First Appearance: The Fury of Firestorm #58 (April, 1987)

Species: Human

Occupation: Former Janitor, Criminal

Alias: Rudolph C. “Rudy” Jones

Note: there have been a few iterations of the character, namely Raymond Jensen and…NFL Quarterback Josh Allen?!?! But we will be focusing on Rudy Jones, the most prominent and consistent Parasite. Since all three of their origins’ are vastly different in nature, research for the other two was not really required since there isn’t much grounds to say they should be one for one despite having the same powers.

Background

Few beings in existence remember the terrible event that shook the cosmos; the Crisis on Infinite Earths. A devastating event that reduced infinity to one singular universe, everything changed, including history and the heroes and villains a part of it. But high atop the planet of Apokolips, its feared ruler, Darkseid remembered everything. Exerting his will, he wanted to manipulate the events in the lives of those on Earth in order to restore some of what was lost. One such villain he remembered was Raymond Jensen, a being who could absorb the energy and powers of those he touched. Seeking to make a new version of such a beast, Darkseid manipulated the events of a janitor named Rudy Jones at the Pittsburgh branch of S.T.A.R. Labs. Under Darkseid’s influence, Jones opened a waste container, thinking it contained something valuable in it, but he was exposed to an unknown radiation that made his skin glow green, and he had a hunger for life energy. This made him irrationally unstable and unable to survive without leeching humans dry of it, and as such, for a monster like this, only one name was befitting of him…Parasite.

Experience & Skill

Parasite has fought his ways through many heroes and villains, though his actual intelligence highly depends on whose memory he has absorbed, and if Parasite is smart enough to put said skills to use. He’s able to quickly pick up how to use most peoples powers he absorbs just fine, and has utilized genius minds like Dr. Martian Stein figures out Firestorm’s plan, though most of the time, Rudy isn’t much of a tactical fighter. After his separation from Doc Torval Freeman, Rudy seemed to retain some of his mannerisms and intelligence, which even allowed him to speak Portuguese! He’s also pretty stealthy, and has snuck up Guardian and Superman, who has super-hearing.

Equipment

Sunlight Cannon

When Kryptonians set their sights on Earth, Lex Luthor came prepared. He designed sunlight cannons that are powered by a nuclear solar fusion engine that can manipulate and harness sunlight, and is able to shoot out miniature red suns, which is a weakness of Superman, and Parasite was able to wield one in the fight.

Armband

When Parasite was given a second chance, he needed a way to regulate his constant need for energy without harming others. So for a time, he had an armband that fed him a steady and healthy diet of energy, which helped to better his mood.

Parasite Puppy

A small piece of Parasite remained after his evolved powers wore off, and it eventually mutated into another clone of Parasite that was much more feral and doglike, which Parasite opted to keep as a pet.

Abilities

Life Energy Absorption

Parasite’s main ability is his power to feed off of the life energy on others, which in turn grants him a significant boost in power, and is often characterized by him growing in size into a more hulking monster that can super-leap in the air. How does this absorption work? According to the guidebooks, he can absorb energy from any living human as long as he is within 20 feet of them, which kills any ordinary human and skeletonizes them. Against metahumans, this reduces their energy levels to normal, which can leave them vulnerable to being killed by Parasite. He gains the memories, ideas, dreams, and smarts of those he absorbs. Upon first getting his powers, Parasite stole the energy from a guard, reducing him to a skeleton and taking the electrical energy from his brain, and stole the dreams and memories of three more victims. It was later revealed that he killed 20 people by absorbing their energy when he first got his powers. The absorption ability seems to be passive, as doctors dump a rat into his cell every now and then, and it gets absorbed despite Parasite being asleep.

The potency of his absorption is lethal, even in small doses. By just absorbing the energy of two humans, he could easily break out of prison, and absorbing teams of men is usually enough to leave him full. He has absorbed entire buses and trains of people at once. When absorbing energy from metahumans, he’s threatened to suck entire cities dry of their energy. External energy sources and weapons can act as fuel for Parasite as well, such as Alpha Centurion’s energy shield, Steel’s annihilator weapon,

He has absorbed the energy from many prominent heroes and villains, including but not limited to Firestorm, Firehawk, Black Canary, Multiplex, Martian Manhunter, Starman, Killer Frost, Catalyst, Kryptonians such as Superman Blue and Supergirl, Strange Visitor, Mon-El, who is a Daxamite, Brainiac probes, and even Doomsday. Even though Parasite was killed by Doomsday, he absorbed enough energy from him to make his skin vulnerable to being pierced by Black Mercy needles to subdue him.

Most notably of course, he has drained Superman’s energy many many times. Parasite has said that he has never absorbed power like Superman’s, and Superman says that this process usually leaves him as weak as a puppy, putting him at Parasite’s mercy. Parasite opts to keep him alive though since someone like Superman can be a consistent battery to him. Parasite can drain Superman faster then siphoning coils restraining him and Superman can keep up with, and when Superman is drained of his energy, he is usually far too weak to stop Parasite.

