Rudy Jones

The Parasite in Superman v1 #684.

Rudy Jones is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Rudolph Jones was a male human who lived in the modern age where he came to be considered a loser by those around him. (Firestorm v2 #58)

There were varying accounts of his life where one stated that he came to get a job as a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs in Pittsburg where he came upon the idea of stealing and selling the toxic chemicals produced at the site. This led to his exposure to toxic waste that resulted in his transformation into a green-skinned being that fed on energy where he came to be known as the Parasite. (Firestorm v2 #58) Another account showed that he once worked as a janitor at the Daily Bugle where he came to meet newly recruited reporter Clark Kent. (Superman: Secret Origin v1 #3) This was until he won the 'LexCorp Lottery' that was a daily prize held in Metropolis where Lex Luthor would bestow every morning on someone outside his building that guaranteed a life changing tour of his headquarters. Rudy, a short-sighted man, tried to exchange his winning experience for a cash prize instead. Unfortunately, while on the tour, Rudy decided to eat a box of donuts that had been accidentally placed nearby some hazardous waste. Upon ingesting the goop, Jones was transformed into a purple skinned mutant with an insatiable hunger for the life energy of others. With his new powers, Rudy immediately went after Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, who had an interview scheduled at LexCorp that day, but was captured by the new hero Superman. (Superman: Secret Origin v1 #4)

Unfortunately for a scientist who was tending to Rudy during one of his terms of imprisonment, he was tricked by Lex Luthor and somehow absorbed into the Parasite. This joining was different from Rudy's others as, apparently due to unspecified modifications to Rudy's physiology during this stint at S.T.A.R. Labs, he actually retained the scientist, Dr. Torval Freeman, as a part of his own mind. This combined intelligence made the Parasite even more menacing, given Freeman's superior intellect. (Action Comics v1 #715)

The Parasite was later recruited by Morgan Edge to be part of the second Superman Revenge Squad. After Superman's powers were converted into energy-based ones, the Parasite returned to see what he could absorb from the Man of Steel. At this point in time, Superman was not in full control of what was happening with his powers and nearly killed the Parasite. (Adventures of Superman v1 #552)

After he escaped from S.T.A.R. Labs, the Parasite began to form a plan to get back at Superman. He began stalking Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in an attempt to get to those closest to Superman. The Parasite had taken the form of one of his previous victims, an old man, and was run down in the pandemonium that evening when Lois came to his aide. Not realizing that she was actually in contact with the Parasite, the simple touch was all Rudy needed to get the lowdown on Superman. Rudy was surprised to learn Superman's secret identity, and devised a new plan when he realized how close Superman actually was to Lois; the Parasite decided to take her place and tear him down emotionally by pretending to be a scorned Lois Lane. Parasite's ruse would probably have worked if he had not had enough of Clark's constant apologies and attempts to get to the bottom of his and Lois' relationship problems. In a fit of rage uncharacteristic of Lois Lane, Rudy punched Clark out of their apartment and into the streets of Metropolis. Shortly after this display, Superman got the Parasite to reveal himself in the guise of Lois Lane. Rudy could not handle the fact that anyone other than himself specifically as the Parasite took down the Man of Steel. Just as the Parasite was about to lay the final blow to an exhausted Superman, Rudy drops, completely crippled by Kryptonite poisoning he had drained from Superman, unbeknownst to either Rudy or Clark. Superman finally realized that the reason he has felt so weakened recently was because he was being constantly drained by the Parasite, and was also the victim of the mysterious Kryptonite poisoning. When he asked Rudy how long he had pretended to be Lois, the Parasite related his story to the Man of Steel. In his final moments, he tells Superman that he still needed to have contact with Lois once every twenty-four hours to maintain his charade, confirming that she was still alive. He also told him that Lois loves him more deeply than he could ever know. The Parasite died before he could tell Superman where Lois was imprisoned. (Superman v2 #157)

He began operating out from St. Roch, Louisiana, where he used his power-absorbing abilities to temporarily neutralize the powers of villains for a fee so they might evade detection during the course of criminal efforts. (Justice League of America v2 #2)

Later on, 100,000 Kryptionian refugees came to be freed from the bottle city of Kandor. In that time, the Kandorians decided to take it upon themselves to eliminate Superman's enemies. A group of Kandorians broke the Parasite out of prison, killing several prison guards in the process and imprisoned Rudy Jones in the Phantom Zone. (Superman v1 #682) Superman freed the Parasite so he could be taken to Belle Reve but Rudy managed to escape. (Superman v1 #684)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Rudy Jones

