Spider-Man - 10 Worst Things J. Jonah Jameson Has Ever Done

The very worst of the Daily Bugle's editor-in-chief.

Spider-Man J. Jonah Jameson
Marvel Comics

James. Jonah Jameson first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 back in March 1963 and has become one of the most famous non-superhero or supervillain characters in the Marvel universe. Portrayed mainly as the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle in the heart of New York City, Jameson is known for being brash, dubious and selfish in his work and has turned up as one of Spider-Man's biggest adversaries over the years.

Whilst his hatred of Spider-Man grew from a fairly legitimate fear of vigilantism rising across the city, his true personality eventually showed that this hatred was more of a personal vendetta against the web-crawler, rather than an open argument against a mask-wearing vigilante running across the Big Apple.

Jameson is a complex character, capable of showing flashes of immense self-sacrifice - such as not turning over Peter Parker's identity to the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's trilogy - but constantly doing all he could to undercut and push through his headline stories, even if they weren't exactly well fact-checked or viable for publishing.

For Jameson, bringing Spider-Man and all who associate with him to heel is what drives his actions. It seems like there is no avenue he won't exploit a story or crush a spider, so here are the worst things J. Jonah Jameson has ever done.

10. Hired Luke Cage To Beat Up Spider-Man

Spider-Man J. Jonah Jameson
Marvel Comics

Jameson has always had a pretty angry attitude towards Spider-Man, but every so often there are moments where even he manages to make audiences gasp by stepping out a little too far.

One such occasion was in the Amazing Spider-Man #123, where the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle hired Luke Cage to catch Spider-Man - dead or alive - for $5,000. Following the deaths of Gwen Stacy and his friend Norman Osborn, Jameson was pushed over the edge and became convinced that Spider-Man was responsible for the tragedy.

Fortunately, Luke Cage quickly realised that New York's web-crawler wasn't responsible for these deaths and thankfully decided to scrap the deal he had made. Cage even offered to give the $5,000 back to Jameson following his altercation with Spidey.

Comic book fans know that Jameson is a fairly slimy individual at the best of times, resorting to all manner of means to get ahead of a story or put Spider-Man down, but this was one moment that few of them could have seen coming. A guy like Cage is not exactly small, and the possibility that he could have actually killed him in the process can't have escaped his mind.

All in all, it certainly helps throw a darker shade on Jameson.

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Contributor

Horror fan, gamer, all round subpar content creator. Strongly believes that Toad is the real hero of the Mario universe, and that we've probably had enough Batman origin stories.