Crucible:Enigma
Enigma
[edit]
| |
| Real Name | Harry Shepherd |
|---|---|
| Identity | Multiple (Unstable) |
| Affiliation | Formerly associated with Watchstar and Watchstar West |
| Base of Operations | Mobile |
| Status | Active (formerly inactive) |
| First Appearance | ENIGMA SUPER-SPECIAL #1 |
| Creator | Jeff Messina |
“I'd explain myself, but I'm not sure which one of me you're asking.”
— Harry Shepherd
Enigma is the former collective superhero identity of Harry Shepherd, a Hollywood stuntman whose body was transformed by an experimental accident into a living repository of projected superhero archetypes. For years, he existed as a rotating series of distinct identities, each with its own powers, personality, habits, and agenda. Some of these identities were heroic and effective. Others were strange, difficult, or spectacularly useless.
Harry has since been cured of the condition by Tech, restoring him to a single stable identity. Recent reports, however, suggest that he has returned to crimefighting, perhaps drawing on the instincts and experiences left behind by his former incarnations.
Origin
[edit]Harry Shepherd was working as a stuntman on a Hollywood production where Simon Matthews, better known as Tech, served as technical consultant. During filming, an accident involving one of Tech’s holographic projectors caused an array of computer-generated superhero templates to be projected directly into Harry’s genetic structure.
The result was not a single transformation, but many. Harry would unpredictably become one of several distinct heroic identities, each apparently complete in itself. These forms had their own powers, personalities, and memories, and most retained little or no knowledge of what the others had done.
For Harry, life became fragmented into episodes he could not fully control or remember.
Career As Enigma
[edit]Despite the instability, several of Enigma’s identities proved capable enough to operate alongside established heroes. The Cat was recruited for the third Watchstar team, while the Silver Spectre later became a founding member of Watchstar West.
The difficulty was never simply power. It was reliability. A team could not know whether Enigma would appear as a disciplined detective, a tiny powerhouse, a lazy showboat, or a housecat in human form. At times, Enigma was an invaluable ally. At others, he was an operational nightmare.
Over time, the condition became impossible to sustain.
The Cure
[edit]Eventually, Tech succeeded in reversing the accident, separating the projected identities from Harry’s physiology and restoring him to a single stable self. For the first time since the original incident, Harry Shepherd existed as Harry Shepherd alone.
For a period, he withdrew from active heroics and attempted to rebuild his life. Recent sightings suggest that he has since returned to crimefighting, though apparently without the uncontrolled transformations that once defined Enigma.
Whether the identities are truly gone, or whether traces of them remain somewhere in Harry’s mind, is not yet known.
Known Incarnations
[edit]| Identity | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Cat |  |
The Cat was a human-feline hybrid with superhuman agility, balance, reflexes, and catlike claws. He was recruited for the third Watchstar team, although his personality made him difficult to manage. The Cat possessed the grace and combat instincts of a predator, but also the work ethic and priorities of a housecat. When engaged, he could be a dangerous and fluid hand-to-hand fighter. When bored, he was almost impossible to motivate. |
| The Mighty Proton |  |
The Mighty Proton was a valiant, fearless, and tiny hero who stood only eight inches tall. Despite his size, he possessed superhuman strength and toughness, and could fly at supersonic speed. He famously defended Watchstar Mansion from an invasion by Poltergeist after correctly determining that Poltergeist was not, in fact, a plumber. Brave and energetic, the Mighty Proton was among the more admirable Enigma forms, though his small size created obvious complications. |
| Captain Flag |  |
Captain Flag was a loud, patriotic, true-blue American hero with superhuman strength and durability. He was brave, tough, and almost impossible to discourage, but he was also brash, obnoxious, and capable of irritating almost anyone within earshot. Captain Flag was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and carried twin Colt pistols that never needed reloading. He also knew every word of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a fact he rarely allowed others to forget. |
| Solitaire |  |
Solitaire appeared to be the most spectacular hero of the entire Enigma array. Visually, he looked magnificent: dramatic, confident, and seemingly destined for greatness. In practice, he had no known superpowers, no useful skills, no psychic abilities, and no particular desire to help anyone. He spent his manifestation lounging on the sofa, eating constantly, playing solitaire, monopolizing the remote control, and complaining when no one cut the crusts off his sandwiches. |
| The Silver Spectre |  |
The Silver Spectre was perhaps the most effective and coherent of Enigma’s incarnations. A grim-faced avenger of the night, he possessed the ability to teleport from shadow to shadow, become nearly invisible, and draw on superhuman strength and agility. He was also a skilled martial artist and master detective. The Silver Spectre became a founding member of Watchstar West and has occasionally reappeared over the years. He briefly operated a mysterious private jet called the Spectre One, though no one has ever determined where it came from or why it vanished when Harry changed form. |
| Stormbird |  |
Stormbird was a stoic, American Indian-inspired hero with power over wind and lightning. He could summon winds to fly, possessed heightened senses, and carried a spear that helped him call and direct lightning. Stormbird also displayed an innate talent as a tracker and hunter. Calm, brave, and dignified, he contrasted sharply with Enigma’s more chaotic incarnations. |
Personality
[edit]Harry Shepherd’s original personality was often submerged beneath whatever identity was active at the time. Because each incarnation had its own attitudes and limited continuity, Harry’s experience of life as Enigma was fractured and disorienting. After Tech cured him, he had to rebuild a sense of self from memories, instincts, and fragments left behind by people he had been, but had never fully chosen to become.
His recent return to crimefighting suggests that the experience did not destroy his desire to help. It may even have clarified it.
Reputation
[edit]Among veteran heroes, Enigma is remembered with a mixture of affection, frustration, and caution. His potential was enormous, but his unpredictability made him difficult to rely upon in structured operations. The Silver Spectre, the Cat, and the Mighty Proton each left strong impressions, while Solitaire remains infamous for entirely different reasons.
Harry’s return has drawn quiet attention from those who knew him during the Enigma years. For the first time, they may get to see what kind of hero Harry Shepherd is when he is not being overwritten by someone else.
Legacy
[edit]Enigma remains one of the strangest accidents in modern superhero history: a man turned into a collection of heroic archetypes, then restored to individuality. His story raises questions about identity, memory, and whether a fictional hero projected into living flesh becomes real through action.
Now Harry Shepherd has the chance to answer a simpler question.
Who is he when he gets to choose?