the phantom stranger

A mysterious guiding figure who carried his own series as well as guided other DC characters. He was presented without an origin from his first appearance in 1952 to 1987, when four origins for him were proposed in Secret Origins (vol. 3) #10. These included the Wandering Jew (Mike W. Barr), a good man who escaped a city destroyed by God (Paul Levitz), a person from the future in an experiment to save the earth that results in the destruction of reality and being sent to the beginning of time (Dan Mishkin), and an angel friend of Etrigan who cannot decide between God and Lucifer and so must inhabit Earth for all time (Alan Moore). The latter was given slightly more credence in the ensuing years, but none was treated as definitive, nor as the only possibilities. In 2012, the Post-Flashpoint Phantom Stranger was definitively revealed to be Judas Iscariot in an origin by Dan DiDio. This version of the character took the name Philip Stark and tried to live a "normal" life with a wife and c…more