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Characters / Marvel Comics: J. Jonah Jameson

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John Jonah Jameson (Jr.)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2316230_jjj_colour_flat_lres.jpg

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963)

"Because he's really an egomaniac... a neurotic trouble-maker, flaunting his power before the ordinary citizens whom he despises! For all we know, he himself provokes the criminals whom he later seems to defeat! Do we want our youngsters to make an idol of a mentally disturbed menace?? I say no!!"

J. Jonah Jameson was the chief editor and publisher of the Daily Bugle. His opinion of Spider-Man is not very high and he sees him as more of a menace rather than a hero for a myriad of reasons. During his career, he carried out a smear campaign against Spider-Man and employed Peter Parker as one of his photojournalists. After the Daily Bugle was sold to Dexter Bennett, he became the mayor of New York. After his resignation amidst the scandal, he started to work as the host of a show on the F.A.C.T. News Channel.

His Self-Demonstrating page is here.

J. Jonah Jameson has appeared in:

Notable Comic Book Appearances (Earth-616 Continuity)

In Alternate Universes

Notable Media Appearances

J. Jonah Jameson provides examples of the following tropes:

    open/close all folders 

    #-H 
  • Abusive Dad: His Abusive Step-Dad.
  • Alliterative Name: Taken even further recently: he's J. Jonah Jameson Junior.
  • Anti-Villain: Type IV. He is usually portrayed an incredibly moral man who runs an honest news business, but just happens to make our hero Spidey's life tougher with libelious news articles for various reasons.
  • Arch-Enemy: Of all the villains Spider-Man has faced through his career, one could make a very strong case that J. Jonah Jameson has been his most constant, and most damaging foe. Without raising a fist, JJ turned half of New York against the wallcrawler, undermined Spidey's good work at every turn, and gave the poor kid insecurities for decades.
    • Thematically, they are polar opposites. JJ is an old, stodgy, rich guy who sits behind a desk and yells at unfortunate people for their perceived inadequacies, while Spidey/Peter is a young, energetic kid who barely has a dime to his name, but is on the front lines, everyday, defending the weak, no matter who they are or what people think they deserve.
    • Jameson technically has his own Arch-Enemy in Mac Gargan, the original Scorpion and at one time a replacement Venom. As covered under My Greatest Failure, Gargan was a private investigator that Jameson coaxed into undergoing an experimental treatment that gave him scorpion-based powers, but Gargan went nuts and became a criminal — he also bitterly resents Jameson for the transformation, although just why varies depending on the version of the character. Ironically, the Scorpion was created by Jameson to be an Arch-Enemy to Spider-Man.
  • Armor-Piercing Response: After one anti-Spider-Man campaign too many, the webhead bursts into Jameson's office through the picture window, webs the door shut, and then corners him so he can have the satisfaction of laying him out. But before the punch can be thrown, JJJ begins to defend his actions, telling him that his paper only reflects the public's perception of Spidey:
    Spider-Man: Don't give me that! You're the one who made them believe I'm a menace!
    Jameson: Oh, really, Spider-Man? Look at yourself, you're so blasted smug. Either you were always the menace I said you were — or I've managed to convince you that you're a menace, because you're sure acting like one! And frankly, masked man, I didn't think I was that good a writer.
    [Beat]
    Spider-Man: You stink, Jameson. You really do.
  • Author Avatar: Stan Lee created J. Jonah Jameson based on other peoples' views of him, and as the EIC, Lee had a similar job as Jonah at Marvel.
  • Badass Normal: He may not look like it, and occasionally isn't Depending on the Writer, but the man survived dozens of encounters from some of the most deadly supervillains on the planet, journeyed through the Savage Land, fought the new king of the Mole Men in combat, and has fought off demons from hell with a baseball bat to protect his employees. More generally, he's accomplished a lot of good with his crusading journalism, whether it's exposing union corruption or racist political plots, refusing to back down from the inevitable threats.
  • Benevolent Boss: Zig-zagged. He regularly verbally abuses those that aren't Joe Robertson, but he's also protective of his staff.
  • Berserk Button: Just about everything will set him off, but Spider-Man and anything to do with him will really get him going. Aside from that, Jonah is absolutely NOT racist and will react very explosively towards anyone who is in his presence.
  • Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Behind his gruff, skinflint exterior, Marvel has established that his hatred of Spider-Man stems from the fact that deep down, he knows Spidey is a selfless hero, and the fact that he can't compare makes him jealous. This close-up first happened towards the end of Amazing Spider-Man #1. I.e., he got his Big Ego, Hidden Depths in the issue he was introduced.
