J. Jonah Jameson

History

J. Jonah Jameson was born to David and Betty Jameson. His father was a United States Army officer and a veteran war hero. But David Jameson was an abusive man and would regularly beat his wife and son, which caused Jonah to grow up convinced that even heroes could be and indeed were evil. During high school Jonah was active in boxing and photography. When he joined the photography club he met Joan, who would eventually become his wife. When some bullies began bullying Jonah, he fought back and beat all of them. Joan was impressed and the two of them started dating soon after. They would marry after high school.

Journalist Work

The Daily Bugle

After World War II, Jonah and Joan had a son, whom they named John. When the Korean War started, Jonah went out on the field to cover that war also. Eventually returning home, Jonah discovered that his wife had been killed by a mugger. Jonah became obsessed with his work in hopes of forgetting the pain the loss of his wife caused. Jonah worked so hard that he was eventually promoted to Chief Editor of the Daily Bugle. During his time as a reporter, Jonah had contributed in helping to bring down organized crime, and also supported civil rights.

The War Against Spider-Man

"Spider-Man is a menace"

Jameson's and Spider-Man’s relationship existed this way for a long time. Jameson’s anger only grew with time because he was convinced that no hero ever stayed a hero indefinitely. He would print countless articles attempting to prove that Spider-Man was a criminal. However, he always ended up having to print retraction articles soon after when Spider-Man again proved him wrong. Due to David Jameson’s abuse, Jonah Jameson would stay convinced that every hero always had a hidden agenda and that all their agendas were always against the law.

Jameson would always post rewards for anyone who would capture Spider-Man or uncover his true identity, and he even went so far as to work with Spencer Smythe’s Spider-Slayer in trying to capture Spider-Man. Jameson hired Mac Gargan to test out a genetic enhancement which transformed Gargan into the Scorpion because a scorpion was the spider’s main enemy (the Scorpion had incredible powers, but a side affect was insanity). The Scorpion instead tried to kill Jameson for what he had done to him, only to be stopped by Spider-Man. Eventually Jameson hired Silver Sable to try and capture Spider-Man.
     As the first Green Goblin terrorized the world, JJJ used his paper to campaign against it.  Meanwhile, Jameson was attending parties and becoming a friend to Norman Osborn, not knowing that the pumpkin wielding menace and leader of Oscorp were one and the same.   
     Meanwhile, a former criminal known as Fredrick Foswell began to do detective work by pretending to be a criminal named Patch and then publishing illegal activities in the Daily Bugle.  Jameson was delighted with Foswell's work. 
     When Kraven came to New York, Jameson was fascinated and planned to have his papers praise the bold hunter.  When animals escaped and Kraven stopped them, Jameson became enthralled by the Russian superstar, unaware that Kraven had released the animals on purpose for fun and publicity.  JJJ supported Kraven's quest to defeat Spiderman, but disapproved when Kraven mentioned slaying the webslinger, saying he only wanted Spidey to be brought to justice.  He was shocked to learn that Kraven was really a crook. 
     When Kingpin first began to get the city in his grasp, Jameson began to use his papers to fight back and reveal him.  Meanwhile, Spiderman became so tired of Jameson's campaign against him that he quit.  At first, Jameson was delighted, especially when he found Spidey's abandoned costume.  He even had the red and blue suit framed in his office.  However, when Kingpin captured and began to kill him, he began to wish Spiderman was still around.  In fact, Spiderman did return (taking the costume right out of JJJ's office), but was still overpowered by the Kingpin.  The two were chained together and were nearly executed, but they escaped.  Even so, Fredrick Foswell had to die to save Jonah.  Jameson blamed Spiderman for everything, but showed Foswell as the hero he was in the Daily Bugle the following day. 

Later Jameson hired Dr. Marla Madison to create new Spider-Slayers because Spider-Man had destroyed all the previous ones and Spencer Smythe, who had created them, was now one of Jameson's enemies. Madison became interested with the challenge Spider-Man brought and kept working with Jameson. Eventually the two married, making her Jonah’s second wife. They adopted Mattie Franklin soon after.
     When Jameson discovered Osborn was the Green Goblin, he took it as a personal insult. 

The Hobgoblin later blackmailed Jameson with the information that Jameson had commissioned the creation of the criminal known as the Scorpion. Not wishing to be blackmailed, Jameson instead revealed his role in having created the Scorpion to the general public. Jameson then stepped down as Chief Editor and gave the job to Robbie Robertson.

Why he "hates" Spider-Man

Civil War

When Spider-Man revealed to the world that he was Peter Parker, Jameson was crushed. He had always believed Parker to be an honest kid, whom he loved like a son. He loved the fact that Parker would ignore Jameson’s rudeness and still bring photo after photo to him. Jameson thought he had a bond of trust with Parker, but after Parker revealed himself to be Spider-Man, that bond was shattered. Jameson believed that Parker kept working at the Bugle to gain a laugh at Jameson for being so stupid as not to realize that he was Spider-Man. Jameson became so hateful of Parker as to want to ruin him, even though Parker had sided with the Super-Human Registration Act. Jameson tried to sue Parker for fraud for all the photos he had taken of himself as Spider-Man, but the government gave Parker immunity to these charges because of all his good deeds and because he was a registered hero.

Jameson’s son John later married attorney Jennifer Walters, the crusading adventuress known as the She-Hulk. This angered Jameson even more, and he even sent a Spider-Slayer to attack the She-Hulk. The She-Hulk instead defeated it easily and tried to work things out with Jameson. As Jennifer Walters, she offered to take the case to prove Spider-Man was a fraud, but she later told John that all she really intended to do was drag the case out for a long time to make Jameson mad.

When Spider-Man went rogue from Captain America’s Secret Avengers, Jameson posted another reward to bring Spider-Man in. Later it was revealed that Betty Brant had been secretly giving information to a rival paper about libel reports on Parker. Still feeling anger on Peter's alleged betrayal, Jonah fired Robbie. When Betty told this to Peter, he webbed Jonah's office and left a note saying that they have to talk that has been long overdue. When they met, Spider-Man tried to persuade Jonah to get Robbie his job back, but he ask him to make a choice between his lawsuit against him or Robbie's job. Then Spider-Man ask Jonah to him to release him frustrations to him which he reluctantly did. Spider-Man then used his insults and wise-cracks on Jonah that made him even angrier to the point that he broke his hand because of so much hitting. Spider-Man they gave him a film containing picture of Jonah's assault on him and told Jonah that the pictures will sell a gazillion copies. Jonah came back to the Bugle and destroyed the film by stomping it and left the Bugle. He was accidentally hit by Betty by the door that resulted in him getting two black eyes. He then goes to Robbie's home and told what happened to him and said that he can have his job back and he dropped the charges on Spider-Man. He later become skeptical on Spider-Man's true identity when the Scarlet Spiders "unmasked" themselves as Peter Parker, stating that Peter was always have been in their team but was let go because of attitude problem.

Brand New Day