Spoiler warning for those who haven't yet watched Stargirl's Season 1 finale.
To close out its action-packed first season, DC's Stargirl seemed to completely close out of its main storylines before setting up a six-week time jump to lead everyone into Season 2's first act. The last thing viewers got to see before that heartwarming time jump, however, was Cindy Burman in full-blown Shiv mode, ransacking William "The Wizard" Zarick's private belongings. (Not like he'd care anymore, amirite?) She eventually discovered a box, and within that box, a shining jewel. And to that jewel, she said the name "Eclipso."
For anyone unfamiliar with DC Comics history, that was likely one of the more random moments in Stargirl's debut season, especially for a character that spent the previous few episodes locked up inside her father Dragon King's lair. But for those who do have a keen knowledge of comic books, Eclipso is a name that strikes fear and excitement. So let's take a look at what we know about the dangerous villain from the source material, as well as how he might enter the story in Stargirl Season 2.
What Is Eclipso's Origin Story?
The first time comic readers were introduced to Eclipso was within the pages of House of Secrets #61, published back in July 1963, with several iterations of the villain being developed over the years. In the first iteration, the solar-energy scientist Bruce Gordon (whose name was indeed Batman-inspired) was attacked by a sorcerer while attempting to view a solar eclipse. The sorcerer wounded Gordon with a black diamond, which caused the Eclipso persona to emerge anytime there was a solar eclipse. That phenomenon is what inspired Eclipso's look, also.
Though Eclipso was something more of a generic villain in the early days, his story got revamped in the 1990s to reveal that Bruce Gordon was actually being possessed by a vengeful demon whose soul was trapped inside 1,000 shards of a giant black diamond called the Heart of Darkness, but was still allowed to possess anyone who came into contact with the shards. He was later described as being the spirit of God's wrath, and it was Eclipso who was responsible for flooding the Earth in Biblical times. (Naturally.) Basically, Eclipso is one of the most purely evil and pandemonium-focused villains in DC's annals.
In later stories, Eclipso moved on from the Bruce Gordon alter ego, and he took on various other forms. One of them will be discussed below, but it's worth noting that the demon also took possession of Ray Palmer's one-time wife Jean Loring, and most recently took hold of Maxwell Lord in the Rebirth event. Oh yeah, and he also possessed Superman at one point. SUPERMAN. If that doesn't speak to his abilities, I don't know what will.
What Are Eclipso's Powers?
Speaking of abilities, Eclipso is one of those comic book baddies that can basically do anything that the a writer would need him to in order to put others in danger, whether it'd be one person or literally an entire country of people. As already mentioned, Eclipso can possess the minds and bodies of normal people and metahumans, aliens, etc., and he actually boosts other supes' abilities when he's in control, making them even more powerful. Tack onto that the ability to perform magic, and you basically already have an unstoppable villain, and one that was even able to take out The Spectre. But he's got way more powers than just those.
Even when he's just in standard-issue Eclipso form, the villain is capable of flight, and can change his size to be whatever he chooses, from a gnat to a 747. He's also rocking the kind of super-strength that gods would envy, and he can make others more powerful just by willing it so. In his earliest incarnation, Eclipso would shoot powerful blasts from his eyes (with help from the black diamond), and that power soon evolved into the villain being able to shoot energy blasts from his hands and other body parts. And again, that whole "magic" thing cannot be understated, since that makes his powers virtually limitless.
But not completely limitless. Since he's a comic book villain, Eclipso does have some weaknesses that stop him from being too unstoppable. For one, being able to only possess those in connection with Heart of Darkness shards is pretty limiting in and of itself. Plus, given the character's ties to eclipses, Eclipso has a weakness when it comes to the sun, and (at times) is only able to appear at night. At this point, of course, it's unclear how much of this will play out on the TV show.
How Is Eclipso Connected To Yolanda Montez In The Comics?
In the comics, Yolanda Montez served as Wildcat II, the super-successor to her godfather Ted Grant, and was part of the offspring-filled Infinity, Inc. After that group disbanded, Wildcat II joined Amanda Waller's Eclipso-hunting team dubbed the Shadow Fighters (for a 1993 comic book arc). Unfortunately, Yolanda was one of several heroes who was killed by Eclipso in that ongoing battle.
Logically enough, Eclipso soon became the target of Yolanda's vengeful cousin Alex Montez, who found a way to both take on Eclipso's powers while also controlling the evil entity. (Obviously by gathering and liquifying 999 of the Heart of Darkness shards so that he could inject them into his bloodstream, while using the lone solid shard to bring his Eclipso-ness out.) After spending a while giving Eclipso a good name as a hero of sorts, Alex later sacrificed himself to stop the demon from taking over more of his persona.
Stargirl fans were already introduced to Alex Montez in Episode 4, "Wildcat," only with a pretty big change-up. Geoff Johns' live-action Alex has been presented as Yolanda's brother instead of her cousin, and he's also some years younger than her. So anyone expecting to see the Alex/Eclipso connection from the comics might be out of luck. MIGHT be.
How Could Eclipso Fit Into Stargirl Season 2?
As stated above, it doesn't seem super-likely that Alex Montez is going to get his time to shine as Eclipso, at least not in Season 2. (Had he or Yolanda been around when Shiv discovered that jewel, I could possibly be convinced otherwise.) So it's kind of a mystery exactly what will happen, especially considering we're not even aware of how Shiv knew about Eclipso to begin with. Sure, she's the daughter of scientific anomaly within a group of supervillains, but I seriously doubt Dragon King or The Wizard was keen to share everything with her.
The only villain that viewers know for sure is dead is Brainwave, with Wildcat having taken him completely out of commission. So it's very likely that the surviving ISA members will come together once more, possibly to take a second stab at that whole "control everybody's minds" plan. Of course, if Eclipso is involved, the villains wouldn't even technically need all the giant electronics to make others do their bidding. Or maybe Shiv completely separated herself from ISA activities during the six-month time jump, and developed a more personal relationship with Eclipso during that time. Not in a romantic way or anything, but rather gaining each other's trust and coming up with a plan to take everyone else out when they least expect it.
Not that I think Eclipso will show up and just automatically do everything that Shiv wants without having a few motives of his own. It wouldn't be a wild assumption to think that, in this universe, Joel McHale's Sylvester "Starman" Pemberton probably had something to do with Eclipso's origins, along with the rest of the Justice Society. So there's a strong chance the villain won't be too happy to see its reformation.
Stargirl Season 1 is currently available to stream in full on DC Universe while it's still around, with Season 2 coming exclusively to The CW, though it's not known when filming will be starting up. Stay tuned for CinemaBlend for more coverage, and keep current with our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule to see what else is coming to the small screen soon.
