Comics Chameleon: The Most underrated Spidey Villain?

[KangConquers]

Sure his powers aren't that great, but he has depth to his storyline; being Kraven's bastard half-brother, having his parents hate him and consider him a freak and an embarassment. Being eager to earn Kraven's approval, and then as an adult, being obsessed with showing up Kraven in the battle to kill Spider-Man. I always liked that about Chameleon.


I constantly see him getting called a lame villain, and boring by people who's favorite villains are a guy with a fishbowl on his head, a guy with a lightning bolt on his head, and an old guy in an orthopedic jumpsuit with wings. I appreciate the realism to Chameleon. Sure he's hammed up sometimes, and he can be a cheap plot device "Oh it wasn't X it was the Chameleon in disguise!"

He gets relegated to the B-list a lot, but imo he's just outside of Spidey's top 5 villains. Does anyone else like Chameleon?

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Dude I totally agree! Chameleon is the Rodney Dangerfield of Spider-Man's rogue gallery. He gets no respect. But he's been involved in some of the best Spider-Man stories I can think of.

Here are my favorite Chameleon stories...

5. Chameleon pretends to be JJJ

4. "Pursuit" at the conclusion of the Peter's parents arc.

3. Chameleon tricks Peter into thinking he's a suburban father who's been institutionalized and then finds out his real identity. This was in Spec Spider-Man just after the clone-saga ended.

2. Gotta put his first appearance here from ASM#1 as the commie-spy. Heh. Sure it's corny, but it's classic Spidey!

1. By far my favorite Chameleon story is the one that should have been his last! The Jenkins three-parter from Webspinners. The only good story from that dreary post-relaunch time. Man, that was emotionally intense. Chameleon confesses he's in love with Peter, Peter cracks up and starts laughing and then Chameleon falls backwards off the Brooklyn bridge telling him he looks "nice when he smiles." Wow. And the last part with the dream sequences showing all that Peter's lost was the icing on the cake. And then a crappy story by a crappy writer (Ron Zimmerman's "Get Kraven") undoes that awesome exit-story that finally gave Chameleon the respect he deserves, without even explaining how he survives.


JM DeMatties and Jenkins (based on that one arc) wrote the best incarnations of Chameleon.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Dude I totally agree! Chameleon is the Rodney Dangerfield of Spider-Man's rogue gallery. He gets no respect. But he's been involved in some of the best Spider-Man stories I can think of.

Here are my favorite Chameleon stories...

5. Chameleon pretends to be JJJ

4. "Pursuit" at the conclusion of the Peter's parents arc.

3. Chameleon tricks Peter into thinking he's a suburban father who's been institutionalized and then finds out his real identity. This was in Spec Spider-Man just after the clone-saga ended.

2. Gotta put his first appearance here from ASM#1 as the commie-spy. Heh. Sure it's corny, but it's classic Spidey!

1. By far my favorite Chameleon story is the one that should have been his last! The Jenkins three-parter from Webspinners. The only good story from that dreary post-relaunch time. Man, that was emotionally intense. Chameleon confesses he's in love with Peter, Peter cracks up and starts laughing and then Chameleon falls backwards off the Brooklyn bridge telling him he looks "nice when he smiles." Wow. And the last part with the dream sequences showing all that Peter's lost was the icing on the cake. And then a crappy story by a crappy writer (Ron Zimmerman's "Get Kraven") undoes that awesome exit-story that finally gave Chameleon the respect he deserves, without even explaining how he survives.


JM DeMatties and Jenkins (based on that one arc) wrote the best incarnations of Chameleon.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Ooops. Apology for the double-post. Board (or my server) was lagging. :-/

 

[Sloth7d]

Nope, Electro is still the most underrated. Or atleast his potential has yet to be seen.

 

[Venom 1988]

I usually like to think Shocker is the most underrated villain, but I do agree about Chameleon.

 

[Dark Carnage]

Nope, Electro is still the most underrated. Or atleast his potential has yet to be seen.

If we're talking potential, The Spot wins that category.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Electro lacks the psychological depths of Chameleon though. He's not as layered a character, so he's not as interesting. He's a completely amoral scumbag who's just trying to get a buck and maybe kill Spidey if he gets the chance. But he's been in some solid stories like "Light the Night" and ASM#425 (with X-Man) and also that one where he threatened to shut off every life-support system in the city. But no true classics yet.

Some other underrated villains... Rhino, Alistair Smythe, Kaine, Molten Man, Fusion (Jenkins version), Chance, Morbius, the Tinkerer .... and oh, what the hell... let's say Hypno-Hustler.

 

[freemadison]

Black Tarantula!


But yeah, Chameleon is cool too.

 

[Sloth7d]

Black Tarantula!


But yeah, Chameleon is cool too.

