10 Comic Book Villains Whose Origins Are A Mystery

First introduced in Flash Comics #33 in 1942, The Shade has not chosen to divulge how he got his powers to manipulate shadows and darkness. Or at least that is one diary he has not shared. All we know about Richard Swift is that he was an English gentleman in the Victorian Era and a friend to both Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. His most persistent enemies have been Simon Culp, an immortal dwarf with the same powers as Shade, and the Ludlow Family, whose members regularly attempt to kill the dark immortal.

The Shade was a morally dubious character, not constrained by the concepts of good and evil. Mostly, he was ruled by his own self-interest. As “Mr. Black”, he would hire himself out to people to solve problems. Often those problems would involve killing people, which Shade had no issue with. In contrast, Swift returned to England and fervently defended his home nation in World War II.

When the age of the superheroes arose, Shade saw some sport in playing the part of the villain, especially for Jay Garrick, the first Flash. Swift created silly shadow constructs and toyed with the heroes, barely using his powers. He also made sure that none of this got near Opal City. The morally ambiguous man settled there decades ago and befriended the sheriff Scalphunter in his final years. He protected Opal City into the far future.