As a kid I used to think the Chameleon was like a cousin of the lizard or something and he had shapeshifting powers, and now you have exposed to me that he's just a regular guy that's really good at knitting
Kraven's half-brother. He even wanted revenge on Spider-man after Kraven blew his own brains out, even though he and Kraven had falling-outs in the past. Also he eventually gets hologram technology to morph, and then superpowers from experiments or something.
At least Mysterio has illusions, robots, and can fly with his armored diving suit. Chameleon is just a guy that's good at impersonating people and making costumes.
That and I think the audio filter he uses to mimic the poor quality audio from this era of animation adds a layer of gravitas to his performances in the sketches
Considering that Spiderman is practically a celebrity in NYC, anyone could buy a full body Spiderman costume at PartyCity or something and frame him for anything at all
That story has been done multiple times. Green Goblin once killed a guy because he mistook him for Spider-man and in Wolverine vs Spider-man, Peter buys a Spider-man costume in a German costume store
I think Flash Thomson did it once and because he's a decent fighter and athlete he was able to stop crime until he ran into guys that had automatic weapons.
@@TupocalypseShakur Funnily enough, in the first Kick-Ass movie, Frank d'Amico kills a children's entertainer who was dressed as Kick-Ass, and some time after that complains claiming that he doesn't understand why a child would want a Kick-Ass party, though a Spider-Man party he would understand...
"Just a guy"?? He's not only talented enough at costume making to create one that looks IDENTICAL to Spider Man's, but he's also well versed enough in bioengineering to replicate Spider Man's web shooters. The Chameleon is an incredibly talented individual, and yet Spider Man writes him off as "Just a guy" because, what, he wasn't GIFTED with superpowers?? Who's the REAL villain here?
@@spindash64 well, may be chameleon didn't have anyone to help him in his darkest times. Peter did, so instead of criticizing him, he should have been his friend and help him use his skills to better use
I forgot what issue, but one time Chameleon discovered Spidey's identity, impersonated Peter and broke into Peter and Mary Jane's apartment. He tried to make a move on MJ, but MJ immediately recognized it wasn't Peter and proceeded to beat him senseless with a baseball bat. Dunno if it was MJ's finest moment or Chameleon's worst. Eh, it's both.
I believe that was at the end of the arc where Chameleon made Peter believe his parents were still alive. Had Pete locked up in an asylum, convinced him he was insane, then went on to Peter's home and MJ. No wonder Pete wanted to kill him.
@@biostar4 No, he tried tricking her into thinking he was Peter. He didn't try *that* with her. I think she tricked him into thinking she gave him lethal poison when it was just something to knock him out until Peter and the cops could come along.
Heh...I see someone else remembers that story. I always hated that ending. It would have made him a top tier villain of Spidey's. Instead, it made him a joke. MJ had him crying in the corner then later to be shot in the face by Kraven's kid. Chameleon had potential. SMH.
@@emeraldkoala2543 I believe there was one scene in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie that was a very explicit visual reference to Christopher Reeve's Superman... or maybe just Superman in general...
Despite being the first “major” supervillain Spider-Man fought, the Chameleon does not get a lot of respect. In the 90’s animated series, he and Mysterio are both on the first incarnation of the Sinster Six (or the Insidious Six as it’s called in the show) and Mysterio literally out-do’s him in every possible way.
Wouldn't Chameleon be a bad fit for them regardless of who else is on the team? The Sinister Six are a pretty fight-ey team, can't imagine a stealth guy would help much when they're all trying to gang up on Spider-Man.
@@nathanl8622 but is he actually a shapesifter or just good at building costumes. If it's the second it's basically worthless since getting a Spiderman suit in universe should be about as easy as it is in real life.
Dude they'd be a perfect duo now that i think about it. We have the most evil actor paired with one of the greatest special effects and pyrotechniques dudes out there.
He has, in fact, managed to defeat Spiderman before a couple of times, and successfully mess with his head pretty badly. Also, outside of Spider-man, he is good at outwitting ordinary law enforcement and international intelligence agencies.
I'd say him being a normal guy who is just really good at acting and crafting costumes just makes him even more badass since he has to go toe to toe with super powered dudes, its what makes batman a badass (tho i think its ridiculous how many times batman beat other super-powered characters that could also move faster then a speeding bullet)
But Batman is also so rich that he could just pay for super-er future/space tech shit to let him beat super-powered people. Chameleon is just an average dude money-wise.
I feel like they could make a decent movie on him being the mc with that premise, being an underpowered guy that has to fight heroes, or maybe villains, since Venom, Morbius, not Vulture, etc are all good guys now
I mean you laugh but the Chameleon is absolutely terrifying in any circumstance that doesn’t require direct combat. The guy could systematically destroy your life if give the chance, like that time in the 90’s animated series where he framed Peter for grand theft.
Its not that is ain't impressive its just that he doesnt compare to supervillains in any calibur that shares his niche nor comes off as interesting in a world where superheroes/supervillians are better than even the strongest spidey thread
In action comics of course The Chameleon doesn't seem very interesting, he's more into espionage than fighting. In spy and intrigue tales however he could outclass anyone.
@@sonicsucks20 he is able to copy abilities and in the comics has hologram tech that can look like you he's also a great voice actor and was a cold war spy also kravens half brother
@@bradenmerriman5206gonna be real I forgot he was a Spider-Man villain, like I legit thought he was just a random marvel villain they stuck with Spider-Man just because
Wasn't there a time when Chameleon went insane when he realized that despite being Spidey's first villain, he was actually the least memorable. It didn't help that when he tried to kill MJ while disguised as Peter, MJ kicked the crap out of him with a baseball bat and it took Spidey to save HIM. Like I know I am mis-remembering a lot of this, but I do know Chameleon became super insecure about how he couldn't keep up with any of Spidey's more powerful villains. Some of whom could even be Avenger level threats if they weren't so petty, like Electro and Sandman.
