Golden and Silver Age versions

During the Silver Age, Jimmy starred in his own comic book, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which featured his various adventures with and without Superman; it debuted in 1954. The stories in the title would often feature particularly outlandish situations, ranging from Jimmy being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to dealing frequently with gorillas of all sorts. Because of these factors, the comic was regarded by some as a poorly written subsidiary title, although some readers still enjoy it for its camp value.

The major exception to this was in the early 1970s, when the singular writer/artist Jack Kirby took over the title and created his own distinctive stories as part of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, which introduced many additions to the DC Universe, including the supervillain Darkseid and Project Cadmus. The series revolved around Project Cadmus, and the genetic experiments held there, most notably cloning. The series ended in 1974 with issue #163, when Jimmy's book was folded into the anthology title Superman Family. In that book, Olsen became a more serious character who battled criminals as an investigative reporter in urban crime stories that rarely involved Superman.

The many transformations of Jimmy Olsen

Especially in the days of the Silver Age, Jimmy would often find himself temporarily transformed, for better or worse, or undergo a disguise for various purposes. The transformation tradition is still sometimes referenced in current day comics, usually through homage or parody. The following is a partial list of some of the various forms and powers that Jimmy has experienced:

1. Giant Turtle Boy: One of Jimmy's most frequently cited transformations was that of his turning into a giant turtle boy in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #53 (1961).

2. Elastic Lad - Whether by serum or by alien virus, Jimmy could sometimes stretch himself, akin to Plastic Man or Mister Fantastic. Jimmy first appeared as Elastic Lad in Jimmy Olsen #37 (1959). As Elastic Lad, Jimmy became an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 (1963)

3. Flamebird- name he took as a costumed superhero, with Superman disguised as Nightwing, in the shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor. These names were inspired by two native Kryptonian birds, the nightwing and the flamebird.

4. Speed Demon - In 1956, a month before the debut of Barry Allen as the new Flash, Jimmy drank a potion produced by a Professor Claude and briefly gained super-speed.

5. Radioactive - After being exposed himself, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence.

6. Gorilla - Jimmy switched minds with a gorilla in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #24 (reprinted in #114). He went about his reporting duties as a gorilla in Jimmy's clothes.

7. Monstrous beard growth - The machinations of the sinister Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense beard.

8. Alien-form - Aliens transformed Jimmy into a telepathic Jovian.

9. Wolf-Man - In the vein of the popular Michael Landon 1950's film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Jimmy found himself transformed into a werewolf in Jimmy Olsen #44 (1960).

10. Hippie - Jimmy grew a beard and joined a Superman-hating band of hippies in Jimmy Olsen #118 (1969). On the cover of this story's issue, Jimmy's seen wielding a rather humorous sign saying "Superman is a freak-out!"

11. Viking - Jimmy put on viking armor and mistakenly thought he'd been transported 1000 years backward in time.

12. Transvestite - Jimmy would occasionally go undercover dressed as a woman, such as in Jimmy Olsen #44 (1960). Grant Morrison paid a brief homage to this in All Star Superman #4.

13. Doomsday - Also in All Star Superman #4, Jimmy takes a serum and becomes a version of Superman's foe Doomsday.

14. A genie

15. A six-armed man

16. A fire-breather

17. A water-breather

18. A human porcupine, in Jimmy Olsen #65 (1962).

19. A gorilla's husband

20. Superman on another planet, but he got upset because the civilian knew who he was.

Modern Age version

Despite recent modernization efforts, Jimmy Olsen has not been significantly changed in the Modern Age. He is still a cub reporter working for The Daily Planet, and is still friends with Superman. His look was made over as he stopped wearing bow ties, and started wearing casual clothing (though this trend started in 1970s comics). An interesting alteration to the relationship was that Jimmy designed the signal watch himself, leading to his first meeting with Superman (World of Metropolis #4). Superman briefly considered confiscating the watch, but decided he trusted Jimmy to use it responsibly.

