Warning! This article contains spoilers for Kraven the Hunter.

played by Russell Crowe, standing as the harsh and abusive head of the family. Meanwhile, his oldest son, Sergei, was in a prime position to take over his criminal empire, but he rejected it in favor of running away and forging his own path.

While Sergei ran, his young brother, Dmitri, was forced to stay behind, living with his cruel father, and growing to embrace him as the only person who did not abandon him. As a result, when Nikolai is eventually killed, Dmitri decides to step up as the new head of the family, and embrace the criminal underworld. However, to do this, he needs to employ a special set of skills which he has refined over his entire life, and further enhanced with the aid of a mysterious doctor in New York, who helps him to take his impersonations to the next level.

Chameleon's Power Change In Kraven The Hunter Explained

Chameleon Looks A Little Different in The Comics

In the comics, Dmitri is the half brother of Kraven, and he does grow up being raised in the same house, though Sergei is a cruel and abusive brother. In order to escape the cruelty and violence of the people who are supposed to love and him, Chameleon refines his ability to do impersonations. He can mimic voices with high precision, and is a master of disguise and impressions. Using these talents, Chameleon is able to take on other identities, but it has its limits.

While the Chameleon take a serum that allows him to transform, this is not always the case, and so this version of the villain is much more grounded. Meanwhile, the movie decided to have Dmitri be a talented mimic, and then acquire shapeshifting powers by working with an unnamed doctor in New York. This creates an interesting prospect for the villain, who can now perfectly replicate others, at least in of his face.

How Chameleon Can Change His Face In Kraven

Chameleon Has Some New Powers In Kraven The Hunter

In Kraven the Hunter's final scenes, Kraven confronts his brother a year after the kidnapping. Dmitri has embraced the role of a mob boss, and Kraven disapproves. However, when Kraven tries to talk his brother out of this rash decision, Dmitri transforms his face to mirror his brother. Moments later, his face transforms to look like the mask of Chameleon from the comics, before transforming back into his own human appearance. This clearly indicates that these powers are now inherently a part of his genetics, and it allows him to transform at will, but it appears it may have come with the side effect of making the permanent face the less human one.

When Kraven tries to talk his brother out of this rash decision, Dmitri transforms his face to mirror his brother.

Dmitri is able to achieve this result by working with a mysterious doctor, whose location is revealed to be New York. However, beyond this, Dmitri does not offer any further insights about the identity or whereabouts of such a character. Clearly, they have a lot of experience with enhancing and transforming genetics, but this is very little to go off. Fortunately, the comics do provide some insight into the origin of these powers, and another earlier scene could be the key to unraveling exactly who was behind turning Dmitri into the Chameleon.

Who Could Chameleon's Doctor Be?

There Is An Obvious Answer, And Some Hidden Ones

As far as the comics are concerned, Dmitri is discovered and recruited by Gustav Fiers to be a part of a secret group of undercover assassins. Dmitri's gift for voice impressions makes Gustav take notice of the boy, and he soon becomes the star pupil. He also introduces the boy to his brother, Karl Fiers, also known as The Finisher, who helps to train Dmitri to take his talents for impersonation to another level and combine it with costume changes and other methods to assume the identities of others. However, neither of these characters are known to be doctors, so that throws a spanner in the works for that theory.

However, when Dmitri is captured by Aleksei, aka, the Rhino, he informs him that there was an American doctor who gave him a serum that transformed his body. Aleksei mentions that this doctor is named Miles Warren, which points to another character famous in the Marvel Comics, the Jackal. The Jackal is a villain who studied with the High Evolutionary to learn how to edit, control, and manipulate genes and create new life. However, Warren was obsessed with cloning, and adjusting his own genes to make himself more powerful. This would make sense as the person who helped Dmitri to transform and become the Chameleon, although it likely came with side effects in a similar way to how Aleksei's treatments caused him to suffer intense and ongoing pain.

Is The Doctor A Nod To The Sinister Six?

Despite The SSU Being Closed For Business

The reference to a doctor seems very likely to be referring to Miles Warren, especially considering that this name was mentioned a few scenes earlier when Dmitri and Aleksei were discussing where his physical enhancements came from. If this is the case, then the Jackal could be an invaluable asset to many other supervillains, as he can help them to enhance their bodies and gain powers beyond their imaginations. As a result, he could be gearing up to be a part of the Sinister Six, or simply enhance those villains to their peak conditions.

However, there are other doctors in New York who have extensive knowledge of genetics, and two of them are of the Sinister Six already. Dr. Otto Octavius is a brilliant scientist with multiple specialties, but considering his work on creating biomechanical technology, it could be one potential connection or answer to how the Chameleon transforms. Otherwise, there is Dr. Curtis Conners, who has an obsession with uncovering a chemical compound that could imbue animal DNA with humans, which in turn transforms him into a monstrous lizard. Dr. Conners could have made a similar concoction for Dmitri, which would create another link to the Sinister Six after Kraven the Hunter.