Shade

**Shade** is a supervillain from Dimension D-C92 formerly part of the Legion of Doom, who sided with it's former leader Gorilla Grodd in coup against Lex Luthor. He is among the villains who sided with Grodd and survived the coup attempt, and now finds himself in Dimension GF-007 forced into Van Kleiss service joining his new Pack.

## Appearance

After Van Kleiss upgraded and mutated him Shade at first appeared to have taken on the form of a living shadow. Only for his true current and horrific form created using Econurite dna be revealed later on.

He now possesses misshapen skull, with sparse teeth for a head, only one eye, dark blue skin, and exposed bones on certain parts of his body, black claws, and a big gaping hole in their chest with black and white striped tentacles hanging out.

## Personality

Shade shows a calm personality but somewhat hesitant to work with others against the Justice League at the time before learning of how to beat them.

Although grateful for Van Kleiss saving him from his fate of being blown up with the others, he was reluctant to be transformed into an EVO as also the form he was given, but grew to taking a appreciation to his new abilities and decided to make a new start in Dimension GF-007.

## Biography

### Early life

Shade was a criminal who used a "nightstick" that could create a shroud of darkness, perfect for making getaways during heists. He received an anonymous summons to an abandoned warehouse where Lex Luthor proposed the formation of the Injustice Gang, an organization created to destroy the Justice League. Shade constantly complained that he didn't earn enough money. The Gang planned to destroy the League's Watchtower by placing a bomb inside, but the League disabled it in time. The League confronted the Injustice Gang at their hideout, and defeated the villains in battle.

Shade was later recruited by Aresia for her gang, helping her steal rare jewels. He was responsible for covering entries and escapes. However, Shade was betrayed when he found out that Aresia's true intensions were to destroy all of Earth's men. He was one of the first victims of Aresia's toxic gas.

Shade recovered, and decided to work solo again. While escaping from a failed heist, he was approached by Giganta and asked to join Grodd's Secret Society. Shade was reluctant, as he knew only too well how both his previous team-ups had failed, but Grodd convinced him to join by promising to make him a "master of the world". After several confrontations with the League, the Society was defeated, and Shade was taken into custody once more. During this time, he appeared somewhat enamored with Giganta, to the extent that, though surprised to discover she was actually a genetically modified denizen of Gorilla City, he did not seem overly bothered by it.

After getting out of jail, Shade joined the Legion of Doom. During Lex Luthor's mutiny, he sided with Grodd, which cost him dearly. He was rounded up with the rest of the survivors and frozen by Killer Frost. When Darkseid blew up the ship, his body was destroyed.

## Powers and Abilities

Shade wielded a nightstick that allowed him to manipulate darkness and shadows. This ability extended to covering large areas in darkness, as well as offensive attacks.

Without his nightstick, he was powerless. However, in the Secret Society's final battle with the Justice League, Shade revealed that he had compensated for this disadvantage by studying martial arts. He put them to the test against Batman, who didn't know about Shade's recent training and was caught off guard by his initial attack. Shade landed the first blow, but once Batman was ready for him, Shade was easily outmaneuvered, with a simple kick.

After recieing EVO nanites, his transformation also enhanced his abilities with Ectorunite to turn his physical form intangible and a splice of DNA from Ebon to further control his shadow abilities and create portals. No longer needing his nightstick.

* Darkness Control
* Martial Arts

## Relationships

### Allies

**Gorilla Grodd -** Shade choose to side with Grodd over Luthor and joined the attempted coup against him sometime after Luthor stole control of the Legion from Grodd. However Shade has made it clear he has no genuine loyalty toward Grodd and only sided with him as a lesser of two evils at the time, and even showed slight disbelief and disgust at Grodd's older master plan to change everyone on their earth into gorillas.

**Van Kleiss -**

## Background Information

In the Pre-Zero Hour comics, The Shade was a generic villain who controlled shadows with the aid of a magical cane, upon which he was totally reliant to power his shadow abilities.

Post-Zero Hour, the Shade's life story and background were completely revamped, making him an English gentleman who had ties with people of the magnitude of Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens. Richard Swift (the Shade's true name) was taken in by Piers Ludlow and his family in London, after witnessing a horrifying mystical accident. This accident left him in a state beyond life and death, and tied him to a dimension of shadows, from which he could derive powers such as true umbrakinesis without the need for a magical cane. When the Ludlows tried to kill Swift so he would take the blame for a crime the family had committed, Shade retaliated, killing many of the family. Descendants of Piers Ludlow also attempted to kill him, but because of his powers, he was never defeated. He fell in love with the nascent Opal City, becoming a loving resident, while at the same time working as a paid assassin. This left him with a considerable fortune. Later, he settled in Keystone City as a rogue of the first Flash, Jay Garrick. Here he is depicted as much more cultured and intellectual, often making deeply philosophical questions to himself, wondering about his position in life and eventually returning to the point he could become a superhero again. Of note is the fact this version of the Shade has powers far beyond his animated counterpart, easily able to create massive shadow constructs with a wave of his hand.

Although this ability was never shown in the animated series, if he *does* have the power to resurface from the dead, it is possible that Shade is not finished yet.