Overshadow

Wilhelm Kantor (a.k.a. Tan-Aktor)

Wilhelm Kantor was born in Germany in the early 1900s—most recently. A dashing, athletic, and intellectual young man, he found his way into certain esoteric circles around the same time the National Socialist Party was gaining prominence in his homeland. Eventually, Kantor was initiated into the Thule Society, a secretive lodge of mystics who embraced the ideal of an Aryan past and wielded ancient Teutonic magic.
Kantor’s experiences in the Thule Society awakened him to numerous past lives, in particular a previous incarnation in ancient Egypt when he was the sorcerer Tan-Aktor, who betrayed and attempted to overthrow Prince Heru-Ra. He learned that his soul—his ka—and that of Heru-Ra had reincarnated throughout history to carry out their age-old conflict as part of a curse from that betrayal.
The awakening of his ka made Kantor a formidable ritualist, quickly exceeding his mentors and rising to prominence within the Society. Coupled with his perfect Aryan looks and cold ambition, Kantor earned the favor of the Nazis and of the Führer himself. He became a key occult advisor to Hitler, placed in charge of various secret Nazi programs to create übersoldaten: super-soldiers for the Fatherland. Kantor used the opportunity to ensure many of these Nazi superagents were loyal to him, foreseeing the day when he would topple Hitler and claim the Third Reich for himself.
During the Second World War, Kantor was a shadowy mastermind behind numerous Nazi schemes. His rituals granted Nacht-Krieger and others their powers, and he maintained something of a rivalry with Übermensch, Hitler’s favored champion, as they both plotted to eventually eliminate the Füehrer for their own reasons. Kantor knew Übermensch was a rogue Ultiman, but was never able to use the information to his advantage, although he did manage to acquire many technological secrets of the Ultima.
When the Third Reich collapsed in defeat, Kantor fled Germany for South America, along with a cache of gold and occult artifacts and a handful of loyal followers. For years, he schemed to regain the power he’d lost, and more. Eventually, he used a combination of occult lore and Ultima and Preserver technology to clone himself, replacing his aging body with a young, healthy, physically perfect form. He also created clones in his own image as the ideal footsoldiers, programmed for loyalty and obedience. From this grew the organization known as SHADOW, with Kantor as its supreme leader—the Overshadow.
Since then, the Overshadow has largely abandoned pretenses of Aryan superiority and now focuses solely on his superiority. He wants nothing less than complete world domination, and he’s come close to getting it on a number of occasions. His old foe Heru-Ra returned for a number of years as the Scarab to oppose him, but was removed from the picture for years by one of SHADOW’s schemes. SHADOW has also struggled against the agents of AEGIS and their superhero allies, working various schemes to eliminate their opposition. He also treads carefully amongst his various “allies,” most of who would betray him—and he them—in order to achieve their own goals. A handful of underlings remain unswervingly loyal, but the only face Kantor trusts is his own, reflected in the programmed loyalty of his cloned legions.
Although Overshadow has assumed control of his own cycle of reincarnation through a series of cloned bodies, he has not broken the ancient blood curse that binds his ka with that of his ancient enemy, and the Scarab will struggle to see Overshadow defeated throughout time, if need be.

Physical Description

Apparel & Accessories

Overshadow’s main power resides in the advanced suit of technological armor he wears almost constantly. The Overshadow armor provides full-spectrum life support, advanced protective plating reinforced by invisible deflector fields, sensors and voice-amplification in the helm, and powerful particle-accelerators in the wrist bracers, allowing Overshadow to project blasts of force. The villain frequently experiments and adds various gadgets or weapons to his armor.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Overshadow has a brilliant inventive and tactical mind, enhanced by the recollection of lifetimes of experience in his other incarnations. He is a skilled occultist, capable of creating and performing powerful rituals, although he is not a sorcerer—a potential stripped from him by his ancient curse.

Morality & Philosophy

Overshadow is a megalomaniac, supremely confident and assured of his fitness to assume ultimate power and rule over all of humanity, if not over all of reality. He cares nothing about anyone else; others are merely pawns to be used to achieve his ends, sacrificed if necessary in order to win or to stave off defeat.
Overshadow’s greatest fear is loss of control, in particular over his own endless cycle of reincarnation. He has snatched immortality from the jaws of death with his cloning and mind-transfer technology, but fears the possibility of its failure, wiping out all that he has achieved. He would be reborn, but as a helpless infant, waiting for years, perhaps even lifetimes, to be reawakened to his true destiny. That must not happen! He is therefore conservative when it comes to altering his own body or mind for the sake of power, relying upon advanced technology and occult rituals.
These qualities combine to make Overshadow a schemer par excellence. He prefers to operate behind the scenes, despite his considerable power, until he has an overwhelming advantage. Only then does he reveal himself in order to claim victory. In spite of his best efforts, Overshadow cannot resist the opportunity to move centerstage and claim the moment of victory for himself, which has undone him in the past.

Social

Contacts & Relations

At the Crimson Mask’s urging, Overshadow has reconciled with his son. Tired of being hunted by the authorities as a destructive vigilante, Ragnarok accepted his father’s invitation to join him. The world is unaware of Ragnarok’s change in allegiance, which was also motivated by his new bride: Anya Datsyuk, the Russian-born granddaughter of the original Valkyrie, who inherited a small fraction of her grandmother’s powers (and more than a fraction of her beauty, arrogance, and ambition, which Overshadow finds quite charming).
Since the Terminus Invasion, Overshadow pays far more attention to diplomacy than he has in the past. He realizes that Earth’s master criminals share common enemies as well as common ambitions, so he has forged relationships with some of his more sociable rivals. Taurus and Dr. Sin are both considered “associate members” of the Penumbra, consulted on major operations, and their plans are to be respected (and even assisted) by SHADOW. Moreover, Overshadow is actively courting Superior—the former Nazi Übermensch (who’s unaware Overshadow is the same Wilhelm Kantor he despised in the Second World War).

Wealth & Financial state

In addition to his personal powers, all the forces of SHADOW are at Overshadow’s command, and he is rarely encountered without at least a cadre of elite guards, if not an entire legion of troops, support vehicles, and weapons. SHADOW technicians turn out devices to further the Overshadow’s schemes and he has plenty of equipment, as needed. SHADOW’s technology also provides banks of back up clone bodies and mind-transfer technology, allowing Overshadow to die and return to menace the world once again.

Species

Human

Birthplace

Germany

Aligned Organization

SHADOW