Dmitri Smerdyakov was born in
Soviet Russia. In his youth, he becomes a servant to his half-brother
Sergei Kravinoff, and later a minor associate of
Gustav Fiers. Although Dmitri and Sergei are friends, Sergei is often abusive to him, leading to a combination of admiration and resentment towards Kravinoff. Eventually, Smerdyakov emigrates to the
United States of America. Having made a talent for himself during his youth by impressing Sergei by impersonating friends and neighbors, he assumes a new disguise: the identity of Chameleon. During his first known criminal outing, he impersonates
Spider-Man, but is soon exposed and arrested. Shortly afterward, Sergei (now known as "Kraven the Hunter") comes to the United States, and the Chameleon sets his old associate's sights on Spider-Man. Both men become long-time enemies of Spider-Man, part of his primary
rogues gallery. The Chameleon inspires Kraven to begin hunting Spider-Man, inviting Kraven to dispose of the hero. With Kraven, the Chameleon battles
Iron Man, and then confronts the
Hulk. At one point, the Chameleon disguises himself as
Hank Pym, and robs Pym's laboratory for documents to combat Virus Nine. While delivering the documents and a shrunken Hulk to
Hydra, he is encountered and defeated by Ant-Man. The Chameleon also disguises himself as the
Torpedo and battles
Daredevil. When Kraven commits suicide, the Chameleon becomes obsessed with making Spider-Man suffer for his failure to prevent this. He ingests a serum which makes his face permanently featureless and malleable. He attempts to kidnap America's leading expert on superconductors, but is thwarted by Spider-Man. He then kidnaps
J. Jonah Jameson. He approaches the
Maggia for support to be New York's new crime lord, and forms an alliance with
Hammerhead. Disguised as a scientist, the Chameleon temporarily removes Spider-Man's powers. He allies himself with the
Femme Fatales, the
Scorpion, and the
Tarantula to eliminate Spider-Man and the
Black Cat, but escapes when his plan fails. The Chameleon's most ambitious play against Spider-Man happens when he forms an alliance with
Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin. Before Harry's death, the Chameleon is told that Spider-Man's secret identity can be found through Peter Parker, leading him to construct androids of Peter's parents,
Richard and Mary Parker; the Chameleon later admits that he went through with the plot to confirm once and for all that Peter was Spider-Man. The plan leads to a psychotic breakdown for both Spider-Man and the Chameleon, with Spider-Man briefly renouncing the civilian identity while the Chameleon is sent to
Ravencroft.
Ashley Kafka eventually sneaks him into a basement to try to continue treating him, believing that he is close to a breakthrough. When the court are preparing to put him on trial, the Chameleon escapes and attempts to convince Spider-Man that he is actually a hallucinating writer who suffered a mental breakdown after his daughter's death in a car accident; Peter manages to break through this deception due to his own strength of will. The Chameleon's confirmation of Spider-Man's secret identity leads him to try to attack Spider-Man through family and friends, but
Mary Jane Watson subdues him with a baseball bat. Somewhere in between this and subsequent appearances, he appears to have been killed by his nephew
Alyosha Kravinoff, but is revealed to have survived. After tricking Spider-Man to the bridge where
Gwen Stacy's death occurred on the pretext of having kidnapped Mary Jane, the Chameleon declares his own loneliness and love for Peter. When the surprise causes Peter to laugh nervously, the Chameleon throws himself off the bridge. He later reappears in a
mental institution, completely incapacitated and believing himself to be Sergei Kravinoff. He later reappears in his Chameleon identity as part of the
Sinister Twelve villain team organized by
Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin. After Spider-Man is unmasked, the Chameleon gathers a gang of villains called the Exterminators, The Chameleon next appears in the newest incarnation of
Super Villain Team-Up called
MODOK's Eleven. In this limited series, it is revealed that he contacted
A.I.M. the moment he was telepathically summoned by MODOK. He allows A.I.M. to send in their newest creation, the
Ultra-Adaptoid, under the guise of the Chameleon. Additionally, it is revealed that his apparent insanity and demise years earlier were ruses designed so that he could fade into the background once more. The "
One More Day" storyline ends with the removal of Peter and Mary Jane's timeline from all memories, as well as knowledge of Spider-Man's identity, including the Chameleon. Sometime later at an alley building during "
The Gauntlet and Grim Hunt" storyline, the distraught Chameleon is met by Sasha Kravinoff and
Ana Kravinoff, who want his help in avenging Sergei's death. Various follow-up issues during
The Gauntlet storyline show the Chameleon helping the Kravinoff family create an alliance of Spider-Man's enemies as well as
Diablo. After Sergei is resurrected, Spider-Man arrives and takes revenge on the Kravinoff family, pulling the Chameleon and Alyosha into a huge nest of spiders. The Chameleon later becomes a member of
Doctor Octopus's latest incarnation of the
Sinister Six. He poses as
Steve Rogers to infiltrate an Air Force base. The Chameleon disguises himself as a tribal chief when he and Mysterio attack
indigenous peoples using robots of the other Sinister Six members. Following the "
Dying Wish" storyline, the Chameleon fights
Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius's mind in Spider-Man's body) and the
Secret Avengers on the
S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. The Chameleon ends up knocked unconscious, and the Superior Spider-Man transports him to his hidden underwater lab where he ends up imprisoned. The Chameleon, Electro,
Sandman,
Mysterion, and the
Vulture are later seen as part of the "Superior Six" team. The Superior Spider-Man places the Six under his control to redeem them for their crimes, forcing them to risk their lives doing heroic deeds against their will. The Six eventually break free of the Superior Spider-Man's control and attempt to exact revenge, nearly destroying New York in the process. During the "Chameleon Conspiracy" storyline, Chameleon is imprisoned in a
Symkarian black site prison called the Hiding Place.
Teresa Parker infiltrates it, planning to interrogate him about his connection with Harry Osborn and the use of the Life Model Decoys of her parents. Teresa drags Chameleon to another cell where Finisher - her parents' killer - is being held, leading Chameleon to claim that he has the answers that she needs. Teresa non-fatally shoots Finisher to ensure both men's compliance. Chameleon and Finisher admit to Teresa that Chameleon faked Finisher's death to fool Spider-Man; upon relocating them to another building, Finisher is shown to have a plethora of people resembling Chameleon, unsettling him. As Spider-Man finds that some of the Jack O'Lanterns were unmasked to be Chameleon-like people, Finisher revealed to Teresa that Chameleon was adopted at a young age by
Gustav Fiers. Then Chameleon revealed that they never left the Hiding Place: Finisher was using holographic technology to speak with Teresa, and Chameleon states that she can use the Clairvoyant to find the rest of the answers she needs, all the while claiming that she may be a Chameleon double agent herself. Upon meeting up with Spider-Man, Teresa rejects Chameleon's insinuations and breaks the Clairvoyant, believing that she is a Parker first and foremost, and makes plans to track down Finisher. Back in his cell, the Chameleon is approached by
Kindred and states that he is happy to do business with Osborn again. ==Powers and abilities==