Bruce Gordon
Eclipso's early comics debut is tied to his first modern host, Bruce Gordon (named after Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon as an inside joke),[3] a scientist specializing in solar energy. While in the jungle to view a solar eclipse, Gordon is attacked by a tribal sorcerer named Mophir. Before plunging to his death off a cliff, Mophir wounded Gordon with a black diamond, causing him to transform into Eclipso whenever an eclipse occurred. A blue-gray or purple circle covered the rightmost two-thirds of his face, resembling a partial eclipse.[4] Gordon experienced many Jekyll-and-Hyde transformations and misadventures in The House of Secrets. During this period, Eclipso was portrayed as a conventional villain, possessing super strength, partial invulnerability, and eye blasts. Eclipso's transformations were later altered so that any type of natural eclipse, lunar or solar, would cause Eclipso and Gordon to split from one another, while an "artificial eclipse"—an object blocking out a light source—would merely transform Gordon to Eclipso. Any bright flash of light would banish Eclipso back into Gordon's body or reverse the change.[5]
Eclipso: The Darkness Within
In the early 1990s, DC retconned Eclipso in a company-wide crossover built around the miniseries Eclipso: The Darkness Within. Eclipso was revealed not simply to be Bruce Gordon's dark half, but a vengeful demon who had possessed Gordon. Eclipso's soul had originally been bound inside a giant black diamond called the "Heart of Darkness" in Africa. A treasure hunter found it in the late 19th century and brought it to London in 1891, where he had a jeweler cut it into 1,000 shards. This weakened the binding spell, allowing Eclipso to possess anyone who became angry while in contact with one of the shards. He was no longer limited to possessing Gordon during an eclipse, but pretended otherwise so that Gordon would not know the truth about the black diamonds.[1]
Over the next 100 years, Eclipso gathered the diamond shards with the intention of destroying them all, freeing his true power. When Lar Gand discovered Eclipso's palace on the moon and wandered inside, it inspired Eclipso to possess all of Earth's heroes and use them towards his ultimate goal, the conquest of Earth and revenge against God for imprisoning him. Eclipso claimed he had spent the last several years "posing as a B-level villain" to remain undetected by Earth's heroes and had limited himself to targeting Gordon for the purpose of quashing Gordon's research into solar science. If Gordon had achieved his goal of making solar energy the planet's primary energy source, any solar-powered device could be used as a weapon against Eclipso.
In the climax of the story, several of Earth's heroes are possessed by Eclipso and transported to the moon during an eclipse. Eclipso absorbs these heroes into his body, gaining their powers. Gordon leads a group of heroes armed with solar weapons to the moon in an attempt to defeat Eclipso once and for all.
Eclipso: The Darkness Within
In the early 1990s, DC retconned Eclipso in a company-wide crossover built around the miniseries Eclipso: The Darkness Within. Eclipso was revealed not simply to be Bruce Gordon's dark half, but a vengeful demon who had possessed Gordon. Eclipso's soul had originally been bound inside a giant black diamond called the "Heart of Darkness" in Africa. A treasure hunter found it in the late 19th century and brought it to London in 1891, where he had a jeweler cut it into 1,000 shards. This weakened the binding spell, allowing Eclipso to possess anyone who became angry while in contact with one of the shards. He was no longer limited to possessing Gordon during an eclipse, but pretended otherwise so that Gordon would not know the truth about the black diamonds.[1]
Over the next 100 years, Eclipso gathered the diamond shards with the intention of destroying them all, freeing his true power. When Lar Gand discovered Eclipso's palace on the moon and wandered inside, it inspired Eclipso to possess all of Earth's heroes and use them towards his ultimate goal, the conquest of Earth and revenge against God for imprisoning him. Eclipso claimed he had spent the last several years "posing as a B-level villain" to remain undetected by Earth's heroes and had limited himself to targeting Gordon for the purpose of quashing Gordon's research into solar science. If Gordon had achieved his goal of making solar energy the planet's primary energy source, any solar-powered device could be used as a weapon against Eclipso.
