Legends of Tomorrow Introduces the Arrowverse’s Enchantress

Tonight’s episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, titled “The Great British Fake-Off,” brought together a number of Encores in an attempt to kill Jon Constantine (Matt Ryan) and Zari Tarazi (Tala Ashe). Along the way, fans got to see a little glimpse of Charlie’s (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) backstory, complete with the first Arrowverse appearance of The Enchantress, a mystical villain (sometimes antihero) who is best known to casual audiences as the central antagonist in the Suicide Squad movie, in which she was played by Cara Delevingne. First appearing in Ancient Egypt, The Enchantress agreed to help Clotho (remember, that’s what Charlie used to be called) hide the final piece of the Loom of Fate.

Of course, thousands of years later, Charlie and the Legends need to get their hands on the piece of the Loom. But they have no idea how to find the Enchantress, and even if they did, there is no guarantee the mystic would share the Loom fragment with them, since Clotho had told her to share it with no one, including herself and especially the other Fates. She did it in a pretty clever way, too: eventually Constantine discovers that she enchanted the Loom fragment (disguised as a ring) to be visible only to those who aren’t looking for it. That means as long as John, Zari, or anybody else remains fixated on the idea of fixing the Loom, the third piece will remain out of their reach. It’s kind of like the Somebody Else’s Problem from Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.

In the comics, the modern-day Enchantress is a powerful but mentally unstable witch who has fought as hero and villain. Her civilian identity is the kind-hearted June Moone, although she becomes evil when possessed by the Enchantress entity. Besides the Suicide Squad, Enchantress has been a member of the Forgotten Villains, Justice League Dark, the Sentinels of Magic, and Shadowpact.

The Enchantress was originally created by Bob Haney and Howard Purcell, first appearing in Strange Adventures #187. Like much of the Suicide Squad, she was radically reinvented during the ’80s when she was on that team as written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale. Other Suicide Squad members to have appeared in the Arrowverse include Harley Quinn (in a brief, unnamed cameo), Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Amanda Waller, and Katana.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, following episodes of The Flash.