- For the Marvel Comics version, see Enchantress.
Enchantress is a DC Comics character who has been both a superheroine and supervillainess. She first appeared in National Comics (now DC Comics) flagship science fiction anthology title Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966), and was created by writer Bob Haney and artist Howard Purcell.
Publication history
The Enchantress ('The Switcheroo-Witcheroo' as she was bannered on the cover) first appeared in the 9-page lead story in Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966), followed by two further 8-page appearances in the same title: Strange Adventures #191 (August 1966) and #200 (May 1967), all written by Bob Haney and drawn by co-creator Howard Purcell. The first two stories were reprinted in Adventure Comics #417 (March 1972) and #419 (May 1972), her only appearances in the 1970s. Following this, the Enchantress appeared in two linked Supergirl tales in Superman Family #204 - 205 (November/December 1980 - January/February 1981), and in a two-part story featuring The Forgotten Villains in the Superman team-up title DC Comics Presents #77 - 78 (January - February 1985). She was one of the super-characters in Legends #3 (January 1987) and Legends #6 (April 1987), followed by the origin of the Suicide Squad in Secret Origins vol 2 #14 (May 1987) and the immediately following Suicide Squad series issues #1 - 8 (May 1987 - December 1987) and #12 - 16 (April 1988 - August 1988), written by John Ostrander and Len Wein; and The Spectre vol 2 #11 (February 1988).
After being ignored for eleven years, she eventually returned in Green Lantern vol 3 #118 (November 1999) and Day of Judgment #1 - 5 (all November 1999), written by Geoff Johns with art by Matt Smith and Steve Mitchell. She next guested in another DC Comics miniseries JLA: Black Baptism #1 - 4 (May - August 2001) by Sean Smith (writer) and Ruben Diaz (art) after which Enchantress disappeared again until the Day of Vengeance miniseries #1 - 5 (June 2005 - November 2005) by Bill Willingham, who also used her character through the first 16 issues (July 2006 - October 2007) of the Shadowpact series that followed directly on from Day of Vengeance. Matthew Sturges took up the reins from issue #17 - 25 (November 2007 - July 2008). During that time she also made appearances in the major DC Comics cross-over series Countdown, #28 (October 17, 2007) and #28 (October 24, 2007), the associated Countdown to Mystery #1 (November 2007), and one issue of Trials of Shazam!, #11 (March 2008).
Since the cancellation of Shadowpact, Enchantress has continued to make minor appearances in the DC Universe, including DC Universe Holiday Special (2008), and the miniseries Reign in Hell #2 - 8 (September 2008 - April 2009). She has most recently appeared in Action Comics #885 (March 2010), part of a new cycle of stories by James Robinson which leads up to DC Comics Summer 2010 event 'War of the Supermen'.
When DC relaunched their entire line in September 2011 they did so with a new team book called Justice League Dark which feature the more magical characters of the DCU. The first antagonist Shade the Changing Man, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Zatanna, Mindwarp and John Constantine faced was an Enchantress gone mad.
Fictional character biography
Freelance artist June Moone is invited to a costume party at an old castle, and stumbles upon a secret chamber where an unknown magical being (later named as Dzamor) empowers her to fight an evil presence in the castle. Saying the words 'The Enchantress' her appearance changes from blonde-haired June to black-haired and costumed Enchantress and defeats a minotaur creature from a tapestry. Soon after she defeats a monster at Cape Kennedy and a mirage of a demonic creature manipulated by a crook.
In her next appearance, however, the Enchantress is a misguided character fighting Supergirl, who prevents her gaining omnipotent magical power and cancelling all other superpowers on Earth, twice. Her villainous side takes over after this, and the Enchantress then continues her career as a member of The Forgotten Villains and part of the army of supervillains during the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' event.