    • In the "Spider-Island" story from 2011, JJ (like most of New York) temporarily gained spider-powers; he used them to help Spidey out in one fight, and at the end of the storyline he lights the windows of the Empire State Building in red and blue as a grudging "thank you".
    • In one of his animated appearances, he argued that if Spider-Man was really a hero, he wouldn't need to hide his face with a mask — and backed this up by going out on the streets himself to track down a story.
    • In Ultimate Spider-Man, it was established that Jameson disliked costumed heroes because his son died on a mission to the moon with relatively little fanfare. Jameson saw his son as a real hero and vigilantes as glory hounds by comparison. Later, he came around and realized that Spider-Man and at least some heroes actually were the real deal.
    • In the main Marvel continuity, it was made clear during a storyline about quasi-governmental crackdown on mutants that even though Jameson dislikes costumed heroes and is a borderline bigot against people with powers (but otherwise dislikes everyone else as well, to the point of being for equal rights), he's genuinely reverential of rule of law and due process. His speech in that issue was so well-written that it almost justified the idea that he just doesn't like people taking the law into their own hands. Almost.
    • Young Avengers also suggests that Jameson's hatred of superheroes stems from the fact that as a child, he idolized Captain America's Kid Sidekick Bucky. When Bucky was killed near the end of World War II (something Jameson saw as Cap's fault), Jonah became bitter and disillusioned with the very idea of costumed heroes.
    • Also, the film version of Jameson doesn't hesitate to risk himself to protect others. He may be a cheapskate, hate Spidey, and have one hell of a mouth on him, but he's not all bad.
  • Break the Haughty: Given what a pain in the ass he is, it goes without saying that over the years, he has received countless stories that have dropped a ton or two of karmic bricks on him.
  • Butt-Monkey: Especially in the early days before his character development, the comic loved taking him down a peg.
  • Call It Karma: J. Jonah Jameson's attempts to capture and destroy Spider-Man have given him no end of grief over the years.
  • Character Development: It took many, many years, but he eventually became a supporter of Spider-Man and started trying to become a better person.
  • Chekhov's Skill: He was the one who commissioned and piloted the original-generation Spider-Slayer robots, and he's busted out a few of them from storage when he needs the help or protection. His familiarity with the old models has even let him commandeer more advanced versions.
  • Cigar Chomper: One of his most unpleasant habits.
  • Cool Old Guy: During the times when the reader actually gets to see the Jonah that made the Bugle one of the top papers in New York long before Spider-Man came around.
  • Corrupted Character Copy: He has a lot in common with Perry White, being the pugnacious EIC of the newspaper the resident superhero works at (for bonus points, both papers have names starting with "The Daily"). But while Perry, gruff personality aside, is a fairly likeable man of strong moral integrity, Jameson is a far more belligerent character blinded by his dislike of Spider-Man.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #39, J. Jonah Jameson points out that virtually all of Spider-Man's problems with the public and the superhero community could have been avoided if he was a lot more open to the world and Jonah's own slanderous columns about him could have ended if he'd dropped in and just talked.
  • Create Your Own Villain: Jameson's vendetta against Spider-Man has resulted in him creating some actual villains of his own:
    • Jameson hired Spencer Smythe to create a series of robots called the Spider-Slayers for the purpose of capturing and unmasking Spider-Man. Ultimately, Smythe ended up poisoned by the radioactive materials used in the manufacturing of the robots. Blaming both Jameson and Spider-Man for his impending demise, he tried to kill them using an explosive device. Fortunately, Spider-Man's technical expertise allowed him and Jameson to escape and Smythe died without getting his revenge.
    • Jameson convinced a private investigator named Mac Gargan to undergo a science experiment conducted by Dr. Harley Stillwell. Gargan was transformed into the Scorpion and Jameson ordered him to capture and unmask Spider-Man. While the Scorpion proved to be more than a match for Spider-Man, the experiments drove him mad and he turned on Jameson requiring Spider-Man to intervene and save the editor's life.
      • An escaped prisoner named Richard Deacon overheard Jameson asking Harlan Stillwell, the younger brother of the aforementioned Harley Stillwell to make a new superhero. Deacon ordered Harlan to transform him into the Human Fly at gunpoint and then killed the doctor after he was done. The Human Fly then kidnapped Jameson requiring Spider-Man to once again save Jameson from a mess he'd made.
