Chameleon (Marvel)
The Chameleon is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Dmitri Smerdyakov (Дмитрий Смердяков) was a male human born in Russia to an aristocratic father of the Kravinoff family and a servant girl mother named Sonya Smerdyakov. His father though was embarrassed that Dmitri resulted from his affair and beat him until he believed that he could not be the nobleman's son. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #244) His parentage meant that he was also the half brother of Sergei Kravinoff, a secret that Sergei kept from Dmitri. Sergei was cruel to his brother, beating him with sticks and whips. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389) Other times, Sergei would lock Dmitri in the tool shed for days as he screamed for help. The young boy would scratch at the walls until his fingers were bloody as Sergei stood outside, laughing. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #241)
One day, the unwanted, neglected and abused Dmitri was met by Gustav Fiers who sensed great potential in the boy. On that day, he left the Kravinoff estate never to return with him not even saying good bye to anyone. He was then taken to a school for the covert arts that consisted of students handpicked for their potential by the same benefactor. All the children were chosen to one day become skilled infiltrators that would be embedded in all walks of life. (Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy v1 #1)
During the Russian Revolution, the Kravinoff's were said to had fallen where they fled to America with Dmitri following Sergei there. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
Spider-Man
At some point, Dmitri returned to the Eastern Bloc and was trained as a spy. His talents as an actor were put to good use and he adopted the moniker of Chameleon. In his first bout with the then teenage Spider-Man, Chameleon impersonated a physicist at a defense laboratory by the name of Professor Newton and stole the first half of missile defense plans. He decided to use Spider-Man as a patsy. Using a device that let him talk on a frequency that only spiders could sense, Chameleon sent Spider-Man a message telling him to meet him at a rooftop at 10:00 PM to discuss a business matter. Chameleon then disguised himself as Spider-Man, stole the second half of the missile plans and escaped just as the real Spider-Man arrived. The guards accused Spidey of the theft and he fled, realizing he had been set up. He followed the helicopter that left the rooftop just before he arrived, eventually ending up at the water front. Chameleon's stolen chopper was seen hovering over a Soviet submarine and Spidey commandeered a motorboat to reach the sub. His webbing sealed the sub's opening shut and the Russian sub fled. Spider-Man jumped to the hovering helicopter and forced Chameleon to land. The police were waiting but Chameleon escaped by dropping a smoke pellet. He disguised himself as a cop and tried to flee after shutting off the lights but was tracked by Spider-Man's spider sense. His officers disguise was torn and exposed his Spider-Man disguise underneath. Chameleon was then arrested by the police. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #1)
After being arrested as a spy, he came to be deported and forced to live in exile. This was until he managed to return to the U.S. where he looked to resume his criminal career. However, he came to find that Spider-Man still came to threaten his operations where in one of his disguises he barely managed to escape the Wall=Crawler. To eliminate this threat, he decided to enlist the services of his old friend Kraven the Hunter who would relish hunting the hero. When Kraven arrived in the U.S., he was greeted by the Chameleon who supplied him with information on Spider-Man and helped arrange for the hunt of the masked vigilante. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #15)
To prove his superiority, the Chameleon set his sights on defeating Iron Man. Disguising himself as Captain America, Chameleon contacted Iron Man and convinced him that he was the real Captain America and that the Captain America at Avengers Mansion was really Chameleon. Iron Man and Captain America fought it out until Giant-Man captured him and exposed his deception. (Tales of Suspense v1 #58)
Chameleon and Spider-Man crossed paths again years later, while Peter was on a date with Gwen Stacy at an art museum. Peter's spider sense went off as Captain George Stacy passed them, seeming not to notice them. He entered a room and soon a woman screamed that the paintings were missing. J. Jonah Jameson was also at the museum and took Peter and Gwen back to her fathers home, where they found Captain Stacy in a confused state. When Jonah accused George of the theft, the police captain claimed that he must have been drugged. Peter later realized that the only person that could pull off such an impersonation was the Chameleon and he went to the Bugle as Spider-Man. Spidey asked Joe Robertson to put a story on the front page of the paper which concerned the transfer of one million dollars worth of bonds. It was at the bank that Spider-Man saw through Smerdyakov's disguise. He was masked as Peter Parker. Chameleon tossed a bomb at Spider-Man and the police but it was webbed in midair before it could explode. Chameleon tried to get away in a stolen car but it was held back by the arachnid and the thief was captured. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #80)
