Of the character's first appearances, one critic has noted, "The idea that a superhero would wield a sword which caught the souls of the wielder’s victims was not very superhero-y.

But Katana was from the start a rough and tumble character happy to use throwing stars as weapons (even if she usually used the flat of her sword otherwise).

The character was portrayed by Rila Fukushima in the Arrowverse TV series Arrow and by Karen Fukuhara in the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Suicide Squad.

I'd always been interested in Japanese culture and samurai, so I decided that the character of Katana would be a female samurai.Katana first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #200 (cover-dated July 1983)[3] and was created by writer Mike W. Barr and artist Jim Aparo.

[5] Tatsu Yamashiro (山城 たつ) is an average Japanese girl, save for her proficiency in the martial arts, a trait encouraged by her parents.

[6] He is presented with twin swords by General Karnz (later henchman to Baron Bedlam), one of which Takeo favors for its mystical properties.

[7] Takeo spends days preparing himself before taking both swords to the Yamashiro residence, demanding his brother to duel for the "prize" of Tatsu.

Tatsu arises just in time to see her husband die and engage Takeo, gaining the upper hand and disarming him.

[6][8] Eventually Tatsu journeys to Markovia, a small Baltic state, where she tracked down Karnz, and is successful in killing him, inadvertently implicating Black Lightning (coincidentally there with Batman) in her crime.

[10] The two join up to rescue Black Lightning, Batman (himself captured due to a blunder by Halo), and Bruce Wayne's employee Lucius Fox from their captor, Baron Bedlam.

Inspired by the teamwork he encounters between Black Lightning, Katana, Halo, Geo-Force (Prince Brion of Markovia), and Metamorpho (also coincidentally present), Batman decides to form the Outsiders.

[11] The team manages to end the Baron's tyranny in Markovia and moves to Gotham City, where they set up their headquarters (a former penthouse of Bruce Wayne / Batman).

Performing a specific ritual, the Oyabun and Takeo call forth the souls that inhabit the sword and give them corporeal form.

Maseo and those killed a second time by the Soultaker pass on to their eternal rewards, leaving Takeo trapped in the sword in his place.

They become the official agents of Markovia and move to the city of Los Angeles and make their headquarters in the Markovian embassy, while retaining another secret HQ just off the shore.

During that time, however, she is approached by a family member of her husband, who wishes her to accompany the Suicide Squad on a mission to destroy a large hoard of weapons that is about to be sold to the yakuza.

During that adventure, she saves the life of Bronze Tiger and Manhunter (Mark Shaw), making them honor-bound to her by giri-ninjo.

[15] During a lone mission, her old mentor Tadashi sends Lady Shiva to claim Katana's Soultaker sword.

Katana returns to life after a trial by combat within her sword, which includes confronting many of the souls of the people she killed.

After disbanding, Tatsu keeps her association with her old allies among the Outsiders (such as Black Lightning, Geo-Force, and Halo), and although they do not operate as an official team, they are always together during major crises.

Her close ties to Batman also see her fighting by his side, several times, notably during the Imperiex crisis and the Day of Judgment incident when Hell invaded Earth.

While escorting Killer Croc to incarceration, the Outsiders' vehicle is demolished by Maseo, Yuki, and Reiko, who have all been revived as Black Lanterns.

Katana is described as a lethal fighter who has spent the last year waging war on the yakuza clan that is responsible for the death of her husband.

She is rumored to be mentally unstable due to her belief that her husband's soul, whom she often converses with in Japanese, resides in her sword.

5) #27 (2014), where she is told by the mysterious blind man Magus that the death of her husband relates to the Outsiders, the society formed of various weapon clans and connected to Green Arrow's new origin story.

Katana is a highly proficient hand-to-hand combatant and swordswoman, having studied martial arts as a child and later being trained by the samurai Tadashi.