Who is he greatest villain of Spider-Man’s entire career? Many will argue that the Green Goblin and some will bet on Venom, but we all know the answer: there is no greater nuisance for the wall-crawler than J. Jonah Jameson. The editor of the Daily Bugle has been the scourge of the web-slinger for decades, presenting it on the front pages of his newspaper as a spider-threat to be exterminated.
A visceral hatred, an animosity of such a caliber that it is impossible to think that it arises out of nowhere. And it is not like that, because you have to know the character in depth to understand his motivations.
Jameson didn’t have it easy
Spider-Man’s Tangles Web #20 offered us a ray of light to understand the origin of Jameson’s characteristic bad mood. The truth is that the character suffered a lot as a child, because his father abandoned him and he was raised by David and Betty Jameson. The first was the brother of his biological father; A war veteran and decorated hero, David was unable to properly raise his nephew, so beatings were the most effective method of teaching him.
He did the same with his wife, so Jameson had as a vital reference for years a man who was praised in front of the public, but showed the worst attitude in private. In this way, Jonah was clear that even those who are believed to do good cannot always be the heroes and will end up doing an evil act.
Jameson grew up and ended up meeting Joan, who eventually became his wife. They got married, he returned from covering World War II in Europe, and they had John Jonah III, his son. However, fate had a bad move for the character, as he had to cover an incident in Korea and returned with the sad news that his wife had been murdered. A masked man had been responsible for such a monstrosity and Jameson saw how an animosity against people with masks was born within him.
The purest of envy
Despite the fact that many of these details of Jameson’s biography date back to years after the appearance of Spider-Man, it was a few issues when Steve Ditko and Stan Lee wanted to explain why so much rejection of the arachnid. The Amazing Spider-Man #10 revealed, through an internal monologue, that Jameson was simply envious of the wall-crawler.
He wanted to be acclaimed, to be able to do good without thinking about the reward, and to be the kind of person that Spider-Man represents. Frustration gnawed at him, so he assumed that he had no choice but to destroy his figure to feel better. As if that were not enough, Peter Parker was involved in several incidents with John Jameson that damaged the reputation of the already an astronaut. John was transformed into a werewolf due to a moonstone that he obtained in one of his missions and Spider-Man tried to help him, but Jameson always distorted reality to accuse the superhero.
Still, Jameson does have enormous respect for Captain America. This is because he grew up during the appearance of the American emblem, in addition to the fact that his identity as Steve Rogers is well known. Captain America represents the patriotic ideals par excellence and is the extension of the state security forces and bodies. Those are the true heroes for Jameson, who are regulated by law and show their faces when they act.
Last but not least, we must not ignore the economic section. The Daily Bugle sells many more copies with a sensational editorial line against superheroes and moderating their opinions would not do the viability of the writing any good. So, all these reasons have resulted in Jonah maintaining an ever-present crusade against Spider-Man that doesn’t seem like it’s going to end.
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