Enigma (DC)

**Enigma** is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

## Biography

**Edward Nashton** was a male human who was born on Earth-3 that was located within the Anti-Matter Universe. (Trinity v1 #21)

Eventually, he decided to operate as a masked hero on his Earth where he went under the name of the **Quizmaster**. He came to love the game of fighting real-life puzzles and challenge himself out in the world. This led to him often opposing Owlman and his villainous sidekick the **Mouse Wonder**. In this time, he circumvented the supervillain's security measures and shut down a number of his sweatshops. (Trinity v1 #21) During his early days, he as the Quizmaster worked alongside similar such champions in the **Justice Underground** as they opposed the Crime Syndicate of America. (JLA Secret Files and Origins v1 #2004) His activities eventually drew a harsher response from their foes with Ultraman using his heat vision to burn the left side of Quizmaster's face. Though injured, he managed to escape only to find that the Syndicate had attacked his home where they killed his wife and son. Nashton's daughter was critically injured and was dying with Edward taking her to his laboratory below that remained intact. He used the equipment to transfer his daughter Stephie's mind into a mechanical sphere so that she could still live. (Trinity v1 #21)

After saving his daughter, he came to consider the possibility of bringing back others who had been killed like Stephie's mother. Thus, Nashton embarked on solving the riddle of returning life to the dead. Working with S.P.H.E.R.E., went in search of the world's most brilliant scientific minds where they would either ask for their help or steal their secrets. At first, he explored scientific possibilities where he came to encounter Doc Magnus and his **Metal Marauders** where the two battled one another. The confrontation led to Nashton to reject the concept of creating artificial duplicates of the dead as he deemed them too sterile. Edward then considered the use of time travel but his attempted use of the option was cut short by Rip Hunter the Time-Shredder who only allowed himself the luxury of second chances. Despite these battles, he came to find some allies who willing worked with him such as Lex Luthor who showed him how the physical properties of Anti-Matter operated compared to normal Matter. By this point, Nashton began to fear that his goal was unachievable with this confounded further after meeting Ra's al Ghul who asked him to consider if bringing back the dead to their sinful world was an act of kindness or not. Despite that, Edward went in search for necromantic solutions and through the magician Zatanna who went on a journey to Nepal to consult the **Idol-Head of Infernatu**. (Trinity v1 #35)

However, Enigma realized that what they had received was not the totality of the power they could have accrued, and devised a plan to complete their apotheosis, bickering with Morgaine over her usage of power she had thoughtlessly destroyed most of Europe in her lashing out against the world. Stephie tried to make her father see what he was doing, the people who were suffering and dying because of his actions. Enigma eventually came to see it too, but could not abandon his goals. In the end, the Anti-Trinity's second attempt failed when the godlike Trinity returned, and Morgaine struck a deal with Krona, now free of the Egg, hoping to gain his aid by giving him the living soul of Earth to study. In return, Krona would make Stephie's spirit the new worldsoul, with Morgaine holding power over her and thereby Earth itself. Enigma rejected the bargain, and attacked Morgaine and Krona, only for S.P.H.E.R.E. to send him to the safety of the anti-matter universe. (Trinity v1 #45)

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

Initially, he operated as a hero on his Earth where he worked under the name of the **Quizmaster**. (Trinity v1 #21)

During his youth, it was said that he had learnt the truth about the world through puzzles and games. This truth was that the world was a great mystery just waiting to be solved. It also contained rules to understand and secrets that were waiting to be discovered by him. By adulthood, he started seeing it as a puzzle that was beyond him and more of a quiz with no answers no matter how hard he tried to find them. Decades later, he came to learn that his Earth was one of many in the Multiverse but that his world had a reverse alignment towards its morals. Thus, on his Earth, right was wrong and wrong was right with this explaining his long feelings of being out of place as well as unsettled. As such, he felt that he did no belong in the world but this did not matter to him as he found love. (Trinity v1 #21)

Nashton eventually looked to be a hero on his world where he committed 'perverse' acts of kindness that were deemed morally wrong on Earth-3. (Trinity v1 #21)

By his adulthood, he came to fall in love and married with his wife giving birth to his son and his daughter **Stephie**. However, his wife and son were killed with his daughter badly injured leading to Edward having to transfer her mind into S.P.H.E.R.E. (Trinity v1 #21) He did this to serve her life and came to ask her to help him in his endeavours. Ultimately though, he acknowledged that she was just a kid and that he had asked too much from her. (Trinity v1 #35)

### Powers and abilities

He was shown to possess a keen scientific mind and had a laboratory hidden underneath his house. Such was his technical skill that he was able to transfer the mind of a dying human into a mechanical construct. It was this that allowed him to save his daughter Stephie by encasing her mind within S.P.H.E.R.E. (Trinity v1 #21)

At one point, he and S.P.H.E.R.E. came to reside in the **Idol-Head of Infernatu** on their world where they learnt to use and control it. (Trinity v1 #35)

On his world, he initially came to join a band of superheroes that resisted the Crime Syndicate where he came to be a member of the **Justice Underground**. (JLA Secret Files and Origins v1 #2004) On New Earth, he was one of the founders of the **Dark Arcana** alongside Morgaine le Fey as they looked to alter reality to replace the Trinity on that world thus changing history. (Trinity v1 #30)

## Notes

* Enigma was created by Kurt Busiek and Ron Garney where he made his first Appearance in JLA Secret Files and Origins v1 #2004 (November, 2004).
* The character was based on the Riddler who was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang.

## Appearances

* *JLA Secret Files and Origins v1*: (2004)
* *Trinity v1*: (2004)