Suicide Squad
She is next recruited into the newly formed 'Task Force X', soon to be known as the 'Suicide Squad', on the offer that they could keep her villainous side in check. In her first mission she uses massive magical energy to defeat Brimstone, which sends her over the edge and she becomes temporarily truly villainous. During her tenure with the Suicide Squad, June Moone's control over her Enchantress side becomes weaker, and she wrecks at least one mission because of this; teammate Deadshot is tasked with taking her out should she get beyond control. Eventually, Madame Xanadu diagnoses that June's loss of control is because she began using her powers before she could control them, and the only way to counteract this is not to use them until her aura, which protects her from the evil influences in magic, regains its power. Madame Xanadu gives June a necklace that she cannot remove, which together with a ring to be held by someone else creates a feedback loop preventing the Enchantress from using magic for evil as a temporary measure. June then discovers that her Enchantress persona is in fact a separate evil entity from another dimension fused with her, not simply a manifestation of magic. This entity is ripped from her by a demon called the Incubus, and shortly afterward June disappears from the Suicide Squad for unknown reasons. Nothing else is heard of June Moone or the Enchantress for eleven years.
Day of Judgment
Eleven years later, after a storm caused by war in Hell, June breaks free from the Ostrander Mental Institute in New Jersey, where she has been for an indeterminate period of time. Refusing to join with the superheroes fighting a demon invasion on Earth and in Hell, the newly freed Enchantress is possessed by Deadman to manipulate her into helping the fight in Hell. Once there, June's Enchantress persona is murdered by Faust as a purely evil act, the only way to reignite the fires of Hell.
JLA: Black Baptism
June Moone is left in a semi-catatonic state after the removal of her Enchantress persona, and is committed to 'Elysium Fields Sanitarium' outside Detroit. Faust removes her from the sanitarium, and reunites her with her Enchantress persona - who had not been killed by him and has been masquerading as 'Anita Souleata', a succubus working with a group of Mafia-styled demons to create a gateway to Hell and resurrect Hermes Trismegestus (a mad sorcerer who wanted to destroy life on Earth). When June and the Enchantress are re-combined, a new entity called Soulsinger is temporarily created, which fades away shortly after, leaving Enchantress behind - once again a separate entity, but cut off from her powers. June Moone is taken to be looked after by Doctor Occult.
Day of Vengeance
Ragman digs Enchantress out from under a destroyed forest after the Spectre, bent on killing all magical beings and places on Earth, kills nearly 700 sorcerers, only breaking off when attacked. Enchantress divines the seduction of the Spectre by Eclipso/Jean Loring, mentally from the safety of the pocket-dimensional 'Oblivion Bar', where many magical entities have gone to escape him. She then leaves to challenge the Spectre on Earth, having first created a gun that can kill her should she turn evil again, and offering it to Ragman. However, when she overloads again while channeling power from nearly everyone on Earth with magic capabilities to Captain Marvel so that he can defeat the Spectre, she is put out of action by a punch from Blue Devil instead. Recovering quickly enough to devise a plan to lure the Spectre into a trap, Enchantress helps with the reconstruction of the Rock of Eternity in Gotham, after facing Doctor Occult, who has been possessed by the spirit of Envy.
During the 'Day of Vengeance', Enchantress, Ragman, Blue Devil, and a number of other magical entities form the super-team 'Shadowpact'.
Shadowpact
Shadowpact are summoned by the Phantom Stranger when the town of Riverrock, Wyoming is entrapped in a giant bubble of blood and endangered by 'The Pentacle', a team of supervillains, whose goal is to sacrifice the townspeople in order to summon the Sun King, an ancient rogue god from another dimension. Thirty-seven people perish before Shadowpact manage to defeat them; Enchantress is able to tap into the magical powers of Strega, one of The Pentacle and destroy the bubble from within. She also kills one of The Pentacle, White Bunny, on the spur of the moment after he leaves them and frees Shadowpact. Due to unexpected side effects of the magic spells needed to defeat the villains, the outside world believe that Shadowpact has been dead for a year, and they are honored with a team statue set inside a park in Metropolis.