    • In X-Factor (2006) Issues #216-219, it is revealed that Jameson, along with his friend General Sam Ryan and Dr Young Soo Pock, founded SCARs, a secret military program in which three women were transformed into Cyborg Super Soldiers for black ops missions. Unfortunately, the cybernetics drove two of the women mad, requiring them to be mindwiped. After regaining their memories they planned to assassinate Jameson but were foiled by the Black Cat and X-Factor Investigations. Unlike the above examples, this one had nothing to do with Jameson trying to defeat Spider-Man and was actually done before the Wall-Crawler became a superhero.
  • Da Editor: Former editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle. He is probably the most famous example of this trope by far — even serving as its page image.
  • Depending on the Writer: JJJ's character varies from writer to writer and the reasoning behind his hatred of Spider-Man and the depth of that hatred run the gamut from being a jerkass to secretly being jealous of Spider-Man's truly heroic nature.
  • Distinction Without a Difference: Averted whenever he is accused of Malicious Slander against the titular hero, he usually retorts with an accurate (but not really relevant) legal distinction: "It is NOT! Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel."
  • Doting Parent: He may is an irritating curmudgeon, but he REALLY cares for his son, the astronaut John Jameson, praising him every chance he can get. He may be compensating.
  • Driven by Envy: In one very old comic, Jonah made a confession - alone, in his own office - admitting that this was the real reason he opposes Spider-Man. He's jealous of the hero because Spidey is something he dreams of being but despite his wealth, power, and influence, knows he never can be.
  • Embarrassing Rescue: How many times has Spider-Man had to rescue J. Jonah Jameson? Don't ask. This Trope applied every time it happened, and even Spidey got rather sick of it after a while.
  • Entitled Bastard: He manages to publicly badmouth and ridicule him on a daily basis, has created two supervillains (the infamous Scorpion as well as C-lister The Human Fly) and a few evil robots in his quest to kill Spidey, gets into all sorts of fights and kidnappings by Spidey's other foes (who are jealous of him), and Spider-Man always, always pulls his bacon out of the fire... though he does put him in his place with purposely embarrassing rescues. He even gets to become the Mayor of New York, despite how often he's printed complete garbage about Spider-Man that he's later had to retract when it turned out that, yes, it really was Mysterio or Chameleon, and despite the fact he's known to have sponsored the creation of Scorpion, the Human Fly, and the Spider-Slayers.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • Stands up for human rights... because he Hates Everyone Equally! Notably one DA initially had his support because of his anti-Spider-Man campaign.....then he found out that the guy was not only involved in organized crime but was also a massive racist who planned to screw over black people once he was elected. Jameson promptly turns over evidence that exposes the crooked candidate. As part of this, he's also quite commonly portrayed as being in favor of mutant rights, despite his usual antagonism towards powered individuals.
    • He is absolutely committed to truth in reporting. Despite his hatred of Spidey, Jameson has always refused to use fake images in his newspaper. And though he is always the first to accuse Spider-Man of crimes, he's also usually the first to retract his statement when he is proven wrong, at one point remarking that he believes that claiming Spidey to be a menace prevents him from actually becoming one.
    • Despite his dislike of the superhero community (which can border on outright hatred Depending on the Writer), Jameson grew up reading Captain America comic books, and Cap is frequently portrayed as the one superhero that Jameson will not launch campaigns against.
      • Note that this is mostly a modern facet; old-school JJJ pretty much hated all superheroes equally, Cap not excepted◊. The man would pick fights with the Fantastic Four if Spidey wasn't around.
    • Even back when he commissioned the Spider-Slayers, he didn't actually want to kill Spidey, just unmask and imprison him, and Smythe's insistence on calling his robots 'slayers' disturbed him.
    • One Punisher / Spider-Man comic has Peter call the Bugle to ask if they're interested in pictures of a Nazi preacher named Hartmann, since he doesn't want to waste film on pictures they won't buy. JJJ instantly grabs the phone and yells at him to take pictures, claiming he hates him more than Spider-Man.
      Jonah: We didn't fight WWII to put up with his brand of @%$# now!
    • He's also outright disgusted with Graydon Creed's anti-mutant platform during his attempted Presidential campaign.
    • When Bastion, architect of the anti-mutant program "Operation Zero Tolerance", offered Jameson unsolicited information regarding the X-Men, complete with veiled threats against Jameson's life if he didn't publish that information, Jameson destroyed the CD without even looking at any of the information, telling Bastion, "The Bugle's soul is not for sale. My soul is not for sale." The fact that he suspected Bastion of being responsible for the murder of one of his reporters may have influenced him, but not by much.
    • When Jameson expresses sorrow over Jean DeWolff's death, Robbie points out that Jameson didn't even like her. Jameson retorts, "I didn't like JFK either. That doesn't mean someone I don't like deserves to get killed.".
