My DC Universe - Secret Six Redesigned Redux

UPDATE 17/04/2016: After receiving more feedback regarding Catman's design, I switched him back to the preferred orange-hued redesign.

 Part fifteen of my head canon DC Universe teams.

ORIGINS

After the death of Jason Todd at the hands of the Joker, the League of Assassins spirited away the deceased hero to be resurrected in the Lazarus Pit. It was a plan hatched by Talia al Ghul as a way of proving herself to her father to be a capable leader of the League. However, he was infuriated that she used one of the few remaining Pits and was convinced that Jason could not be brought into the fold based on how he acted purely on emotion. Realizing she'd never have her father's approval and recognizing that Jason would only be harmed further by being in the League, she went rogue and left the League.

Now on the outside, Talia and Jason had only each other. That is until Mockingbird came along. Communicating mysteriously through technology, the enigmatic Mockingbird reached out to the wayward assassins and offered them a chance at redemption. They subsequently joined up with the other recruits - the bounty hunter Catman, the master thief Rag Doll, the Amazon Fury, and the former criminal mastermind Bane - with the assignment of conducting stealth missions in foreign nations to curb the threat of terrorism around the globe.

RED HOOD

Considered the rebel Robin, Jason Todd was Batman's second partner after Dick Grayson left Gotham City to pursue his own dreams. The child of two criminals within Penguin's empire, Jason ended up in the foster system after his parents were locked away for their crimes. His father was eventually killed in prison, while his mother battled through her drug addiction. Like his parents, Jason turned to crime and eventually ended up in juvenile hall.

While in the facility, he met Bruce Wayne. Like a parent suffering from empty nest syndrome, the lonely billionaire saw potential in Jason and subsequently sponsored his released. Shortly after this, Bruce rushed into trusting Jason with his secret and groomed him for the role of Robin. Clearly unprepared, Jason proved to be a rough-around-the-edges vigilante and was disinterested in following his mentor's orders. Despite this, Bruce held on in hopes that his new ward could turn things around and fill the role that his previous partner did.

On one fateful night after the Joker had broken out of Arkham Asylum, he went on a rampage and made it his goal to destroy the lives of both Batman and James Gordon. That night, he murdered Gordon's wife Barbara and bludgeoned Robin to death.

After his burial, Jason's body was dug up by the League of Assassins at Talia's command and was brought back to Nanda Parbat for resurrection. For several years, he trained with them but his emotions still got the better of him. Unable to let go of his past, Jason was uncontrollable and trusted no one save for his saviour Talia.

Having escaped from the hidden city of Nanda Parbat, Red Hood has now become part of the secret organization led by the mysterious Mockingbird. Still unsure of himself and feeling resentful towards his one-time mentor, Jason is unstable and unpredictable. Still, there's a gentility within him that is growing due to his maturation. The angry boy of the past is slowly melting away due to the unlikely friendships formed within the Six.

RAG DOLL

Peter Merkel Jr. is the son of the infamous thief known as Rag Doll. As a child, Peter constantly sought the approval of his father, but was only met with disgust and abuse as the young child had been forced onto him after the death of his wife. These feelings of inadequacy amplified as the younger Merkel grew into his teenage years. Desperate for his father's approval, Peter dabbled into the dark arts with the intention of becoming just like his father. The result turned him into a monstrous stitched figure without human bones. Now more zombie than human, Peter was able to best his father in the area of larceny and became the true definition of a rag doll due to his ability to contort into the most inhuman positions.

However, this transformation only disturbed his father further. Finally fed up with his father, Peter lashed out in anger and killed his father. This only served to break him further and the thief's psyche split in half, forcing him to hear his father's voice from time to time.

Following the death of his father, Peter was incarcerated, but was released by Mockingbird. Now promised a chance to return to his human form and be completely free of his father's influence, Rag Doll is eager to do as he is asked in hopes of one day being truly free.

TALIA AL GHUL

As the only legitimate daughter of the leader of the League of Assassins, Talia spent much of her early life being groomed for being little more than the wife and mother to the imagined heirs of the al Ghul empire.

