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| “ | It's like a furnace in here! | „ |
| ~ The Shapeshifter's catchphrase. |
| “ | Annie: You're a psychopath. Shifter: SOCIOPATH! Which is to be expected, really. I mean, I barely remember what I look like. I do remember the first time I shifted, though. One minute I was me, and the next I was Ms. Jameson, my preschool teacher. And I could see every memory she ever had. F****** her husband's best friend, shoplifting lip gloss, hitting a student. But you know what the funny part is? She felt justified in doing all those sh**** things. You all do it. You all think you're the heroes of your own story. |
„ |
| ~ The Shapeshifter talking to the kidnapped Starlight. |
| “ | Oh, this? I proposed to Hughie this morning! I even told him the story about your dead grandparents. And then we f***** to celebrate, and we did butt stuff; he was so into it! | „ |
| ~ The Shifter taunting Starlight about r***** Hughie. |
The Shapeshifter, also known simply as the Shifter, is a major antagonist in Season 4 of the 2019 Amazon TV adaptation comic book series The Boys.
Given the ability to shapeshift into anyone they touch, this sociopathic Shapeshifter was supposedly hired to assassinate the President-elect of the United States, Robert Singer, under Sister Sage's orders in order to put Victoria Neuman, and by extension, Homelander to power. It is later revealed that their inclusion in Sage's plan had a deeper purpose than just assassination.
They were portrayed by Erin Moriarty as Starlight, Naomi Frenette as an unnamed woman, Sarah D. McCarthy as Karen, and Eddy Kaye as the Shady Man.
Biography[]
Background[]
When the Shifter was only in preschool, they first manifested their powers given to them by Compound V when they touched their teacher, Ms. Jameson. In just mere seconds, they experienced all of her life and saw just how comfortable she was with justifying all the bad she had done to those around her. Not only that, but their original form was permanently lost, now being stuck as a shapeshifting, decomposing husk of a being at preschooler age.
As the Shifter assimilated more and more forms, more of their victims's memories started to clutter their own, all of which had one thing in common: no matter how sick, perverted or twisted deeds they had done, everyone justified themselves; they saw were the heroes of their own story. This, combined with the fact that they had to absorbe more and more forms to survive, led them to develop sociopathic tendencies.
Infiltrating the Boys[]
The Shifter was eventually tracked down and hired by Sister Sage to assassinate the president-elect, Robert Singer. The two meet in a park, where they were unknowingly photographed by A-Train, who informed the Boys about the incoming assassination.
The Boys track down their apartment, where they discover that A-Train was telling the truth about Singer's assassination, and also what seemed to be a victim of kidnapping and abuse, however, it was actually the Shapeshifter in disguise, who fled from them. During the pursuit, they touched a middle aged cleaning lady, and bloodily peel their flesh to take her form. Outside, the team lose sight of them as they blend into the crowd.
It's later revealed that Sage knew A-Train was the Leak and that he would photograph them, meaning that she lured them into the apartment to let them know they were up against a shapeshifter.
Shortly afterwards, the Shapeshifter poses as a Starlighter, Karen, to assimilate and abducted Annie while she was in a bar, keeping her chained in an isolated location; they kept Annie alive so they could restore her appearance on themselves, as their altered shape gradually decayed.
At Annie and Hughie's apartment, she distracted him by repeatedly having sex with him. After he fell asleep, they unlocked a safe - knowing the code from also copying Annie's memories - taking the evidence about Victoria Neuman's past at Red River and her identity as a supe, then erased the data.
The Shapeshifter proposed to Hughie, who returned the proposal with the ring his mother gave him.
Assassination Run[]
During a recharge, the Shapeshifter mocked Annie for suffering an existential crisis, losing access to her powers; they also mock her by revealing the ring Hughie unknowingly gave to them. They then accuse Annie of believing that she is morally superior to everyone else. Annie argued, though is brought to tears, as Shapeshifter listed the horrible events of Annie's life, but degrading her as being too weak to overcome them, and even blaming her for inviting molestation and abuse.
