Get to Know a Hero: Katana
All information contained herein was found on the official DC Website and Wikipedia. Yes, I did go to Wikipedia because the DC website sucks.
Alias: Tatsu Yamashiro
Born: Japan
First Appearance: Brave and the Bold #200 (1983)
Abilities: supernatural knowledge (whatever that means), martial arts, master swordsperson. Her sword, Soultaker, allows her to capture and communicate with with the souls of those she uses it to kill
Affiliations: The Outsiders, Birds of Prey, Suicide Squad, and Justice League
The Story:
Tatsu is an average girl, with the exception of extensive of martial arts training, who captures the hearts of two brothers, Maseo and Takeo. She eventually marries Maseo. Takeo is unhappy about this and his discontent grows when Maseo disowns him due to Takeo’s affiliation with the Yakuza.
Tatsu and Maseo live a relatively quiet life with their twin children until Takeo decides the time for revenge has come and attacks Maseo and the children with Soultaker. Tatsu wakes up in time to see her husband murdered and fights Takeo, disarming him. In the course of trying to save the children from the fire Takeo started, Tatsu hears Maseo’s voice coming from Soultaker telling her the children are lost. Obeying Maseo’s last wish that she survive, Tatsu flees.
Alone, Tatsu decides to train as a samurai so that she can fight for justice and avenge herself upon her husband’s killer and his associates. After completing her training she plans to emigrate to America.
Finding her way to Markova (fictional Baltic state) instead, Tatsu catches up with General Karnz, the man who supplied her brother-in-law with the weapon that killed Maseo, but in the process of executing him, accidentally frames Black Lightening, who is in Markova with Batman (just go with it). There’s capturing and freeing and, impressed the cooperation between a new group of allies, and having recently resigned his membership in the Justice League due to douchebaggery, Batman forms The Outsiders with Katana as a member. They oust a bastard dictator and all return to Gotham together.
Takeo, still alive, follows Tatsu to Gotham and pulls a blade switcharoo. With the help of his old master, Takeo returns all the souls residing within Soultaker, including Maseo’s, to life. The re-corprealized entities become Takeo’s master’s slaves and, in order to reclaim Soultaker, Tatsu is forced to kill them (again), including Maseo.
Tatsu bounces around with The Outsiders for a while before finding herself approached by one of Maseo’s family members about joining the Suicide Squad on a mission to destroy a Yakuza weapons cache. She initially declines due to a debt of honor but eventually becomes involved, the end result being the ritual suicide of Takeo’s master (the one who freed the souls from Soultaker and forced her to kill her own already departed husband).
The Outsiders eventually reform but, as it’s in the midst of a political shitstorm, the team does not remain intact long. There are some drug dealers and then Shiva, sent by Tatsu’s old samurai master, kills Tatsu with her own sword and then Tatsu is reborn after winning a trial by combat inside of Soultaker (look, by comic logic, it sort of makes sense). She kills her teacher and then goes solo, fighting with members of The Outsiders at various times, and also with Batman, and Black Canary.
During the Blackest Night storyline, Katana joins the New Outsiders. While escorting Killer Croc to prison, the team is attacked by Tatsu’s twice-deceased husband and her murdered children, who have been resurrected as Black Lanterns. More dying again.
After Flashpoint, Katana joins Birds of Prey. Her history is simplified to: year of war on Yakuza, everyone thinks she’s nuts because she talks to her dead husband in her sword. She leaves Birds to join Amanda Waller’s new Justice League in exchange for information regarding Maseo’s murderers.
Her origin is eventually absorbed into the Green Arrow mythos during Jeff Lemire’s run (the only half-way decent one since the launch of the New 52).
She’s an interesting choice for the Suicide Squad movie.
Have to see how that one goes.
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