Displeased by her father's constant meddling, Talia desired to be treated as her father's equal and as his true successor. She trained hard and made it her mission to impress her father with her military knowledge. She frequently ventured outside of Nanda Parbat, with these journeys leading to a love affair with Batman, the recruitment of Pamela Isley into the League and the resurrection of Jason Todd.

Now a member of the Secret Six, Talia finds herself more comfortable without her father's influence strangling her at every turn. She's proving herself to be a formidable force for change and is eager to become a truly emancipated woman free from the domestic roles that have been expected of her since she was young.

CATMAN

Animal activist and conservationist Thomas Blake devoted all of his life to the study and protection of animals. Severely jaded by the cruelty he witnessed around the globe at the hands of hunters, Thomas struck out on his own as a different kind of bounty hunter - one who hunts down people who hunt animals. As it so happens, there was a niche market where he could earn money to fund his studies through the sale of humans and human parts.

He soon became an urban legend, whose name spread like wildfire through the hunting communities and was known as a creature who is more cat than man.

It was through his bounty hunting that he encountered the thief known as Catwoman. Though the two had much in common, she couldn't understand his violence and lack of respect for human life (two wrongs don't make a right and all that stuff). For a time, the two maintained a partnership that eventually fizzled when Catwoman realized their methods were far too different from one another.

After this, Thomas was approached by Mockingbird to lead a covert team of individuals to take down the world's most dangerous terrorists. Needless to say, he pounced at the opportunity.

FURY

As a child, Helena Kosmatos survived a plane crash that washed her ashore on the island nation of Themyscira. She was taken in by the seer Menalippe, who was eager to teach the young girl in the ways of the mystic arts. As she grew older, Helena came to resent the royal family of Themyscira and Diana in particular. She longed to live in the palace and to be trained as a warrior.

Her wish would eventually be granted when she became possessed by the violent mythical Fury known as Tisiphone, which was all part of a ploy by Hera to create strife within Themyscira. Recognizing the danger in having Helena on the main island, Queen Hippolyta sought to free the young Amazon from her possession by quarantining her on a sister island and having her rehabilitated by their best mystics.

However, the fates would intervene when Steve Trevor arrived on their island. His destructive arrival decimated several buildings and allowed Helena the opportunity to escape (with some help from the Gods, of course). 

Now in Man's World, the Fury within her is screaming out for vengeance due to the senseless betrayals and deaths around the world. With this voice now dominating her every move, Helena must learn to control Tisiphone in order to maintain her own sanity.

Enter Mockingbird. This stranger has promised to rid Helena of the pesky Fury that inhabits her body in exchange for her participation in the Secret Six.

BANE

The man who broke the Bat. As legend goes, the man known only as Bane was raised in the most dangerous prison in the world and was released hellbent on claiming the crime-ridden Gotham City as his own. He organized the criminal underworld like it hadn't been since the fall of the Falcone family's rule and orchestrated the release of hundreds of Arkham Asylum inmates, thus leaving Batman vulnerable to being crippled by Bane.

In the aftermath of Bane's success in defeating Batman, he managed to rule the city for a time with an iron fists. All criminals bent to his will and the city lived in the grip of fear. However, all was not well. In order to beat Batman, Bane had been pumping himself full of the dangerous drug known as Venom and this had developed into a debilitating addiction.

Eventually, Bane was ousted by the combined might of the heroes of Gotham City and he was imprisoned for his crimes. Due to his reliance on Venom, Bane now must be hooked up permanently to a special concoction that counteracts its effects and serves as a daily detox. Though he'll never be fully free of the permanent effects of Venom, he's slowly becoming a much less angry individual.

Still, a man like Bane is too useful to be left in prison. Despite his more philosophical outlook on life, Bane's muscle and brains are the main reason for Mockingbird recruiting him into the Secret Six.

DESIGNS

Plenty to comment on here. Red Hood I wanted to look more streamlined and like a spy. The full helmet seemed impractical to me, since I can't imagine it would be comfortable to wear. I also ditched the jacket and stuck to a varied grey colour scheme. Talia is wearing a catsuit using her TNBA colour scheme. Fury combines the New 52 look with Aresia's from Justice League and the Kosmatos look. Bane is the simplest of the six. His look is pretty self-explanatory.