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Eclipso src

Eclipso is the original Spirit of God's Wrath. After his fall, he became an agent of chaos, possessing others to fulfill his nefarious needs.

In the beginning, God's Spirit of Wrath was made flesh to punish the wicked and wash the world clean of vice and iniquity. Then, he was known as Galid. Wrath, by definition, is driven largely by anger, whereas vengeance requires a more discerning hand... In that way, the spirit of wrath was stripped of rank and privileges by its successor, the Spectre.

Split asunder by God's newly anointed Spirit of Vengeance, Wrath's physicality was trapped within the "Heart of Darkness", a black diamond mined on distant Apokolips that brought only woe and misery to anyone who came into its possession.

What remained of God's Wrath was banished quite appropriately to the dark side of the moon, with part of its spirit being imprisoned in a massive gem known as the Heart of Darkness.

The Heart of Darkness

It was housed in a temple somewhere near Lake Tanganyika in Africa. On October 6th, 1890, a party of explorers consisting of an unnamed man and a professor find the temple, and the unnamed man kills the professor, rather than sharing in the discovery. On January 12, 1891, the unnamed man brought the Heart of Darkness to a jeweler, demanding it be split into 1000 identical gems within one year's time.[2] On February 12, 1891, the man returns and the jeweler has finished his task, as the gem seemed to split as if by magic. Two thugs named Zeke and Deke are then sent in to kill the jeweler, in order to silence him.

One week later, a judge named Pendleton receives a black diamond, and becomes possessed by Eclipso, who begins to figure out the limitations of his power. The splitting of the heart of darkness had weakened the prison enough for Eclipso to act. Whenever someone holding a diamond is angry, Eclipso would manifest. If the person was violent, Eclipso would possess them. If they were not, an Eclipso monster, all of which had various forms but appeared to be made of purple smoke, would appear. Eclipso would be compelled to attack and destroy/murder the source of his hosts' anger, only then being free to act on his own. He also learns that sunlight banishes him.[3]

On February 20, 1891, a Godfrey Norton arrives to procure the services of Sherlock Holmes. His wife, Irene Adler, has been possessed by Eclipso and killed the King of Bohemia. She then breaks through the window to Holmes' study, and kills Norton. She is about to kill Holmes when she is stopped by an enraged and eclipsed John Watson. Eclipso releases his hold on Adler, who is examined by Holmes for clues. Holmes deduced the location of Watson, as well as Eclipso's weakness, but is distracted by Irene Adler and overcome. Adler jumps through a skylight to her death to save Holmes, and Watson is freed from the possession.[4]

Roughly one week after this, over 100 black diamonds had been sold. Zeke and Deke came after the man who had the diamonds cut and steal all but one, which was enough for the man to become eclipsed and hunt down the two thugs and kill them. Unfortunately for Eclipso, they had already sold the gems. The mysterious man who had the diamonds cut was revealed to be Henry Gordon, the time traveling son of Bruce Gordon and Mona Bennett, who, dazed by his time travel (he intended to stop Eclipso) became the one who freed Eclipso.[5]

The Modern Age

The first individual known to be possessed in the modern age was a prominent solar scientist named Bruce Gordon. Scratched with a black diamond by a "witch doctor" named Mophir, Gordon was convinced that Eclipso, who would intially only appear during eclipses, was his evil half.[6] It was later revealed that Eclipso chose Gordon to slow Gordon's development of solar technology.[7]

The Darkness Within

Eclipso later possessed several heroes and sought to use them to empower himself and destroy Earth, starting with Lar Gand, who had set foot in his palace, where the most minor annoyance would amplify into a blinding rage (He had previously possessed only Gordon to convince Earth's heroes he was simply another super-villain, hiding his true power). His test case for hero possession was The Creeper.[8]

Early in his campaign, he possessed Starman [9] and used his own shape shifting abilities to keep the heroes he was pursuing off balance. Eventually revealing himself, he pulled the eclipsed heroes to the moon, where they were pursued by the remaining heroes. Revealing he had possessed Starman, he took over all the heroes, and was only stopped by the appearance of Bruce Gordon, who was leading a team of heroes and scientists he had recruited who were wielding solar weapons. Freeing the assembled heroes, Gordon turned his attention to Eclipso, setting up a solar bomb in the palace. Eclipso morphed the palace into a gigantic body, into which Starman flew, detonating himself. An injured Bruce Gordon was saved by Lar Gand. The heroes believed Eclipso destroyed, but he survived. [10]