While weird transformations no longer occur as regularly as they did in the Silver Age, Jimmy did become Elastic Lad on contact with the Eradicator. He has also taken the identity of "Giant Turtle Boy" in a series of pizza commercials, made when he was temporarily laid off from the Planet.

In the late 1990s, Jimmy moved to Metropolis broadcaster Galaxy Broadcasting, where he became more brash and arrogant. This came to an end when he thought (wrongly) he had discovered Superman's secret identity and said he would announce it live on air. He reconsidered his actions, but lost his job for wasting the timeslot. He was again rehired by the Planet.

June 2003 saw Jimmy Olsen as the focus of a twelve-part miniseries entitled Superman: Metropolis. Written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Danijel Zezelj, the series focused on the futuristic technology unleashed in Metropolis by Brainiac in a previous storyline, and how it affected the everyday lives of Metropolis citizens.

Jimmy had taken a position as a regular star reporter for The Daily Planet, replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent. This caused a strain in the relationship between Clark and Jimmy. It appears, however, that following the One Year Later storyline jump, Clark has regained his original role as The Daily Planet's star reporter, and Jimmy has returned to being a photographer, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his photographic efforts.

Mr. Action?

In the pages of Countdown to Final Crisis, Jimmy has mysteriously gained a number of the powers listed above, as well as magical awareness of any hero he thinks about. though the said powers are inconsistent (manifesting only when he needs them, and randomly), that hasn't stopped Jimmy from christening himself Mr. Action and running fist-first into danger whenever he happens to find it.

Jimmy also finds that he knows certain things now, like who all the Robins were, that Wonder Woman is really Diana Prince of the Department of Metahuman Affairs, and the locations of several of Lex Luthor's hidden lairs. He doesn't know why or how he knows that stuff. He also doesn't know why when he thinks of Superman, he gets an image of Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

Why and how he got his powers has not been revealed, though his presence at the death of one of the New Gods, Lightray, might be to blame.

Jimmy tried to join the Teen Titans, but was turned down by Robin because he couldn't prove he had powers.In a recent issue of Countdown to Final Crisis, Jimmy revealed that he knew that Clark Kent was Superman. Jimmy explained to Clark his new double life, and after the successful halt of a Kryptonite irradiated monkey, SUPERMAN decided to give Jimmy a session with the Justice League Of America. Superman also gave possession of Krypto over to Jimmy since Krypto enjoys being around younger kids like Connor (Superboy)

Smallville

In the television series Smallville, he made his first appearance in "Zod", the first episode of season 6. In Smallville, Jimmy Olsen is played by Aaron Ashmore. His twin brother Shawn Ashmore had earlier played a meteor-freak (super-powered kryptonite mutant) who had stolen Clark's powers on two occassions. As Jimmy Olsen he is revealed to have slept with Clark's friend Chloe Sullivan on her internship and the two got back together during the "Reign of Zod" when they learned that they both worked in the basement of the Daily Planet.

Their relationship began at a great start, Jimmy often trying to prove he was a man to show up CK (Clark Kent). Their relationship from then on often began to fall apart because of many different things.

In the meantime, Jimmy established himself as a true photographer/reporter, often getting himself in the wrong situations. But he was always naïve to the danger and cheerful, except when Chloe would do something to make him feel hurt.

He has always seemed devoted to Chloe but she never truly returned these feelings, they left on good terms in season 6. But in season 7 Chloe found herself unable to reveal that she was a meteor-freak and the two parted ways.

Jimmy then became the "boyfriend" of Clark's cousin Kara Kent, AKA Kara Zor-El (someday to become Supergirl), who at first used him because of his connections, but they develop a relationship, though he seemingly still had feelings for Chloe.

Recently, Jimmy and Chloe were trapped in an elevator together with a bomb, and thinking they would die they confessed everything and now it is left to speculation if they will get together again.

Characteristics

===============

Hieght- 6'2"

Wieght- 210lbs.

Eyes- Blue

Hair- Red