Enchantress then helps Ragman defeat an assassin sent to kill him, in the course of which they are attacked by the Wild Hunt of legend and temporarily transformed into mystical hellhounds. Shortly after, her spells are all that save Jim Rook, Nightmaster, after he is stabbed by his own sword fighting Etrigan the Demon; staying at his side for days without sleep and keeping him alive by trading a day of her life for a day of his until he heals himself by the power of his sword. After Shadowpact are seconded to Checkmate to infiltrate Kobra's organization, she then helps foil Doctor Gotham's plan to destroy Chicago by entering his inter-dimensional cloak and destroying most of the thousands of magical artifacts contained within. She takes an apprentice, Laura Fell, the Warlock's Daughter before they both unwittingly almost allow a race of mindless creatures 'The Unbound' to reach Earth while creating a portal to the Land of Nightshades, where Nightmaster, Nightshade, and Ragman are trapped. She frees her colleagues and the inhabitants of the Nightshades Dimension by creating a magical virus to combat the mage-created virus that created The Unbound - mixing a possessed creatures' soul with the essence of Nightmaster's virtues. When Nightmaster decides to stay in the Nightshade Dimension, Enchantress kisses him. On returning to Earth, she participates in the final battle against the Sun King.
Shadowpact, including Enchantress have most recently been seen helping Captain Atom return to Mirabai's dimension - where General Sam Lane (Lois Lane's father) has moved the main base of his secret anti-Kryptonian 'Project 7734'.
The New 52
In 2011 DC Comics canceled all their titles and relaunched 52 new comics as part of The New 52. One of these was Justice League Dark which features a number of supernatural themed heroes including Shade, the Changing Man, Zatanna, John Constantine, and Madame Xanadu coming together to fight an insane Enchantress who has become separated from June Moone. John Constantine figured out that Madame Xanadu said an incantation that separated June Moone from Enchantress and read an incantation that reversed the spell.
Powers and abilities
Enchantress is a powerful sorceress. She appears to possess the ability to manipulate magical energy for any number of effects, from healing to teleportation, and can directly affect any non-living objects with her magic. She can also walk through walls.
A unique aspect of her power is her sensitivity to magic. She was able to link to the essence of Eclipso in the Day of Vengeance storyline, using the connection to speak Eclipso's thoughts to the rest of the group, and has also mystically tracked the Spectre by divining his magical trail. She has also been seen to remotely access another magic-user's power, as she did when she channeled the power of almost all magical beings on Earth through her to Captain Marvel to aid him in his battle with the Spectre, and again with Strega of The Pentacle.
Enchantress always has a roll of duct tape on her person. After using it to tie up and gag a prisoner, she is asked by Nightmaster why she carries it, to which she confusedly replies, 'What -- don't you?'
After the Strange Adventures run, the evil Enchantress side manifested whenever June Moone changed. Later, her evil side manifested only when was under great magical stress which overloaded her, and she returned to normal once the overload subsided. This is no longer the case since the 'Soulsinger' identity separated the evil Enchantress entity without her powers before dissipating, leaving June Moone with the Enchantress power but not the evil personality.
She has possession of Nightwitch's 'Herne-Ramsgate Cauldron', which allows her to find almost every magical creature in the DC Universe.
Other versions
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Enchantress is a member of the Secret Seven. It is revealed she is a traitor when she turns Captain Thunder back soon after which Billy Batson is killed. Though she states she doesn't care which side she's on as long as she can cause pain and havoc. Enchantress is killed by Kal-El landing on her with his feet.
- Flashpoint: Secret Seven #1
- Flashpoint: Secret Seven #2
- Flashpoint: Secret Seven #3
In other media
Film
- Enchantress appears in the animated film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.
- Enchantress will appear as one of the main characters in the live-action movie Suicide Squad, portrayed by Cara Delevingne.
References
- Enchantress profile in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #7
- Brief Enchantress entry by Scott Beatty in The DC Comics Encyclopedia ed. Dougall, Alastair (Dorling Kindersley, New York (2nd version, 2008) ISBN = 0-7566-4119-5)
External links
- Enchantress entry at Comicvine
- Enchantress entry at Tom Morrow's DC Universe
- Enchantress entry at Don Marksteins's Toonopedia