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.

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 She also appeared in the last unpublished Captain Atom story that appeared in the fanzine Charlton Bullseye.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.

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).