Yeah and he died(which is actually impossible for him) in the most unconvincing way. I mean he was killed by Bullseye throwing crap at him?They may as well have Wolverine dies by a gunshot wound? They might aswell have SilverSurfer diebybeing hit by a bus. I mean come on! Atleast the M2 universe is treating him good, being the kingpin and all.

 

[The Joker]

Nope, Electro is still the most underrated. Or atleast his potential has yet to be seen.

I agree. I always felt Electro never got his due.

Electro lacks the psychological depths of Chameleon though. He's not as layered a character, so he's not as interesting.

Read 'Light of the Night' and Castro's Sinister Six novels, and then say that. Max Dillon has plenty of layers.

 

[Captivated]

Read 'Light of the Night' and Castro's Sinister Six novels, and then say that. Max Dillon has plenty of layers.

You beat me to it Doc... I was going to say that Castro's treatment of these villains in the Sinister Six trilogy (novels) was the BEST I've ever read. Love his writing style... didn't even miss the pictures.

 

[farmernudie]

Electro, with the powers he has...could be a Magneto level villian really.

They need to flesh him out more in the comics...and bring back his classic yellow and green costume too. I like that.

Electro as a bald lex luthor type just doesn't cut it.

Biker costumes and no masks on all the heroes/villians was cool at first, but now i've got a hankering for more corny costumes and cowbell!

 

[ragingdemon155]

I would have to agree with Electro. "Light the Night" was a great story. The art was damn near horrific, but the story was great. With his level of power, its a shame that Electro never really got that push to be a prime time villain. He has all the potential to be just that. Unfortunately writers still play him off as a villain in league with the Shockers and Rhinos. What a shame.....

 

[Infinity9999x]

Nope, Electro is still the most underrated. Or atleast his potential has yet to be seen.

A Spider-man book I read a while back, (can't remember the name, it had something to do with the Sinsister Six and the Gentlemen was in it) But anyways, in that book they really beefed up electro. They made him so insanely powerfull that the only way Spidey could beat him was by having someone else drop a bunch of magnetized chips on him or something. I thought it was pretty cool though, because Electro was almost unstoppable in that book.


edit: Seems Doc Ock and Captivated were thinking along the same lines as me.

 

[CrimeMaster!]

After being beat up by Mary Jane and out witted by Aunt May,I'd say Chameleons villainous days are long past over.

Paul Jenkin's story from Webspinners would have been a nice end to his character in my opinion.

 

[CrimeMaster!]

I agree. I always felt Electro never got his due.



Read 'Light of the Night' and Castro's Sinister Six novels, and then say that. Max Dillon has plenty of layers.

I agree very much about Electro being underated,he is very much a walking power house.

Tom Defalco's Electro story from his last Amazing Spider-Man stint is another good one.

Mark Millar's take on Electro minus the bi comment was pretty cool,shows how scary and dangerous a guy would be with those powers.I would have thought that would have carried over to the New Avengers except Bendis has him go out like a chump half way thought the arc.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Electro is the most underrated Villian IMO. Sure He doesn't seem like a great Villian but He can really put up a challenge for Spidey if you ask Me. If they fleshed Him out more then He would be even more interesting.

 

[Arcturus]

Electro is an amazing villain, they should use him more often.

 

[KangConquers]

if Elektro had a little more depth, I'd like him...he just never struck me as having any substance at all.

 

[Danger Mouse]

Ever since spidermanhype.com I've been pushing the idea of having Chameleon in one of the Spider-Man movies. He may not pull off visually stunning, effects-laden fights for the movie, but he can be the psychologically manipulative bastard hell-bent on destroying Spider-Man the subtle way. Perhaps have him team up with another villain to provide the fight sequences such as, say, The Scorpion.

 

[KangConquers]

Ever since spidermanhype.com I've been pushing the idea of having Chameleon in one of the Spider-Man movies. He may not pull off visually stunning, effects-laden fights for the movie, but he can be the psychologically manipulative bastard hell-bent on destroying Spider-Man the subtle way. Perhaps have him team up with another villain to provide the fight sequences such as, say, The Scorpion.

Definitely. He could make for the greatest Spidey movie in terms of plot. Plot is first, sfx are second.

All Electro is is a big laser light show.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I always wanted better for Chameleon as well. (Electro too, but this is a Chameleon thread.) He's a professional spy and sabatuer, so I would think that he would be much more badass than he is shown to be. Much as I loved DeMatties last run on Spectacular, I didnt like that MJ beat Dmitri with a baseball bat. It would have been much more of a jarring story if he had "gotten what he wanted" from her. Beisdes, lets not forget that he managed to unmask Peter, thats gotta count for something.

 

[Cyrusbales]

Hammerhead is the most underrated....

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Not a Hammerhead fan. Always felt he was a generic one-note character that could be exchanged with any of the other dozen super-strong crime bosses.

I remember being bored out of my mind during that tedious stretched-out Hammerhead/SHOC/Crowne story Mackie did after the clone-saga.