The Chameleon Conspiracy is a Spider-Man storyline written and published in 2021. The fifth major storyline in The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), the story ran from issues #67 through #69 in the main book and, similar to King's Ransom, was concluded in a Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man issue.
Teresa Parker finds herself plagued with questions about her life. The Chameleon has the answers, but Teresa may not like what he has to say or what he would want her to do in exchange for giving them to her. Meanwhile, Jamie Tolentino, Peter Parker's research partner and classmate at Empire State University, finds himself embroiled in the machinations of the Foreigner, who has an interest in the Clairvoyant device Jamie and Peter have developed. And on top of all that, Peter has to deal with the surprise return of Ned Leeds.
The story was followed by Sinister War, which served as the Grand Finale to Spender's run.
The Chameleon Conspiracy contains the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: The story raises the possibility that Teresa is not Peter's sister, but a sleeper agent working for the Finisher who came to believe her false identity. The Chameleon offers to give her definitive answers in exchange for breaking him out of prison, but she refuses and chooses to embrace Teresa Parker as her true identity, regardless of what her origins are.
- Back from the Dead: Peter gets quite a shock when he sees Ned Leeds back to life. Ned states that he was resurrected by the Goblin formula in his system, just like Norman Osborn was.
- Big Bad: The Chameleon.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When the Finisher's near-fatal encounter with Spider-Man left him bedridden, the Chameleon stayed by his bed side every day while he recuperated. The Finisher credits the Chameleon's support for helping him recover and considers him family.
- Faking the Dead: The Finisher was thought to have been killed during his confrontation with Spider-Man all the way back in Amazing Spider-Man volume 1, Annual 5. In truth, he barely managed to survive thanks to the medical care afforded by and has been in hiding.
- Gaslighting: Assuming Teresa isn't a Chameleon or robot like the Finisher and the Chameleon imply, them making Teresa think she is certainly qualifies as an example of this trope.
- Human Head on the Wall: The cover to the Giant-Size issue shows the Chameleon sitting in front of wall covered with the heads of various Spider-Man characters while holding Spider-Man's mask.
- Paranormal Gambling Advantage: Jamie Tolentino has been using the Clairvoyant computer to win games at The Palace. He made sure to lose just enough games so as not to draw attention to himself and reveal his advantage. Unfortunately, the computer has been running low on power and Jamie's very real losses have resulted in him being in debt to Chance, who knows about the Clairvoyant.
- Revenge Before Reason: Ned is so determined to get his revenge on the Foreigner for killing him that he ignores the fact that the ship they are on is falling out of the sky. Spider-Man has to snap him out of it so they can focus on landing the ship safely.
- Spanner in the Works: Had Peter not visited Ned and Betty, they never would have told him about the Foreigner's interest in the Clairvoyant. This leads to Spider-Man stopping the Foreigner's attempt to steal the Catalyst, a device housed in Empire State University which the Foreigner intended to use to power the Clairvoyant.
- Wham Line: The Chameleon to Teresa: "You want to know if you're like them."note
