History Characters / TheShadow

* {{Expy}}: For Myrna Loy's [[Film/TheThinMan Nora Charles]], according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

* MagnificentBastard: Plays an epic game of XanatosSpeedChess with the Shadow, including [[UpToEleven actually stealing The Shadow’s Sanctum]] and setting it up in his office to make it seem like The Shadow was an employee of the company.

* AcxPilot: Would not be the Shadow's personal pilt if he wasn't.

* FountainOfExpies: So, so many. Literature/TheAvenger, TheOctopus, Franchise/DocSavage, Literature/TheSpider, TheMaskedDetective and… [[Franchise/{{Batman}} some flash-in-the-pan costumed detective who dressed as a bat]]. Seriously, nearly every superhero in some way owes his or her creation to The Shadow.

->'''First Appearance:'''

->'''Appears in:''' ''Mobsmen on the Spot'' (first appearance)

->'''Appears in:''' ''The Living Shadow'' (first appearance)

->'''Appears in:''' ''The Death Tower'' (first appearance)

->'''Appears in:'''

->'''Appears in:'''

->'''Appears in:'''

->'''Appears in:'''

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Claude ends up only appearing in the first six stories, as he's murdered by Chicago mobsters to set up for the Shadow's RoaringRampageOfRevenge in ''Gangdom's Doom''.

->'''Real Identity''': Kent Allard (pulps), Lamont Cranston (1937-54 radio program), John Halvorson (British reprints)

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%%* YellowPeril: Played with.

->'''Portrayed by:''' Alan Reed, Keenan Wynn (1937-54 radio show), Creator/PeterBoyle (1994 film)

* Sidekick: Is often described as one of The Shadow's most trusted operatives.

!! Rutlidge Mann

* TheComissionerGordon: Of the "keeping the relationship secret" variety.

* CrazyPrepared: Some stories have hinged on The Shadow having prepared beforehand for situations he could never have foreseen, such as building a secret hiding compartment into a filing cabinet in his Sanctum in ''Crime, Insured'' or having an entire set of red clothes to thwart a room bathed in red light in ''The Voodoo Master''. The Shadow generally takes Batman-level precautions.

!! The Shadow

->'''Appears in:''' ''The Living Shadow'', ''Gangdom’s Doom''

!! Dr. Rodil Mocquino, The Voodoo Master

A Chicago mobster who runs afoul of The Shadow.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The head of the Solidarity Insurance Company, he found that big profits were to be had in an underserved insurance market -- that of insuring crime. Sometimes, to ensure that it stays profitable, he takes out (or attempts to take out) insurance risks. It doesn’t work so well when he tries to do it to The Shadow.

* DestinationDefenestration: Did it to himself, trying to bull-rush The Shadow, but forgetting that he was on the 40th floor of his office building, and that he had rebuilt the Shadow’s Sanctum in a room with windows… well, the math does itself. The results are not pretty.

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: His entire motive. He doesn’t care for crime, but having crooks pay him to ensure their jobs allows him a totally new revenue stream.

* PutOnABus: Diamond Bert was arrested and sent to prison after his first appearance. According to Gibson, this was a case where EarlyInstallmentWeirdness worked in their favor -- most Shadow villains met fatal ends unless there had been a deliberate reason to keep them around. Gibson kept meticulous notes on all the villains who appeared in his stories, and had stumbled across Diamond Bert's index card and realized he'd sent him to prison and promptly forgot about him. And so, some [[LongBusTrip sixty-odd stories later]], he had Diamond Bert return to finally have a rematch.

The Shadow’s communications expert, often broadcasting from a hidden location in New York to the rest of The Shadow’s agents.

->'''Portrayed by:''' All actors on radio and film who portrayed The Shadow

The real Lamont Cranston, a globe-trotting playboy who allows The Shadow to use his identity and resources in his fight against crime.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Most people today believe Lamont Cranston ‘’was’’ The Shadow, because they’re more familiar with the more accessible and available radio show and movies.
* AscendedExtra: Of sorts – some of the very late stories dispensed with The Shadow altogether and were essentially Lamont Cranston-Commissioner Weston mysteries.
* BadassNormal: The times that Cranston does team up with The Shadow, he is shown to be a capable fighter and crack shot.
* CoolCar: Being a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, he owns at least one or more very nice limousines, which The Shadow makes free use of.

A former crook and WWI companion of The Shadow, Cliff Marsland often uses his criminal past in The Shadow’s service by infiltrating gangs.

* FriendOnTheForce: He is one of Shadow’s agents and supplies him with tips on the latest crimes and mysteries. Either personally, or through Clyde Burke.

An insurance broker, Claude was one of the key conduits of information through the Shadow’s network of agents. He would be murdered in 1931 by members of Nick Savoli’s Chicago mob.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Claude ends up only appearing in the first six stories, as he’s murdered by Chicago mobsters to set up for The Shadow’s RoaringRampageOfRevenge in ''Gangdom’s Doom''.

!! Moe “Shrevvy” Shrevnitz

A New York cabbie who provides transport for The Shadow.

* CoolCar: His hack cab does have a sophisticated shortwave radio setup. Also it is one of The Shadow’s preferred means of transportation, making it cool by association.

* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: The radio version only. He would often repeat the first few words of his sentences again at their ends for no apparent reason, resulting in dialogue like "I was talking to my friend Big Charlie, I was talking." No other version of the character displayed this tendency, no reason was given for this quirk, and the other characters never seemed to think anything unusual about this habit beyond that it showed Shrevvy's relative lack of formal education.

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Deliberately averted, almost to the level of this being a DeniedTrope with regards to Roy Tam. Gibson very intentionally wrote this character to be educated and fluent and so to dispel the older "AsianSpeekeeEngrish" stereotype that had been in earlier stories. Some accounts claim this was due to ExecutiveMeddling (John Nanovic, the editor of the time may have cajoled Gibson to retire some of the more obvious ethnic stereotyping), once again a reminder that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.

