Character Information
Real name: Unrevealed: living on Earth as Rus Livingston, and has been called Robbie (unknown which on he’ll chose to keep)
Occupation: Martian rebel; adventurer; briefly former astronaut
Identity: Secret
Legal status: Member of the Martian race; as Rus Livingston, a citizen of the U.S with no criminal record
Known aliases: Rus Livingston, Robbie
Place of birth: Unrevealed area on Mars
Marital status: Unrevealed
Known relatives: None
Group affiliations: Martian rebel movement; Guardians of the Globe
Base of operations: Unrevealed city in the U.S
Height: (Martian form) 6′ 5″ (as Rus Livingston)6′ 0″
Weight: (Martian form)190 lbs (as Rus Livingston) 190 lbs
Eyes: (Martian form) Black (as Rus Livingston) Brown
Hair: (Martian form) None (as Rus Livingston) Brown
Strength level: It is unknown precisely how strong Shapesmith is in his humanoid form, but he gains the natural physical attributes and strength of the forms he takes. Taking the form of a cheetah allows him to run at speeds of 70mph or assuming the form of a silverback gorilla he can lift roughly 2 tons.
History
The chameleonic hero known as The Shapesmith is not only one of the newest heroes of Earth, but he is also one of its newest inhabitants. A shape-shifting Martian, Shapesmith came to Earth after he assumed the form of astronaut Rus Livingston on Mars.
Livingston and four other astronauts had been captured and sentenced to death by the Martians while on a mission to the red planet. According to the Martian monarch, the mere presence of the “solid” humans posed a threat to Martian society due to their susceptibility to being overtaken by the slave race known as Sequids.
At some point during the astronaut’s Invincible-assisted escape, Shapesmith took Livingston’s form and replaced him. A member of a band of rebels who stood against strict Martian society and their enslavement of the Sequids, Shapesmith was convinced by his comrades to replace Rus. As an added bonus to the rebel’s plan of freeing the Sequids and overthrowing their corrupt monarch, Shapesmith would have the chance to escape the homeworld he hated.
Once on Earth, Shapesmith tried unsuccessfully to take over Rus’s life. Though he could perfectly mimic the astronauts appearance, he was woefully inept at preforming daily duties. Within a few weeks, Shapesmith had cost Rus his job with NASA and recieved an eviction notice from his landlord. Filled with loneliness and guilt over the havoc he had wreaked in Rus’s life, Shapesmith began to doubt his decision to replace the astronaut.
Just as all hope was lost, Shapesmith found new purpose in life when he saw a television feature about the late hero Martian Man. seeing how his fellow Martian used his natural abilities to fight crime, Shapesmith was reenergized. After studing the appearences and abilities of the Earth’s heroes, he chose the name “Shapesmith” and embarked on a career of heroics.
In his first adventure, Shapesmith not only faced the Lizard League, but defeated them utterly. Flushed with the success of his first venture, his decision to travel to Earth was seemingly justified. He later assisted the Guardians of the Globe in apprehending the recently escaped super-criminal Doc Seismic. It remains to be seen, however, if Shapesmith’s pride will be affected when he learns of the dire consequences of leaving Rus Livingston to be controlled by the Sequids on Mars.
Death
During Robot‘s initial attack on several members of the superhuman society whom he considered a threat to his attempt to create his “utopia”, Shapesmith was seen to be one of the casualties when one of Robot’s new model of drones approaches a badly injured Shapesmith. Shapesmith attempts to plead with Robot, stating that he thought that Robot was his friend. Robot proceeds to reply that the attack was nothing personal, before crushing Shapesmith’s core, killing him.
Known superpowers
Like all Martians, Shapesmith is a metamorph. He is capable of psionically shifting atoms and molecules of his body and whatever clothing he is wearing so as to change his and its appearances. As a result he can cause himself to look and sound like an exact duplicate of any human, humanoid, semi-humanoid or non-humanoid being of either sex, wearing virtually any kind of clothing. His control is so exact that he can precisely duplicate another person’s retinal pattern in his own eyes, finger, skin and pore patterns on his own hands and skin, and vocal cords to match voices to the point of corresponding voiceprints.
He can gain the natural physical attributes, including the strength, speed, reflexes and senses of the beings or creatures whose forms he assumes. Shapesmith can not , however, gain the extra-sensory or superhuman abilities of the imitated form. He is able to combine the DNA of various previously-imitated organisims to form composite creatures. He is able to add and subtract an unknown amount of physical mass to his body when assuming shapes larger or smaller than his own natural Martian form. It is theorized he is able to draw the extra mass from a store of the ambient quantum material around him and return it back again after his reverted back to his natural form.
Like all Martians in the Invincible universe, Shapesmith has a “core”, which can cause his death if damaged.