die and his powers of immortality unlocked for the Demon Head's use.
In the end of the short story, Ra's and his daughter Talia seem to succeed in their plan, using an incantation to transfer Grundy's power to Talia, and then Talia to her father. Ra's Al Ghul decapitates Grundy with his sword and subsequently tosses his body into the swampy waters below, seemingly killing the hulking zombie so that Ra's can continue to enjoy his immortality. However, this is Solomon Grundy, and the story's end reveals his body and head coming together. Grundy is reborn once more, not nearly as dead as Al Ghul believed.
Tying Grundy's origin so closely to Ra's Al Ghul in this story is certainly surprising, but it does make a certain amount of sense. Both Batman foes share a propensity for being extremely hard to kill thanks to their respective means of immortality, so it's logical that their paths would have crossed at some point. However, the fact that Ra's Al Ghul gave Solomon Grundy his name is certainly significant for fans. Now that the precedent has been set in this issue, it will be interesting to see if DC continue to explore this relationship further in future issues, and if the villains will ever clash again.