 | This article'slead sectionmay be too short to adequatelysummarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead toprovide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(September 2025) |
| 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 | |
Nightshade is asuperhero appearing in media published byDC Comics. Created byDavid Kaler andSteve Ditko, the character first appeared inCaptain Atom #82 (September 1966) originally published byCharlton Comics.[1]
Nightshade was first introduced inCaptain Atom #82, as a partner for the titular hero.[2] Her real name isEve Eden and her father is a U.S.senator. She is blonde and wears a black wig as Nightshade. She was romantically involved withCaptain 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 She also appeared in the last unpublished Captain Atom story that appeared in thefanzineCharlton Bullseye.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 Bullseye comic. 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.
Once integrated into theDC Universe inCrisis on Infinite Earths, Nightshade was revamped as a government super-spy who worked for Task Force X, also known as theSuicide Squad.[3] 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-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.
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 ofCaptain 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 watched as her teammateDeadshot shot and killed the Incubus.
When the Suicide Squad series came to an end, Nightshade was shown working forSarge Steel at theCBI. She made several appearances in theSuperboy and the Ravers comic and would also be part of theL.A.W. miniseries, which reunited all the Charlton Action Heroes owned by DC. During theSuperman/Batman story arc "Public Enemies", she was for a brief time under the control ofGorilla Grodd, trying to captureSuperman 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-PresidentLex Luthor. The confrontations take place inWashington, D.C. Nightshade and the villains were ultimately defeated.
Nightshade resurfaces as a member of theShadowpact in theDay of Vengeance miniseries. She has been paired withDetective Chimp, resulting in some good-natured bickering. During theInfinite Crisis crossover she joined a legion of DC's magic-based characters battling theSeven Deadly Enemies of Man, but was captured byFelix Faust and eventually used byAlex Luthor to bring back Earth-4.
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 partnerRagman were attacked by the Congregation. As a result, she was unable to conjure her more elaborate darkness creatures untilBlue 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 ofMadame 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.[4][5]
During the events of the "Blackest Night" storyline, Nightshade rejoins the Suicide Squad. The team is sent toBelle Reve to kidnap Deadshot. Nightshade attacks several of Deadshot's teammates on theSecret Six, but is defeated byBlack Alice after she steals Nightshade's powers and uses them to render her unconscious.[6] After a group ofBlack Lanterns composed of former Suicide Squad members arrives at Belle Reve to feast on the assembledmetahumans, Waller knocks Black Alice out to give Nightshade back her abilities. Her powers restored, Nightshade joins the combined Suicide Squad and Secret Six members in fighting off the Black Lanterns.[7]
Some time after the events of "Blackest Night", Nightshade is once again shown to be working with Shadowpact. While in another dimension, she andNightmaster are attacked byEclipso and his brainwashed servantShade. After defeating both heroes, Eclipso brings Nightshade under his mental control.[8]
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 Waller has 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 magi and the royal house of the Land of Nightshades. She cannot 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 to force Deathstroke to open the box and give the weapon inside to her, because she cannot 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 will not 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.[9] Later,Adeline Kane reveals toBatman, disguised as Deathstroke, that she had hired Nightshade to secure the biological weapon.[10]
In "The Witching Hour" crossover story arc, she is seen during a Sisterhood of the Sleight Hand meeting at theOblivion Bar where she rescuesTraci Thirteen by pulling her into the shadow dimension, asWitchfire possessed byHecate burns and thereby kills many of the people inside the bar. After escaping through the shadow dimension with Traci andEnchantress, Nightshade is seen using shadows to captureManitou Dawn, who is also possessed by Hecate.[11] In the finale of the arc, she is seen alongside a few other heroes as they confront and defeat Hecate, who is possessingWonder Woman.[12]
InDoomsday Clock, she appears alongsideBlue Beetle, theQuestion, andCaptain Atom in 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 Manhattan.[13]
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.[14]
In an unproduced proposal for a Justice League of America animated series, Nightshade was one of several characters redesigned byBruce Timm,[18] though she did not appear inJustice League norJustice League Unlimited.
