History

[fixthegame]

In DC Comics, before the New 52 reboot, there was this Earth in an alternate universe called the Antimatter Universe (or sometimes "Anti-Matter"), and it was one of those ye olde “evil is good and good is evil” places. Superman's analog, Ultraman, rules the Earth with fear and intimidation along with his evil Justice League, “The Crime Syndicate.” In a nutshell, Enigma's story is that of what happens to a person from the Antimatter Universe when their main-universe counterpart hops across that Hero-Villain line. See, at the time in DC Comics, the Riddler himself was reformed and working as a private detective, a “good guy.” He was still a jerk, yes, but a jerk that technically was fighting on the side of good. This opened way for his Antimatter counterpart to become a villain.

Now, strictly speaking, Edward Nashton of the Antimatter Universe had been in DC Comics before. He appeared as the “Quizmaster,” smartest man alive and the leader of the Justice Underground--a group of heroic vigilantes who fought against the Crime Syndicate. (The Underground found very little success. The group was defeated and captured to be cryogenically frozen inside Ultraman's flying fortress. They were later freed by Superman, but none of the members, save Quizmaster, were ever seen again.)

The Crime Syndicated finally tired of the Quizmaster's meddling. Ultraman used his head vision to burn away half of Quizmaster's face. The Syndicate leaving Nashton alive only for him to discover the they had attacked his home. They burned down his house with his wife and children trapped inside. Quizmaster's wife and son were already dead, but his daughter Stephie yet clung to life. He made a desperate move to transfer her soul into a robotic machine, called S.P.H.E.R.E.

Stephie's soul survived, and Nashton vowed to find a way to resurrect his wife and son and restore his daughter's body. He and Stephie began to travel the globe in search of a solution. In this time he learned about alternate universes, and the nature of his own universe. He was forced to accept the fact that even if he were to successfully revive his family, they would still be living on their horrible Earth, which could surely not be considered a kindness. They could not simply leave and live in an alternate universe, because they wouldn't be able to find true peace in a universe that wasn't theirs. Nashton fell into despair. For months, possibly years, he did nothing but drink and medicate himself in a feeble attempt to flee from his problems. He was afraid to even dream of hope. A dream came anyway, a dream of great power and the means to take it.

And so we get to the beginning of Trinity.

The heroes known as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman hold key positions in the main DC universe. They're THE Trinity. Basically, the trio is super, super important to their world, and that importance in itself is a kind of power. Under the moniker of Enigma, Nashton formulated a plan to use a combination of magic and science to steal this power for himself. He teamed up with Morgaine Le Fey (Yes, the Arthurian one) and Despero (big red alien warlord) to accomplish this. Enigma wanted this “creation” power in order to manipulate the main world, thus reforming the Antimatter Universe that mirrored it. By causing destruction and chaos in the main universe, the Antimatter Universe would become a world of peace.

Enigma helped orchestrate an overelaborate plot, which included no less than:

• Kidnapping and mind-controlling dozens of the world's best scientists and engineers
  
• Kidnapping a young woman who somehow had a link to the Earth's "Worldsoul"
• Enlisting the "Dreambound," individuals who desired a life other than what reality gave them, and using them to steal items relevant to the Trinity's lives
  
• Branding the Trinity with magic runes.
  
• Hiring villains from Gotham City to steal magical artifacts as foci for the spell
  
• Using the Crime Syndicate as a distraction while all this was happening so the Justice League wouldn't catch on to Enigma and Morgaine's plans

Spoiler warning: The Justice League caught on anyway.

But wait, it gets even more confusing better. Morgaine and Enigma's spell required three people who could fill in the roles for the Trinity. The dreams they both had been receiving pointed out Despero, an extraterrestrial of great physical strength, to match Superman. But Despero wasn't Despero--he was Kanjar Ro in disguise. This meant that when the big spell went off, it was incomplete. Incomplete, but not entirely without effect.

The new reality created was one where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had never existed. Morgaine and Enigma gained near-godlike power, courtesy of the Cosmic Egg which they had used as the spell's power source. However, they failed to become the Earth's new Trinity, its new "cornerstone." This meant they had to make a new plan which would force the Earth (still in an unstable state) to center around them.

