WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Stargirl Season 2, which airs Tuesdays on the CW.
The Shade made his first live-action appearance on Stargirl Season 2 as portrayed by English actor Jonathan Cake. When the Shade first showed up, it seemed as though he was looking to pick up the Injustice Society’s unfinished business. As the series progressed, however, it became clear he had his own motives for making his way to the small town of Blue Valley.
Throughout Season 2, the Shade has played mind games with both heroes and villains alike. He’s got every move planned, which means he’s always one step ahead of everyone else — which affords him some level of unpredictability. While he was never set up as the primary antagonist of Season 2, the Shade could still prove to be the Justice Society’s most dangerous villain, as well as their occasional ally, which makes him a strong candidate for fronting his own show.
One thing that really stands out about the Shade in Stargirl Season 2 is his origin story. As detailed in Episode 10, the Shade was originally a 19th century conman named Richard Swift. Sometime during his lifetime, Richard was hired to procure a mysterious black diamond for an equally mysterious group known as the Men of Tears. Richard instead had a forgery made, not knowing what the group would be using the diamond for.
As he learned the hard way, the Men of Tears wanted to summon and trap Eclipso inside the diamond so that they could exploit his power to destroy their enemies. The ritual to trap Eclipso, however, required a human sacrifice. Rather than pay Richard what he was owed for his services, The Men of Tears made him their sacrifice instead. The ritual, however, went awry when the Men of Tears discovered the diamond they were provided with was a fake. Since the fake diamond couldn’t contain the dark energy the Men of Tears had summoned, that energy went straight into Richard’s body, making him its vessel instead.
Richard’s criminal tendencies only worsened with his new shadow-based powers. He abandoned his sister Emily when their father died and continued conning people in the centuries that followed. In the present, it is unknown why he wants the black diamond that contains Eclipso. At first, it seems as though he also wants to exploit Eclipso’s power himself, but when he finds out Cindy Burman has the diamond he decides he wants to protect Cindy and Courtney’s classmates from Eclipso.
Regardless of his motives, one thing that is clear about the Shade is that he is very self-serving and is skilled at manipulating people to achieve his desired results. He does this by presenting himself as trustworthy, even when people like Pat Dugan, Courtney and Barbara Whitmore know better than to trust him. Another way he achieves this is by actually telling Courtney and her friends the truth about the Justice Society and Eclipso when it actually benefits him to do so. Once he acquires the level of trust he needs from Courtney and her family, that’s when he’s able to pull strings and serve his own interests.
While it’s clear the Shade is playing some sort of long game that will most likely play out in Season 3 of Stargirl, he definitely has a lot going for him that makes him more interesting than a one-time villain like Eclipso. With a compelling backstory such as his, there’s definitely a lot more story to tell, especially where his sister Emily is concerned. Did he really abandon her? If so, is he truly remorseful about what he did, or was he only looking to tug Barbara’s heartstrings when the situation called for it?
There are definitely a lot more questions than answers when it comes to the Shade — which is exactly why he is a prime candidate for his own show, where all these questions can be explored without taking screen time away from the new JSA.
New episodes of Stargirl air Tuesdays on the CW.
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