Superman is one of the most well-known and strong superheroes to ever grace the pages of comic books and the silver screen, and when a superhero is as well-known and powerful as Superman, you can bet there is a slew of bad villains lining up to take his life. We already know that DC is not lacking in sophisticated and deadly villains, and now we are introducing you to Parasite, one of Superman’s most obscure yet formidable foes.
Superman’s huge line-up of adversaries has always included local villains who are not necessarily at the top of Superman’s rogue’s gallery, resulting in a diverse group of antagonists. Despite the fact that villains like Parasite are not usually the most well-known, the character may be extremely dangerous depending on the situation, making him one of Superman’s most dangerous foes. Let us have a look at Parasite without further ado.
First comic book appearance explored – origins of Parasite
Parasite first appears in issue #340 of Action Comics published in the year 1966 and is featured on the cover itself in his full purple glory with the text proclaiming that Parasite is the ‘most dangerous villain Superman has ever faced.
In the first few pages, we find The Man of Steel working in a laboratory where he finishes up an atomic project at a government lab and then heads out to his day job as a journalist. However, right before leaving he mentions that the radioactive elements that he had been working with had to be securely disposed of off so that humans did not come in direct contact with them. These radioactive elements were found by Superman in a different galaxy during one of his adventures and were then brought back by him for research and experimentation. It is safe to say that while Superman can touch it and be near it without wearing a hazmat suit, regular humans would have unfathomable reactions to these toxins.
After he leaves, other researchers in the lab order a janitor who works in the facility, Raymond Maxwell Jensen, to dispose of the atomic waste. For a little background on Jensen, he was a loner, not well-liked by the people he worked with, and was generally a lowlife. He couldn’t hold down jobs and had been fired 3 times in the previous year already. However, he was clearly not looking to better himself and also hated all the people that he worked with along with always looking for an easy way out.
The moment he spotted the large container of atomic waste that he had been tasked with disposing of, he immediately thought that instead of atomic waste, the container contained payrolls that were to be shipped. Out of greed, he opened the container and was inundated with the energies coming from the toxic atomic waste.
He manages to close the container but by then, the deed had been done. He had transformed into a purple alien entity and as a scientist rushed to help him, it absorbed his life energy and regained not only his strength but also gained the scientist’s intelligence, realizing the extent of his new-found powers as an atomic furnace. The first thing he does is he goes and drain the energy of all the scientists in the lab, carrying out his vendetta against all those who have dared order him around at work. Then he goes back home where he has the realization that he can become the greatest criminal alive as long as he can keep siphoning energy from people.
In the meanwhile, Superman goes out on a mission to build a hospital at a construction site, shortly after the incidents take place at the government lab and as he flies past Parasite’s window, Parasite realizes that Superman has immense energy which will keep him satiated for a long time and thus, decides to target Superman. He shows up at the construction site and can feel Superman’s energy and quickly figures out that Clark Kent was Superman’s real identity since only he was being affected by the energy siphoning. He then decides that he would lure Superman in and would easily defeat him since he would have the upper hand in the fight because he had figured out Superman’s real identity.
Superman then encounters him while answering an APB in the heart of the city and the fight is terrible to watch as a Superman fan as he is drained of all his power and energy as the Parasite tosses him right and left as if the Man of Steel was made out of cotton.
However, Superman manages to land a couple of punches but things go downhill once again as Parasite shows that not only had he drained Superman’s energy but had also acquired all of Superman’s abilities. He punches Superman into submission and it looks terrible for the superhero as he is unable to get up and fight back anymore. It is very few times we have seen Superman be this helpless.
Parasite keeps draining more and more of Superman’s powers as he proclaims his intentions of robbing all the biggest banks in America and taking down all those that ever ordered him around but suddenly, he explodes and disintegrates into dust and smoke. This is because he still had a mortal body, mutated or not. Thus, it was not capable of handling the insane amounts of energy that he had absorbed from Superman. His greed led to his demise.
Thus, we can safely conclude from this issue that the Parasite is more than a match for Superman and quite probably, almost all the heroes in his universe making him a foe they absolutely would not want to cross. Technically, Superman did not even defeat the parasite, his own greed for more energy did which says a lot about this villain.
There are actually multiple Parasites
Quite simply put, there have been several characters who have played the role of Parasite, just as there have been multiple people who have played the role of other villains throughout DC comics history as the mantle of said villain is passed from one individual to another.