Parasite’s ability to absorb memories and minds has also come in handy. This allows him to know how to use the powers he is using, but also use the smarts he is given to his advantage, such as when he found out about Dr. Martin Stein’s brain tumor when he absorbed his memories. Another time, he absorbed the memories of a security chief that gave him knowledge of the portal code of Mirabai’s magic dimension changing every five minutes, and he knows the deactivation incantation to free Mon-El of his restraints. For more niche applications, absorbing minds can take away the pain of those whose memories he absorbs.

After Parasite’s fight with the Strange Visitor and Superman, Parasite is able to keep what he drains, and has kept certain powers that he has absorbed or were given to him, which will be talked about below.

Power Absorption

When absorbing the energy of metahumans, Parasite is able to use their powers, and this is helped by the fact that he retains the memories and overall brains of the opponent he absorbs. This has allowed him to utilize a myriad of powersets at his disposal, including but not limited to:

Multiplex’s ability to clone himself (shown above)
Black Canary’s canary cry (also shown above)
Firehawk’s thermonuclear energy
Firestorm’s matter manipulation
Catalyst’s nerve toxin
Superman’s heat vision, flight, x-ray vision, and telescopic vision
Martian Manhunter’s invulnerability
Superman Blue’s optic blasts and passive energy siphoning
Grunge’s metal transformation
Supergirl’s angelic powers (which was nonstandard for Linda at the time)
Strange Visitor’s electromagnetic field manipulation, energy shields, magnetic charge, and telekinesis
The Green from Swamp Thing

Electricity Absorption

Parasite can absorb other types of energy sources, with the second most common form being electricity. He has absorbed the screens from TVs, a specialized guns voltage, and 200,000 volts of electricity, and can use it to coat himself in an aura of it that causes explosions on contact. Absorbing electricity on its own is usually enough to consistently break him out of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Nuclear Radiation Absorption

Parasites can absorb radiation, heat, explosions (as shown above), and nuclear energy, as implied by his ability to absorb the energy from a nuclear power planet.

Kryptonite Radiation Absorption

Parasite is capable of absorbing more unique alien radiations such as kryptonite, and Superman used Parasite to cure Superman of his kryptonite radiation infection and has absorbed constant kryptonite radiation from Metallo. It makes him very full…ough.

Inertia Absorption

During a battle with Superboy, Parasite was given the ability to absorb the inertia of objects in motion, after absorbing Dubbilex’s power, which he used to stop a car and Superman in his tracks.

Mind Absorption

On one occasion, Parasite absorbed a human named Doc Torval Freeman into his body, but it had weird side effects. Normally, Parasite absorbs the memories of someone, but Parasite in this instance had a new guest in his head, taking Doc’s conscious/mind into his very being, making Parasite have two minds, one of which gave him brains and cunning. Eventually, Doc gave in to the power hungry nature of Parasite and spat out his own body out of Parasite, leaving he and Rudy to battle for dominance over Parasite’s mind, until Parasite’s death, which left Doc in the dust, though as mentioned before, Parasite retained some of his intelligence and mannerisms.

Resurrection

On a few occasions when Parasite has been killed, he has been able to come back to life. He’s been reduced to protoplasmic sludge and returned after a long duration, and recently, when being killed by Doomsday, he was able to come back to life due to Parasite absorbing some of his energy and power before he died, giving him Doomsday’s ability to resurrect himself (as shown above).

Resistances:

Limited Energy Absorption: Jimmy Olsen used frogs made up of Parasite’s own cells to attack Parasite and absorb his energy, which had no effect on him. These frogs were able to absorb energy from Poison Ivy.
Toxins/Poisons: Has been used to filter feed kryptonite poisoning and radiation out of Superman.

Feats

Overall

Has absorbed the powers of Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Firestorm, Strange Visitor, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Firehawk, and Doomsday

Battled Superman on the Moon

Has frequently escaped S.T.A.R. Labs

Was recruited by the Suicide Squad to capture Swamp Thing

Helped Superman defeat Metallo and was given a second chance at being a hero…until DC forgot about this

Went on a rampage with his Imp counterpart Paras-mite and sent Batman, Robin, and Superman to the Second Dimension 

Power

With Firehawk/Firestorm’s combined power:

Sends Firestorm flying with a punch
Firestorm is worried he will kill him and says Parasites more powerful then him
Breaks out of metal restraints and throws a large ladle
Threatens to set off a nuclear blast
Breaks out of diamond imprisonment and cable cords made by Firestorm
Gained a power boost to the point where Firehawk admitted he was stronger then her

With Superman’s power:

