Origin
Morgan Ducard is the vigilante son of Henri Ducard, the same man who had trained Bruce Wayne prior to him becoming Batman. Henri Ducard made a name for himself as a professional manhunter/ killer. Every organization from the CIA to KGB wanted Ducard’s services. In time, Ducard gained several enemies including a French Algerian named Hassan. Hassan was a Muslim fundamentalist who had several terrorist cells spread throughout Europe but his last attempt to strike at Capitalism ended badly because of Ducard. Hassan orders one of his female loyalists to seduce Ducard and kill him at the opportune moment. The female loyalist introduces herself to Ducard as Felicity Strode. When the moment presented itself, Felicity decided not to kill Ducard because she discovered that she was baring Ducard’s child. Felicity faked her death in order to escape Hassan’s vengeful retribution and started a whole new life with Ducard.
For the next twelve years, Ducard trained his son Morgan in the art of killing while Felicity maintained her position as a nurturing maternal figure. Unfortunately, Hassan learned about Felicity’s continued existence and decided to take matters into his own hands. Hassan captured Felicity and told her that she has twenty four hours to eliminate Ducard or her son will suffer for her failure. Felicity knew that she could not escape Hassan’s threat so she decides to go along with the mission. Felicity calls Hassan and tells him that she is expecting Ducard any minute.
Bruce Wayne traveled to Paris and sought out Ducard for his renowned skills as a detective. However, Ducard wanted to test out Wayne’s potential by having his son Morgan challenge Wayne. Morgan surprised Wayne in an alley but Wayne proved his worth when he defeated Morgan. Ducard approaches Wayne with a silencer to his head and asks Wayne why he shouldn’t just kill him for humiliating his son. Wayne then demonstrates his psychological ingenuity by toying with Ducard’s vanity.
Wayne informs Ducard that he is aware of his involvement with Interpol. Interpol enlisted Ducard’s services because they wanted an elusive terrorist cell to be taken out. Ducard agreed to Interpol’s request because he wanted the chance to get revenge on Hassan, the leader of this terrorist cell. Hassan was the same man who gave Felicity Strode the responsibility to kill Ducard. Unfortunately, Ducard’s tracking skills have only allowed him to get close to Hassan’s lieutenants. Bruce on the other hand, has learned the exact location of Hassan and will provide the information if Ducard agrees to train him. Normally, Ducard would agree to such an offer and just kill the informant afterwards but he could not overlook Bruce’s prowess as well as his knack for extracting near impossible information.
Ducard agreed to Bruce’s offer and spent the next several months pairing Bruce with Morgan in the hopes of them working together as an elite killing force. Ducard eventually caught up with his prey and killed Hassan. All the while however, eager teenaged Bruce Wayne never realized Ducard was largely an amoral man who worked on both sides of the law. Eventually they parted ways when they argued over whether it was right to take a life.
Morgan and Bruce trained together and Henri hoped the two would form a strong partnership. However, their opposing views on the use of lethal force ensured they could be nothing but enemies.
Damian ends Morgan by using a peculiar technique, taught to him by Morgan. From what Batman could make out, Damian had punctured Morgan’s forehead with his own hand.
Creation
Nobody was created by Batman and Robin writer Peter Tomasi and artist Patrick Gleason.
Major Story Arcs
Batman and Robin
In the relaunched Batman and Robin series, Nobody is first seen attacking and murdering the Russian representative of Batman Inc, Ravil, with plans to go after Batman Inc.’s founder, Bruce Wayne next. Nobody makes his way to Gotham, making his presence known to Bruce immediately by meeting him in public. Bruce recognizes Nobody instantly, and it’s revealed that as with Bruce, Nobody had also trained with Henri Ducard. Nobody is none too pleased with how Bruce is carrying out Ducard’s “mission” and sees Batman Incorporated as a disgrace. He warns Bruce that he’s in Gotham for an “intervention” rather than an attack, claiming that he is the only one who can save Bruce from himself. Nobody then targets Bruce’s son Damian, in an attempt to appeal to the young Robin’s violent side.
Nobody first appears to Damian while he is on patrol, beating up some thugs that were trying to kill a man and his wife. Nobody eggs Damian on to kill the criminals, rather than simply beat them up and turn them over to the cops. When Damian refuses to kill, Nobody kills the thug instead. Damian attacks Nobody but is stopped by a nerve strike to the face, incapacitating him momentarily. Just then, Batman descends upon the scene, tearing Nobody away from Damian and viciously beating him, until Nobody activates a sonic weapon in his armor, knocking Bruce out.