  • Fan Disillusionment: Along with the rest of his generation. Jameson, like everyone else he knew, grew up loving Bucky, Captain America's sidekick, and pretty much the original sidekick. Everyone wanted to be Bucky. Then he died, and nobody wanted to be Bucky. It not only disillusioned Jameson's fandom in regards to Bucky (who everyone, even Jameson, still holds in high regard), but the entire concept of teenage superheroes.
  • Fatal Flaw: Pride.
    • He generally believes that the right side of any argument is the side he's on. This usually shows in regards to his hatred of Spider-Man. He reports time and again that the wall-crawler is a "menace", and is regularly forced to print retractions, damaging the Bugle's credibility and his reputation.
    • He has a bad habit of overestimating his own nobility. During a trip to the past, he told his younger self Spider-Man's secret identity, in hopes that it would make him go easier on him. Instead, the younger Jameson quickly started planning a cover story based around that fact, one which the past Green Goblin saw when he confronted Jameson.
  • Flanderization: He's generally a very flawed but ultimately good and staunchly ethical Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but some comics and adaptations make him a straight-up Jerkass and Immoral Journalist.
  • Freudian Excuse: As a child, his father (later retconned to be his stepfather) was a celebrated war hero — but in private, he would routinely abuse a young Jonah and his mother. Because of this, JJJ was left soured on the very concept of heroes and frequently tears down Spider-Man (and sometimes other superheroes) in the belief that they must be hiding some darker nature.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: He started out as a dime-a-dozen reporter looking for a big score, and worked his way up to being the editor and owner of the Bugle and head of the biggest media outlet in the city.
  • The Fundamentalist: He cannot admit that Spider-Man is anything other than a menace even though he has saved Jameson's life dozens of times. Various reasons have been given over the years as to why this belief is stuck in an otherwise good journalist's head, who caught flak several times in-universe for being in favor of mutant rights, among other things: The anti-Spiderman rant sells papers; if Spiderman were to be captured, tried, and imprisoned, the Daily Bugle would fold as soon as the judge sentenced him; Jameson is a muckraker; he's only doing it to boost circulation.
  • Future Loser: Ends up as one according to Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099. While Spider-Man ends up becoming a legendary figure, Jameson ends up a forgotten nobody who gets lost in obscurity.
  • George Jetson Job Security: A running gag with Peter getting fired by him every time he gets angry, which is of course pointless since Peter has been, with a few brief exceptions, a freelancer for most of the comics run.
  • Grandfather Clause: His position as the man behind Spider-Man's Hero with Bad Publicity status is a pretty solid case of this. In the 60s when the character was created, news and information were controlled by big newspaper and media companies like the Daily Bugle; there was no other place to go to for information, so people would have little choice but to seriously consider Jameson's articles that bashed Spidey; there was nobody else printing contradictory articles. In the modern era, the proliferation of social media would drastically undercut Jameson's articles, with Spidey's daily heroics becoming prime fodder for YouTube and similar media-sharing sites, thus making Spidey-bashing far less believable — and thus less profitable — than it would have been in the days when the comics started. This may be why some adaptations are changing Jameson's relationship with Spider-Man, and/or the root cause behind his ultimate departure from the Bugle in the modern main-canon comics.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: You do not want to get on Jonah's bad side. Unfortunately, it's hard not to.
  • Happily Married: To Marla, a scientist who created the new type of Spider-Slayer before she was killed by Alistar Smythe. Was apparently with his first wife too.
  • Hates Everyone Equally: And is a staunch supporter of equal rights as a result, since nobody has any privilege over his loathing.
  • Heel Realization: He gets hit with this hard in The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), after seeing how toxic his vendetta against Spider-Man was up until they buried the hatchet. Besides the obvious reasons like his bankrolling the creation of the Scorpion, the Spider-Slayers, and the Human Fly, his relentless anti-Spidey propaganda distorted the truth about deceased Bugle-reporter-turned-crime-boss Frederick Foswell (aka the Big Man) to even his son Frederick Jr.; to the point that Frederick Jr. became delusional and psychotic with his own hatred for the webslinger, and captured both after Jameson's Heel–Face Turn to finally see "justice" done.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • After Spencer Smythe shackled Spidey and Jonah together with a bomb. As time was about to run out, Jonah cracked under the pressure. Spidey naturally saved the day in the nick of time, but Jonah realizes that the man he hates most has seen him at his most vulnerable. Already reeling from the supposed death of his son, Jonah launches a new anti-Spidey campaign and appears to be having a nervous breakdown. It would later be revealed he was being pushed over the edge by Jonas Harrow, though.
