Eclipso

The story of Eclipso is one shrouded in mystery. Years ago, a mysterious black diamond was found in the jungle. Two adventurers went into the jungle to retrieve the stone. The stone was believed by the local natives to contain the spirit of an evil god. One of the adventurers killed the other and brought the massive diamond to the West. He had the diamond cut into thousands of exact copies, which were then spread around the world over the years.

Unbeknownst to the world, the ancient legends were true and the evil god was real. Calling himself Eclipso, the god was the god of vengence and thrived on evil and anger. The god's only weakness was that he could not exist in direct sunlight. He used these black diamonds to take control of the ones possessing them and inhabit their forms.

In the latter part of the 20th century, technology gave rise to work in the area of harnessing the power of the sun. The leader in the advance of providing solar power to the world was Bruce Gordon. Eclipso became aware of Gordon's advanced work in solar power and realized that it put his entire existence in peril. Eclipso, therefore, arranged to take control of Gordon through the use of one of the black diamonds. While Gordon was on vacation on an island in the south Pacific, he was scratched by one of the black diamonds by one of the natives. During the next eclipse, Gordon was taken over by the spirit of Eclipso, who wreaked havoc using the black diamond to shoot a beam of black light that blinded or caused damage. It wasn't until Gordon was exposed to the rising sun that he reverted back to his normal self.

For many years, Gordon sought a cure for his condition, believing that the scratch caused the transformation, not the diamond. Eclipso allowed Gordon to continue to think this, realizing that with his attention distracted, Gordon was making no progress in his solar research. Over the years, Eclipso clashed with many heroes, including Superman and the Phantom Stranger.

In recent years, Eclipso made a bid to expand his power by taking control of many of the earth's heroes through the use of his black diamonds. He took those he controlled to the moon where he had established a base and was there attacked by other heroes and brought to the edge of defeat. It was only when the young man Will Payton who had taken up the mantle of Starman sacrificed himself by overloading his power, that Eclipso was defeated.

Eclipso later reappeared taking over the small nation of Parador.