Chameleon returned after the deaths of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn. He was again impersonating Spider-Man, which turned out to be a bad idea as the webhead was wanted for their murders. He managed to escape the police gunfire that nearly struck him and escaped in a car with his web gun. He drove off wondering how he was going to complete his mission to break into a men's prison facility. He was interrupted by the Incredible Hulk, who was leaping across the city and happened to land in front of Chameleon's speeding car. The car smashed into the green Goliath and Hulk turned his rage on Smerdyakov. Dmitri quickly changed his appearance to Rick Jones, the only person that Hulk really trusted. He convinced Hulk to break into the prison and take a man that Chameleon needed to see. Hulk returned with Joe Cord and followed by Spider-Man, whom was investigating why the police were reporting Spider-Man at the prison. "Rick Jones" thanked Cord for saving his life as a child, which confused Cord. Spider-Man then unmasked Chameleon with a webline. Hulk was enraged that "Rick" disappeared and began to shake Chameleon. The police then arrived, saying that they were all surrounded. Chameleon used the distraction to escape in a car but was stopped by a webline. Smerdyakov got out of the car with his gun and the police opened fire, wounding Dmitri in the shoulder and Cord was killed after jumping in front of him to act as a shield. (Marvel Team-Up v1 #27)
The Green Goblin persuaded Chameleon to create two robots who would appear to be Peter Parker's dead parents in an effort to get Peter to tell them who Spider-Man really was. The Goblin already knew Spidey's identity but wanted to mess with Peter's head so he convinced Chameleon that Parker, due to all the photos he had taken, was sure to know Spider-Man's identity. When Spider-Man discovered the fraud, he was furious over the disappointment of losing his parents again. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #388)
Chameleon Conspiracy
He then sought to uncover the various secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. so that he could sell some of them off to the highest bidder. To that end, he disguised himself as Nick Fury and managed to capture former agent David Albright. He was tortured for the information he had and died from the extraction with the Chameleon departing the scene. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #29) The Chameleon was then hired by Countess Karkov in supplying her a weapon to be used to assassinate Doctor Doom when he was visited the U.S. The gun was supplied to the Hitman who seemingly killed Doom but this turned out to be a Doombot. As a result, Doctor Doom became furious and deployed an army of Doombots to blockade the city and threatened to kill everyone unless the assassin was discovered. During this time, Countess Karkov betrayed the Chameleon and leaked his coordinates thus allowing Teresa Parker and Spider-Man to capture him. From the Chameleon, they learnt that the Hitman's body had died and that the assassin had downloaded his consciousness into another clone elsewhere. This meant that the heroes lacked a means of pacifying Doctor Doom but Spider-Man had a plan after consulting the probability divinations of the Clairvoyant device that was in his possession with him using the Chameleon as part of this plan. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #35)
Overview
Personality and attributes
All his life, he wanted to be like Kraven the Hunter where he could stand tall with pride and be a member of the Kravinoff family. When they were boys together in Russia, Sergei had been his model and inspiration. He came to study Kraven until he knew his every thought and need with Dmitri trying to be the finest friend he could ever need in life. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
As the Chameleon, Dmitri spent years trying to make himself into someone worthy of Kraven's respect. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
Ultimately, he believed he was a non-entity and a nothing in life. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
He was denied the use of the Kravinoff name and as a result he was initially known by his mothers family name which was Smerdyakov. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #244)
Powers and abilities
Even as a child, he showed much promise and brilliance in his impersonations and his disguises. (Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy v1 #1)
As the Chameleon, Dmitri relied on his skills and a mixture of costumes and make-up to conceal his identity. He wore a multi-pocket disguise vest in which he kept the materials he would need to mask himself at short notice. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #1)
Special chemical gases could be used to alter the colouring of his clothes to help him change his appearance in the field quickly. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #15)
Using his control belt, he could create holographic disguises at the press of the hidden button. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #186)
Some of his costumes were able to emit a bio-electric blast allowing him to catch an opponent by surprise by this feature. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
Kraven had shared his potions with the Chameleon thus allowing Dmitri to stave off old age, disease and death. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #389)
Notes
- The Chameleon was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko where he made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #1 (March, 1963).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In The Marvel Super Heroes, the Chameleon appeared in the animated motion comic television series where he was voiced by actor Tom Harvey.
- In Spider-Man, the Chameleon appeared in the 1980s animated television series where he was voiced by actor John H. Mayer.
- In Spider-Man, the Chameleon appeared in the setting of the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced primarily by actor Patton Oswalt.
Films
Video games
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the Chameleon appeared in the setting of the video game tie-in to the live-action film where he was voiced by actor Glenn Steinbaum.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1963)
- Spider-Man/Deadpool v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy v1:
External Links
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