Nightshade (DC Comics)

For theMarvel Comicscharacter, seeNightshade (Marvel Comics).

Nightshadeis asuperheroappearing in media published byDC Comics.Created byDavid KalerandSteve Ditko,the character first appeared inCaptain Atom#82 (September 1966) originally published byCharlton Comics.

Nightshade
Nightshade from a portion of the promotional art forShadowpact#1 cover. Art byBill Willingham.
Publication information
Publisher	OriginallyCharlton Comics,nowDC Comics
First appearance	Captain Atom#82 (September 1966)
Created by	David Kaler(writer) Steve Ditko(artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Eve Eden
Species	Homo magi
Team affiliations	Shadowpact Suicide Squad Onslaught L.A.W. InterC.E.P.T. Justice League
Partnerships	Captain Atom King Faraday
Abilities	Shadowmagic Shadow manipulation Shadow absorption Shadow teleportation Shadow homunculi Shadow transformation Superhuman strength Superhuman durability Intangibility Phasing Flight Basic combat skills

Publication history

Charlton Comics

Nightshade was first introduced inCaptain Atom#82, as a partner for the titular hero.Her real name isEve Edenand her father is a U.S.senator.She is blonde and wears a black wig as Nightshade. She was romantically involved withCaptain Atomfor a brief time.

She appeared several times in Captain Atom stories, before getting her own backup series in the last three published issues (#87-89). She also appeared in the last unpublished Captain Atom story that appeared in thefanzineCharlton Bullseye.In this backup series (with art byJim Aparo), Tiger (Judomaster's now-grown-up sidekick) is her martial-arts instructor. The source of her powers is also finally described. Her mother, Magda, was actually a visitor from another dimension whose denizens have the ability to transform into living two-dimensional shadows; she passed these powers on to her son and daughter. On a visit to this dimension, Magda and her children are attacked. Mortally wounded, Magda is able to transport herself and Eve back to Earth. Eve promised to return and find her brother. This never occurs during the Charlton years.

In 1981, Nightshade would appear in issue #7 of the newCharlton Bullseyecomic. Her last "Charlton" appearance would be in a story that teamed up all the Charlton "Action Heroes" as theSentinels of Justice,and in her own one-shot byAC Comics.

DC Comics

Suicide Squad

Nightshade inSuicide Squad,art byLuke McDonnell.

Main article:Suicide Squad

Once integrated into theDC UniverseinCrisis on Infinite Earths,Nightshade was revamped as a government super-spy who worked for Task Force X aka the Suicide Squad.Many of her adventures alongside Captain Atom during their Charlton interactions were retconned into instead being withKing Faraday.While the Suicide Squad's core group was busy dealing with the events of the crossoverLegends,Nightshade, along with fellow spyNemesis,was sent overseas to infiltrate the mercenary death squad known as "Jihad". Taking the name Chimera, Nightshade was forced to participate in the massacre of innocent civilians at an airport as Jihad sought to demonstrate their effectiveness to a potential client. This event deeply affected Nightshade, causing tension between her and Suicide Squad leaderAmanda Waller.As a result of the mission with Jihad, Nightshade was removed from her position as a spy and given the job of being the handler for the mentally unstable sorceress known as theEnchantress.She also served as Waller's liaison between Task Force X and a rival government program known as Project ATOM (which brought Nightshade into contact with the superhero Captain Atom).

As the series progressed, Nightshade revealed her past to her team: her post-Crisisorigin was that she was the princess of the "Land of Nightshades". Eve Eden's mother Maureen was the queen of the Land of Nightshades, and fled to Earth with her infant children to escape the demonic power of an entity known as the Incubus. Eve believed she was a normal child until her mother took her and her brother Larry into the Land of Nightshades, to show them their true heritage. This was a costly mistake. The Incubus found them, kidnapped Larry and mortally wounded Maureen. Eve's mother used her last breath to reveal to Eve her hereditary powers over darkness. Eve promised her dying mother that she would one day return to save her younger brother. The Incubus possessed Larry's body, killing him in the process, and hid within the Land of Nightshades slaughtering all remaining human inhabitants. It was revealed that when Nightshade (who post-Crisisnow possessed the additional ability of teleportation) used her powers to teleport that the process required her to pass through the barren and haunted Land of Nightshades.

