This article contains Legends of Tomorrow spoilers.
A good chunk of “The Great British Fake Off,” the tenth episode of Legends of Tomorrow’s terrific fifth season, was spent furiously googling and muttering “wait, THE Enchantress?” The appearance of the sorceress is maybe the biggest one-off cameo introduction to the Arrow family of shows that Legends of Tomorrow has ever seen. Enchantress first showed up in ancient Egypt, hiding Charlie’s piece of the Loom of Fate for her, and was later revealed to be the woman running the boarding house Constantine would later own where the piece of the Loom was found. But who is the Enchantress? Why was she a big deal to include? We have some answers, and some informed speculation for you.
The Enchantress was created in 1966 by Bob Haney and Howard Purcell in Strange Adventures #187. June Moon was a freelance illustrator who found a secret room at a party in a castle, and was imbued with magical powers to fight off an evil spirit in the building. All she would have to do is say the words “the Enchantress” and she would be powered up and ready to take on any magical foe. So Shazam, basically.
In her next appearance, though, she was starting a slow turn evil that would stick. She fought Supergirl, her coworker, because she believed she had a way to get omnipotent magical power. But her plan would devastate the area they worked in with natural disasters, so Supergirl stopped her. From there, she continued her dark turn and ended up fighting on the villains’ team in Crisis on Infinite Earths. So evil Shazam, basically.