John Jameson (comics)

John Jonah Jameson III (also known by the aliases Colonel Jupiter, Man-Wolf, and Stargod) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

John Jameson debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.^[1] This first story introduces the character as a prominent astronaut.

During his lengthy stint on The Amazing Spider-Man during the 1970s, writer Gerry Conway had Jameson turned into a werewolf, with the new alias "Man-Wolf". Conway explained:

I'd wanted to do something with [John Jameson] for a long time. I felt like he was a character who'd gotten lost over the years. Also, at this point, it's 1973, John Jameson is an astronaut, and we've been to the moon, so I asked myself, "What would we do with that in Spider-Man's world?" And that was how it played out. It also added another layer of tension to Spider-Man's relationship with J. Jonah Jameson. As a writer, you always want to find a way to increase the pressure on the main character, to increase the involvement of other characters with that character. Consequently, anything that could make Jonah's hatred of Spider-Man more intense and at the same time more understandable was a useful device dramatically.^[2]

As the Man-Wolf, Jameson was the lead feature in Creatures on the Loose #30 (July 1974) to #37 (Sept. 1975).^[3]

Fictional character biography

John Jonah Jameson III was born in New York City. He is the son of J. Jonah Jameson, the irascible, gruff publisher of the Daily Bugle. Jonah is immensely proud of his son, whom he sees as a true hero. Initially an astronaut, he was first seen being saved by Spider-Man when his craft malfunctioned on re-entry,^[1] something that did nothing to endear the wall-crawler to his father, who resents Spider-Man's form of heroism.^[4]

On a later mission, Jameson was infected with spores that gave him super-strength, but strained his body and mind. He was forced to wear a strength-restraining "Jupiter suit" and battled Spider-Man at his father's urging before recovering and calling himself Colonel Jupiter. His father convinced him to go after Spider-Man, who had been seen apparently robbing a bank. The web-slinger outsmarted him, and Jonah soon learned that Spider-Man was saving the bank from a bomb. However, John didn't care about the misunderstanding; he was really out for revenge. Spider-Man managed to neutralize the spores with electricity, returning Jameson to normal.^[5][6]

While he was on the moon, Jameson found the mystical Godstone, an other-dimensional ruby. The jewel grafted itself to his throat and extended tendrils through his body. Moonlight activated the gem, which transformed him into the lycanthropic Man-Wolf,^[7] and he fought Spider-Man in this bestial form.^[8] The ruby was removed by Spider-Man.^[9] Some time after that, the ruby was reattached to John by Morbius, the Living Vampire^[10] who used the Man-Wolf as a pawn so Morbius could find a cure for himself. Man-Wolf was again thwarted by Spider-Man.^[11]

Later, he was transported to the dimension known as Other Realm, from which the ruby originated and the source of the radiation that transforms John into the Man-Wolf. It was revealed that the ruby was created by the dying Stargod to pass on his powers. While on Earth Jameson could only partially transform, resulting in his berserk behavior. While in the Other Realm he could fully transform, resulting in retention of his human consciousness while in lupine form. He took up the mantle of Stargod, and acted as champion of the Other Realm, and gained new powers such as telepathy and energy manipulation. He fought his foes with a sword, dagger, and longbow in this incarnation.^[12] Afterward, he opted to return to Earth, resulting in him losing the ability to fully transform, and the loss of all memories of being the Stargod. He later allowed himself to be subjected to a procedure that removed the ruby, restoring normalcy for some time.^[13][14]

Jameson became the pilot of Captain America's personal Quinjet for a period, using the call-sign "Skywolf". During this time, he was temporarily transformed into Man-Wolf by Dredmond Druid, who wanted the power of the Stargod. Jameson left Captain America's employ due to his attraction to Cap's then girlfriend, Diamondback.

Jameson remains friends with Spider-Man and often tries to convince his father to "let up on him." He spent some time as Ravencroft Head of Security and briefly dated its director Dr. Ashley Kafka. Both John and Ashley were fired by a director angry about the escape of the Chameleon and his subsequent wounding by Kraven the Hunter II. Via hypnotherapy, Kafka helped discover that Jack O'Lantern had caused him to attack his hospitalized father. This therapy also briefly unleashed John's Man-Wolf aspect before Ashley was able to help John suppress his changes once more.

