Lady Shiva

Origin – Pre-Crisis

When Sandra Woosan’s sister was killed, a man approached her and convinced her that a man named Richard Dragon killed her sister. Sandra became determined to avenge her dead sister, but knew that she had to train. While training, Sandra discovered that she had a natural talent for the skills and movements that is required in martial arts. She began training for years and eventually felt that she is ready to find Dragon and avenge her sister. Sandra then decided to take up the code-name Shiva. She eventually tracked Dragon down and lured him into a trap. However, Dragon tells Shiva that he did not kill her sister and the man that told her to do that was someone that worked for him and wanted Dragon dead. He then explains who the real killer was and that he already killed him in a battle. Shiva realizes that she has no more purpose in life and all the training had become a waste. She decided to aid Dragon in some of his missions because all she knew was how to fight. Dragon lets her come along in hopes that she would decide to want to use her skills for good. After awhile, Dragon decided to retire and Shiva pursued a path to find her existence in life.

Origin – Post-Crisis

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Shiva’s origin was rewritten. Sandra Wu-San and her sister Carolyn were born and grew up in Detroit. Sandra and Carolyn shared a special bond and began practicing martial arts with each other every day. Their practicing became sparing and they would get better and better.

Sandra and Carolyn Woosan training.

She discovers that David Cain was the one that killed her sister. Sandra decides to hunt Cain down and was eventually ambushed by Ra’s al Ghul’s

Fighting the League of Assassins

Assassin for Hire

Shiva set out with her martial arts and began training to perfect them. She went on adventures with Richard Dragon and became addicted to the adrenaline rush that is gained from life or death situations. She eventually became a mercenary for hire in order to finance her activities. She became so skilled that people will pay high prices for her services. During one of her hires, she was set out to kill Victor Sage (The Question). She beats him easily and they killed him and threw him in the river. However, he was not dead and Shiva fished him out

The "Van Gogh" of fighting.

Shiva continued her career as an assassin or mercenary for hire. Shiva also kept an eye on the League of Assassins but her main concern was to perfect her martial arts. Shiva would later be hired by some terrorists in the Middle East. She was stationed at a camp out in the desert where Batman and Jason Todd would come seeking for her. Jason believed that Shiva could possibly be his mother. Shiva realizes that this is a chance to test Batman alone and began fighting him. Batman realizes that he cannot underestimate Shiva no longer and quickly knocks her unconscious and subdued her for interrogation. They ask Shiva if she was Jason’s mother and she laughed and tells them she has many babies. Batman then gives her sodium pentothal and she admits that she never had any children. Afterwards she went to find more martial arts masters to learn their style and perfect it.

Robin’s Mentor

Shiva developed an interest in a master of the art of empty-handed fighting named Koroshi. She discovers that Koroshi had been defeated and went to him to find out who it was. Koroshi declined to give her any information so she went out and looked for that man, eventually hearing rumors that the person who defeated Koroshi was named King Snake. Shiva eventually runs into Tim Drake training to become the third Robin. She sees the potential he has to become a great fighter and decides to take him in and train him herself. She also offered to teach him one weapon of his choice, which Tim would choose the Bo Staff. Near the end of their training, Tim was able to defeat Shiva and thus she rewarded him with a retractable Bo Staff that will fit in his cape. They then continue to fight King Snake when they foiled one of his plans to release a virus. King Snake was hanging on the edge and Shiva orders Tim to kill him, which Tim would refuse. Right after Shiva throws King Snake off the building, but it was later discovered that he is still alive.

Back in Gotham

After Bane broke Batman’s back, he had seemingly lost his skills and confidence. Batman decides to seek out Shiva to help him regain his fighting ability. Shiva was disgusted and refused to help him, but because he was Batman she made a training plan for him. Shiva later goes out to kill a martial arts master living in Gotham in a tengu mask in hopes to make his students seek revenge. She gives Batman the mask to wear on one of his training missions and was ambushed by the master’s students. Shiva had hoped Batman would kill someone, but Batman pretended to kill someone and was able to fool Shiva. Shiva would eventually find out that Batman really did not kill anyone, but elected to do nothing about it.

During the earthquake in Gotham, Robin had teamed up with a girl named Dava who wanted to seek out Shiva to learn the Leopard Blow, a punch that will kill anyone instantly. Shiva found this out and wanted to fight Dava. Later Dava had chemicals that could give anyone super speed and was administered on her lips, and she kisses Robin and gives him super speed, when Shiva appears and demands to fight Dava. Robin decides to fight Shiva instead with his super speed. Robin would accidentally kill Shiva, but he quickly used CPR and revived her. During the CPR, some of the super speed was transferred to Shiva. Shiva wakes up and quickly uses the super speed and vanishes.

After the earthquake, Shiva participated in a martial arts tournament. On her last match, she was pitted against Connor Hawke, the other Green Arrow. A close match it was, but Shiva came out victorious. Robin shows up and asks Shiva not to kill Conner as a favor, and Shiva responds by saying next time they fight, he cannot use the favor to save his own life. Shiva would became very popular when she started gaining obsessive followers. Shiva would pay little attention to them however, but they would build temples and worship her, believing she was an incarnation of the Hindu goddess of death, Shiva.

