Benjamin Turner

Bronze Tiger

Benjamin Turner

## Biography

### Early Life

Benjamin Turner was born on May 1st, 1969 in Gotham City. He grew up to a relatively happy and well-off family. Ben killed for the first time when he was ten and stabbed an intruder to death when he was trying to rob them. Ben expressed little remorse or regret in the court-mandated therapy that followed, so his therapist suggested Ben find an outlet for the violence, turning to taekwondo.

Even martial arts was not enough to calm his anger issues, and he was repeatedly kicked out of school for getting in fights, which eventually led him to fall in with the Red Hood Gang in their infancy. He eventually got busted and spent a few weeks in juvie. When he got out, his parents decided it was time to leave the city and began traveling the world.

They wound up in Japan, where Ben started studying at a dojo and began training himself in Zen and became a buddhist. He also started dating one of his fellow students, Myoshi Hara. During his training, he started to notice a beautiful black-haired woman observing their sessions. One day, she brought along an associate, a clean-cut American and both kept a close eye on Ben. After class, they found him and offered him a job with “the Society of Shadows”.

Ben, however, did not want to exploit his homicidal urges, instead focused on finding peace within himself. He politely declined the offer and returned home. He spent the next few years training at the dojo and going to school on his parents’ dime. Eventually, he was offered a teaching spot at the dojo. There, he became interested in a mythical city called Nanda Parbat.

After finishing college, he married Myoshi and she quickly got pregnant. Shortly before her birth, Ben was shopping with his parents, when a car bomb went off, killing both of them. Ben mourned, but the birth of his daughter, Ayumi, started to bring him out of that dark place. Unfortunately, just days into her young life, Ben stepped out to get food, and when he returned, found his wife and daughter dead.

### Bronze Tiger

He was exonerated of the crime, but was left completely shattered inside. At the funeral, the American man and Japanese woman from before showed up and offered their aid in catching those responsible. Ben agreed and left with them. They pinned the attack on the Yamashiro family of the Yakuza, specifically a quarter of their enforcers.

When the three went to confront the enforcers, they instead found an empty warehouse and a helicopter awaiting them. The three were then jumped by the enforcers, but the two Leaguers evaded capture. Ben caught sight of them fleeing as the enforcers smashed his head against the pavement, knocking him unconscious.

Ben awoke in ‘Eth Alth’eban, kneeling before Ra’s al Ghul, with no sign of the four who had attacked him. Ra’s questioned Ben on his history of violence, and once again offered him a place with them. Ben accused Ra’s of setting up everything to capture him, so Ra’s showed the four enforcers to him, and then proceeded to decapitate each one (Ben would later learn that this was Matt Hagen trying to win Ra’s’ favor).

Ben accepted Ra’s offer and began training at ‘Eth Alth’eban. He proved himself a competent fighter and an even better teacher. He gained an affinity for using a set of bronze knuckles modified into claws, so he took up the codename of Bronze Tiger. With some well-placed sob stories from fellow Leaguers, he was more than willing to pursue any quest suggested to him, always feeling the violence was justified. Ra’s began considering him for a position on the Seven Men of Death.

However, this all came crashing down when Ben was assigned to a squadron to attack a Queen Consolidated Oil Rig. During a meeting, he recognized one of the members, it was Katana, one of those who had ambushed him. On her way to her chambers, he stalked and tried to murder her, however he was caught by Talia al Ghul, who brought him to her father and El Penitente.

Sat before them, Ra’s admitted to having lied to him and faking the deaths of the four Yakuza enforcers. He also admitted to arranging the deaths of his parents, wife, and children to convince him to join the League due to the potential his scouts had seen in the boy. Ben lunged forward to attack Ra’s, when El Penitente administered a sedative that knocked him out cold.

Ben spent the next few years of his life in the backseat of his own body, as El Penitente had complete control over him. Ben had been the first test of an experimental mind control drug. When Penitente did not hold control, Ben was locked in an enclosure beneath his laboratory, which would flood with the mind control gas whenever he was needed.

Ra’s began to suspect Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen of planning an escape from the camp, so he sent Ben after them to scope it out. Ben played along with Bruce and Oliver, even helping them plant dummy explosives in the hangar, before he turned on them and ran them out of the camp.

Soon after, he was dispatched to do recon on Green Arrow in Star City, believing him to be Oliver Queen. After confirming his identity, he was instructed to kill him. However, in the midst of the fight, Black Canary attacked from behind and her sonic cry shook up Ben’s brain, freeing him from El Penitente’s control. Unluckily for him, he was arrested.

He pleaded guilty to several crimes that he had committed during his time on the League. In exchange for some extra information given to ARGUS, his sentence was lessened, and he was placed in special protection in Belle Reve Penitentiary, where Amanda Waller found him and recruited him to the first mission of Task Force X.

Ben justified his work on Task Force X as violence with a point, making a difference, even for the government. He became second-in-command to Rick Flag on field missions, and was highly trusted by Waller - although he often found himself at odds with other members of the team, especially Captain Boomerang, who he despised.

Eventually, Ben’s sentence was considered complete, due to all his service on Waller’s squad, and he was released. Ben was completely mistrusting of his surroundings, suspecting the League of Assassins around all corners. He turned to the only person he could think to help - Batman.

Bruce recognized Ben from their time in the League and was hesitant to work with him, however, after Ben proved himself on patrol, he agreed. Ben remained working with Bruce for several months, occasionally hitting the streets as Bronze Tiger, but mostly working as a caretaker. Their time together ended when Jason Todd was killed and Bruce quit being Batman. Ben continued to live in Wayne Manor, caretaking with Alfred Pennyworth for months until Bruce returned to the cape and cowl.

He was trapped in Gotham when No Man’s Land happened and his worst fear came true as the League of Assassins stormed the city. After Bruce was crippled by Bane, Lady Shiva approached, claiming to have turned over a new leaf, and offered to take Bruce to Nanda Parbat to heal. Ben was mistrusting so he accompanied the two on their journey.

They stayed in Nanda Parbat for just over a month, with Bruce healing his body with Richard Dragon, and his mind with the monks and shamans, who encouraged Ben to join in. He did and found a connection he had never found before in his life. When it was time to go, the monks offered a place with them for Ben, and so he decided to stay behind, while Shiva and Bruce returned to Gotham.

Ben has remained in Nanda Parbat since and helped arrange the wedding between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. He has found a life of true peace and zen within Nanda Parbat but has noted that he is ready to take up arms to strike down the League of Assassins once and for all should the occasion arrive.

## Trivia

* Bruce believes Ben to be the best martial artist in the world.
* The mind control drug El Penitente used on him would later be used on Jason Todd and be a key ingredient in creating StarroTech.

## Notes

* Ben's parents, Pete and Jackie, are a nod to Pete and Jack Turner, who were stand-ins for Green Arrow and Speedy.