- "And remember, my fast friend, these outfits we wear are just another suit of clothes, not another man."
- —Desmond Powell on his costumed life.[src]
Desmond Powell was a vigilante known as Nightshade.
Biography[]
Early life[]
After returning home from the Korean War, Desmond Powell found his home of Central City caught between the mafia and a corrupt administration. The city needed a hero, and he intended to give it to them. Knowing he'd be a black man working outside the law, Desmond designed a costume and equipment and took to the streets as the masked mystery man, Nightshade. During his career, Nightshade faced all manner of criminals, ranging from mob bosses to modern-day pirates in dive-suits scuttling ships in the city harbor, to costumed criminals like the Aviator and his greatest nemesis, the Ghost. Despite his vigilante status, Nightshade became a hero to the common people of his city.
Fighting the Ghost[]
In 1955, Nightshade had his last big confrontation with the Ghost. The telecommunication terrorist had used his technology to turn the televisions across Central City into bombs with the intent to hold the city for a million dollar ransom. Nightshade broke into the Ghost's hideout and found himself in a showdown with his nemesis and well as the criminal's female accomplice, Belle. Using a signal jammer of his own invention, Nightshade destroyed the Ghost's plan and caused his equipment to explode! Dragging Belle out, Nightshade never saw the Ghost retreat to a secret bunker under his lab and slip into a cryogenic chamber, where he was frozen alive. Not long after, Desmond retired his costumed persona and Nightshade faded into obscurity.
Back from retirement[]
Thirty-five years later, the Ghost returned and Desmond had no choice but to come out of retirement and team up with his spiritual successor, the Flash to end his enemy's reign of terror once and for all.[1]
He then aided the Flash once more when facing off against his replacement, the Deadly Nightshade. However, he wasn't aware that Curtis Bohannan was the one who idolized him and corrupted his mission. Despite not being able to convince Curtis that his acts of terror were wrong, Powell still managed to stop him with the help of Barry Allen. This time retiring for good.[2]
In 2018, The Monitor invaded Earth-90 and seemingly killed all of its residents. Because of that, Desmond's fate remains unknown.[3]
Personality[]
Despite the prejudice he endured as an African American in 1950s, Powell deeply loved Central City and its people. Returning from the Korean War to discover the populace “squeezed between the mob on one side and a corrupt administration on the other” he began a one-man war to change his home for the better. Decades later, he returned from retirement to face his old enemy the Ghost once more.
His experiences as a soldier left a deep and lasting impact on Powell. Unwilling to ever again take a life, he modified his pistol to shoot non-lethal tranquilizer darts. He was repulsed by Curtis Bohannan’s more lethal form of vigilantism.
Powell looked back on his time as Nightshade with mixed feelings. He expressed pride, satisfaction, and even amusement at his adventures, but he was also aware of what they cost him: his wife, his family, his friends. As such, he had no regrets about giving or selling away his old gear and trophies later in life. He was fond of Central City’s modern hero, The Flash, and tried to council the younger man to avoid his mistakes.
Powell was an affable, likable man. He befriended Barry Allen in both civilian and Flash personas and was even shown being friendly with some of the former low-level hoods he’d fought in his glory days. In turn, most of his former enemies seemed to respect and even trust him, rejecting the notion that he could be the murderous Deadly Nightshade. Powell even chose to abandon his mask and approach his former enemy Belle Crocker as a friend, winning her assistance against her former lover, the Ghost. When facing enemies Powell was more irreverent, taunting his foes even when captured and helpless. Powell would also occasionally make more melodramatic pronouncements, which he blamed on reading pulp novels in his youth.
Abilities[]
- Psychiatry
- Marksmanship
- Expert Engineer/Mechanic: Powell claims his only education in engineering was Popular Science, yet was capable of using limited resources to develop useful tools in his war on crime. He turned his service pistol into a dart gun, steel-plated his car, and was able to develop a signal-blocking device to stop Ghost’s television-triggered bombs.
- Medicine: Operating alone, Powell learned to tend to his own wounds.
Equipment[]
- Nightshade suit: Powell wore a protective suit for his vigilante activities as Nightshade.
- Nightshade's car: To protect himself from mobsters’ gunfire, Nightshade welded steel plates to his car, likening it to “a tank.”
- Dart gun: Originally his service pistol from the Korean War, Powell modified the weapon to shoot tranquilizer darts.
Appearances[]
The Flash[]
- "Ghost In The Machine"
- "Fast Forward" (indirectly mentioned)
- "Deadly Nightshade"
Behind the scenes[]
- Desmond Powell uses elements of several DC comics characters including Clipper, Wesley Dodds/The Sandman, Spaulding/Mikado and Nightshade.