By Deidre Freitas — If you had told me when The Suicide Squad came out that not only would I actively be rooting for Peacemaker, but I would find myself looking through the histories of other Charlton Comics characters, I would have thought you were crazy. 

But the stars must have aligned, because after watching the Peacemaker show on HBO Max, I did what I always do: I looked through Wiki pages, histories ,and other comic book sources for all the things they got right and wrong about the character. What intrigued me the most was the fact that the entire “Action Hero” line-up that was acquired in the ‘80s by DC Comics were meant to be used in Alan Moore’s Watchmen. 

Curious, I discovered Eve Eden aka Nightshade. She was never really used as any inspiration for Silk Spectre (not exactly), but she was a fascinating character in her own rite. Her history runs deep, starting with the Charlton Comics that would eventually be acquired by DC. From a CIA agent, she would go on to become a member of the Suicide Squad and of Shadowpact. Today for my first DC Deep Cuts column, I’m going to look at who Eve Eden is, the character’s history, and where she’s popped up in DC Comics.

First introduced in Captain Atom #82 published by Charlton Comics, Eve is Atom’s reluctant partner on a case against The Ghost, a man stealing technology for a classically evil scheme. She’s a CIA agent turned superhero with her own superpowers. With the ability to control shadows, teleport through them and become a shadow herself, it's no wonder she was considered a heavy hitter.  A part of the elure of her character in her first appearances was her socialite life, being the daughter of a senator. Through this connection she works for the government, first assigned to be Captain Atom’s handler.

But her mother, a seemingly normal woman, had larger secrets than even her father knew about, which would be revealed in Secret Origins #28. Coming from another dimension, the Land of Nightshades, Eve’s mother, Maureen, revealed to her and her little brother, Larry, that they were from this dimension. The both of them had the same powers as their mother, the power of shadow manipulation. But when they returned to her home dimension, it was revealed that her sister, who was the queen at the time, was possessed by a demon. Maureen would die in front of Eve and Larry would be kidnapped, Eve barely escaping the Land of Nightshades. 

After Charlton Comics was acquired by DC Comics in 1983, Nightshade would be added to the DCU, subsequently joining the Suicide Squad during arguably the best run of the title, the 1980s era penned by John Ostrander. Nightshade was initially under deepcover for Amanda Waller in another operation. She agreed to help this team of criminals on the stipulation that one day Waller would let her take a team to her home dimension and free her brother from the evil that lived there. 

Until then, she would be a member of the team. Nightshade would get into relationships with multiple men on the Squad, including Rick Flag and Nemesis (Thomas Tresser). But my personal favorite was her whirlwind romance with her original partner, Captain Atom. When the Squad tries to break one of their own out of a Russian prison, the Justice League International try to stop them. Eve and Atom both know that they can’t reveal their identities, or the fact that they’re dating each other. So they engage in what can only be described as the worst fake-fight of all time. Nightshade and Atom’s relationship wouldn’t last, but even as Atom would be trying to clear Plastique’s name in the final issues of his own run, Nightshade would help him one last time. There’s hints of unfinished business between the two, and I would love to see the day someone writes about them again. 

Eventually, she got her wish and took the team. Unfortunately, her brother was possessed by the Incubus by that time, a demon hell-bent on freeing his father, Azmodeus, onto Earth. The team would nearly fail to stop him before Deadshot would stop him with a single shot. 

But not before the Incubus would put the spirit of the Succubus/Enchantress into Eve Eden herself. This leads Eve to try to lead a different life, speaking to Belle Reve’s own priest about the fact she had a literal demon inside of her. This plot point kind of comes and goes, Eve being fully in control when it's convenient, and sometimes Enchantress coming out to make everyone’s lives harder.

What finally breaks Waller’s hold on Eve and convinces her to leave the Squad is Waller revealing her identity as Nightshade to her father, Senator Eden. Waller, who like always was manipulating behind the scenes. She had caught wind that Eve’s father wanted to run for president, and she quickly shut that down by telling him his own daughter was a caped superhero. Eve and her father’s relationship had always been described as strained at best, him never knowing about his wife’s double life as a shadow-weaving alien from another dimension. Eve was sworn to secrecy by her mother, instead telling her father that her mother and brother died in an assassination attempt on his life.

Nightshade disappears for a while, appearing occasionally in big crossover events, or even as an intergalactic space cop in Superboy and the Ravers. But she makes her return in another team story, Shadowpact. Her history as a half-alien from another dimension is retconned, instead she is a homo magi, her powers of shadow manipulation instead called magic. Arguably, they always were magic, just from another dimension. She’s on a team with Enchantress, and the fact they shared a body is mentioned, but it’s never explained how Enchantress got out, or how she returned to June Moone. 

I think one of the most interesting discoveries I made while reading up on Nightshade and her history in the DC Universe, was how integral she was to a team like the Suicide Squad. She leads this team, along with Bronze Tiger and Rick Flag, and after her homo magi retcon, it seems as if no one wants her associated with the Squad again. She’s barely made any appearances since DC Rebirth in 2016, either. A cameo in a Deathstroke comic where she seemingly was ready to kill Damian Wayne for some technology Deathstroke had. Past that, she’s been relegated to the occasional mention in a Justice League Dark comic as a magic-user. 

Nightshade, in my opinion, was far more interesting as a character when she wasn’t seen through the lens of magic, but instead treated as someone who was alien to this world. She’s the heir to the throne of another dimension, but she can never return there. Her team is one of criminals and rejects, and she associates with Waller because she must. She also went on four dates in three days with Captain Atom all because she was his handler. The fact she can maneuver the world of politicians and billionaires because of her father’s status in the government gives her an in and makes her a more compelling character, as well. 

Even in some of her first team-ups with Atom, it’s clear she’s skilled and more than capable on her own. Of course, she could only ever play second fiddle during the restrictions of female superheroes during the comics code. But if DC continues bringing back lesser-known characters for their own runs, Eve Eden/Nightshade would be at the top of my list for a revival.

Suggested Eve Eden/Nightshade Reading (available on DC Universe): 

• Secret Origins #28

• Suicide Squad (1987) #14 - 16

• Justice League Quarterly #14

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Deidre Freitas is a pop culture lover and resident theatre kid who’s sometimes funny on Twitter as @deidrefrittatas.