Exposure to bombardment of the Red Skull's hypno-ray triggered a latent power over darkness in the Shroud. Shroud possesses the mystical ability to create an aperture into Darkforce Dimension and to project the thick, inky gas-like substance of the Darkforce Dimension into Earth's dimension for his own use. This darkness is not simply the absence of light, but the negation of it. No illumination can penetrate it. It is unknown how much of this darkness Shroud can summon at once. He can blanket a small auditorium in darkness within several seconds. The darkness he projects does not fill a volume instantly: it is possible to see its hazy boundary move like thick, black smoke in the air. There appears to be no limit to the length of time Shroud can maintain the darkness. However, loss of concentration can disrupt his power to summon and control darkness, and if Shroud is rendered unconscious the darkness seems to be naturally drawn through the portal from which it came.