Rudy Jones was the most popular take on this villainous character. Rudolph “Rudy” Jones was changed into the Parasite while he working as a janitor at a Pittsburgh S.T.A.R. Labs facility during the Post-Crisis. Darkseid, the tyrannical Lord of Apokolips, who wants to enslave all in the multiverse, recalled the existence of the Pre-Crisis Parasite and twisted Jones into becoming the present version, his true intentions unbeknownst to anybody on the scene. He persuaded Rudy that a trash can might have contained something important or valuable. When Rudy had the misfortune to open it, unusual radiation entered his body, transforming him into the hairless, green-skinned devil.
He isn’t, however, the original Parasite. As has been explored, the first parasite was a factory worker at a research centre named Raymond Maxwell Jensen during the pre-crisis era. Raymond Maxwell Jensen was a lowlife who secured a position as a plant worker for a research center. Jensen, mistakenly believing that the corporation payrolls were concealed in storage containers, managed to open one and was inundated with energy sources from biohazard substances, transforming him into a purple-skinned, parasitic being, and thus making him the first-ever Parasite.
Characters like Alex and Alexandra Allston, as well as Joshua Michael Allen, followed Rudy Jones in taking up the title and the mantle of the villain Parasite.
The parasite has also featured in a variety of genres and mediums, including video games, television shows, and movies, just like other weird characters that stand out in media and thus can be transformed into various interesting versions. The Raymond Jensen rendition, for example, appears in the events of Supergirl.
Furthermore, whole new variants of the Parasite began to develop that did not appear in the comics at all. Such was the case of I.C. Harris, a thief of chemicals who, unlike the other parasites, had a perfectly normal appearance with a bald head. There was no iconic purple skin that the Parasite is famous for.
Thus, clearly, this character is versatile enough for it to be picked up and not only recreated multiple times by DC comics but also taken and refashioned into new and interesting versions of the original to appear across media, making it an integral villain in Superman lore.
Parasite in DC animated universe
In the DC Animated Universe itself, Parasite appears in two different incarnations, showing the versatility of this character. This is due to the fact that practically anyone could be written into being the Parasite due to the nature of its origin. All one had to do was get exposed to a certain kind of radioactive material and that was that.
In Superman: The Animated Series, the Rudy Jones version of Parasite is voiced by Brion James. This incarnation is a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs who helps Martin Lebeau smuggle barrels of purple chemicals from the laboratory secretly. What goes around comes around and Jones is smeared in these very chemicals and changes into Parasite during one of their thefts. After coming to terms with his new body and powers, Jones goes on to face Superman twice and temporarily join forces with Livewire before succumbing to his newly acquired energy-draining powers and being remanded to Stryker’s Island.
Jones is later voiced by Brian George in the Justice League two-part episode “Secret Society.” In this episode, he is enlisted into Gorilla Grodd’s Secret Society after waking up from his coma and battles the Justice League, only to be beaten by Wonder Woman.
Jones further appears in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Grodd’s expanded Secret Society in a minor, non-speaking role. In the episode, Lex Luthor takes possession of the Society before and during the events of the episode “Alive!” and Grodd mounts a revolt to reclaim power. Jones supports the latter in this power tussle but is rendered immobile by Killer Frost.
Lastly. in the episode “Epilogue,” Marc Worden voices a monstrous future iteration of Parasite. This iteration is a member of the Iniquity Collective, a future version of the Society, and alludes to the evolution that Parasite might possibly undergo to make him an even tougher villain to beat.
Parasite in Supergirl and Smallville
Parasite has appeared in famous DC tv shows Smallville and Supergirl and these renditions, while slightly different from the comics, have been equally as powerful and terrifying.
Supergirl is a television series that focuses on Superman’s cousin, Kara Danvers who starts showing signs of having powers herself and how she uses them to fight crime. Parasite appears twice in this series in two different variations of the character.
Anthony Konechny portrays Raymond Jensen in the fourth season of Supergirl. This version is a DEO agent that loathes aliens for creating devastation on National City, as seen in the episode “American Alien.” He joins anti-alien activists Otis and Mercy Graves after quitting the DEO, and they introduce him to their sponsor Agent Liberty. Jensen offers to be exposed to an Angon received from the DEO after the Graves appear to have died.
