The Shade, one of DC’s forgotten villains, returned in Infinite Frontier, and while it was a brief appearance, it could be a sign of bigger things.
Spoilers for Infinite Frontier ahead!
One of DC’s forgotten villains, the Shade, made his return in the recently concluded Infinite Frontier, and he might, and deserves, to be a larger player in what comes next. The fan-favorite character has been largely absent from the DC Universe over the past few years but returned in Infinite Frontier #3. It was a brief appearance, and while it may have seemed like a fun cameo at the time, it may foreshadow something bigger for the character.
The Shade first appeared during comics’ Golden Age, in 1942’s Flash Comics #33, created by Gardner Fox and Harold Sharp. The Shade possesses the ability to control and manipulate shadows, able to form them into constructs he can then use to attack people—much like Obsidian. For the next 50 years, the Shade was portrayed as simply another low-level super-powered villain. During James Robinson and Tony Harris’ Starman run, starting in 1994, the Shade was reimagined as an immortal, almost 200 years old with an ambiguous moral code. While the Shade traveled the world extensively, he called Starman’s Opal City home, and when Jack Knight became Starman, the Shade acted as his mentor, aiding Jack Knight and his allies. Starman concluded in 2001, and the Shade made sporadic appearances across the DC Universe, most notably during “The Archer’s Quest” in Green Arrow.
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