Trades hits with Starman 

Can match Superman on many occasions, even making him black out at points

Though he is usually weakened after having his energy drained

Is considered to be stronger then Superman with enough energy 

Throws a sewer lid at Wonder Woman to break her grip on the Lasso of Truth

Knocks Savage Dragon unconscious 

Rips through the side of a truck 

Swats away Superboy after absorbing Dubbilex’s energy 

Overpowers Psionic Lad with one hand 

Nearly kills Black Canary and Martian Manhunter after absorbing their power

Breaks out of ice restraints made by Firestorm

Subdued Blue Beetle 

Breaks the neck of a S.T.A.R. Labs security guard after absorbing electricity 

Swats away Strange Visitor with her own power and holds her and Superman at once

Trades hits with Superboy and restrains Krypto the Superdog, which destroys main street

Grapples with Supergirl 

After tapping into the Green, was able to match Swamp Thing 

Punches Nubia, an Amazonian warrior 

Beats up Brainiac probes 

Speed

With Mon-El’s speed, can fly across the air and evade gunfire (as shown above)
Dodges a blast from a rehabilitation device
Burns through an entire street of houses by flying fast with Firehawk’s powers
With Superman’s power, can react to Superman

Durability

After just absorbing a bus full of people, can tank a stomp from Superman that sends him flying

Survives being tackled into the Moon by Superman after absorbing the energy from five villains

With Firehawk’s power, survived being exposed to 2,000 degrees of heat 

With Firestorm’s power: 

With Superman’s power: 

With Superman Blue’s power, survives a tanker explosion being redirected at him

After draining a team of men, tanks hits and heat vision from Supergirl 

Tanks an energy blast from Blue Beetle’s cannon 

Survives an “eradication” blast from the valentine war helmet, which is also described as a death ray

After absorbing electricity from the top of a building, tanks hits from Nubia and her spear

Tanks a hit from Steel’s hammer (shown above)

Scaling

Various Heroes

On his own, Parasite isn’t immediately a threat, but usually it doesn’t take much to level the playing field, such as only absorbing the energy of a few animals to put the hurt on Superboy and Krypto the Superdog. At a certain point however, Parasite was able to retain some of the power of those he absorbed after fighting the Strange Visitor, and this was characterized by him having retained some of Superman’s own power, so he should consistently and comfortably be at a decent power level before a fight starts. As such, Parasite’s scaling should extend to various powerful enough heroes like Superman, Superboy, Firestorm, Strange Visitor, or Green Lantern.

Kryptonians:

Superman could defeat Monarch, who can twist space and time and destroy universes within atoms
Pre-Crisis Supergirl tore apart the Anti-Monitor’s armor
Superboy clashing with Superboy-Prime destroyed the Monitor Tower, which caused the multiverse to collapse in on itself
Power Girl defeats Mordu-possessed Arion, whose magic merged Garn with the universal consciousness that created and embodies Darkworld, a dimension of magic stated to be infinite in size

Green Lanterns:

The Green Lantern Ring is repeatedly called the most powerful weapon in the universe
Green Lantern Rings regularly survive black holes
Hal Jordan was able to reduce the explosion of the Golden Destroyer which threatened two universes and traverse the universe’s transluminal pathways at speeds incalculable
John Stewart a supernova that illuminated thousands of light-years and recreated the Xanshi Star System with constructs
Kyle Rayner contained the leaking energies of Imperiex, who already had numerous galaxies worth of energy stored inside of him
Guy Gardner matched Lobo in arm-wrestling and tanked hits from him

Firestorm:

Can set off nuclear explosions
Threatened to incinerate Flash with all he’s got
Firestorm threatened to detonate all nuclear warheads of the USA and Soviet Union on live TV
If agitated, could trigger another Big Bang that destroys everything but themselves’
Took out Black Adam with an explosion

Weaknesses

Despite having such a detrimental power, there are a lot of drawbacks that hold him back. For starters, Rudy himself is an idiot. In the guidebooks, he is stated to blunder into fights without really thinking, and Doc Freeman says that he is far from a tactical fighter, and he doesn’t really put the smarts he gains to use. Superman considers him to be dumb enough to struggle to open a doorknob.

As for Parasite’s energy absorption, there are ample counters one can take to stall out Parasite or take away his power. The most obvious weakness is its range, as being 20 feet outside of Parasite’s range is enough to avoid his absorption, and Superman has used this to beat Parasite without even getting near him. Parasite’s metabolism is also incredibly inefficient, and the more he overexerts himself, the more energy he burns, which eventually forces him to use his own life energy to sustain himself, which usually reduces him back to a weak sack of flesh. The memories he absorbs can also cross his mind unintentionally, often bombarding him with memories and thoughts and speech patterns of those he has absorbed, which can strain his brain.