There's one time he tried to kill Aunt May by disguising himself as Peter... but he decided to play with his food instead of killing her outright and she poisoned him.
also, he later on gained the ability to shapeshift without the belt dunno why he still needed to shapeshift into someone else to talk, maybe to "preserve" his identity i suppose
"That costume is really well-made, you ever consider becoming a tailor?" "A...what?" "I mean, even just making really good Spiderman costumes, you know how many people would pay for that?" "I..." "I won't even turn you over to the cops, man, you could do a lot with that kinda skill."
"Haha! Now I'll be at Ryker's and I'll team up with Carnage and Wilson Fisk!" "Actually your lawyer got you a nice plead bargain, you'll just pay a fine and do community service."
Yeah, apparently the studio at the time couldn't afford to use that many Marvel characters, including villains, so they made a bunch of placeholders and original villains. Charles Cameo was Chameleon in everything except for the lack of name and signature white mask. It got a bit weird because Spidey fought a dude named "Dr. Magneto" (pronounced "Mag-net-oh" and not "Mag-neet-oh") who was a moustached mad scientist with a powerful magnet tool and not a mutant. By the second season they had to use stock footage from other shows they made, which meant Mysterio was played by a weird green alien man and didn't put on his costume.
@@VladyO I mean, they did have Dr. Octopus in the first episode... while also having Betty Brant and J. Jonah Jameson... though when it comes to original characters, something that i do find amusing is how they had a fly-based thief who wore a darker Spider-Man based costume... he was intentionally created to have a very explicit contrast to Spider-Man, and they weren't trying to be remotely subtle...
For whatever reason I’ve always liked the idea of the Chameleon as a villain. He’s not the most threatening enemy, but I suppose “master of disguise” characters are kind of neat to me. I don’t know if he’d ever show up in the movies or games, but I’d be happy to see him.
People are seriously underestimating the powers of identity theft. This dude could wreak havock on Peter's personal life. Serious 'Among Us' vibes could be had. Countless frame jobs. It would be easy too since Peter keeps his ID secret from most who knows him. The potential was great with Chameleon. They ruined it when MJ beat him with a bat.
The Chameleon was a Cold War spy for the Russians when he first appeared in Amazing Spiderman number 1, back to the early 60s. His gimmick was to meticulously copy the appearance of someone, so he waltz into high security locations and steal stuff.
I was expecting a guy who had a combo of shapeshifting and sticking to walls, who had realized that there was ONE superhero that he could really easily impersonate.
'You know at first I was kind of interested in your powers but now this is kind of, uh...' (Me thinking he's going to say 'Lame') 'Sad'. (Oooh sick burn!)
It never occurred to me that this meme was just Chameleon. I wanted that action figure as a kid so bad in the 90s. I swear, it was the rarest Spider-Man action figure of all. It’s the only one I never saw in stores.
I like how this may be unintentionally lore friendly to this era of spiderman. This is pretty much why chameleon was changed so much to basically be a shape-shifter over the years
The Chameleon, Mysterio and The Jackal. If something doesn't make sense, someone's out of character or there's a contrived plot hole needed to be filled you can count on one of these guys to be working "behind the scenes".
I thought it was going to lead to something like "you know venom is already doing that right? He shapeshifts perfectly, and he even copies my powers down to every little quirk" but still good video
If the chameleon is just good at making disguises, how the hell did he end up as a villain? That is some serious skill he has there, he definitely got compliments for something like that.
To be fair, the worst part of the Chameleon is that he could always be there. Like for all Spider-Man knows the last three times he visited Aunt May it was the Chameleon.
I'm pretty sure sandman can do the same thing and look like anyone too I mean if you can become a 30 ft tall sand golem or a giant hand I don't think it would be hard to shapeshift into anyone or any solid object
Yeah. Also so can symbiotes. And Mysterio. And this one really obscure spidey villain called Hybrid (not the symbiote, thats a different guy). Also if the Javkal could get enough DNA he could make obedient clones of people that look just like them. Yeah chameleon really is redundant nowadays isn't he.
There was one time where Chameleon impersonated Peter and Aunt May tricked him into thinking she poisoned him with cyanide when she actually just drugged him with sleeping pills.
There was a villain that looked like Spider-Man and was going around doing bad things then he could ruin Spider-Man's reputation and truly be a menace to society.
Chameleon is just actor. Compared to most of Spider-man’s enemies he’s kind of pathetic. I don’t think he even has knowledge of martial arts or something like that.
He is a trained Russian spy, and he is a really good actor, probably the best in universe who doesn't have actual powers. But yeah, still not that impressive. Though given time, he can be kind of scary in non combat situations.
Electro is actually quite strong. Its when you are less impressive than the vulture (classic version, no age manipulation), that you know you have a problem. Except Chamelion didn't know I guess.
is that seriously, this Spiderman series may have been something simple but this Spiderman has faced guys with technology, powers and other things that make them a threat to Spiderman, then there is this guy who is normal and the only thing that he does is dress up like him, he doesn't have his powers and the worst thing is that it's just a suit, any subject who buys a Spiderman costume could be the chameleon Does he even know how to fight?
It'd be very different if Spider-Man encountered the 1990s cartoon version of the Chameleon, who has that magic belt and can change into whoever he wanted.
On the other hand, he was able to create facsimiles of Spider Man's powers that fooled even the man himself in just "a couple days". That's pretty impressive.
