Current Events
Chameleon Boy is presently starring in the ongoing Legion of Superheroes series since the rebooted DC universe in the new 52. The Legion is presently fighting a Daxamite and a group of Controllers on the planet of Panoptes.
Origin
Reep Daggle was born on the planet Durla as part of a race of orange-skinned, exotic looking people. Due to the warlike tendencies of its civilization, Durla entered a civil war which culminated in the Six Minute War when Reep was a boy. The planet was left in nuclear rubble and the nuclear radiation mutated everyone on the planet, including Reep, into tentacled monsters. It also had the unusual side-effect of granting Durlans shape-shifting abilities, allowing them to morph back into their previous forms as well as that of others. Reep had a twin brother named Liggt. Reep’s mother, Zhay, died when the boys were small and their father, Ren Daggle, abandoned them afterward to be raised by Ren’s sister, Ji. Their widowed father had actually contracted Yorggian Fever and left Durla, trapped in the guise of an Earthman, and went on to become R.J. Brande. Due to being twins, Reep was forced to confront his brother to the death in the Durlan Right of Survival. Reep won and killed his brother for his chance of survival, much to his sadness.
Creation
Chameleon Boy was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He first appeared in Action Comics #267 (August, 1960).
Character Evolution
Silver Age
Disgusted by parts of his culture, Reep left for Earth and applied to join the Legion Of Super-Heroes. Fellow applicant Colossal Boy gave him his codename of Chameleon Boy and the two were sworn in together. Cham served as a Legionnaire for many years, using his shape-shifting talents to help bust up many criminal plots. He was the founder of the Legion Espionage Squad for members with covert powers and despite the public’s dislike of Durlans, was one of the best-liked among his teammates.
Years later, R.J. Brande came down ill and only a blood transfusion would save him. The Legion learned that Brande was a Durlan, and that he actually had a biological child in the Legion. Brande confessed following the transfusion that he was Reep’s father and had been blessed to watch him grow up in the Legion. Reep had trouble accepting that R.J. only just now revealed this and it led him to mistakenly use his authority as head of the Espionage Squad to lead a recon mission to the Khund’s homeworld. The results of this disaster led to Timber Wolf and Light Lass breaking up and him being arrested. Cham was briefly tried for war crimes when he was thought to be aiding the Khunds, but he was released from Takron-Galtos after helping save lives during the Great Darkness Saga. Cham and R.J. Brande reconciled during these events. Unfortunately, the binders Cham wore in prison robbed him of his shape-shifting powers. He and his father traveled to Durla so Cham could recover them at a sacred temple. Cham then rejoined the Legion and served diligently, even after his father retired and vanished, until shortly after the Magic Wars. He left to help run Brande Industries.
Five Years Later
After the Five Year Later into the future, Reep had become bored with business and was eager to relive his glory days. He got with Rokk Krinn and together they reformed the Legion of Super-Heroes. Despite being injured on several occasions, Cham enjoyed the revival of the team. He ultimately left when he learned of the whereabouts of his father. They reunited, but were captured by Brande’s rival Leland McCauley. Eventually Cham was freed, but found Earth destroyed and his old teammates far more grim than he remembered. Time displaced, younger duplicates of the Legion had surfaced in Cham’s absence and had decided to stay on as the Legionnaires, protectors of New Earth. Cham was completely melancholy over seeing all the happy heroes of yesteryear in their bright uniform and since their Cham had died in an explosion, Reep elected to become their liaison to the adult Legion to join in on the fun. Cham adopted a new uniform, shortened his name to Chameleon, and became the guidance counselor for the heroes. During the Zero Hour event, Reep’s timeline began to collapse and everyone in it slowly faded from existence. Cham was one of those casualties, his reality only saved by his teammates sacrificing their lives to ‘reboot’ it.
Five Years Later / Batch SW6
Earth fell under the covert control of the Dominators and withdrew from the United Planets. A few years later, the members of the Dominators’ highly classified “Batch SW6” escaped captivity. Originally, Batch SW6 appeared to be a group of teenage Legionnaire clones, created from samples apparently taken just prior to Ferro Lad‘s death at the hands of the Sun-Eater. Later, they were revealed to be time-paradox duplicates, every bit as legitimate as their older counterparts. However, this version of Chameleon Boy was killed in battle (along with SW6’s Princess Projectra and Karate Kid) fighting Dominion troops.
Reboot / Earth-247
On Earth-247, Cham had new origins from his counterpart. While still from the shape-shifting world of Durla, which was prejudiced against by the galaxy, Cham’s father was not R.J. Brande but instead was one of the ruling leaders of Durla. When the United Planets reached out to its newest member, Durla, for a draftee for the newly formed Legion of Super-Heroes, Reep was selected because of his political standing. Despite the fact he spoke no Interlac at the time, Reep left behind a position in Durla’s political/religious caste and adopted a humanlike appearance to join the Legion as Chameleon. As a Legionnaire, he hoped to prove to the galaxy that Durlans were trustworthy.
Despite an initial language barrier, Cham found friendship among Invisible Kid who invited him into the Legion Espionage Squad and who spoke his native tongue. Several of the Legion girls befriended him as well, eager to teach him Interlac. On one of the team’s earlier missions, the Composite Durlan broke free on Durla and killed his father. Reep was devastated but assisted the team in capturing him. On the Interlac front, Cham actually picked up the language quick but feigned struggling with it as part of a mission to unveil the corrupt U.P. government. Once President Chu was impeached and Legion founder Brande was elected President of the United Planets, Cham revealed to his teammates outside the Espionage Squad that he actually spoke perfect Interlac.