Two counters to Parasite’s absorption are overloading him or reverse-absorbing him. If Parasite absorbs too much energy or more then he can handle, he usually gets irrational or gets outright beaten down, and this has worked on him many times, such as Starman overloading him with solar energy, and Superman and Superboy overloading Parasite with their own power and electricity. And on the contrary, Parasite can have his own energy absorbed, and he consistently fails to resist this. Firehawk’s thermonuclear energy absorption was able to turn the tide on Parasite, and Superman Blue absorbed Parasite’s energy with his own absorption abilities. Even normal energy draining weapons can harm him.

On occasion, Parasite’s absorption abilities have also outright failed, sometimes due to sheer will and other times due to certain limitations. Characters like Savage Dragon have resisted his absorption, and more alien weaponry like Blue Beetle’s Scarab and Alpha Centurion’s alien energy blades struggled to get absorbed by Parasite. Once he struggled to absorb Firestorm’s (Mikhail Arkadin) powers due to them not coming from himself, but from the Earth, and sometimes the absorption doesn’t work a second time, such as with Starman, and the armor of Steel can also block Parasite’s energy absorption. He also explicitly cannot absorb the artificial energy of a Green Lantern, or the mystic energy of Dr. Fate or Swamp Thing, though in recent comics, Black Adam implied Parasite could absorb his power, which is magic in nature. Perhaps a more obvious limitation but worth mentioning, but some characters are simply too powerful for Parasite to absorb and survive, as he himself admitted he would probably be killed if he tried to absorb the power of someone as powerful as Superboy-Prime.

In terms of absorbing someone’s powers, this isn’t an automatic win against an opponent either. It's been pointed out that Parasite isn’t very creative or has a good hold on how to use the powers of those he absorbs, and if a metahuman is lucky enough to not be killed by Parasite, the energy absorption isn’t permanent, and they will get their powers back in a few hours usually. He also gains the weaknesses of the metahumans whose power he absorbs, as shown when he gained Martian Manhunter’s powers and gained his weakness to fire. And even if he is able to absorb a power that seems tough to absorb, sometimes it's too much for him to sustain, such as the divine angelic powers of Supergirl. He can also be cut off from his power sources if the opponent is smart enough, such as when Strange Visitor took Parasite into space to cut him off of Earth’s electromagnetic field.

Lastly, a more random weakness is…ice? Yeah sometimes things like freeze breath just stops him in his tracks no matter how big he is or how many times he clones himself, though usually depending on the opponent he can break out by absorbing heat or just energy, and simply absorbing energy from generators can break him out of this. Other things can neutralize him such as plasma bullets.

Summary

“I am as you say... a Parasite! And you are only food to me! I have become you! Who you are, what you are, how you came to be -- all this is mine!”

Attack Potency: Varies, depends on whose energy he absorbs, but he can absorb power from Multiversal+ power sources such as the Green
Speed: Varies, depends on whose energy he absorbs, but has absorbed speed from Superman, who has numerous Immeasurable speed feats across different eras
Life Energy Absorption (causes incineration, power draining, memory absorption, and power copying)
Electricity Absorption
Heat/Radiation/Nuclear Energy Absorption
Inertia Absorption
Mind Absorption
Dimensionality Absorption
Shapeshifting
Regeneration
Resurrection
Duplication/Infection (formerly)

Who Should He Fight?

Rogue (Marvel Comics)

This match is a classic comparison. The two life energy absorbers who can use the powers of those whose energy they steal. Hero vs villain. All things considered, it's still a solid alt for both and their powers are similar, so it could make for an interesting fight. Who do I think wins? When looking at things from Rogue on the side, she’s had her powers ‘cancel out’ with another energy absorber when both used against each other, meanwhile Parasite usually folds pretty badly when he is fighting another energy absorber such as Superman Blue. On top of that, Rogue easily takes tertiaries by leaps and bounds, being a more experienced hero and is far smarter than Rudy. That being said, dimensionality absorption would probably instakill Rogue if used on her, so there’s a debate to be had on if that would be used sooner then later, otherwise Rogue would probably win in an energy absorption-off.

Malware (Ben 10)

A recent Parasite match floating around the ‘cord and the ‘ddit, Parasite vs Malware is pretty cool. Two rage-filled, sadistic monsters who thrive on insatiable hunger for energy, turning them into hulking monsters, and being tormented with resentment from those around them in their previous lives. It’s pretty sweet! Could easily be a fun fight, and probably a fun debate as well. I’m not sure who wins this either but I’d probably lean Parasite since from what I remember, Malware has just as much of a hard time against energy absorption, and it doesn’t take too long for Parasite to hit Kryptonian level stats with just a bit of absorption, and dimensionality absorption would also probably seal the deal.

Special thanks to Ninjamonkey3904 and Stationsearcher for the art!

Bang's Character Analysis: Parasite (DC Comics)