Origin
John Jameson is the son of newspaper tyrant J. Jonah Jameson. The first time John Jameson met Spider-Man was during one of his first space travels. Indeed, his space ship deviated from his trajectory and it was Spider-Man who succeeded to bring back the command control. Then John Jameson could engage the parachute. John owed his life to Spider-Man. These events made it so that John and Spider-Man got a special friendship in which the two tried to help one another whenever the could, much to the dislike of John’s father J. Jonah Jameson.
Creation
John Jameson was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963).
Major Story Arcs
Astronaut
During a space mission, John entered in contact with extraterrestrial spores which contaminated and took over John. He gained a huge force and attacked a Spider-Man wrongly accused of bank robbery. Peter Parker succeeded in bringing Colonel Jameson into an electromagnetic field. John became once again normal and understood that Spider-Man was innocent.
The Man-Wolf
Later, John was selected to go on a secret mission to the moon. While on the moon he collected lunar rocks including a red crystal gemstone. John started to wear this gemstone around his neck as an souvenir. This gemstone would transform John into a wolf-like state during a full moon. The newspapers, including his father’s, dubbed him the Man-Wolf. As the Man-Wolf, John had many confrontations with Spider-Man and other heroes including She-Hulk.
During his escape, John fought Kraven The Hunter and also Hate Monger. With the help of the SHIELD, he stopped Hate Monger. John decided to give himself up to the SHIELD. Nick Fury proposed to acquit John if only he went to a communication station in orbit in order to check the breakdown. He accepted, went and discovered that the station was controlled by space warriors. These warriors came from an Other Realm, an extra dimensional world where the gemstone came.
He learned that the gem is the creation of Stargod, a god who wanted to transmit his powers to a successor. He learned also that a tyrant Arisen Tyrk took the control of the Other Realm. John decided to go inside this extra dimensional world where he stayed the Man-Wolf with John’s mind. He fought Arisen Tyrk and beat him. He came back to earth, but the malediction was still working. So John returned to the Other Realm for a rescue mission.
With Captain America
When he returned to Earth, he learned that the gemstone poisoned his body. His father decided to put John into cryogenic suspension until a remedy could be found . But Alistair Smythe broke the Man-Wolf free and controlled him to destroy J.J. Jameson and Spider-Man. Peter succeeded to take off the gem one more time. John fell into the Hudson River.
John Jameson reappeared and accepted treatment from the Lizard with a biomagnetic solution. He was healed, but very feeble. After his remission, he became successively Captain America’s pilot, bounty hunter and security chief at Institute Ravencroft.
She-Hulk
John became associated with Jennifer Walters, better known as the She-Hulk and became part of her supporting cast while she was a superhero and an advocate. The two dated for some time.
Sensational Spider-man
John briefly lost side of his other persona, the Man-Wolf, when the villain named Stegron created an atmosphere that let animals go insane with rage. Besides John Jameson, Doctor Curt Conners was also affected and became the Lizard. The Man-Wolf however took over from John, but became stuck in the body of John himself. He endangered Spider-man, Curt Conners, his son, as well as Peter Parker’s wife Mary Jane and Aunt May. Spider-Man intervened and stopped Stegron before John could do anyone any harm. He then quickly got his own persona back and resumed his life.
Civil War
During the Civil War, John has registered himself as Man-Wolf, but also helped Captain America’s Secret Avengers. He was also dating She-Hulk at the time. When they got married in Las Vegas, he suddenly turned into Man-Wolf and after going into a rampage he turned back into Stargod. When She-Hulk discovered that her feelings for John was influenced by Starfox. Because of this, Jennifer filed for annulment, but John admitted that his love for her is genuine and has nothing to do with Starfox’s powers. Jennifer rejected this and John finally sign the annulment papers, dissolving their marriage.
Security Officer at Ravencroft and change
Afterwards, John resumed his work at the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminaly insane. On one assigment, John, alongside Misty Knight, was send in to investigating a strange town which inhabitants seemingly had disappeared. It turned out that all the townspeople where altered by the lethal Carnage. Everybody had changed into worshippers of Carnage and the symbiote God, Knull. While both Misty and John managed to get out of the clutches of the demonic worshippers, John was altered significantelty.
Powers
John Jameson is trained in unarmed fighting and various weapons and is also a skilled pilot and astronaut. The Man-Wolf, possesses superhuman strength, agility, hearing, sight, speed, stamina, smell, claws and has a healing factor. The Stargod is basically the Man-Wolf with enhanced abilities. Recently, he can now voluntarily changed from human to Man-Wolf form and he could also tapped into Stargod’s power while being Man-Wolf.