    • He gets another one when Spencer's son, Alistar, kills his wife Marla. By this point, Jonah knows he utterly messed up and tries to better himself towards Spidey.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • From his verbal tirades against Spider-Man and his own staff, you'd never know how much Jonah loves his family or how much he values those that work for him. He's also a staunch supporter of human and civil rights for everybody, black, gay, mutant, whatever. Heck, he even paid Peter's legal bills during The Clone Saga (secretly, of course).
    • One What If even tied his support of civil rights and his hatred of Spider-Man together: in his youth, he performed life-risking investigations on the Ku Klux Klan, which sparked a lifelong distrust of all masked vigilantism.

    I-Z 
  • Irrational Hatred: While almost never outright villainous, he scratches the limits of the impossible in regards to his hatred of Spider-Man. He despises him with extreme passion, constantly referring to him as a menace, nevermind the fact that Spidey has saved Jonah's life, and New York and the world, on a regular basis. Whether or not there's an explained reason for it depends on the adaptation, but even when there is an excuse, it generally falls apart given everything Spider-Man's done for the world. In an early Lee/Ditko story he privately admits he is jealous from Spider-Man's selflessness◊. Though there's a number of other reasons as to why he dislikes masked vigilantes, his hatred is possibly related to the fact that Spider-Man shows up in his newspaper, and just making a crusade after him sells more papers.
  • I Reject Your Reality: He has an unhealthy tendency to make people who correctly believe that Spider-Man is a hero have second thoughts. Jameson refuses to accept the opinions of others, including his own son, that Spider-Man is a hero, trying to make his confronters second guess themselves. He also refuses to believe that Spider-Man himself is a hero and just sees him as a disruptive force of destruction. In many adaptations, this is one of his Flanderized qualities.
  • Immoral Journalist: Zig-zagged. He constantly runs articles that defame Spidey, making him out to be the bad guy working with the supervillains because it drives up sales and because of his personal vendetta against masked individuals. However JJJ is also mentioned to be a crusading journalist when not covering Spider-Man, and has won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative work. He's also fiercely protective of his staff despite his treatment of them and has stared down more than one supervillain when they try to shake him down for information.
  • Insane Troll Logic: In his worse depictions, there is nothing ol' JJ won't take as proof Spider-Man is responsible for the latest villain of the week. Even in titles outside Spidey's purview, it's possible to see a Daily Bugle proclaiming he's involved in another heroes' trouble somehow.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Was a photojournalist in World War II, and worked his way up to editor in the days when the mob pretty much ran New York City. His journalistic efforts have also led him to accomplish a lot of good in ways superheroes generally can't. Exemplified in his speech to Ben Urich (who's just gotten his hand broken for investigating Kingpin) in Born Again;
    I've seen this happen plenty of times, Ben— it never fails to make me sick. Reporter gets his blood up for a story. Threatens to quit if I don't let him go for it — then suddenly loses all interest. By the way— how's the hand? Listen, Urich. There are things you don't just let happen in this racket. Number one is you never get scared away from a story. Not while you've got the most powerful weapon in the world on your side. (holds up a curled newspaper) This is five million readers worth of power. It can depose mayors. It can destroy presidents. And it's been due to get aimed at the Kingpin for years now. But it needs you to do it.
  • Irony: In the early days of Spider-Man's career, Jameson would often accuse him of being "in cahoots" with the villains he fought. In Superior Spider-Man, when SpOck follows his taking down of the Shadowland by declaring on live television that he had Jameson's backing, Jameson bemoans the fact that (Due to SpOck blackmailing him) they're "in cahoots".
  • Irrational Hatred: Jameson hates Spider-Man with such a passion that no matter how many times the superhero has saved him and his loved ones over and over again, Jameson is still stubbornly convinced that he is a menace.
  • Jerkass: One of Jameson's most-consistent traits is his irrational hatred of superheroes, especially masked ones.
  • Jerkass Ball: Believe it or not, his actions during the New Avengers series. When the team were ready to announce themselves to the public, Captain America personally met with Jameson, asking him to go easy on Spider-Man (who was a member of the new team). Jameson seemingly agreed, yet his report on the new team involved him slandering every other member, and even adding in that Captain America had tried to get him to "cover up the truth" about Spider-Man. For someone who usually considers Captain America an exception from his anti-hero beliefs, this was low.
