Camille Chameleon is an antagonist from the Darkwing Duck franchise, that debuted in "Calm a Chameleon". She is a misfit duck with shapeshifting abilities. Originally, Camille spent her time studying biology and became obsessed with chameleons and their ability to fit in anywhere. She managed to extract a chameleon's essence and implanted it in herself, giving herself its abilities along with a lizard-like tail.
Background[]
Camille was originally simply a normal high school duck, with a personality that left her an outcast. She developed a fascination with chameleons and their ability to adapt to any environment. This led her bullying peers to name-call her "Camille Chameleon". She extracted the essence of the chameleon, gaining the power to shapeshift. She also retained chameleon attributes, such as green feathers, a tail, and a lisp.
While she can transform into anyone, she retains her yellow eyes.
Appearances[]
Darkwing Duck[]
Camille's experiments were expensive, and she was still unable to interact with people and hold a job. So Using her shape-shifting powers, she attempts to create her own money by posing as Mrs. Howl, owner of a large newspaper chain. This led to a second confusing encounter between the heroes and the criminal, with Camille quickly imitating Gosalyn, Launchpad McQuack, and even Darkwing Duck himself as she attempted to flee the scene and/or capture them. It got so bad that Darkwing almost beat up Honker, and Launchpad actually clobbered DW inadvertently in attempting to subdue the criminal.
The situation was resolved when Honker Muddlefoot, himself suffering an identity crisis thanks to Darkwing's egotistical meddling, realized that if Camille had taken on the traits of the chameleon, that she had also become cold-blooded. Turning up the heat in the room caused the criminal to lose control over her metabolic rate and her changeling abilities and to lose her disguise, rapidly shifting between forms out of control. It culminated in Camille degenerating into a small chameleon lizard, easing her capture. Darkwing would sentence her to "ten years in a maximum strength terrarium."
Comics[]
Camille captures Scrooge and his crew in DuckTales #2.
Being a one-shot villain on the show, Camille never appeared in any Darkwing Duck comics published when the show was on the air, but she eventually made the jump to the print medium in Boom! Studios' DuckTales comic book, appearing in the arc "Rightful Owners". Camille first appears disguised as King Fulla Cola's son and tries, with the help of the Beagle Boys, to steal the candy-striped ruby (Rockerduck sent both her and the Beagle Boys after Scrooge to prevent him from returning the ruby). At the start, she seems to have the upper hand and easily defeats Scrooge McDuck and his nephews; however, at the end despite all her attempts to steal the ruby fails, and Scrooge manages to return it to its original owner. She then tries to escape with a submarine which she manages to do successfully, only to be thwarted and caught by the Navy.
Camille reappears in the DuckTales/Darkwing Duck crossover story "Dangerous Currency", where she is a member of "The League of Eve-ill" along with Magica De Spell, Ammonia Pine, and Cinnamon Teal. Strangely, she does not use her shape-shifting ability once in the story. They form an alliance with the Phantom Blot, the Fearsome Four, and the Beagle Boys. They later merge with Negaduck after he is revealed to be the source of the slime/ink that the villains have been using, and are ultimately zapped away to another dimension at the end of the story. However, "Dangerous Currency" was never approved by Disney and is not considered canon (this likely applies to "Rightful Owners" as well).
Canonically, Camille's return appears in "Orange is the New Purple", the opening story arc to the short-lived Darkwing Duck comic by Joe Books. After Negaduck traps Darkwing in St. Canard's new maximum-security prison with all the villains, Camille attempts to attack Darkwing, disguised as Launchpad, but he sees right through her disguise. The two battle, with Camille seemingly getting the upper hand when she takes on the form of an octopus, bragging that her powers have grown since their last encounter. Darkwing, however, knows that she's still weak to intense heat and defeats her by sticking Quackburn's Fast-Heating Ouchie Strips on her back.
Trivia[]
- Camille's abilities are based on the Spider-Man villain the Chameleon.
Gallery[]