So Neuman can become President, Homelander and Sage order Shapeshifter to assassinate Robert Singer, although using Annie's appearance as to complete the smear and demonisation campaign against her.
The Shapeshifter is able to join Hughie, Kimiko, and MM in the underground bunker that Singer was forced to hide in until the assassination threat had passed. They witness Singer as he complained about being locked underground, which wouldn't have happened if the Boys managed to assassinate Neuman. The Shapeshifter began to sweat profusely and made a remark about it being too hot, which was identical to the phrase they used when the Boys first found her, which made Hughie realise that "Annie" was the assassin.
To subtly raise the alarm, Hughie tasked the Shapeshifter to get some water, during which time he told MM about the infiltration. When the Shapeshifter returned with the water, they engage in idle conversation, such as the engagement, however, their ability to analyse emotional expressions, they realise their cover was blown. The secret service rush to protect Singer and kill them, although they are able to easily and brutally dispatch the agents.
Meanwhile, Annie is able to escape her binds by practically gloving herself; despite the pain, she rushed to stop the Shapeshifter.
In the tunnel to the next bunker, Kimiko fights the Shapeshifter, but they are able to outfight her, twisting Kimiko's neck 180 degrees, leaving her deceased. Before they can reach Singer, Annie arrived to battle them. Annie is able to kill the mimic; Kimiko regenerated, just to find the fight over, so offered a mute congratulations to Annie.
Despite the Shapeshifter's failure to kill Singer and their death, they had been wearing a hidden camera that recorded Singer's rant about the plan to assassinate Neuman, which he inadvertently revealed his culpability in it. As such, the 25th Amendment is triggered, removing Singer from office and arresting him; Speaker of the House, Calhoun, is elevated to President, which fulfilled Sister Sage's scheme to orchestrate the rise of a Vought puppet into the Presidency, thereby enable the advancement of the next steps of the supe supremacy and world domination plan.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Shapeshifting: The Shifter can transform into any person she touches. She needs to rip her own skin in order to assume a new identity.
- Memory Absorption: As confirmed by herself, the Shifter has all of the memories of her victims, from their whole lives.
- Superhuman Strength: She was able to easily kill humans by just tossing them over the room, as well as fighting with Kimiko and Starlight, both superpowered Supes.
- Superhuman Durability: She is completely bulletproof, demonstrating immense durability.
- Superhuman Hearing: Being a Supe, she can hear higher frequencies than humans.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: She heals completely after touching her victim's skin for a recharge.
- Pain Tolerance/Immunity: Their power required that they physically shed and tear away their very flesh, without hesitation or delay, thus implying either a high tolerance or complete indifference to pain.
Weaknesses[]
- Transformation Decay: While the Shapeshifter can perfectly imitate someone they touch, even gaining all memories, upon shifting, a rate of decay is begun. Seemingly after 24 hours, their flesh starts to peel away, appearing like growing wounds, thus they need to periodically touch the subject again to restore a healthy appearance.
- Sensitivity to heat: Perhaps the movement of atoms in the manifestation of their powers can generate far above average body temperature, thereby causing the Shapeshifter to uncomfortably perspire.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite their original gender not being known, they seem to have a preference towards more feminine forms and even enjoy having sex in them. However, they were perfectly fine with living in a masculine form before they encounter The Boys. It's likely that because of the nature of their powers, they are genderfluid.
A shapeshifter from Supernatural.
- The Shapeshifting Supe is a reference to the shapeshifters from Eric Kripke's previous series, Supernatural. The Shifter changes into another form in the same way shapeshifters from The CW show do, by making physical contact with their victims and shedding their own skin during transformation. Additionally, their eyes "flare" in a similar manner to the Supernatural shapeshifters.
- The Shapeshifter and Doppleganger are the third pair of Supes to not be biologically related but have the same ability (excluding the basic superhuman strength, durability and healing factor). The first being A-Train and Shockwave, the second being Victoria Neuman and Marie Moreau.
External Links[]
- The Shapeshifter on the Pure Evil Wiki
- The Shifter on the Boys Wiki.
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