When Damian and Bruce awaken they are tied to an old car, which is parked in an old drive in theater, out in the middle of nowhere. Nobody puts on a slideshow, trying to convince Bruce and Damian that killing criminals is always the answer, rather than allowing them to live. Just as Nobody puts his hand in front of Bruce’s face, about to activate the sonic weapon (this time, close enough to Bruce’s head to kill him) when Bruce activates a remote controlled Batplane, which fires several rubber bullets into Nobody’s back, who starts running away. The Batplane shoots Nobody a few more times, then swings back around. Bruce cuts his ropes tying him down on a piece of sharp glass on the side of the car, then frees Damian and presses his fingers onto his skull, negating the effects of the nerve strike. Bruce and Damian hook their grappling wire onto the Batplane, and it takes them away, just as Nobody shoots a tank, triggering a large explosion. Nobody is not killed in the explosion, and Bruce and Damian escape to safety. Nobody later appears in the same issue, talking to Damian in person in the yard where Martha and Thomas Wayne’s graves are. Nobody tells Damian he will teach him, and they can fight crime together, killing criminals.
Later, Bruce finds a note from Damian saying, ‘I had to leave. The lie is over.’ Alfred finds several pictures Damian drew of people getting killed. It is shown that Damian has joined Nobody in his fight against crime. Bruce hooks up every security camera in Gotham to a central control station for Alfred to watch over, to send Bruce a location if a camera gets a match on Damian. Meanwhile, as Bruce takes a Batmobile out of the cave in search of his son, Nobody takes Damian out to prove he is committed to kill.
At this time, Morgan Ducard’s origin story was revealed, see Origin on this page to read more.
Ducard takes Damian to an embassy, where a human trafficking ring has been going on for a long time now. Damian and Nobody defeat all the guards, and when they find the ambassador, Nobody puts a gun into Damian’s hand and tells him to shoot.
Damian pulls the trigger, but there wasn’t a bullet in the gun- it clicks harmlessly and the ambassador is left alive. Nobody tells Damian to use the nerve strike he used in the alley- Damian executes it perfectly, knocking out the ambassador but not killing him. The two then take the ambassador to Nobody’s hideout to interrogate and punish him.
At this time more of Nobody and Batman’s past is revealed, how Morgan tried to kill Bruce but failed, and how Bruce nearly beat Morgan to death with his bare hands.
Damian and Morgan interrogate the ambassador and gain much needed information about the human trafficking problem, but afterwards, to Damian’s dismay and shock , Nobody begins to dunk the ambassador in a vat of acid to rid the scene of any evidence. Damian objects and begins attacking Nobody, who beats him down, however Damian activates a GPS signal to Bruce, which is picked up. Batman begins racing towards Damian to save him, as Nobody begins to snap Damian’s bones in retort for betraying him. When asked the reason why he threw all he had to offer away, Damian answered to Morgan, ‘Because he’s my father, you idiot.’
Just as Morgan is about to kill Damian, Batman in the Batmobile crashes through the wall of the ship, knocking Morgan and Damian away from each other. Batman and Nobody engage in vicious combat. Nobody attempt to use his sonics to knock out Batman, but Batman has put in aural modifications to his suit, rendering him immune to the sonics. Nobody manages to stab batman several times with his bladed weapons, cutting him up, as Bruce throws Nobody around and beats him. In the end, Batman picks up Nobody and dunks his face in the acid pit, burning his helmet off. As they are leaving the ship, with Nobody chained up, Damian takes a second to shove his fingers into Nobody’s skull, using the nerve strike but with more power, immediately killing Nobody.
Powers and Abilities
Morgan Ducard does not have any superhuman powers or abilities. He is well trained in the use of weapons and hand to hand combat by his father, though not on the level of Batman himself, as he was defeated on two occasions by Batman. Morgan also has knowledge of a nerve strike, used between the eyes, which instantly knocks out anybody he uses it on.
Nobody has a suit that gives him several useful options. He can use a cloaking device that makes him virtually invisible to the human eye, as he was able to sneak up and kill a representative of Batman Incorporated. Nobody also has a sonic weapon that can be used to incapacitate his foes, allowing him to knock out Bruce Wayne and Damian Wayne.