Whether the Shadow Sphere is a malicious entity in its own right, or simply a construct is currently unknown. [[The Sword]] knows of its existence, as does [[Cristina Thompson]], who used her mental control of him to attempt to deploy troops through it when it connected to the reality that the [[Preacher]] had escaped to, which was filled with blood and mountains of corpses.
The rebellion on [[Earth 44]] resulted in the retreat of [[The Sword]] and many of his troops through the Shadow Sphere, which turned them into the [[The Black-eyed Army]]