Nightshade (comics)
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| Nightshade | |
 Nightshade from a portion of the promotional art for Shadowpact #1 cover. Art by Bill Willingham. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | 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. |
| Notable aliases | Chimera |
| 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.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] 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 (unusual for a heroine with darkness-based powers) 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 She also appeared in the last unpublished Captain Atom story that appeared in the fanzine Charlton Bullseye .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), we learn that Tiger (Judomaster's now grown up sidekick), is her martial-arts instructor. We also learn the source of her powers. Her mother, Magda, was actually a visitor from another dimension the denizens of which 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", and be published in a one-shot by AC Comics.
[edit] DC Comics
[edit] Suicide Squad
Once integrated into the DC Universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Nightshade was revamped as a government superspy who worked for Task Force X aka Suicide Squad. While the 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/Suicide Squad member known as the Enchantress as well as Amanda's go-between for interaction between Task Force X and rival government program known as Project ATOM (which brought Nightshade into contact with the super-hero 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 the 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. But the return would be a costly mistake, as the Incubus found them, kidnapping Larry and mortally wounding Queen Maureen. Eve's mother used her last breath to reveal to her daughter her hereditary powers over darkness. Eve promised her dying mother that she would one day return to save her younger brother. The Incubus possessed her brother's body, killing him in the process, and hid within the Land of Nightshades, where he successfully slaughtered all remaining human habitants of the Land of Nightshades. Furthermore 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 now barren and haunted Land of Nightshades.
Wanting to help their teammate, the members of Suicide Squad (save Captain Boomerang, who had to be drugged unconscious and taken against his will) agreed to go behind Waller's back and enter the Land of the Nightshades to help Eve rescue her brother. However, to her horror the team discovered that Larry was dead and his body controlled by the Incubus. Furthermore, 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 have sex and conceive a child who would be their demonic master, reborn in human flesh. As a result of this revelation, Enchantress was stripped of her powers (and evil witch alter-ego) as the Succubus possessed Nightshade. But the evil entity failed to realize that Nightshade's will was stronger than her brother's and not only destroyed the Succubus entity but absorbed its powers into her own. 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.
[edit] 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. mini-series, which would reunite all the Charlton Action Heroes owned by DC. During the Superman/Batman story arc "Public Enemies", she was under the control for a brief time of Gorilla Grodd, trying to capture Superman for a billion-dollar ransom.
[edit] 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 Alexander Luthor to bring back Earth-4.
[edit] 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 would take several days.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Nightshade's powers are hereditary due to her being the only surviving member of the royal family of the Land of Nightshades.
She can do the following:
- Teleport herself and others by passing them through the Land of Nightshades
- Magnify shadows
- create shadow homunculi.
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. At this writing, it is unknown whether or not the Land of Nightshades is in any way related to the Shadowlands accessed by The Shade, Obsidian, and Ian Karkull.
[edit] Other versions
- Earth Two: An enemy of the Golden Age Sandman (Wesley Dodds) was named Nightshade. Upon his revival in the 1980s series All-Star Squadron, he was renamed "Ramulus" to avoid confusion with the Eve Eden character.
- Earth-4: In the final issue of 52, a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-4". As a result of Mister 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.[1] Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-4.[2]
- Earth-13: Shown in Countdown: Arena, Eve of the Shadows. Dressed a gypsy attire, she is married to the Captain Atom of her world, the Brigadier Atom. Upon avenging her namesake, and slaying The Shade, she travels the Shadowlands dimension to get back home, finding Monarch waiting for her with her husband's corpse. He nukes her world's version of North America, and brings Eve back badly traumatized.
- Countdown: Arena: A female version of The Shade. This version of Nightshade, a sadistic psychopath, creates horrible creatures with her powers that dismembers one of the other two Nightshades, until she is taken to the Shadowlands by Eve of Shadows and has her head ripped off.
- Countdown: Arena: Hailing from Earth 4, another version of Nightshade who resembles closely the New Earth version of the character and she ends dismembered at the hands of The Shade.
- The Flash: Two male characters were named Nightshade in The Flash television series. The first was a hero from the 1950s, while the second was a villain who believed he was emulating the first (the second is also known as the Deadly Nightshade).
- JLA: Destiny: Nightshade appeared as a prominent character and later changed her name to Destiny after she received the ability to see in the future.
- Kingdom Come (Earth-22): Nightshade was briefly shown in flashbacks as a member of Magog'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.
- Marvel Universe: Two female characters in Marvel Comics' universe are named Nightshade. One Nightshade is an African American biochemistry-themed mad scientist supervillain who has fought Luke Cage, Captain America, and the Black Panther. The other Nightshade is a member of Marvel Comics' Imperial Guard, who is their analogue of Shadow Lass of the Legion of Super-Heroes; her name was later changed to Nightside to avoid confusion with the other Marvel character.
- Watchmen: The Silk Spectre is often said[citation needed] to be based on Nightshade, much as many other heroes in that work are based on her fellow Charlton Action Heroes. However, Alan Moore has stated that he found Nightshade "boring," and that Silk Spectre was modeled on sexier Golden Age characters such as the Phantom Lady and Black Canary. Another, thematic analogue to Nightshade in Watchmen would be the barely mentioned heroine who was killed not long after her debut, Silhouette.[citation needed]