    • That being said, this stunt comes back to bite Jonah in the ass shortly afterwards over in the pages of The Pulse (also written by Brian Bendis). Jessica Jones is so pissed at the slandering of her husband Luke Cage that she uses it as grounds for terminating her superhero consultancy contract with the Bugle. She then sells the rights to the coverage of their daughter Danielle's birth (which was part of her Bugle contract) to its competitor The Daily Globe. While Jonah mulls suing Jessica for breach of contract, Robbie Roberston correctly points out this one's all on Jonah for screwing her over.
  • Jerkass Has a Point:
    • After being told Peter's identity as Spider-Man by the man himself, he lays into him verbally after saving his life in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #297 for the amount of money he had to spend on photos that were not worth nearly as much nor as hard to get (since Peter could easily just pose for them). Peter admits he is right.
      J. Jonah Jameson: You also owe me thousands of dollars for those pictures of "Spider-Man" you "took" for me all those years ago! Fraud! I can't even—
      Peter Parker: I know!
    • In Issue #39 of The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), Jameson argues that Spider-Man is at least in part responsible for his own bad publicity. While most other superheroes tend to work in teams and communities and are fairly open with the public, Spider-Man has a secret identity, is usually a lone wolf and frequently gets into fights with other superheroes before teaming up with them (though as Peter points out, this is very common for other Marvel superheroes). Furthermore, whenever Jameson made a false accusation against Spider-Man, the Wall-Crawler's response was never to reach out and set the record straight but rather to insult, antagonize and sometimes even threaten Jameson. Not a good look if you're trying to convince the world you aren't a public menace. Additionally, as Jameson points out, the Kingpin was able to turn half the city against Spider-Man without Jameson saying a single negative word against the Wall-Crawler.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: On his better days. Sure, he's short-tempered, tight-fisted, and an often obnoxious loudmouth, but he's also been shown as a tireless crusader supporting everything from labor union rights to mutant rights, going after organized crime figures and corrupt politicians despite repeated attempts on his life, and discreetly supporting various charities and social projects, and even hiring a good lawyer for Peter Parker when Parker was falsely accused of murder. He's been pretty much consistently portrayed as a social liberal whose ideals are wrapped in civil liberty and constitutional rights. This is despite the fact that he's a mean-spirited douche to the people around him.
    • In the arc where Spider-Man publicly unmasked himself as Peter Parker, Jameson went so far as to refer to Parker as being like a son to him, and that he had always regarded Parker as the "last honest guy in town". What does Jameson do next? Turns around and sues the crap out of Parker for misrepresentation. Of course, he wasn't entirely unjustified in doing this; he was also later confronted by other characters about how much of a jerk he'd been to Spider-Man / Peter over the years.
    • It should also be noted that Jameson's character is interpreted drastically differently, Depending on the Writer. Some writers really tend to push the "heart of gold" aspect, whereas others still prefer to present him as a genuine Jerkass, ignoring any character development to the contrary by other writers. (This usually coincides with alternating interpretations of Jameson as a genuinely competent newspaper publisher and an angry tabloid publisher with an agenda. The latter version is occasionally characterized as clueless and outright sociopathic, too, whereas the former version sometimes borders on hidden philanthropist. It's really inconsistent, to say the least.)
      • It should be noted that during Stan Lee's run on Spider-Man Jameson is always a Jerkass Scrooge who feels that appearing to have a heart of gold is the best way to make money.
    • Mainly though, the character seems to be kind of like Spider from Transmetropolitan. He's a complete asswipe, no doubt, but he surely is also a kind person at heart and has shown this on several occasions. For example he genuinely cares about honesty, integrity and civil liberties and can be quite nice (or at least, less caustic) to his friends, like Peter or his employees, despite being a sarcastic jerk.
    • JJ was once offered a deal: if he stopped bashing Spidey every time he needed an editorial, he'd get an exclusivity deal with the New Avengers. He even got to hear Captain Fucking America tell him Spidey was a hero rather than a monster. His response? After shaking hands on the deal, he promptly went back to not only committing libel, but making accusations of bribery and digging up things like "wanted murderer" (Wolverine), "terrorist" (Spider-Woman) and "convicted drug dealer" (Luke Cage, who was framed and exonerated).
    • In Marvel Versus DC, when it looks like The End of the World as We Know It, Spidey asks Jameson if he has any last digs to get in. Jonah responds "For what it's worth, I'm sorry", to which Peter can only say a quiet "Oh."
    • In the storyline The Death of Jean DeWolff, Jameson responds to a question about whether he believes Spider-Man deserves to die with "Hitler deserved to die, so do assassins, cop killers, scum like that. Whatever else he is, Spider-Man is not one of those."