Waller gave Nightshade permission to take the team for her personal mission in return for her help in taking down a drug cartel overseas. It was volunteer only, but everyone currently on the team agreed to go with the exception of Captain Boomerang. Bronze Tiger had to take him out, get him drunk, and drag him along unconscious. They entered the Land of Nightshades and discovered that Larry was dead and his body was controlled by the Incubus. It was revealed that June Moone's mysterious and evil "Enchantress" persona was in truth the entity known as the "Succubus". The two entities sought to possess Larry and Eve to force the siblings to conceive a child who would be the incarnation of their demonic master. Enchantress was stripped of her powers when the Succubus left her body to possess Nightshade. The evil entity failed to realize that Nightshade's will was stronger than her brother's, and was destroyed. Nightshade absorbed the Succubus' powers. With the Succubus defeated, Nightshade passively watched as her teammateDeadshotfinished the mission, killing the Incubus by shooting the entity in the head.

Nightshade was a permanent fixture in theSuicide Squadseries, appearing throughout the series run.

After the Suicide Squad

When the Suicide Squad series came to an end, Nightshade was shown working forSarge Steelat theCBI.She made several appearances in theSuperboy and the Raverscomic and would also be part of theL.A.W.miniseries, which reunited all the Charlton Action Heroes owned by DC. During theSuperman/Batmanstory arc "Public Enemies", she was for a brief time under the control ofGorilla Grodd,trying to captureSupermanfor a billion-dollar reward. This was part of a grouping of super-powered individuals, most villains, also brainwashed by Gorilla Grodd. The reward was set out by then-PresidentLex Luthor.The confrontations take place inWashington, D.C.Nightshade and the villains were ultimately defeated.

Day of Vengeance

Main article:Day of Vengeance

Nightshade has since then resurfaced as a member of theShadowpactin theDay of Vengeanceminiseries. She has been paired withDetective Chimp,resulting in some good-natured bickering. During theInfinite Crisiscrossover she joined a legion of DC's magic-based characters battling the Seven Deadly Sins, but was captured byFelix Faustand eventually used byAlex Luthorto bring back Earth-4.

Shadowpact

Main article:Shadowpact

InShadowpact#1, Nightshade and the other Shadowpact members entered the town of Riverrock, Wyoming, which was shielded from the outside world. She met a villainous counterpart named Sister Shadow. Since then she has served with the Shadowpact battling a host of magical villains. InShadowpact#7 it was revealed that she requires some measure of concentration to form elaborate darkness constructs, when she and her partnerRagmanwere attacked by the Congregation. As a result, she was unable to conjure her more elaborate darkness creatures untilBlue Devilmanaged to get the Congregation away from her. Despite this Nightshade and her teammates found themselves blinded by the Congregation's light power and for the first time in her life she experienced darkness. With the assistance ofMadame Xanaduthe Shadowpact set about restoring Nightshade's sight, although fully restoring it took several days.

She is now capable of manifesting up to three giant humanoids at once.

"Blackest Night"

During the events of the "Blackest Night"storyline, Nightshade has apparently rejoined the Suicide Squad. The team is sent to Belle Reve to kidnap former Suicide Squad memberDeadshot.Nightshade attacks several of Deadshot's teammates on theSecret Six,but is defeated byBlack Aliceafter she steals Nightshade's powers and uses them to render her unconscious.After a group ofBlack Lanternscomposed of former Suicide Squad members arrives at Belle Reve to feast on the assembled metahumans,Amanda Wallerknocks Black Alice out cold to give Nightshade back her abilities (something which Nightshade believes is too far, as Alice is just a kid). Her powers restored, Nightshade joins the combined Suicide Squad and Secret Six members in fighting off the Black Lanterns.

Rise of Eclipso

Some time after the events of "Blackest Night", Nightshade is once again shown to be working with Shadowpact. While in another dimension, she andNightmasterare attacked byEclipsoand his brainwashed servant,Shade.After defeating both heroes, Eclipso brings Nightshade under his mental control.

DC Rebirth

Nightshade inDeathstroke#33.

InBlue Beetle,a retired-from-heroicsTed Kordreferences Nightshade by name, calling her "a comely young superheroine from back in my Beetle days".

In the "Batman Vs. Deathstroke" story arc ofDeathstroke,Nightshade appears as an antagonist toDeathstroke,both seeking to recover a biological weapon. Nightshade sends a living shadow to attack Deathstroke and grab the box with the weapon on a memory key after he had extracted it from an ice wall. Deathstroke assumes thatAmanda Wallerhas something to do with this, but Nightshade responds that both he and she herself aren't with the Suicide Squad anymore but are still tangled with US intelligence operations. As she attacks with her magic, she mentions that she is an orphan and the last of her line,Homo magiand the royal house of the Land of Nightshades. She can't transport Deathstroke to the Land of Nightshades, because the promethium in his equipment is capable of absorbing most types of energies including the Night Force. Instead, she uses her shadow-matter raven Hugin to transportRobin (Damian Wayne),who Deathstroke is working with begrudgingly, to the Land of Nightshades (where humans are driven insane as they're faced with their worst nightmares) to force Deathstroke to open the box and give the weapon inside to her, because she can't safely open it herself without setting off the explosives in the box. She states that the weapon is terrible and that she will destroy the weapon, even though that will go against her employer. After throwing the box to Robin, she also threatens Deathstroke that Robin might open the box and thereby set off the explosives during his insanity. Deathstroke says that they both know she won't let Robin die, but she responds that she used to know but a lot of has changed. After Deathstroke gets Robin out of this realm, he opens the box and hands over a corrupted duplicate that Robin has switched for the real one. She then flies away with the duplicate, while Robin refuses to hand over the actual weapon to Deathstroke.Later,Adeline Kanereveals toBatman,disguised as Deathstroke, that she had hired Nightshade to secure the biological weapon.

