John Jameson (comics) - Fictional Character Biography

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, something that did nothing to endear the wall-crawler to his father, who resents Spider-Man's form of heroism.

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. His father convinced him to go after Spider-Man, who was seen 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.

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, and he fought Spider-Man in this bestial form. The ruby was removed by Spider-Man.

Some time after that, the ruby was reattached to John by Morbius, the Living Vampire who used Man-Wolf as a pawn so Morbius could find a cure for himself. Man-Wolf was again thwarted by Spider-Man.

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. 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.

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. Reed Richards subsequently cured him of this form.

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. Eventually they eloped in Las Vegas. 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. 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.