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: On his worse days, especially when written by Stan Lee, who preferred to depict Jonah as a Jerkass Scrooge who feels that appearing to have a heart of gold is the best way to make money. To drive this home, he was once offered a deal: if he stopped bashing Spidey every time he needed an editorial, he'd get an exclusivity deal with the New Avengers. He even got to hear Captain America tell him Spidey was a hero rather than a monster. His response? After shaking hands on the deal, he promptly went back to not only committing libel, but making accusations of bribery and digging up things like "wanted murderer" (Wolverine), "terrorist" (Spider-Woman) and "convicted drug dealer" (Luke Cage, who was framed and exonerated).
    • However, this stunt ultimately ends up backfiring on Jonah over in the pages of The Pulse (which New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis was concurrently writing at the time). As Luke's then-currently engaged to Jessica Jones, she's enraged by what Jonah wrote about her fiancee. She uses the article as grounds for terminating her deal with the Bugle and gives exclusive press about their daughter's birth to one of Jonah's rivals in retaliation. Robbie Robertson all but tells Jonah he has no one to blame but himself for this debacle.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: At the end of Superior Spider-Man, he finally loses it and constructs an army of Spider-Slayers to kill Spidey.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: His poor treatment of Peter Parker and his financing attempts to capture/kill Spider-Man have repeatedly come back to haunt him.
  • Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman: And HOW! Did anybody count the number of smear campaigns he held against the guy who is actually on his payroll?
  • Mean Boss: He shouts at Peter Parker every second, complains when he brings no pictures, whines when he brings pictures in which Spider-Man looks good, underpays him and fires him every time he gets angry. It can apply to other staff as well. During Civil War he forced the people at the Bugle to publicly support the registration act.
  • My Greatest Failure: Jameson paid a private-eye named "Mac" Gargan to take a formula that turned him into the Scorpion in order to capture Spider-Man; Gargan was driven insane as a result, becoming more of a menace than Spidey could ever possibly be. Jameson's admitted part in creating such a monster is something that has gnawed him ever since. When the Hobgoblin blackmailed him about that fact, Jameson decided to write a public confession and resign as Editor-in-Chief, while conveniently neglecting to mentioning that he also repeated that mistake in indirectly creating the Fly, and that he was involved in attacking Spider-Man with various Spider-Slayers.
    • In The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), He admits to Frederick Fosewell Jr. that he knowingly lied about Spider-Man's actions for years, painting him as a criminal and ruining his reputation for his own ego.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When Jameson gets involved in a time travelling adventure with Spider-Man, the two (along with Peter's long-lost sister) end up in an alternate future where the Osborns rule America and Peter had long retired being Spider-Man (Peter's fault - his younger self overheard his older self talk about the grief being a hero was). Seeing as the last heroes not dead or in Osborn's employ are Steve Rogers, a weakened Dr. Strange and Riri Williams, Jameson realizes that a world without Spider-Man is very bleak and that he was fighting the wrong person all this time.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: An unusual case, as Stan Lee created Jonah as an exaggeratedly cranky version of himself.
  • No Questions Asked: As shown fairly early on when Peter briefly tries to sell off his photos elsewhere and the editor got very nosy, the main reason Peter keeps coming back to the Bugle and facing Johan's abuse and smear campaign is because he'll always buy his photos without pushing for how he got them very much if at all.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: After Aunt May marries JJJ's father, he becomes Peter's brother-in-law... while still publishing damaging articles against Spider-Man. While he remains as rowdy as ever, Jameson realizes just how badly he's messed up over the years after Peter reveals his identity to him. Since then, Jameson has used his radio show to praise Spider-Man instead, renouncing all of his previous defamatory statements about him in the process.
  • Only Known by Initials: J.J.J.
  • Pet the Dog: Has gotten a ton of these moments over the years to show that once you get past the greedy, shouting, pissed-off exterior he's not that bad a guy. In particular, even though he's a notorious, money-grubbing cheapskate, Jameson still bankrolled Peter and Mary Jane's wedding.
    • He's done stuff like this a lot for Peter, among other things he also provided a credit reference in order for Peter to buy his first motorcycle.
    • Even Stan Lee threw him the occasional moment now and then, like sticking up for Hobie Brown in front of Hobie's boss.
    • In one story, Robbie asks Jameson why he puts up with Peter's pictures, since they're pretty amateurish all things considered, and asks if Jameson ran a background check on Peter. Jameson assures him that he did, and looks at his computer, where there's an article about Ben Parker's death open.
    Jameson: The kid just needs some help.
    • At the beginning of the Silk Comic series he offers to have his cop buddies look into the whearabouts of Cindy Moon's family and tells her it is okay to ask for help. In general he's a far nicer boss to her than he was to Peter.