During the Civil War storyline, John helped Captain America while the latter was in hiding. He was assisting She-Hulk in locating and signing up unregistered superheroes. John has also been registered as the Man-Wolf under the Superhuman Registration Act. During this time, the villain Stegron temporarily transformed him into the Man-Wolf again, as a side-effect of his latest mad scheme, to devolve the entire population of New York City. He attacked Mary Jane and Aunt May in the Avengers Tower, but was subdued by Tony Stark's Guardsmen before he could harm them.^[15] Reed Richards subsequently cured him of this form.^[16]

John had been dating She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) and the two had been living together for some time along with She-Hulk's coworker, Augustus Pugliese.^[17] Eventually they eloped in Las Vegas.^[18] However, John was forced into becoming the Man-Wolf once more after being injected by a mysterious substance. After a brief rampage, John stopped fighting his situation and became the Stargod again. He now retains his intelligence while in Man-Wolf form, has the Stargod's powers, and apparently can switch between human and lupine forms. His current superhuman status can be defined in his own words as "I am a god" and is supported by a battle with a clone of the Mad Titan Thanos in which he held his own. However, John does not want to be the Stargod because he feels that having powers makes him arrogant and savage. She-Hulk and Stargod separated after she discovered that her feelings for John were influenced prior to their marriage by her former Avengers teammate, Starfox, and when she learned that John had hoped to convince her to give up her powers permanently. Dejected, Stargod sought adventure in outer space, before finally returning to Earth. He resumed his human form and tried to reconcile with Jennifer, but when she rejected him again, John realized their relationship was truly over and he signed the legal papers annulling their marriage.

When it came to John Jameson's next mission into space, Alistair Smythe, Scorpion, and a new villain named Fly-Girl attack the launch site with an army of cyborg minions (each one wanting revenge on J. Jonah Jameson) where they sabotaged the launch and hold John Jameson for ransom.^[19] John was saved.

Soon after, John Jameson was attacked on the Apogee 1 Space Station by co-workers mind-controlled by Doctor Octopus, who wanted to take control of the station. With the help of Spider-Man and the Human Torch, he was able to save the day and the station safely crashed into the ocean, its employees alive and well.^[20]

Powers and abilities

Jameson is a skilled pilot and astronaut and is experienced in hand-to-hand combat and a variety of weapons.

While Jameson was doing search and rescue missions in the Middle East, the American military discovered that another Godstone had grown within his body, the original having altered his physiology to the point that he now spawns replacement gems.^[21] When the new Godstone is ripped out and crushed by Carnage, another immediately appears and heals Jameson.^[22]

As the Man-Wolf

Jameson possessed superhuman strength, agility, speed and durability, an accelerated healing factor and heightened senses. He also has large razor sharp teeth and claws to use as weapons once transformed. The Man-Wolf's strength and degree of intelligence varied according to the phases of the moon. Jameson did not retain his personality or intelligence while in Man-Wolf form. He was not a traditional werewolf and was invulnerable to silver.

As Stargod

While in the Other Realm, Jameson possessed both his human intellect and the Man-Wolf's body, as well as vast superhuman strength, a high degree of durability, and cosmic and telepathic powers, the full extent of which is yet unrevealed. He wears scale mail armor and uses a broadsword, dagger, short bow, and arrows.

Other versions

Earth X

On Earth X, John Jameson lives on the moon and is the father of Jay Jameson. He first appeared in Earth X #0.

House of M

In the House of M universe, John Jameson was part of the project that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Jameson is in the spacecraft along with Ben Grimm, Reed Richards, and Susan Storm. Instead of transforming into the Torch, he died along with Richards and Sue, leaving only Ben alive in the form of the Thing but calling himself The It.

MC2

In the alternative universe MC2, John Jameson married Dr. Ashley Kafka and they had a son, Jack. Jack became the costumed adventurer known as The Buzz.

newuniversal

In the alternate world of newuniversal, Lieutenant General John Jameson is assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Thad Ross, and is involved in arranging an airstrike to kill Ken Connell. The attempt is unsuccessful.^[23]

What If?

