- "It's nice to have your work recognized after so many years being the good little boy in the shadows." - Randy Klein, Prey
Randy Klein, alias "Shadow Killer", is a metahuman with the ability to transform into a shadow-like form.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Transformation: Randy can transform into a shadow-like form, in which he possess several powers.
- Intangibility: While in shadow form, Randy can move his body through people and objects like a spectre. However, he must use this consciously; when Clark threw a tire at him, it hit him and knocked him over.
- Night Vision: While in shadow form, Randy has enhanced vision to hunt his victims in the dark.
- Flight: While in shadow form, Randy can glide through the air at various angles.
- Super speed: While in shadow form, Randy can move much quicker than humanly possible, able to appear and disappear in a blink of an eye. However, he is still much slower than Kryptonians, as when Clark entered super speed, he was frozen.
- Super strength: While in shadow form, Randy is much stronger than ordinary humans, able to casually overpower and wound them. However, his strength is still far inferior to that of Kryptonians, as Clark was able to effortlessly overpower him.
Season Eight[]
Randy in the Isis group
Randy was a member of a group of kryptonite infected metahumans who attended Chloe Sullivan's group therapy session at the Isis Foundation. When citizens of Metropolis were being stalked by a mysterious serial killer, including one of the group members, Mary Pierson, Randy pretended to be the killer so as to acquire the attention he always wanted.
Randy's shadow form
He later attacked Davis and Jimmy Olsen, before escaping at the sight of Clark Kent. Jimmy and Clark searched for the shadow creature. Clark used his x-ray vision to see through Randy's invisibility and then knocked Randy out by throwing a large tire at him with incredible force and speed.
Eva Greer makes Randy an offer.
After Randy was knocked out, Jimmy shot his photo. Randy was taken into custody, but Tess' assistant asked him to join Tess' team of "superheroes" that was started a few weeks before, with Bette Sans Souci. Later, it was revealed that Davis Bloome was the serial killer.
Notes[]
- Although he was asked to join Tess' team at the end of Prey, Randy did not appear in Injustice, making it unclear whether he accepted her offer or not.
- While Randy is dubbed "Shadow Killer" by the Daily Planet, he is never established to have actually killed anyone (with all the murders that he claimed responsibility for having been committed by Doomsday).
- According to the Daily Planet article about him, Randy has no known address, and the police are investigating details about his background. Furthermore, the article seemingly indicates that "Randy Klein" might not be his real name. As Randy never appeared again, this matter was never resolved. However, as he was approached to join Tess' team, it is possible that he was until recently a prisoner at Black Creek. In Injustice, all of the members (Plastique, Parasite, Mirror, Livewire, and Neutron) are established to be (with no exceptions) ex-Black Creek prisoners. Furthermore, at least one former Black Creek prisoner (Wilson Turner aka Sebastian Kane) assumed a new identity, after being released.
- It is possible that Randy Klein was later released by Checkmate (before the agency's destruction). In the episode Absolute Justice, Part 2, a conversation between Lois Lane and Clark Kent establishes that Checkmate has been secretly releasing all the bad guys (that fought the members of the Justice Society of America), and collecting them, by 2010.[2] In Charade, Checkmate is shown to have arranged for the life sentence of Ray Sacks (who had been put away by Clark and the Wonder Twins) to be overturned. One scene has Chloe Sullivan show Clark a list of other people, whose release has been arranged by Checkmate. Clark identifies the people on the list (which is not shown to the viewers) as people that he put away.[3] In Shield, Bette Sans Souci (who had been put away in 2009 by Clark Kent and Green Arrow) is shown to have been released from her incarceration, and joined the Suicide Squad.[4] In the episode Homecoming, Clark spots Greg Arkin (one of Clark's earliest foes) at their high school reunion, and identifies Greg as one of the people that he put away in high school (with Clark's panic at the sight of him indicating that Greg would have been unlikely to simply been released, having served whatever sentence he was given).[5] In Prophecy, Vordigan (who had been put in prison, through the combined effort of Clark and Green Arrow)[6] is shown to be out of prison.[7]
In the Comics[]
Shadow Thief as he appears in the comics.
There is a Hawkman villain named "Shadow Thief", who first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #36 (July, 1961). Shadow Thief's real name is Carl Sands, and he can turn himself into a shadow (though, with the aid of a device, rather than a metahuman power).
Appearances[]
- Season Eight: Prey
- Season Nine: Salvation (photograph)