The Birth: The Parasite made his first appearance in The Adventures Of Superman #481 in August 1991 becoming known to Metropolis' finest by leaving the stench of death hanging over the 814 Metropolis subway train. As for his origins -- no-one's quite sure.

The Alter Ego: The Parasite's real name is Rudy Jones. He was an inmate of maximum security before he busted out, faked his death with an encounter with the guards and then turned up in Metropolis.

The Legend: Parasite gained notority in Metropolis when the local cops found a subway train with a bunch of corpses who looked like they had met their creator a couple of decades ago. The S.C.U. (See S.C.U.) was Superman were called in by Henderson to assit in the case. At first glance, Superman thought it was the work of the Banshee (See Silver Banshee) 'cept that she was supposed to have been long dead and Supes infra red image of the killer didn't match the body of the woman.
Superman fought the Parasite and eventually he found his place at S.T.A.R. Labs which seemed to be the perfect imprisonment cell. Later he changed hands and ended up at Cadmus.
The Parasite was true to his name since he "fed" on people's life source draining them of energy. Along with the nourishment he also seemed to inherit any special powers or talents they had, though not to their fullest capability. Once he asborbed the life energy he could reject their minds, thereby keeping his own personality intact.
There came a time in Superman's life (See Superman) when his energy levels were getting dangerously high. The Parasite was used by Cadmus to drain off Superman's excess energy giving Supes his normal "look" once again.
More recently , a Dr. Torval Freeman seemed to have experienced a sort of "blackout". But he got a rude shock to find out that he had somehow changed into the Parasite. What had happened was that with Lex Luthor's (See Lex Luthor) careful planning, Rudy Jones a.k.a. the Parasite had fed on Dr. Freeman but failed to reject his mind. He was now Doc Parasite . Luthor had chosen Torval because of the grudge he bore against the doctor when he was caring for the Lexcorp C.E.O in his vegetative state.
Doc Parasite fought Superman and the Alpha Centurion as well, before escaping from the heroes clutches. It had become a known fact that Parasite had somehow kept the personality of Torval when he ate him and had thus become smart. But when Alpha Centurion trapped Parasite and brought Mrs. Freeman to coerce Torval to regain control of the body, Parasite ejected Torval Freeman's body and escaped. He was later caught by the joint effort of Professor Emil Hamilton, Lois Lane and the S.C.U.

Adventures Of Superman #481