Jimmy Olsen - Fictional Character History

Fictional Character History

An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie makes a brief appearance in the story "Superman's Phony Manager" published in Action Comics #6 (November 1938), which is claimed to be Jimmy Olsen's first appearance by several reference sources. The character was first introduced as Jimmy Olsen in the radio show The Adventures of Superman (on April 15, 1940) mainly "so the Man of Steel would have someone to talk to." With Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creating and drawing the physical appearance and giving him a bigger personality, the character moved from the radio show back into the comics in 1941, first appearing as a named character in the story "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman #13 (November–December 1941). But after a handful of appearances, he disappeared again. In late 1953, while Jack Larson was playing the character on the Adventures of Superman television show (where he was referred to as "Jim Olsen"), the character was revived in the Superman comics after a 10-year absence and then given his own title.

In addition to Larson, he was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); Marc McClure in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film Supergirl; Michael Landes in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film Superman Returns; and Aaron Ashmore in the CW's Smallville'.