Finding an Heir

Dinah Lance, (A.K.A Black Canary), comes to Hong Kong to pay her respects to her dying sensei, only to find that Shiva has also arrived to do the same, as the man was one of many teachers she had trained with over the years. After talking with each other, both women come to the conclusion that the assasin known as Cheshire is behind thier master's fatal illness, and the two warriors form an alliance to find her and bring her to justice. The two capture Chesire, who tells them that she was set up by a corrupt U.S. senator, (who raped her mother years ago and may be her father), whom she is trying to kill. Chesire convinces Shiva and Black Canary to let her accompany them to arrest the senator, and on the plane ride to his mansion, Shiva tells Black Canary that she would like to train her. Shiva claims that since she has no child, (though she does), she would like to make Dinah her successor. Dinah is deeply conflicted, and tells Shiva that she needs to think about it first, and she is given 24 hours to decide.

Shiva waits with Cheshire at her apartment while Dinah talks to the senator,and during this time Cheshire reveals that she did indeed kill the two women's master, and fabricated the entire story about the setup so that Dinah would be killed by the senator, Cheshire would kill him, and use Shiva as a scapegoat while she fled the country. After drugging and defeating Shiva, Cheshire ties her up, seals her mouth shut with a piece of duct tape, and stuffs her in the trunk of her car. While attacking the sentor's mansion, she wires her car to explode, so that after she kills him, the police will find the charred body of an asian woman in the car wreck and assume it to be Cheshire. Shiva is saved when Catwoman inadvertantly finds her bound and gagged in the trunk while trying to diffuse the car's explosives. Though Dinah allows Cheshire to escape, Shiva tells her that her offer still stands, but at the master's funeral, she declines.

Mother and Daughter

When Batman and Barbara Gordon gave their blessings so Cassandra can become the next Batgirl, it caught Shiva’s attention. Shiva encounters Cassandra and does not tell her of their relationship, she engages in a battle to the death with her daughter. Due to Cassandra learning a language through telepathy, she lost some skill. Shiva defeats Cassandra easily but does not kill her. She offers to train Cassandra and help her regain her full abilities under the condition that they fight one year later.

They would battle again later, Shiva fights Batgirl and defeats her, actually killing her. Shiva realizes that Batgirl had not fought with her fullest potential, revives her. Once revived, Batgirl admits to Shiva that she just wanted to die because her father made her kill someone with her bare hands when she was younger. Batgirl was able to get over it with having just been dead, and engages with Shiva again. Batgirl accuses Shiva of searching for her own death by traveling and fighting so much. Batgirl would defeat Shiva by breaking her jaw but was unwilling to kill her.

Cassandra began to suspect that Shiva was her mother but could not get an answer out of her father David Cain. Meanwhile, Shiva had decided to become a sensei for Black Canary (They had the same master) and the new League of Assassins. Cassandra decides to search for Shiva and discovers that Shiva was under the control of Nyssa. Later Cassandra was killed trying to save a life of a former League of Assassins member. Shiva realizes with the death of her daughter that she was never a pawn of Batman. Shiva decides to resurrect Cassandra using the Lazarus Pits. Upon Cassandra’s return, Shiva revealed her true heritage and they began to battle once again. Cassandra became determined to stopping Shiva and all of her activities. Shiva would admit that this is the reason she agreed to give birth the Cassandra. They began to fight and the battle seemed evenly matched. Cassandra would dodge Shiva’s Leopard Blow and break her neck. Shiva refused help from Cassandra but Cassandra would place her body near the Lazarus Pits and left.

One Year Later

One year has passed since Infinite Crisis, and Shiva and Black Canary have switched places to experience each other’s lives. Shiva joins Oracle’s Birds of Prey and uses the code name Jade Canary. Black Canary’s reasons for doing this is hoping that working with the Birds of Prey may help make Shiva human a little more. Shiva even wore the same stockings and boots that Black Canary traditionally wears. Shiva still went on solo-missions and even visits Robin to aid him in his missions. Shiva discovers from Robin that Cassandra had taken over the League of Assassins and assures her that he will handle it. When Oracle wanted to get the Birds of Prey involved, Shiva tells her not to and that she trusts her pupil, Robin, to take care of it.

On her last mission with the Birds of Prey, they encountered a villain named Prometheus. He had a helmet that allowed him to copy every martial art skill in the world and also had Shiva on file. Shiva was confident that his files were out of date and that she could defeat her “old self.” She begins to attack him but Prometheus had an updated file and was able to knock Shiva unconscious. Shiva would vanish leaving a message for Black Canary telling her that she releases her. Since losing her chance to mold Black Canary into a killer like her and losing her successor Sin, she was last seen talking to a girl that is the daughter of a former criminal.

Little Bird

 Contacting Tim Drake

 Down....but out?

Birds of Prey: T.V. Series

 Shiva

 Sandra Woosan