Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jan 20, 2021 | 3 comments

Baker was born 87 years ago!

I have been going on for decades about how Christopher Lee would have been the perfect Ra’s al Ghul and Caroline Munro the perfect Talia in a 1970s Batman flick. I’ve written about it and referenced it enough times here at 13th Dimension that the idea’s got something of a cult following.

Anyway, I mention this because Saturday was Munro’s 72nd birthday and we ran our annual tribute to the Greatest Talia That Never Was. (Click here for that groovyness.)

But I also took a couple hours to put up my feet and once again watch The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the movie in which Munro most looks like Neal Adams’ version of the Daughter of the Demon.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (left). Batman #232 (right).

Anyway, I’m sitting there and I realize something that’s escaped me since 1974, something that was under my nose all this time — that actor Tom Baker (aka the Fourth Doctor) also would have been a terrific Ra’s al Ghul.

Baker — who was born 87 years ago on Jan. 20, 1934 — plays the evil sorcerer Prince Koura whose age and energy ebbs and flows depending on how much he has to exert his dark magic. Whether he’s at full power or weakened and gaunt, he practically channels Adams’ Ra’s — even to the point of losing most of his eyebrows! (Ra’s has no eyebrows! NO EYEBROWS!)

Dig this comparison — with SPOILERS for the movie:

Batman #244

Best part? Koura at the climax makes it to the Lazarus Pit Fountain of Youth and is revitalized:

I mean, COME ON!

Now, I still hold firm that Christopher Lee is the better choice. His more regal demeanor, more innately sinister bearing make him the top pick.

But if Lee were unavailable for the making of this fantasy film, Tom Baker would have been a more than impressive replacement.

Painting by Neal Adams

—

MORE

— CHRISTOPHER LEE: The Greatest RA’S AL GHUL That Never Was. Click here.

— CAROLINE MUNRO — The Greatest TALIA That Never Was. Click here.