For a short time John served as host to the Carnage symbiote, and had the same powers as Carnage, but the alien left him in favor of bonding with Ben Reilly (Scarlet Spider)
Alternate Versions
Earth X (Earth-9997)
John Jameson now lives on the moon and is the father of Jay Jameson.
What If? (Earth- 78327)
He would be bitten by a spider that would be irradiated during the demonstration and be walked off. Later he would discover that the spider bite would endow him with the proportionate abilities of a spider. to become “Spider-Jameson, the super-astronaut” and take up crime fighting. John would become an instant success, however he would meet his end when attempting to save an out of control space capsule, and sacrifice his life so that the astronaut inside could live.
House of M (Earth-58163)
Instead of Johnny Storm being on the spaceship, it was John who piloted the ship, with Reed, Susan and Ben onboard. All of them died when they got bombarded with cosmic energy, save for Ben, who lost his mind and became the Thing-like creature called the It.
MC2 (Earth-982)
John is married to Dr. Ashley Kafka and they have a son named Jack. Jack became the costumed superhero called The Buzz.
Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)
J. Jonah Jameson made no reference his son being John, only he referred him as a “true hero.” JJJ said that his son died when his space shuttle burned up in orbit, although details about it have been classified.
In Other Media
Television
- John Jameson appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Michael Horton. He first appears in the episode “The Alien Costume, Part 1,” where he unknowingly brings back the Venom symbiote from space during a crash landing. In the following episode, John is kidnapped from the hospital by the Shocker, who has been hired by the Kingpin to get the Promethium X (a rare element John had found in space) from Spider-Man. Spider-Man (who has been driven into a more aggressive frenzy by the symbiote) manages to defeat the Shocker and rescue John.
- John Jameson appears in Spider-Man Unlimited, with John voiced by John Payne and his Man-Wolf persona voiced by Scott McNeil. In the first episode, John crash lands on Counter-Earth after his shuttle is hijacked by Venom and Carnage. In the episode “Ill Met By Midnight,” John is transformed into the Man-Wolf by the High Evolutionary.
- John Jameson appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Daran Norris. He is once again responsible for accidentally bringing the Venom symbiote back from space after an emergency landing. In the episode “Growing Pains,” it is discovered that John has developed superhuman abilities as the result of being exposed to alien spores while in space. Jonah convinces his son to become a superhero known as Colonel Jupiter, leading to a fight between John and Spider-Man (who had been framed for crimes by Venom). Spider-Man uses electricity to neutralize the spores, and John is sent to the Ravencroft Sanitarium to recover.
- Man-Wolf appears in a self-titled Ultimate Spider-Man episode, voiced by Nolan North. In this version, John goes missing on the moon during a lunar construction job. It is discovered that John and the other construction workers uncovered the remains of an ancient civilization that had possessed strange jewels. One of the gems imbeds itself in John’s chest, transforming him into Man-Wolf. Though Spider-Man destroys the gem, it is shown that some of its effects still remain inside John. John is ultimately taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. so that he can be treated.
- A teenage version of John Jameson appears in Marvel’s Spider-Man, voiced by Josh Keaton. In the episode “Halloween Moon,” John and his friend Harry Osborn work on a special project involving a lunar crystal that feeds on gamma radiation. After the crystal accidentally transforms John into the Man-Wolf, Spider-Man teams up with the Hulk to stop him.
Movies
- John Jameson appears in a supporting role in Spider-Man 2, played by Daniel Gillies. In the film, John is a famous astronaut who is known for being the first man to play football on the moon. He and Mary Jane Watson are set to be married, but MJ ends up leaving him at the altar in favor of Peter Parker.
Video Games
- John Jameson appears in the Spider-Man 2 video game, voiced by Charles Klausmeyer.
Merchandise
- Man-Wolf appeared in the first series of ToyBiz’s Amazing Spider-Man line, a successor to the Spider-Man Classics line and the sister line to Marvel Legends. The figure included a light-up gem and howling werewolf sound effects.
- Eaglemoss Studios produced a hand-painted lead Man-Wolf figurine as the 108th installment in their Classic Marvel Figurine Collection. The figurine also came included with a special magazine about the character’s background and past appearances
- Man-Wolf was featured in the HeroClix figure game as part of the Incredible Hulk set. A civilian John Jameson figure also appeared in the same Incredible Hulk set.