In "The Witching Hour" crossover story arc, she is seen during a Sisterhood of the Sleight Hand meeting at theOblivion Barwhere she rescuesTraci 13by pulling her into the shadow dimension, asWitchfirepossessed by Hecate burns and thereby kills many of the people inside the bar.After escaping through the shadow dimension, alongside Traci 13 andEnchantress,Nightshade is seen using shadows to captureManitou Dawnwho is also possessed by Hecate.In the finale of the arc, she is seen alongside a few other heroes as they confront and defeat Hecate who was then possessing Wonder Woman.

InDoomsday Clock,she appears alongsideBlue Beetle,theQuestion,andCaptain Atomin the Bug airship as they travel to Mars. There, they and many of Earth's other superheroes confront and fightDoctor Manhattan.In the battle, she fires blasts of shadows to him. All the superheroes are, however, defeated and incapacitated by Doctor Manhattan.

Powers and abilities

Eve Eden's powers are hereditary as the only surviving member of her royal family. Nightshade can teleport herself and others by passing them through the Land of Nightshades, but it subjects them to their worst nightmares. She has the ability to transform herself into a semi-solid shadow form (it requires a great amount of concentration) or manipulate darkness. Eve is even capable of creating shadowlyhomunculi.

Other versions

• Earth-Two:An enemy of theGolden AgeSandman (Wesley Dodds),this Nightshade had the ability to control plants. Upon his revival in the 1980s seriesAll-Star Squadron,he was renamed "Ramulus" to avoid confusion with the Eve Eden character and became a member of theMonster Society of Evil.
• Earth-4:In the final issue of52,a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-4". As a result ofMister Mind"eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-4, including Nightshade and the other Charlton characters. The names of the characters are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear.Based on comments byGrant Morrison,this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-4.
• Earth-13:Shown inCountdown: Arenaand known as Eve of the Shadows. Dressed in a Romani attire, she is married to theCaptain Atomof her world, theBrigadier Atom.Upon avenging her namesake, and slaying The Shade, she travels the Shadowlands dimension to get back home, findingMonarchwaiting for her, holding her husband by the throat. He nukes her world's version of the United States and Canada and brings Eve back badly traumatized.
• Countdown: Arena:A female version ofThe Shade.This version of Nightshade, a sadistic psychopath, creates horrible creatures with her powers that torn one of the other two Nightshades, until she is taken to the Shadowlands by Eve of Shadows and has her head ripped off.
• The Flash:Two male characters were named Nightshade inThe Flashtelevision series, with a resemblance to theSandman/Wesley Dodds.The first,Dr. Desmond Powell(played byJason Bernard) was a hero from the 1950s, while the second was a violent antihero/villain who believed he was emulating the first (the second is also known as the Deadly Nightshade),Curtis Bohannan(played byRichard Burgi).
• JLA: Destiny:Nightshade appeared as a prominent character and later changed her name toDestinyafter she received the ability to see in the future.
• Kingdom Come(Earth-22): Nightshade was briefly shown in flashbacks as a member ofMagog's Justice Battalion, along with the rest of the Charlton 'Action Heroes'. She was apparently killed with the other members when Captain Atom was killed.
• Watchmen:the female superhero character (Silk Spectre) was originally supposed to be Nightshade. However, once the idea of using Charlton characters was abandoned, writerAlan Mooredecided to take inspiration from other superheroes.

In other media

Television

In an unproduced proposal for a Justice League of America animated series, Nightshade was one of several characters redesigned byBruce Timm,though she did not appear inJustice LeaguenorJustice League Unlimited.

Film

• Nightshade appears inSuperman/Batman: Public Enemies,voiced byRachael MacFarlane.
• Nightshade appears inDC Showcase: Blue Beetle,voiced byAshly Burch.
• Nightshade appears inJustice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part Three,voiced again by Ashly Burch.

External links

• Nightshadeat Comic Vine