Parasite came to be seen draining the electricity from a power station until Superman arrived at the scene. Not wanting Superman's help, Parasite lost his power after the power station exploded and got away. Parasite later tried to drain the energy from the hospital generators but Superman was able to subdue Parasite on the Moon. (Superman Giant v2 #1)

Parasite and other Superman villains witnessed the rampage of Last Sun, a dark version of Superman. Metallo asked Parasite if he could suck Last Sun's powers with his abilities but the latter refused as he believed that the dark Kryptonian's energy could be dangerous to him. (Dark Nights: Death Metal The Secret Origin v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Rudy Jones was originally a male human being until he was turned into a green-skinned bald humanoid. After his mutation, he came to take the name of Parasite. (Firestorm v2 #58)

Parasite was shown to have befriended Metallo at some point. (Superman: Man of Tomorrow v2 #14)

Powers and abilities

Originally, Rudy Jones was an ordinary human being until he exposed himself to toxic waste that transformed him. (Firestorm v2 #58)

In this form, he was able to steal energy including that from living beings such as electrical energy in the brain. Part of this led to him absorbing every memory and knowledge of his victim. Continuous feeding on a person could result them to being reduced to a skeletal state by the Parasite. Ultimately, Parasite was driven by a constant hunger and a need to find new sources of energy to try and sate him. In relation superhumans, he was able to take on the characteristics and powers of others by feeding on them. (Firestorm v2 #58)

Notes

• The Rudy Jones Parasite was created by John Ostrander and Joe Brozowski where he made his first appearance in Firestorm v2 #58 (April, 1987).

Alternate Versions

• In Superman: American Alien v1 #4 (2016), an alternate version of Rudy Jones was shown to exist in the Elseworlds setting. This version became an addict and eventually a 'guest' of Lex Luthor, who slowly turned him into an energy-hungry monster. After a brief rampage inside Metropolis Mall, he was apprehended by Superman and mistakenly returned to Lex Luthor, from whom he escaped in the first place.

In other media

Television

• In the DC Animated Universe, Rudy Jones made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Superman: The Animated Series, Rudy Jones appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Brion James.
  • In Justice League, Rudy Jones appeared in the animated television series where he was now voiced by actor Brian George.
  • In Justice League Unlimited, Rudy Jones made non-voiced cameo appearances in the setting of the animated television series.
• In Justice League Action, the Rudy Jones Parasite appeared in the setting of the animated television series int he episode "Power Outage" where he was voiced by actor Max Mittelman. This version was capable of sprouting tentacles from his torso to absorb his victims' powers.
• In Supergirl, Rudy Jones appeared in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse in the episode "Changing" where he was portrayed by actor William Mapother. This version was an environmental scientist who was infected by an Angon that had laid dormant in an Arctic wolf's corpse and gained the ability to drain the life from his victims through physical contact. After being confronted by Supergirl, Alex Danvers, and the Martian Manhunter, Jones absorbed Supergirl and Manhunter's powers and transforms into a monster. Rechristening himself 'Parasite', he went on a rampage before Supergirl used plutonium from a nuclear power plant to overload Jones and killed him. In the episode "Kara", Lex Luthor used the Allstone Totems to create a copy of Parasite to help him fight the Super Friends before it exploded whilst fighting Danvers.

Films

• In Superman: The Man of Tomorrow, Rudy Jones appeared in the setting of the 2020 animated film where he was voiced by actor Brett Dalton. This version was a former soldier who served two tours abroad and when he returned he had to take a job as a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs. He had a wife where they had a daughter and another child on the way which was why he was desperate to keep his job. He met Clark Kent during a press conference held by Lex Luthor who was showcasing the launch of a rocket into space. Around this time, he was present at S.T.A.R. Lab when the Superman battled the alien bounty hunter named Lobo. Rudy helped people evacuate but was buried by debris where during this time Lobo deployed an organic weapon that worked by leeching energy. Superman managed to evade it but the liquid found the trapped Rudy Jones and merged with him where it mutated him into the Parasite.

Video games

• In Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, the Rudy Jones Parasite appeared as a boss antagonist in the setting of the video game tie-in to the DC Animated Universe with actor Brian George reprising his role.
• In DC Universe Online, the Rudy Jones Parasite appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Robert Faires. In the villain campaign, he and Lex Luthor join forces to capture Power Girl so the former can drain her energy while the latter gets her DNA. To further their plan, Luthor arranges for Parasite clones to attack Metropolis University and tasks the player with using mutagen he developed to turn metahuman students into weaker versions of Parasite called Leeches to help the original Parasite defeat Power Girl.

Appearances

• Firestorm v2: (1987)
• Action Comics v1:
• Superman: Secret Origin:
• Justice League of America v2:
• Superman v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry

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