So then they made THIS plan:

• Use the 22 tarot cards of the Major Arcana as a framework instead of a Trinity
  
• Enlist the Earth's villains to fill in the 22 card roster
  
• Travel to each "chaos rift" on the planet-- (A chaos rift was anywhere reality was at its most malleable. By taking over a rift, the villains would secure that part of the world to reflect their evil natures and desires.)
  
• Fight the world's heroes who had created their own "Justice Arcana"
  
• Continue doing this for ten issues, boring all the readers to tears

The villains were winning. They had actually almost won all of it. It all came down to the battle over Metropolis, and at the last second, the Trinity returned. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman returned.

That incomplete spell from way back when? It gave the Trinity a chance to return as godlike beings themselves. Their sudden return (and their clearly greater power over that of the villains') caused Enigma and Morgaine to retreat. Morgaine, desperate, brought herself, Enigma, and S.P.H.E.R.E. to the moon, because Krona was on the moon.

And who the heck is Krona? Basically--basically--he was the one trapped inside the Cosmic Egg until Morgaine's spell released him. He was the one who Enigma and Morgaine got their god-like powers from. He was the one who sent Enigma and Morgaine their dreams in the first place. He was very old and very powerful, and he wanted to study the Earth's Worldsoul.

Morgaine struck a deal with Krona. In return for more of Krona's power, Morgaine would offer up the Worldsoul to him (through that young woman with the link to the Worldsoul). She then made a second offer. She knew the Earth would merely decay and die without an animating spirit, so she offered an unincarnate soul as a replacement: Stephie's soul, held within S.P.H.E.R.E. Infuriated, Enigma turned on Morgaine, but he failed to get S.P.H.E.R.E. away from Krona.

Skip to the big final battle for the fate of the planet. All the Earth's heroes Vs. Krona, Morgaine, and the real Despero (who had showed up earlier). Stephie's soul had been ripped from S.P.H.E.R.E. and was fading. When Enigma tried to help her, Despero shoved a spear through his chest. Enigma fell, unresponsive to Stephie's cries. With S.P.H.E.R.E. broken, Stephie was unable to heal or otherwise transport her father to safety. Just when it seemed to be the end for them, the goddamn godly Batman arrived to help, as, in his words, he would see that "a child would not lose a parent."

Just earlier Batman had found and recruited the Void Hound, Erdammeru, the feral and vicious A.I. of a colossal warship created in the Anti-Matter Universe that was inspired by this mythical world-devouring dog creature. A Green Lantern had uploaded the Void Hound into his ring, but then the A.I. possessed him and made a robot dog body for itself using the ring's power. Batman instructed the Void Hound to seek other purposes other than endless hunting and destruction.

Batman offered Stephie the chance to combine the Void Hound's technology with S.P.H.E.R.E.'s, which would allow Stephie to teleport Enigma back to the Antimatter Universe where he could naturally draw enough power to heal himself. In exchange, Stephie would have to combine her spirit with the Void Hound's, and teach it about love and kindness. Stephie agreed, and teleported the three of them home. The next time we see Enigma, Stephie, and Erdammeru, they're in the Antimatter Universe fighting crime together, taking an apparent no-killing vow to give people hope without resorting to the totalitarian methods of the Crime Syndicate.

TL;DR - Enigma was a hero from a dark parallel universe until his wife and son were murdered by villains, leaving only his daugther alive. He vowed to change the nature of his Earth by traveling to the positive-matter Earth, as causing destruction there could allow his Earth to be a better place where he could revive his family and live in peace. Despite gaining creation powers of a demigod, he ultimately failed. Out of sympathy for Enigma's daughter, Batman allowed Enigma to return hom uncontested. Later Enigma would decided to make his world a better place through example, by being a better hero.

TTL;DR - A superhero copes with loss very poorly.

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[fixthegame]

* - Stories Enigma actually appears in.

Earth 2 - by Frank Morrison (2000)

those superman issues with the baby antimatter brainiac - by some guy i don't remember

JLA/Avengers - by Kurt Busiek (2003)

The Fall of Modora* - by Kurt Busiek (2004). Syndicate Rules prologue.

Syndicate Rules - by Kurt Busiek (2004-05)

Trinity* - by Kurt Busiek (2008-09)