In the climax of the story, several of Earth's heroes are possessed by Eclipso and transported to the moon during an eclipse. Eclipso absorbs these heroes into his body, gaining their powers. Gordon leads a group of heroes armed with solar weapons to the moon in an attempt to defeat Eclipso once and for all. The absorbed heroes are freed after Will Payton
Eclipso series
Following the crossover event, Eclipso appeared in a solo series. He conquered the South American country of Parador by possessing one person at a time. The United States sent an investigation team consisting of Cave Carson, Bruce Gordon, and Gordon's fiancé Mona Bennet. Carson's legs are broken and he is left at the border.
Gordon and Bennet were taken on a tour and shown various atrocities, such as piles of children's corpses. They escaped with the assistance of the Creeper and formed a group of heroes dubbed the Shadow Fighters. This group was led by Amanda Waller, formerly of the Suicide Squad. In issue #13 of the series, Eclipso confronts the group, killing Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, Commander Steel, Manhunter, and Major Victory.[1]
Elipso attacks the survivors with a Parador missile, which they evade using Nightshade's teleportation ability. During the escape, Bennet's father is snatched from their vehicle, but survives. The survivors arrive in the United Nations building, just in time to foil another plot of Eclipso by landing their vehicle on his intended victim.
The Spectre (vol. 3)
In the series The Spectre (vol. 3), it is revealed that the Spectre was not the first embodiment of the wrath of God, but was Eclipso's replacement. Series writer John Ostrander chose to portray this as a distinction between the Spectre's pursuit of "vengeance" and Eclipso's pursuit of "revenge". In a Biblical context, Eclipso was responsible for Noah's Flood, while the Spectre was the Angel of Death who killed the first-born Egyptian children.
The Spectre destroys the Heart of Darkness, along with the remains of Eclipso's palace on the moon, burning them to ash and casting the ashes into outer space.
Alex Montez
Eclipso returns after several years' absence in the "Princes of Darkness" storyline in JSA as an ally of the other villains Mordru and Obsidian. Alexander Montez, cousin of Wildcat, vows revenge on Eclipso for her death. To this end, he gathers the 1,000 black diamonds, liquefies them and injects them into himself; all save one, which he keeps to evoke Eclipso. Exactly how Eclipso's diamonds had returned was unknown. Montez covers his body in tribal tattoos he claims he had learned about on Diablo Island. With these tattoos, Montez can summon all the powers of Eclipso by triggering the diamond with his anger, while remaining in control of himself and keeping Eclipso trapped within. As the new Eclipso, he joins the short-lived team of loose-cannon heroes assembled by Black Adam, which was the subject of the subsequent storyline "Black Reign".
During Adam's reign in Kahndaq, Alex becomes romantically involved with his teammate Soseh Mykros, also known as Nemesis. During the battle, one of Alex's binding glyphs (which keeps Eclipso in control) is broken via a shoulder wound. Eclipso soon kills Nemesis. Alex commits suicide to prevent Eclipso from controlling him further.
"Lightning Strikes Twice"
Despite the loss of the other black diamonds, Eclipso tries to possess Superman by antagonizing him through many deaths.[6] He eventually possesses Superman by upsetting him via his possession of Lois Lane.[7] At this point, the wizard Shazam steps in by sending Captain Marvel to fight the possessed Superman. Thanks to Superman's weakness to magic, Captain Marvel is able to do a significant amount of damage to Eclipso.[8]
Shazam removes Eclipso from Superman by calling upon the hostless Spectre to do it. The Spectre forces Eclipso back into a lone black diamond. The Spectre then warns Shazam that he has made an enemy of Eclipso and that the currently-hostless Spectre will no longer be able to defend him, as he lacks the coherence necessary to effectively recall anything beyond his 'mission'. At the end of this series, the black diamond appears in Jean Loring's cell in Arkham Asylum.[8]
Jean Loring
In the Day of Vengeance miniseries, Jean Loring discovers the last black diamond in her prison cell, becomes the new Eclipso, and tricks the Spectre into attacking magic-based heroes as her revenge against Shazam. After fending off multiple attacks upon herself, Loring is teleported into orbit around the Sun.
In Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor Jr. sends Superboy-Prime to recover the black diamond and. It is revealed that Psycho-Pirate delivered the diamond it to Loring on Luthor's orders and manipulated Eclipso into manipulating the Spectre. This was all done in the interest of breaking down magic into raw magical energy, which Luthor could use for his own ends.
The Spectre, desiring revenge on Eclipso for his manipulations of him during Infinite Crisis, but rendered incapable of taking it owing to his present lack of a host, orders Dibny to punish Eclipso in return for his wife's life. Dibny, realizing that this meant punishing Jean Loring, his wife's murderer, and temporarily granted the power of the Spectre, takes Eclipso back to the point at which she murdered his wife Sue. He restores Loring's sanity, forcing her to relive her murder of Sue Dibny.
Her sanity restored and Eclipso purged out of her, Loring tearfully begs for forgiveness, screaming that she was not acting rationally when she murdered Sue. Dibny, affected by her pleas, his sense of compassion, and his own feelings on watching his wife's death, refuses to complete his pact with the Spectre, returning Eclipso to her orbit around the Sun.
Loring later appears in Blue Beetle (vol. 7) #16, searching for a new host. Having come to the conclusion that her hosts' corrupted souls are the cause of her failures, she tries to possess a baby with great magical potential and a pure, uncorrupted soul.
Rise of Eclipso
Eclipso kidnaps Shade, Acrata, Nightshade, Shadow Thief, Bette Noir, and Dark Crow, all of whom possess shadow-based abilities. After brainwashing his captives, Eclipso travels to an extradimensional plane and frees a demonic entity known as Sythunu, who agrees to serve Eclipso. With his small team ready, Eclipso travels to the Emerald City that Alan Scott established on the Moon, intending to capture Jade.[10] After taking over Jade, Eclipso defeats and possesses the Justice League's reserve roster. With the Justice League outnumbered, Eclipso then reveals his ultimate goal is to kill God.[11] Eclipso then tortures Zauriel, attracting the attention of the new Spectre, Crispus Allen. The Spectre arrives on the Moon, where Eclipso ambushes and kills him, absorbing the Spectre's powers. With his newfound abilities, Eclipso reveals that God relies on the collective love of humanity to stay alive, and that by destroying Earth, Eclipso will kill God. Just as the members of the JLA prepare to wage a counterattack, Eclipso destroys the Moon, apparently dooming all life on Earth.[12] After the Atom
The New 52
In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Eclipso is depicted as the god of vengeance and once again trapped in the Heart of Darkness.[14] A criminal organization working for Kaizen Gamorra tries to steal the item, with Team 7 trying to stop them. During the fight, Slade Wilson is briefly possessed by Eclipso.[15] With the help of Essence, the other heroes manage to trap him again in the black diamond, which is then sent to somewhere safe.[16] Five years later, Catwoman is hired to steal the diamond, now kept in one of A.R.G.U.S.'s custody; she succeeds, although she is affected by the item's magic.[17]
Eclipso is subsequently revealed to be an inhabitant of Gemworld with the powers of House Onyx and House Diamond and was once Kalaa of the planet Gilaa.[15]
DC Rebirth
In the storyline Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, Maxwell Lord has Lobo, Johnny Sorrow, Emerald Empress, Rustam, and Doctor Polaris—the original members of the Suicide Squad—to steal the Heart of Darkness from Amanda Waller's base. Using the Heart of Darkness, Lord 'succeeds' in bringing 'peace' across America, but it quickly degenerates into mass hysteria as the crystal corrupts those around him. Waller is able to snap Lord back to his senses and he realizes that the Heart of Darkness is manipulating his power to sow rioting and chaos.[22] Before Waller can help Lord remove the Heart of Darkness, it infects Lord and turns him into a host for Eclipso, leaving only Batman and the Suicide Squad to stand against his Justice League. Eclipso is able to take over most of the Squad by drawing on their darker desires, but Batman and Lobo hold them off long enough for Killer Frost to use her powers to create a prism, perfectly modulated to reflect Superman's heat vision at a frequency that drives Eclipso back.[23]