He then becomes the new Parasite in the episode “Parasite Lost,” and utilizes his new energy-absorbing skills to murder aliens. Jensen becomes comatose and is brought into DEO custody while he was attempting to locate an alien medallion in order to keep his Angon alive and retain his newly acquired powers.
Rudy Jones is played by William Mapother in the Supergirl episode “Changing.” This version is about an environmental scientist who becomes infected with an Angon that was dormant in the body of an Arctic wolf and develops the power to drain the life from his targets through physical contact.
Jones absorbs Supergirl’s and the Martian Manhunter’s powers and changes into a beast after being faced by Supergirl, Alex Danvers, and the Martian Manhunter. He renames himself “Parasite” and proceeds into a frenzy before Supergirl kills him by overloading him with plutonium from a nuclear power station. Lex Luthor later uses the Allstone Totems to build a replica of Parasite to aid him in fighting the Super Friends before it blows up while fighting Danvers in the episode “Kara.”
Smallville is an American Superhero Action Tv series that focuses on a young Clark Kent and how he turns into a hero while trying to keep it all a secret. Brendan Fletcher portrays the Rudy Jones form of Parasite in the Smallville episode “Injustice.” Tess Mercer hires him, Livewire, Neutron, and Plastique to find Davis Bloome. Following the deaths of Neutron and Livewire, Plastique and Jones go rogue and steal Clark Kent’s superpowers in an effort to assassinate Mercer until the Green Arrow uses kryptonite to cripple Jones. Before he and Plastique are brought to Belle Reve, Jones is obliged to restore Kent’s powers.
What makes him so powerful?
The parasite has unique physiology because in all of its various different renditions, the transformation from human into the Parasite has entailed bodily changes. This new physiology grants him the powers of enhanced strength, agility and stamina however, one unique ability possessed by him is why he is named ‘Parasite’.
The character’s capacity to absorb energy is one of the most important abilities he possesses in comparison to other opponents. It doesn’t matter what shape the energy takes; as long as it can be eaten, Parasite will happily devour it all, like a cookie monster but for energy. The parasite has the ability to take the life energy of other beings, leaving them shriveled.
He can also absorb and utilize nearly any other sort of energy. Parasite’s powers evolved once he made touch with the Strange Visitor, allowing him to hold the energy he absorbed for longer. Jones and his scientist counterpart developed new abilities after absorbing a shape-shifter. This is why he’s such a fascinating foe for Superman to take on. Because Superman is continually receiving the Sun’s radiation, Parasite sees him as a feast of unrestricted power. The fact that the more energy he consumes, the more formidable he becomes also helps when he is battling charged up heroes.
He can now not only drain the life energy from his victims, but he can also become them down to their DNA. This means it can imitate the superhuman abilities possessed by various heroes in the DC Universe. This makes fighting Parasite exceedingly perilous, especially when he is facing numerous superheroes at the same time because he can keep absorbing energy and consequentially, gaining their varied abilities. Rudy Jones, however, can only hold their skills for a certain length of time until they run out of juice as a form of balance.
Parasite’s ability to adapt throughout the post-crisis age of comic books is one of the most scary aspects of the story. Rudy Jones’ attempts to rid himself of his abilities merely strengthened them, enabling him to consume even more types of energy. Jones would go on to evolve four more times, the most recent of which granted him everlasting flight and heat vision. This created a monster that was an even more lethal menace to other heroes. This is true even in DC Rebirth, where he is most strong.
He is not without his own weaknesses, however. Although he has the ability to entirely absorb the skills of our favorite superheroes, these privileges can only provide him with so much. He not only has a finite time restriction on how long he can use these abilities but also, but while he can acquire their abilities, he also inherits their flaws. If Superman’s energy is consumed by him, for example, Parasite will no longer be immune to kryptonite. This is an acceptable weakness to have to be honest because, without it, the character would become practically unbeatable.
This purple-skinned, bald-headed abomination has often been portrayed to be more than a match for all our beloved heroes thus one has to stop and think, is the Parasite simply too powerful? Or can his weaknesses be enough for him to be decisively defeated in battle? He might not be as well known as Darkseid or Lex Luthor but is definitely quite a handful for the Man of Steel and other DC heroes like Wonder Woman, that have had the misfortune of going up against him. Do you think Parasite is the toughest villain that Superman has ever encountered? Let us know in the comments below!