Billy Herring grew up in California. At the age of 6, his karate teacher recruited him into the Shadow Dragon Society, a secret group of ninjas based in California. The Shadow Dragon Society was formed in 1939 by the Japanese military in preparation for world war two. As a member of the society Billy took on the name Chisana Kage きさな影 ( Opposition Shadow).
Billy went on numerous missions for the Shadow Dragon Society. Most of the details were never revealed but it clearly involved assassinations, including the assassination of an alien king, and some vampire hunting. When Billy was 16 his family found out about the Shadow Dragon society and immediately took their son and moved as far away as they could. They settled in Alabama.
Billy started teaching martial arts for money, but to hide his past he referred to his art as kung fu rather than ninjutsu. He did a lot of studying about Chinese arts to help him maintain the deception. Some of his students went on to become very famous, including Black Star and Villainy of the Death Patrol and of course Lee Walser, the Mighty Paladin.
When his former student Villainy tried to force Billy to join her Gang, Billy teamed up with Paladin and took on the costumed identity of Shadow to fight her. After that he became a permanent member of Paladin's team.
During Eris' Golden Apple Contest, Billy's old friend Mark, AKA Shadoudoragon from the Shadow Dragon Society was brought to Birmingham. Billy was still hiding from the society, to protect his family, but he felt that a showdown between him and Shadoudoragon was inevitable. Fortunately for Billy Shadoudoragon had made Eris angry by breaking the rules of her contest and she had promised that if he tried to leave Birmingham she would turn him into a fish, so Billy easily defeated him by luring outside of town, and putting him in a fish bowl.
When Paladin won the contest, he gave Billy and his girl friend, Shelly each a piece of the Apple. Afterward Shelly became very famous and moved to California to star in movies. Billy went with her, because with Shadoudoragon no longer a threat to his family, they wanted to go home. Billy took a job as Shelly's Body guard.
It should be noted that while Paladin's Power never really grew that much over the course of the series (even at his peak he was still in the same league as Spider-Man) His team did keep growing and several times it became necessary to send some characters away to keep them from becoming too powerful. Billy leaving was the first such purge.
Special Abilities[]
As a member of the Shadow Dragon society, Billy was given very advanced ninja training, including some secret techniques that bordered on being super powers. He was very stealthy and acrobatic, he could hold his own in a fight against very powerful opponents. He could render opponents unconscious with a nerve pinch. He could shield his thoughts from most telepaths, and although it was never shown in the series I always planed for him to be able to heal himself by meditating.
After Billy ate a piece of the Golden Apple he gained the ability to understand all languages. Also he doesn't need to eat and is immune to all poisons and diseases. His skills were also improved to superhuman levels.
Later he ate a whole Golden Apple from Asgard and gained the power to become invisible, and he became immortal. That doesn't mean he can't be killed, but he won't grow old or die naturally, and he will eventually heal from any injury that doesn't kill him. Also he no longer needs to breathe.
Equipment[]
Billy also carried a lot of special equipment in his costume, (most of which was never seen on the show) including climbing spikes, a grappling hook, throwing stars, light armor and an indestructible sword that he got from an alien king he assassinated. The sword was a unique weapon with no edge so it could usually be used without causing serious injuries to opponents. Later he gave this sword to his girl friend and started using an energy sword himself. He also carried a silver sword, for fighting Vampires and werewolves.