Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
He’s the original wrath of God, before the Spectre: Eclipso
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Appearances in Heroclix: Superman/Wonder Woman, Collateral Damage, Cosmic Justice
First Appearance: The House of Secrets #61 (August 1963)
Team Affiliations: Secret Society of Super Villains, Injustice League
Powers: Spirit possession; Immortality; Energy-vision and Energy blasts; Superhuman strength, speed and stamina; Invulnerability; Flight; Weather modification; Divine siphoning; Nigh-omnipotence; Mass/remote possession; Darkside release; Corruption inducement; Possession transformation
Created by: Bob Haney and Lee Elias
Eclipso is originally a vengeance demon bound inside a black diamond called the “Heart of Darkness” which remains in Africa for centuries. A treasure hunter finds it in the late 19th century and brings it to London in 1891, having the diamond cut into 1,000 smaller shards. This weakens the binding spell of the diamond and allows Eclipso to possess anyone that touches one of the diamonds while angry.
Bruce Gordon, a scientist that specializes in solar energy, travels to a jungle locale to view a solar eclipse. A tribal sorcerer by the name of Mophir attacks Gordon and plunges one of the black diamond shards into his chest. During eclipses, Bruce transforms into Eclipso, a ruse by the demon to make the human thing he has greater control than he really does.
Before, and after, taking over Bruce Gordon, Eclipso works to gather all the shards together so that they can be destroyed and free him once more. As Eclipso approaches his goal, Lar Gand discovers Eclipso’s lunar palace and wanders inside. This inspires Eclipso to possess all the heroes of Earth in order to use them to gather the shards and free him so he can conquer Earth and gain vengeance against the creator. He also reveals that he had used Gordon in order to prevent solar research from progressing. In a world fueled by solar power, any simple battery can be used as a weapon against Eclipso. Though Eclipso is able to take over and absorb several of Earth’s heroes until the remaining heroes, led by Gordon, is able to use solar powered weapons to defeat Eclipso and destroy his lunar palace.
Eclipso next appears by taking over the South American nation of Parador, possessing one citizen at a time. Cave Carson, Bruce Gordon and Mona Bennet are sent to investigate. Carson’s legs are broken and he is left at the border as Gordon and Bennet are given a tour of Eclipso’s atrocities. Gordon and Bennet eventually organize a team of heroes, dubbed the Shadow Fighters, who battle Eclipso at great personal loss. During this time, Eclipso reveals he will not kill Gordon or Bennet, because their future child will time travel to the past and free Eclipso from the Heart of Darkness for the first time. The Phantom Stranger eventually interferes and gathers all 1,000 shards, fusing them back into the Heart of Darkness and imprisons Eclipso. Eclipso’s physical body, actually the adult child of Bennet and Gordon, evaporates in front of his parents.
Some time later, the Spectre reckons with its own past, as it was created to replace Eclipso as the wrath of God. To this end, Spectre destroys both the heart of darkness and all remains of Eclipso’s palace before scattering the remaining ashes into space. The hope being that Eclipso can never again return.
Years later, the shards of the Heart of Darkness return through unknown means. Alexander Montez, the cousion of Wildcat II who Eclipso had killed in Parador, vows vengeance against Eclipso and gathers the black diamonds. He liquefies them and injects them, save for one that he can use to evoke Eclipso. He covers his body in tattoos that allow him to channel Eclipso’s power while retaining control. He uses this to force Eclipso to watch as his powers are used for heroic ends.
Alex falls in love with his teammate Nemesis, which proves unfortunate. During a battle, one of the binding tattoos is damaged with gives Eclipso an opportunity to assert himself and kill Nemesis. Alex soon commits suicide to prevent Eclipso from controlling him and also binding him to Alex’s corpse. Eclipso’s cult later exhumes Alex’s body and is able to retrieve the black diamonds, reforming them into their shard forms.
Even without with the black diamonds, Eclipso finds a way to possess Lois Lane and then antagonize Superman so that he, too, can be possessed. At this point, the Wizard Shazam sends Captain Marvel to stop EclipsoSuperman before he can cause too much chaos. While Shazam is able to hold EclipsoSuperman at bay, he cannot manage to remove the demon. He finally calls upon the Spectre who is able to draw Eclipso out into a single black diamond. Before leaving, Spectre warns Shazam that Eclipso will now count him as an enemey and Spectre cannot always be there to stop him.
The black diamond soon appears in the cell of Jean Loring, after her murder of Sue Dibny. Eclipso calls out to her and she accepts, becoming possessed by him. She then is able to fool the Spectre, who is more susceptible to deception without a host to focus him, into attacking and killing magic heroes, including Shazam. Eclipso-Loring is eventually teleported to an orbit around the Sun, leaving her and Eclipso inert and powerless.
Ralph Dibny approaches the Spectre in hopes of resurrecting Sue. Spectre offers him a deal: become Spectre’s host and punish Eclipso and Spectre will restore Sue to life. Ralph accepts and takes Eclipso-Loring back to the moment she killed Sue. He purges Eclipso from her and restores her sanity, intending on forcing her to watch herself kill her friend in an endless time loop. Jean, restored to her right mind, breaks down to tears and begs for forgiveness, exclaiming that it wasn’t her that killed Sue but her untreated mental illness. Ralph’s humanity is too much and he cannot carry through with the vengeance, simply returning Eclipso-Loring back to their orbit around the Sun.
Somehow, Eclipso is able to project her spirit back to Earth and attempts to take over a newborn baby. She believes that an uncorrupted soul will allow her a clean slate which will allow her to succeed in her plans. This plan ultimately fails. After several more failed plans, Mary Marvel is able to send Eclipso-Loring into the ocean with Eclipso abandoning Jean for a return to Bruce Gordon.
Eclipso, though staggered by Bruce Gordon, is able to enact a plan to restore the Heart of Darkness and grant him enough power to face the Spectre. The Spectre’s new host, Crispus Allen, is able to reach through to Bruce and help him find the will to control Eclipso, although it is believed the two can no longer be separated.
Eclipso returns to power once more and destroys Diablo Island before kidnapping several heroes and taking control of their minds. He is able to summon an entity from another dimension named Sythunu and takes his deam to the moon to face Alan Scott and kidnap Jade. He is able to possess Jade and then defeat and possess several members of the Justice League’s reserve roster before injuring the angel Zauriel. With Zauriel captured, Eclipso reveals that he intends to kill God and tortures the angel until the Spectre arrives. Eclipso is then able to overpower Crispus Allen and absorbs the power of the Spectre, believing that destroying the Earth will cut off the supply of humanity’s love for God, thereby killing him. Eclipso seems to succeed in this but it was all an illusion powered by Saint Walker’s blue power ring, which allows the other heroes to free Eclipso’s mind slaves and ultimately overpower the villain.
Eclipso is again trapped in the Heart of Darkness and is able to temporarily possess Deathstroke before being defeated. He is then revealed to actually be connected to Gemworld and is able to conquer the ruling houses for a time. Princess Amethyst is ultimately able to defeat him and sends him back to the Heart of Darkness. He also possess and manipulates Gordon Jacobs for a time.
Maxwell Lord assembles a team to steal the Heart of Darkness from Amanda Waller’s vault and attempts to use its power to bring world peace, unaware that Eclipso is contained within. While he is temporarily able to succeed in this, Eclipso is able to take control of his body and powers and plunges the planet into chaos. The Justice League, including Killer Frost, is eventually able to purge Eclipso from Lord and drive the demon back into the Heart of Darkness.
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