Parador

Eclipso then took over the country of Parador. He planned to use drug money to build an army, and possessed a drug lord known as the Count,[11] and later the country's president. He forces scientists to create a completely undetectable poison and add it to cocaine.[12] Later, to send a message to Bruce Gordon, he attacks Professor Simon Bennett, Gordon's future father-in-law, and cuts off all of his fingers.[13] Gordon, Cave Carson, The Creeper and Mona were all captured by Eclipso when they attempted to enter Parador via the cave system.While this was occuring, Eclipso was visited by Darkseid, who warned him that expanding his ambitions beyond Earth would not be tolerated.[14] When they awaken, Gordon and Mona are forcibly dressed in formal wear, and have a dinner with Eclipso where he reveals that he has poisoned cocaine shipments (and broken Cave Carson's legs and dumped him at the border). He then forces them, and the Creeper to ingest black diamonds and releases them, where they are chased through the jungle to the Brazilain border.[15]This was all part of Eclipso's plan, as their escape would make him look weakened. Further, he wanted Gordon to report the tainted cocaine, as it stemmed the drug trade.[16]

Eclipso's reign of terror was opposed by the Shadow Fighters, led by Gordon.[17]The Shadow Fighters invaded the island, and initial forays proved successful, as they disabled Eclipso's security and freed several of the possessed.[18]However, things took a dark turn.

A pack of Eclipso hyenas (likely native spotted hyenas) tear the Creeper to shreds. The imposter Manhunter has his spine broken and is impaled. Wildcat II is slashed open, and when Dr. Midnight II tried to save her, she is also fatally wounded. Major Victory and Commander Steel are overwhelmed by sheer numbers and killed. Peacemaker sacrificed himself, crashing his helicopter into a tank to buy Nemesis, Gordon and Mona Bennett time to escape in a solar powered craft.[19] Amanda waller, Bruce Gordon, Mona Bennett, and director of the office of Metahuman Affairs Sarge Steel were all put on trial by the U.N. for this failed attempt. Eclipso arrived and threatened the world with nuclear annihilation if the quartet are not found guilty, and tested his arsenal on the small island the Shadow Fighters were using as a base.[20] Simon Bennett is revealed to have been captured by Eclipso just before the island exploded. In light of Eclipso's assault on the U.N., a multinational task force (including many super powered heroes) is created to take him on.[21] While the heroes traveled to Parador to confront him, the Phantom Stranger arrived on the dark side of the moon and confronted Eclipso, making him aware that he intended to recreate the Heart of Darkness and entrap Eclipso in it.[22] During the final battle in Parador, a giant Eclipso fought an equally giant Spectre, and with aid from the Phantom Stranger, he was defeated and the the Heart of Darkness was recreated from all of the black diamonds, trapping Eclipso inside.[23]

A short time after this, the Spectre, having had his faith in God shaken, contemplated destroying the human race, and was briefly possessed by Eclipso. The Spectre overcame Eclipso and ground the Heart of Darkness to dust, seemingly destroying Eclipso.[24]

Princes of Darkness

Alex Montez had lost a cousin to Eclipso, and sought a way to use it for his own purposes. He found the diamonds (it is unknown how they returned), liquified all but one, and injected them into himself. He then covered his body in 'binding glyph' tattoos learned from Diablo Island. Alex associated with Mordru and Obsidian as the Princes of Darkness and later joined Black Adam's group in Kahndaq.

He became romantically involved with Nemesis (Soseh Mykros). However, Eclipso was able to break free when a glyph was damaged, and killed Soseh. In retaliation, Alex killed himself, leaving only the sole diamond.

Eclipso then possessed Lois Lane and Superman. He threatened to go on a rampage in Superman's body, but was stopped by Shazam and Captain Marvel and forced back into his diamond by the Spectre Force.

The diamond then appeared to Jean Loring, apparently at the request of Alexander Luthor. As Eclipso, she enticed the Spectre Force to attack all magic-users. In retaliation for its actions, Nightshade banished Eclipso into orbit around the sun.

Crispus Allen, the Spectre's current host, tracks down Bruce Gordon.[25] Later, Eclipso once again takes Gordon as a host.[26]

Powers

Weaknesses

  • Vulnerability to Sunlight: Sunlight is Eclipso's primary weakness, it disintegrates his corporeal form on contact.
  • Darkness Restriction: He could manifest himself on Earth only at night and only when summoned by a possessor of a black diamond.
  • Ancient Rules: As an ancient entity Eclipso is forbidden by ancient laws to personally kill others of his level or face greater punishment.


  • Eclipso has a third cousin, twice removed named Brownouto. He was summoned once by Ambush Bug, using Black Cubic Zirconium he believed to be a Black Diamond.[39]
  • Eclipso is also known as the Prince of Darkness, Vengeance Demon, the Lord of the No-Man's Land Between Light and Darkness, the Master of Black Silence and the Master of Evil.
  • Eclipso, back when he was the pseudo-angel Galid and God's Spirit of Wrath as LLadiz, is the one who carried out the Great Flood of biblical record.[40]
  • Eclipso is in possession of the Anti-Life Equation, though he doesn't know how to use it.[41]

 Main article: Eclipso Recommended Reading

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Footnotes


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