  • The Real Heroes: Jameson is not one himself, but he is a tremendous booster of "ordinary" heroes like police officers and soldiers, like his son John.
  • Second-Face Smoke: He does this a lot; Spidey has found ways of reversing it on him once in a while.
  • Secret-Keeper: Learns Peter's identity during Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man 's "Interview of the Century" storyline. This, coupled with the interview itself (during which Jonah and Spidey called each other out on a ton of their issues) eventually causes JJJ to have a much better opinion of Spider-Man, but ultimately it bites him in the butt when he lets slip to Norman Osborn that he threw "Spidey's girl" off a bridge. One "Eureka!" Moment later Osborn remembers who Peter really is.
  • Selective Obliviousness: No matter how many times Spider-Man saves the day, Jonah refuses to see him as anything more than a menace. That is, until Spidey reveals his secret identity to him. Then he becomes a dedicated (if slightly sour) supporter of the webhead.
  • Smoking Is Not Cool: Smoking big, smelly cigars is one of the most annoying habits of J. Jonah Jameson. Employees often call him "Chimney Lungs" behind his back, and often wonder if the habit contributes to his Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Some of My Best Friends Are X: From She-Hulk Vol. 1 #4 (in Jonah's defence, his best friend is black)...
    Augustus: So, Spidey, looking back at of all these personal attacks, I gotta ask... why, in your personal opinion, does Jameson have it out for you?
    Spider-Man: At first, I didn't really know. But over the years, and after some serious thought and soul-searching, I think I've figured it out. The real reason Jonah hates me... is because I'm black.
    Jameson: I-I-I didn't know... I mean... I have nothing against... I never would have... some of my best friends are... um... oh...
    Spider-Man: Kidding. Sorry.
  • Strawman News Media: Outside his hatred of superheroes, his integrity as a journalist is unimpeachable. Heck, The Kingpin could bear down on him if the Bugle had the goods on the gangster and Jameson's first response would be to make the front page headline of the expose bigger.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
    • His constant slandering of Spider-Man, often accusing him without evidence, has led to countless retractions over the years. During the 2000s, this led to the Bugle's circulation and credibility suffering greatly. Jameson was forced to create The Pulse, a new section of the Bugle, dedicated to superhero coverage. In Brand New Day, this also resulted in the Bugle being bought by one of his rivals.
    • During his time as Mayor of New York, Jameson sunk a lot of tax money into funding his "Anti-Spider Squad". This slowly but surely caused public opinion to turn against him, as the citizens of New York didn't like paying extra taxes to fund the pursuit of a single man.
    • Decades of chain smoking and constant, spontaneous bouts of rage do a number on a person's health. He's suffered a heart attack twice, both of which following Peter finally getting fed up and yelling back at him. After the second one, he made the effort to control his anger by repeating "I will not die before Spider-Man" whenever he was about to lose his cool.
  • To Catch Heroes, Hire Villains: In early comics, he hires villains, or in the case of the Scorpion, helps create them in order to try and take down Spider-Man.
  • Tsundere: A non-romantic male version towards his staff on his best days. He may yell at them a lot, but he does genuinely value their work and is very protective of them, not that he'll ever say the latter part out loud.
  • Ultimate Authority Mayor: He's used his position as Mayor of NYC to carry out his crusade against Spider-Man on a whole new level. He temporarily called it off... but then Otto Octavius (during his brief occupancy of Peter's body) blackmailed him and it's back to square one.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Spidey has saved his and his loved one's lives again and again, and yet he goes right back to smearing the superhero as always.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
    • Jonah commissioned the creation of the Scorpion and the Fly, both of whom went on to become supervillains who have terrorized the city. Additionally, Reed & Susan Richards' second child was stillborn because when Reed was retrieving Dr. Octopus, the only man who could help Susan give birth, one of Jonah's anti-Spiderman billboards caused the currently-medicated doctor to suffer a psychotic relapse, delaying his arrival and causing the baby to die.
    • Telling his younger self Spider-Man's true identity. Though Jonah had hoped it would convince his younger self to go easy on Peter, it instead lead him to prepare a story on it. When the Green Goblin confronted the younger Jameson, he saw the early draft, and used that knowledge to attack Peter's Aunt May (which led to the younger Spider-Man quitting being a hero, resulting in a Bad Future).
  • Wicked Stepmother: Or rather stepfather, who would beat him and his mother behind closed doors while pretending to be a big hero to the public.
  • Wrong Insult Offense: When accused of spreading Malicious Slander: "It is NOT! Slander is spoken, in print, it's libel."

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