Nightshade (DC Comics)

Nightshade

Nightshade from a portion of the promotional art for Shadowpact #1 cover. Art by Bill Willingham.
Publication information
Publisher Originally Charlton Comics, now DC Comics
First appearance Captain Atom (vol. 2) #82
(September 1966)
Created by Joe Gill (Writer)
Steve Ditko (Artist)
In-story information
Alter ego Eve Eden
Species Homo Magi
Team affiliations Shadowpact
Suicide Squad
Jihad
L.A.W.
InterC.E.P.T.
Partnerships Captain Atom
King Faraday
Abilities Darkness manipulation
Can transform into living two-dimensional shadows.
Teleport using Land of Nightshades.

Nightshade is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine published by DC Comics. Created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Captain Atom v2 #82 (September 1966) originally published by Charlton Comics.

Publication history

Charlton Comics

Nightshade was first introduced in Captain Atom #82, as a partner for Captain Atom. Her real name is Eve Eden and her father is a U.S. senator. She is blonde and wears a black wig as Nightshade. She was romantically involved with Captain Atom for 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 She also appeared in the last unpublished Captain Atom story that appeared in the fanzine Charlton Bullseye. In this backup series (with art by Jim 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 new Charlton Bullseye comic. Her last "Charlton" appearance would be in a story that teamed up all the Charlton "Action Heroes" as the Sentinels of Justice, and in her own one-shot by AC Comics.

DC Comics

Nightshade in Suicide Squad, Art Luke McDonnell.

Suicide Squad

Main article: Suicide Squad

Once integrated into the DC Universe in Crisis 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 with King Faraday. While the Suicide Squad's core group was busy dealing with the events of the crossover Legends, Nightshade, along with fellow spy Nemesis, 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 leader Amanda 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 the Enchantress. 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-Crisis origin 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-Crisis now 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.

Wanting to help their teammate, the Suicide Squad members (save Captain Boomerang, who had to be drugged unconscious and taken against his will) agreed to defy Waller and enter the Land of Nightshades to help Eve rescue her brother. The team discovered that Larry was dead and his body was controlled by the Incubus. It was revealed that the mysterious and evil "Enchantress" persona of the sorceress was in truth the entity known as the "Succubus". The two entities sought to possess Larry and Eve in order 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 teammate Deadshot finished the mission, killing the Incubus by shooting the entity in the head.

Nightshade was a permanent fixture in the Suicide Squad series, appearing throughout the series run.

After the Suicide Squad

When the Suicide Squad series came to an end, Nightshade was shown working for Sarge Steel at the CBI. She made several appearances in the Superboy and the Ravers comic and would also be part of the L.A.W. miniseries, which would reunite all the Charlton Action Heroes owned by DC. During the Superman/Batman story arc "Public Enemies", she was for a brief time under the control of Gorilla Grodd, trying to capture Superman for 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-President Lex Luthor. The confrontations take place in Washington, D.C. Nightshade and the villains are defeated.

Day of Vengeance

Main article: Day of Vengeance

Nightshade has since then resurfaced as a member of the Shadowpact in the Day of Vengeance miniseries. She has been paired with Detective Chimp, resulting in some good-natured bickering. During the Infinite Crisis crossover she joined a legion of DC's magic-based characters battling the Seven Deadly Sins. However, she was captured by Felix Faust and eventually used by Alex Luthor to bring back Earth-4.

Shadowpact

Main article: Shadowpact

In Shadowpact #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. In Shadowpact #7 it was revealed that she requires some measure of concentration to form elaborate darkness constructs, when she and her partner Ragman were attacked by the Congregation. As a result, she was unable to conjure her more elaborate darkness creatures until Blue Devil managed 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 of Madame Xanadu the 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.[1][2]

"Blackest Night"

During the events of the "Blackest Night" storyline, Nightshade has apparently rejoined the Suicide Squad. The team is sent to Belle Reve in order to kidnap former Suicide Squad member Deadshot. Nightshade attacks several of Deadshot's teammates on the Secret Six, but is defeated by Black Alice after she steals Nightshade's powers and uses them to render her unconscious.[3] After a group of Black Lanterns composed of former Suicide Squad members arrives at Belle Reve to feast on the assembled metahumans, Amanda Waller knocks Black Alice out cold in order 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.[4]

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 and Nightmaster are attacked by Eclipso and his brainwashed servant, Shade. After defeating both heroes, Eclipso brings Nightshade under his mental control.[5]

Powers and abilities

Nightshade's powers are hereditary as the only surviving member of the royal family of the Land of Nightshades.

She can teleport herself and others by passing them through the Land of Nightshades. She can magnify and shape shadows into solid or semi-solid forms. She is learning to create shadow homunculi and has created two ravens out of shadow-matter to serve as scouts for her; she has named them Hugin and Munin after the legendary ravens belonging to the Norse deity Odin.

Nightshade absorbed the Succubus into her body after the Suicide Squad mission on which Larry died, and doing so made her appear less human: her skin turned white and her hair became living shadows. She is now the only person capable of accessing the haunted dimension known as the Land of Nightshades. It is not known if the Land of Nightshades is in any way related to the Shadowlands accessed by The Shade, Obsidian, and Ian Karkull.

Other versions

In other media

Nightshade briefly appears in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies voiced by Rachael MacFarlane. After she first attacks Superman, Batman notices her speech pattern and deduces that she is being controlled by Gorilla Grodd, subsequently knocking her unconscious with a batarang filled with knockout gas.

References

  1. Shadowpact #11 (May 2007)
  2. Shadowpact #22 (April 2008)
  3. Secret Six (vol. 3) #17 (March 2010)
  4. Secret Six (vol. 3) #18 (April 2010)
  5. Justice League of America (vol. 2) #54 (April 2011). DC Comics.
  6. 52 52: 13/5 (May 2, 2007), DC Comics
  7. Brady, Matt (2007-05-08). "the 52 exit interviews: grant morrison". Newsarama. Archived from the original on May 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
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