Threeboot / Earth Prime
On Earth-Prime, Durlans retained much of their unusual qualities and Reep was yet again a Legionnaire, now part of a youth rights movement. Reep’s appearance was different from previous incarnations, as he now had beady black eyes and could hide his antennae at will. He preferred to be naked and simply morphed clothes onto his body and had a slightly more wide-eyed approach to things. Though Durlans were now androgynous beings, causing Cham to take only the name “Chameleon” without a suffix, he was ultimately referred to as male by his teammates.
Like his counterparts, he was still a great detective and was instrumental in discovering the villain Elysion as well as find the telepathic murderer Jeyra Entinn. When she entered his mind, Jeyra discovered that Reep had a life full of prejudice which caused him to leave Durla. Cham had a great sense of humor but a poor sense of timing, so his jokes and pranks were rarely appreciated the way he wanted them to be. He was known for interrupting dates and serious business meetings.
Retroboot / New Earth
Infinite Crisis restored the original Legion to continuity, branching off shortly after the Magic Wars. Cham was once again a long-serving member of the Legion, though his father was still missing. In the wake of a xenophobia movement on Earth, Cham elected with several other alien Legionnaires to go off-world. Before they returned, Reep’s father R.J. Brande resurfaced but he was assassinated. Cham mourned his father and decided to honor his last will and testament. It called for a specific team of Legionnaires including Reep to live for a time in the 21st century to ensure several crucial events in history came to pass, such as Mon-El entering the Phantom Zone and saving the bottled cities captured by Brainiac. Once that mission was accomplished, Reep and his friends returned to the 31st century and rejoined the Legion of Super-Heroes proper.
Major Story Arcs
Reboot / Earth-247
Cham is Legion Lost
Cham nursed a crush on Legionnaire Spark, but feared she would reject him for his exotic appearance. So he had Invisible Kid help him give gifts to her, which backfired when Spark discovered him and assumed Invisible Kid was her admirer. When she learned the truth, Spark was initially apprehensive but soon came to fall in love with Cham herself. Their relationship was often never allowed to blossom, as shortly thereafter Spark was trapped with several Legionnaires in the 20th century. The team ultimately reunited, but later the two were separated again when Reep became one of the Legionnaires lost through a spatial rift into a new universe.
Cham as New Wanderer
After a year of separation, Reep and his fellow lost Legionnaires returned to U.P. space. They reformed the Legion and he reunited with Spark. When the Legion was lost in the timestream following a battle with the Fatal 500, the lovebirds were finally lost together. Due to their position in the timestream, Reep and his teammates survived the deletion of Earth-247 during Infinite Crisis. Following helping two other Legions defeat Superboy-Prime, Reep and his team pushed into the multiverse to become the new Wanderers.
Powers and Abilities
Shape Shifter
Cham has the same shape-shifting ability that is innate among all his people. They can take the form of any object or organism their body can ‘scan’ with their antennae and morph into it within seconds. Reep is able to shift into forms both larger and smaller than he is, creating or disregarding mass at whim. He can also elongate parts of his body with this excess mass creation, as well as rearrange his internal organs and tissue such as his eyes, nose, heart, etc. He is a skilled voice imitator to go along with his disguises. Because of these feats he is considered one of the most powerful and versatile Durlan shape-shifters.
Equipment
As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Chameleon Boy possesses a Legion Flight Ring. The ring gives its wearer the ability to fly, the speed and range of which is determined by the wearer’s willpower. It also acts as a long-range communicator (enabling constant vocal contact with other Legionnaires, even across vast distances of space), a signal device, and a navigational compass, all powered by a micro-computer built inside the ring. In the postboot reality, he had a utility belt which provided rations, a transuit, and telepathic ear plugs.
Other Versions
Other Media
Television
Superman: The Animated Series
Chameleon Boy was one of three Legionnaires who traveled back in time to Smallville in the 90s Superman cartoon episode “New Kids in Town.” The Legionnaires entered the 20th century to stop Brainiac from altering history. They were aided by a young Clark Kent but eventually had to wipe Clark of his memories of the event. The enthused Chameleon Boy was excited to get to shout “Up, Up, and Away” when they returned to their own time, citing he always wanted to do that. He was voiced by Jason Priestly.
Justice League Unlimited
This same Chameleon Boy resurfaced with the Legion in the JLU episode “Far From Home.” Cham had been possessed by the Emerald Eye with his teammates, but was eventually freed. He had no lines this time.
Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes
In the Legion’s own cartoon show, Cham was suspiciously absent from the first season. He later surfaced in season two as a main character, revealed to be the team’s newest member. He had a very jovial, joker personality and preferred shape-shifting into animals. He traveled to the 41st century to save history in “Man From the Edge of Tomorrow” and aided a fugitive Timber Wolf in “Cry Wolf.” He was Karate Kid‘s biggest supporter in the episode “Karate Kid” and accidentally believed himself to be the Persuader following a covert operation in “Who Am I?” He traveled to Kandor to stop Imperiex in “Message in a Bottle.” His father was once again R.J. Brande and he aided the Legion in saving him from an assassination attempt (again) in “In The Beginning.” Cham stood with the Legion against Brainiac in “Dark Victory.” He was voiced by Alexander Polinsky.