In "What If the Radioactive Spider Had Bitten Someone Else?", John Jameson is one of three candidates - along with Betty Brant and Flash Thompson - who is bitten by the radioactive spider which gave Spider-Man his powers. Equipped with a rocket pack, and upon his father's relentless prompting for the sake of his paper's publicity, John begins to fight crime as "Spider Jameson". However, when he attempts to save an astronaut from his crashing capsule (the same situation from which he was saved by Spider-Man in mainstream continuity), his rocket pack runs out of fuel, but Jameson heroically sacrifices his life by using his own body to cushion the capsule's impact. The death of his son makes Jonah Jameson re-think his relentless attitudes, and he subsequently dedicates the Daily Bugle to the promotion of superheroes, not their persecution.^[24]

In other media

Television

• John Jameson appeared in "The Alien Costume" saga of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Michael Horton. In his first appearance, he unwittingly brings the Symbiote to Earth. John Jameson ended up in the hospital following the crash-landing. When J. Jonah Jameson visits John in the hospital, John Jameson mentions about Spider-Man fighting "a guy in a rhino suit" which proved that Rhino was the one who robbed the shuttle. Shocker later abducted John Jameson from the hospital which draws Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson to an abandoned church. While Spider-Man fought Shocker, J. Jonah Jameson got his son away from the church. While still in a wheelchair following his abduction, John Jameson visited the Daily Bugle where he was welcomed by its staff.

Man-Wolf battling Spider-Man in Spider-Man Unlimited.

• The character appeared in Spider-Man Unlimited, with John Jameson voiced by John Payne II John Jameson and Man-Wolf's vocal effects provided by Scott McNeil. While traveling into space, John Jameson crashed on Counter-Earth thanks to Venom and Carnage. After Spider-Man went there to save him and return him back to Earth, John and Spider-Man joined the human rebels to fight the High Evolutionary and his Beastials and restore peace to Counter-Earth. Man-Wolf's first animated appearance occurs in the episode "Ill Met By Moonlight" when the High Evolutionary had experimented on John Jameson and he becomes Man-Wolf every time he gets angry.
• John Jameson appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man,^[25] voiced by Daran Norris. He is an astronaut. When his father J. Jonah Jameson planned on writing an article on how John saved New York City by finding the Green Goblin's planted bomb, John warned him it would lead to an investigation that would pull him from a coming space mission so Jameson reluctantly attributed John's actions to Spider-Man. Later on, his spaceship malfunctions after being hit by an asteroid and nearly crashes (similar to Amazing Spider-Man #1) but John is able to safely land his ship, which contains the alien symbiote. Jonah's anger that other newspapers which had Spider-Man's battle with Green Goblin on the front page sold more than the Daily Bugle, with John's survival as the front page story, caused Jonah to intensify his hatred for Spider-Man and discredit him even more. In the episode "Growing Pains", John is revealed to have been exposed to alien spores, due to contact with the symbiote, that have been making him bigger, heavier and stronger, causing Dr. Curt Connors to design a special suit for him. At the time when Venom was framing Spider-Man, Jonah had his son become the superhero 'Colonel Jupiter'. Venom attacked him, framing Spider-Man and causing the spores' effects on him to increase, eventually leading Jameson to fight Spider-Man. After a brutal fight, Spider-Man discovered that electricity could destroy the spores. Upon being exposed to 2,000,000 volts of electricity, John returned to being physically normal. He later ended up in Ravencroft still craving the power from the spores.
• John Jameson/Man-Wolf appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "The Man-Wolf", voiced by Nolan North. Spider-Man, his team (consisting of Power Man, White Tiger, Iron Fist and Nova), and S.H.I.E.L.D. answer a distress signal coming from J. Jonah Jameson to look for his son on the moon that was supervising the construction of a Daily Bugle communications station. Onsite however, the construction crew found the remains of an advanced civilization harboring a number of strange jewels. One of these jewels has embedded itself in John's chest and triggered his transformation into the feral Man-Wolf (with the trappings and the sword used by Stargod). Spider-Man manages to shatter the jewel, but the sudden reversion causes John to retain some wolfish features. John Jameson is kept in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody for treatment while J. Jonah Jameson blames Spider-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. for his son's condition.

Film

• John Jameson appeared in Spider-Man 2, played by Daniel Gillies. He is again an astronaut, noted for apparently being the first man to play football on the moon. In the film, he rather quickly develops a relationship with Mary Jane Watson when a strain is caused on her friendship with Peter Parker, and she immediately accepts his marriage proposal. However, in the end, Mary Jane realizes that she does not truly love John and leaves him at the altar to go back to Peter.

References

External links

• John Jameson at Marvel.com
• Profile at Spiderfan.org
• Stargod at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Man-Wolf at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016.

The Spectacular Spider-Man
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Episodes	"Survival of the Fittest" "Interactions" "Natural Selection" "Market Forces" "Competition" "The Invisible Hand" "Catalysts" "Reaction" "The Uncertainty Principle"
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