DC's Stargirl creator and cast tease 'terrifying' season 2 villain Eclipso

When DC's Stargirl returns for a second season, the heroes of the new Justice Society of America are going to have to up their game.

During the New York Comic Con panel for the CW series on Sunday, creator and showrunner Geoff Johns revealed some intriguing (and intimidating) intel on the latest adversary coming Courtney's (Brec Bassinger) way: DC supervillain Eclipso.

"I'm so excited for Eclipso. He's so terrifying. I've always loved the character," Johns said. "He's a very different antagonist or villain than the ISA. We're just starting to cast him, so we're looking for that. And I've got these wonderful designs from [specialty costume designer] L.J. Shannon on what he's going to look like. But it's such a different, darker, scarier threat."

At the end of the season 1 finale, fans saw Shiv (Meg DeLacy) searching for a black diamond that contained something with a very evil laugh. "[Cindy's] got the black diamond and obviously we're going to explore that, but the thing inside it, this entity that's trapped is this ancient being that feeds off humanity's own sins and grief and fear and darkness," Johns said. "It has been there for a long, long time and is aching to do what he does and feed off the darkness within humanity. It's going to take a lot to confront it, and it's going to take the JSA and every one of our wonderful characters to a place that's going to be tough for them to explore."

Johns also referenced Eclipso's comic book history, which doesn't have the happiest ending for two of the current JSA members: Wildcat (Yvette Monreal) and Dr. Mid-Nite (Anjelika Washington). "It's definitely not a good history," Washington says. "It's a very, very, very scary history that I would not like to revisit." Whether the show will follow that same trajectory has yet to be revealed, but let's just say Washington is right to worry.

Another new villain debuting in season 2 is the Shade, who also was teased at the end of the season 1 finale. "We're going to see a lot of the Shade," Johns revealed. "He's another main character that's going to be coming into season 2. He's a pretty famous and popular character from James Robinson's run on Starman… He's an immortal that's been around for hundreds of years. He's a member of the ISA… and he was the only member of the ISA who wasn't present in Blue Valley today, but we saw him when the shadow hand grabbed Dr. Mid-Nite in the opening of the pilot."

As if the JSA didn't have enough to worry about with Shiv and Eclipso, Johns explains that the Shade is perhaps the most formidable opponent yet. "As Pat [Luke Wilson] will tell Courtney at some point, he's the most powerful of them all," Johns said. "He's very threatening because no one knows exactly what he wants. But we'll be playing a lot with the Shade."

As for that green lantern and "giggling pink pen" that Courtney stole which haven't found owners yet, Johns teased that he doesn't know "how in control Courtney is going to be in all this stuff, so we'll see. But yes, we'll see that stuff." And while the showrunner wouldn't reveal what Sylvester Pemberton's (Joel McHale) return means for the new JSA (and specifically Courtney, who has taken up his mantle believing him to be dead), he did say fans will learn a lot more about that immediately, in the season 2 premiere.

Check out the full DC's Stargirl panel above.

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• DC's Stargirl creator and stars tease season 2: Grundy's return, Eclipso, and more
• Brec Bassinger breaks down DC's Stargirl season 1 finale cliffhangers
• DC's Stargirl star Brec Bassinger talks 'epic' finale fight scene: 'We had to earn this'