A former Department of Justice agent who fell in with the Shadow’s agents while The Shadow was on a mission in San Francisco.

* AcePilot: Kent Allard was the famed “Black Eagle” of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and had made a name for himself as a celebrated aviator before his disappearance. Allard’s “return to civilization” was the cause for public celebration in New York. As the Shadow, he often is seen at the controls of aircraft, though he just as often has Miles Crofton handle flying.

* BerserkButton: You do ''not'' kill any of The Shadow’s agents, or any innocent person for that matter in the commission of a crime. If you do, The Shadow will go to the ends of the earth to find you and take you and your organization apart piece by piece. Just ask Nick Savoli.
* BigGood: [[PragmaticHero For varying values of good.]] While certainly not blanching at putting a permanent and lethal end to evil, and laughing like a maniac while he does it, The Shadow is firmly on the side of protecting the innocent.
** His BigGood tendencies are more pronounced in the radio show where [[ExecutiveMeddling standards and practices]] forbade the Shadow actively killing.

* GunsAkimbo: His weapon of choice is two .45 automatics.

* MightyWhitey: Kent Allard purposely crash-landed deep in the Amazon, where he became the “white god” of a tribe of South American Xinca tribesmen.
** The radio Shadow was established to have learned his “power to cloud men’s minds” at the feet of a Tibetan master, one who saw fit to teach it to no one else, not even the master’s own children.

* TerrorHero: If it weren’t for a typically ‘30s attitude towards language, most crooks’ first words upon hearing that laugh or seeing a black figure materialize in front of them would be “OhCrap”…
** He was so much TheDreaded that when one crooked insurance company started a business in insuring crimes, The Shadow was a hazard factored in by name by the actuaries.

[[folder:The Shadow’s Agents]]

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* BadassNormal: Even with his DistressedDude tendencies, Harry is resourceful, bright, a good shot and a capable agent.
** As confirmation of this, he is one of the very few people allowed to wear The Shadow’s slouch hat and cloak to double as the hero when the needs demand it.

* LastNameBasis: Burbank’s full name is never revealed, nor even any indication whether or not “Burbank” is his real surname or an alias.
** The re-edited versions published in England did give Burbank a full name, Richard Burbank. However, so much was changed in the British versions (most notably, placing all the action in England rather than New York) that this version qualifies as its own separate continuity.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: It’s not really stated outright what Cranston’s actual source of wealth is, whether inherited, thrift or investments. The Shadow takes advantage of Cranston’s globetrotting ways to use Cranston’s identity.
** The radio Cranston’s wealth is similarly mysterious, though it’s hinted that it’s most likely a vast inheritance, given that he spent much time in Tibet and elsewhere training and not running a business.

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* IntrepidReporter

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* TheBigGuy

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish[=/=]YouNoTakeCandle: Deliberately averted, almost to the level of this being a DeniedTrope with regards to Roy Tam. Gibson very intentionally wrote this character to be educated and fluent and so to dispel the older "AsianSpeekeeEngrish" stereotype that had been in earlier stories.
** Some accounts claim this was due to ExecutiveMeddling (John Nanovic, the editor of the time may have cajoled Gibson to retire some of the more obvious ethnic stereotyping), once again a reminder that Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.

* ActionGirl

* {{Yellowface}}: Although Caucasian, she could convincingly pass for an Asian/Chinese woman, and often adopted the alias “Ming Dwan”.

* DamselInDistress: Often gets this role in the radio show, as a further impetus for Lamont to spring into action.
** This was often subverted in the earliest years of the radio show. Margo was originally an active participant in The Shadow's operations, albeit not to the extent of being an out-and-out ActionGirl. This was apparently the work of then-story-editor Edith Meisner, who wanted Margo to be a capable partner to Lamont instead of a passive, traditional damsel. When Meisner left the show in the early 40s, Margo's role morphed into the more traditional damsel trope.

[[folder:Rogue’s Gallery]]

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* YellowPeril: Played with.

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* KillItWithFire: The sum of their MO.

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* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The head of the Solidarity Insurance Company, he found that big profits were to be had in an underserved insurance market – that of insuring crime. Sometimes, to ensure that it stays profitable, he takes out (or attempts to take out) insurance risks. It doesn’t work so well when he tries to do it to The Shadow.

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[[/folder]]

** Some accounts claim this was due to ExecutiveMeddling (John Nanovic, the editor of the time may have cajoled Gibson to retire some of the more obvious ethnic stereotyping), once again a reminder that TropesAreNotBad.

* PutOnABus: Diamond Bert was arrested and sent to prison after his first appearance. According to Gibson, this was a case where EarlyInstallmentWierdness worked in their favor -- most Shadow villains met fatal ends unless there had been a deliberate reason to keep them around. Gibson kept meticulous notes on all the villains who appeared in his stories, and had stumbled across Diamond Bert's index card and realized he'd sent him to prison and promptly forgot about him. And so, some [[LongBusTrip sixty-odd stories later]], he had Diamond Bert return to finally have a rematch.

->'''Portrayed by:''' Alan Reed, Keenan Wynn (1937-54 radio show), Peter Boyle (1994 film)

!! Clyde Burke

->'''Portrayed by:''' Pulp-exclusive character

* TokenMinority: [[UnbuiltTrope long before the idea had really taken shape]].

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish[=/=]YouNoTakeCandle: Deliberately averted, almost to the level of this being a DeniedTrope with regards to Roy Tam. Gibson very intentionally wrote this character to be educated and fluent and so to dispel the older "AsianSpeakeeEngrish" stereotype that had been in earlier stories.