Copperhead

"You think you're cured? My poison, is still in your veins and it will remain there as long you live - which won't be very long."

- Copperhead to Batman

Copperhead was an expert escape artist and an assassin who was apparently a gang member from a Central American drug cartel who worked as a contract killer. She appeared to have advanced combat techniques and possessed many reptilian features, such as her forked tongue, slit pupils, and venomous talons. She served as a minor antagonist and one of Black Mask's 8 assassins in Batman: Arkham Origins.

Background
Before she appeared in Gotham, Copperhead was already famous throughout most of South America for her skills as an escape artist, after having successfully broken out of fourteen different prisons. She also had tattoos that suggested a connection to a Central American gang. By the time she took the hit on Batman, Copperhead had two outstanding warrants in murder of the first degree and one outstanding warrant in theft.

Arkham Origins Incident
Copperhead arrived in Gotham City and ended up captured and placed in interrogation. Copperhead managed to escape her overconfident interrogator, by breaking his neck with her legs while he tried to call for help before she received an envelope that detailed a bounty on the vigilante known as Batman. At some point during her contracted status, Copperhead had managed to deduce that her "employer" had actually been impersonated by The Joker.

After tracking Batman to the Steel Mill, Copperhead stalked her prey as he made his way through the establishment, killing one of Joker's Henchmen along the way. This, perhaps was a way to let Batman know what was in store for him, to try unnerving him. Upon finding and interrogating a captured Roman Sionis, Batman was attacked and poisoned by Copperhead. The vigilante soon found a sample of her venom, scanned it, and had Alfred synthesize an antidote. While heading to ground level to receive the antidote from the Batwing, Batman had hallucinations of Alfred, the Bank Manager of Gotham Merchant's Bank, and Commissioner Loeb.

Arriving at ground level, Batman got into a lengthy fight with Copperhead and, after receiving and using the antidote, easily defeated the assassin. Attempting to coerce the vigilante into letting her go, Copperhead offered to provide information on the Joker's next meeting. However, Batman, using the electric signal emitting from the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves, found no use in the criminal and left her in a shipping crate for the GCPD.

Shortly afterwards, there was talk about Copperhead's imprisonment. It turns out that the police had gotten wise to her tricks, and locked her in a cell with a glass wall, as she would just easily escape through metal bars due to her contortionist abilities.

Personality
Copperhead was a ruthless killer and capable tactician. While Copperhead was capable of rapidly choking or crushing the neck of her target, she chose to poison Batman and attack while he was delirious, instead of engaging in direct combat. Copperhead was confident - perhaps too confident - in her own abilities as even when Batman was cured, she still believed that she could take him even without the poison. Despite this, Copperhead had a surprisingly keen intellect, as she was able to seemingly deduce the truth behind the Joker's trickery, as well as successfully break out of fourteen different prisons presumably on her own. She also appeared to know when to give up and was willing to give Batman valuable information in exchange for him letting her go. Although its very likely that this was probably a ruse.

Copperhead was also shown to have a very sadistic side as she stated several times that she would like to tear Batman's corpse apart, and seemed to enjoy watching him trying to move around with her poison flowing through his veins. And even laughed cruelly whenever it seemed like he was about to stumble. This could be considered a weakness, as she often took too much time watching her victims pain and despair instead of dealing a finishing blow. Copperhead appeared to be very foul-mouthed when angered as she was heard cursing Batman numerous times in Spanish.

Despite learning that the Joker was posing as Black Mask, Copperhead still tried to complete her contract, despite being lied to by her employer, which indicated a sense of professionalism and practiced apathy, as long as her employer followed through with his end of the contract.

Appearance
Copperhead is a contortionist, and can bend and flex her body beyond the normal human range of motion. She has short whitish-blonde hair, and yellowish reptilian eyes. She wears black eyeliner, which slightly obscures her features and throws her unusual eyes into sharp contrast. She has many tattoos across her upper body and arms, and wears close-fitting snake-skin clothing, as befitting her moniker.

Copperhead
Real Name: Larissa Diaz

GCPD Profile
Initial reports of a contract killer using the name "Copperhead" have appeared in various South American Criminal Databases. Reports are, however, inconsistent. Conflicting intelligence suggests "Copperhead" may be a pair or even a group of individuals operating under the pseudonym, both male and female. Analysts suggest Guatemala is the center of operations of this identity.

Some elements are consistent across all reports, and will be represented here. All reports indicate the killer is highly mobile, with an extremely flexible physiology – this grants the individual access to structures via small accessways, vents, and construction imperfections. Attributed killings tend to group under the heading of asphyxiation, fracture of the cervical vertebrae or death through the application of exotic poisons.

Informational on custodial process: on at least three occasions, suspects linked to the copperhead, identity have been reported to enter custody only to escape via unexplained means. Suggest the use of multiple leg and arm restraints and 2–man security teams on 24hrs watch.

Batman's Database Profile
Records indicate "Copperhead" is an alias used by hitmen working for Central and South American drug cartels, but this Copperhead is clearly female. This could indicate that the name Copperhead is actually a title or label for an underworld organization. Either way, Copperhead seems capable of escaping nearly all forms of confinement. Kill techniques range from strangulation and crushed bones to acute toxicity resulting in death.

Quotes

 * Copperhead/Quotes

Trivia

 * Copperhead was one of the few villains to not have a profile in Batman: Arkham Asylum, along with Talia al Ghul, Solomon Grundy, Deathstroke, Lady Shiva, Deadshot, Nora Fries, and Anarky. Lucius Fox and Vicki Vale also lacked profiles in this title.
 * Copperhead seemed to be the first assassin to know that the Joker was impersonating Black Mask, as she had already learned it before the Royal Hotel meeting.
 * "Pendejo" and "cabrón" were the names that Copperhead gave to Batman in Spanish, which are both variations of "asshole" in English.
 * Since Copperhead used these words repeatedly, she made the most curses in the game.
 * The phrase in Spanish "Lo siento, Batman. Pero mi veneno es la muerte" means, in English, "Sorry, Batman. But my poison is death".
 * To date, Copperhead was the second villain that Batman had faced that was a reptilian hybrid. The first was Killer Croc.
 * It was hinted in Arkham Origins that there may be more than one Copperhead in the Arkhamverse as it mentioned that there was a male one somewhere and the daughter of the original Copperhead.
 * Prior to the release of Arkham: Origins, the comic series Arkham: Unhinged showcased a version of Copperhead that resembles the classic male version who had joined with the Suicide Squad. The comic however does not specify whether this version of Copperhead is male or female, leaving it ambigous as to whether this is the male version or the same female character seen in the game.
 * DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has stated that this version of Copperhead was the daughter of the male comic book version and would appear in future 'New 52' comics, explaining their similar battle style and use of venom. However, this has not yet materialized, as the New 52 Copperhead was a male (although a female version did appear in the Gotham TV series).
 * None of Copperhead's property was seen in the Evidence Room at the GCPD Lockup in Batman: Arkham Knight, so it was possible that she escaped police custody before the events of the game.
 * Apparently, Copperhead had no traceable finger or toe prints.
 * In the Ace Chemicals building, a vial of Copperhead's poison can be found on a table near the second dead Ace employee. Perhaps this was just a reference to Arkham Origins, or it became an ingredient for Scarecrow's new Fear Toxin (or both). The latter seems quite probable, as Copperhead's poison was incredibly dangerous, just like Scarecrow's new toxin.