Jericho (comics)

Publication history

Jericho first appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans #43 and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

Development

Jericho was created in the early 1980s, a few years after Marv Wolfman and George Pérez relaunched the Teen Titans series and turned it into a major hit for DC Comics. At the time, Wolfman and Pérez were interested in distancing the team from the Justice League, many of whose members had been mentors to the Titans. This meant introducing new characters such as the mystical Raven and the technological Cyborg, as well as changing some of the existing characters, such as having Dick Grayson trade in his identity as Robin in favor of Nightwing. Jericho was part of this process of establishing the team as its own creature rather than, in Pérez' words, a "Justice Little League". Marv Wolfman had decided on the name, which he got from an unused character from the previous Titans series, and with the idea of Jericho being the son of Deathstroke the Terminator, then the primary villain in the Titans series, but could not think of any other aspects of the character. George Pérez worked out the design, powers, and personality of Jericho and also suggested making the character mute. In something of a departure, he also insisted that Jericho's emotions be conveyed entirely through visuals, without the use of thought balloons. Pérez claims that Jericho is the first character which he created solely by himself.

Childhood

Joseph was the youngest son of Slade Wilson (Deathstroke the Terminator) and Adeline Kane Wilson, and had a happy early childhood. Joseph was a musical prodigy, as well being an talented artist. When he was a child, he was held hostage by the terrorist Jackal, sent by the Quarac president for killing an important colonel, in an effort to obtain information from his father of whom hired him, who was secretly leading a double life as a mercenary. When Deathstroke refused to cooperate with Jackal, citing a violation of his professional code of ethics, and try to recuse Joseph by betting on his speed. Deathstroke managed to rescue his son, but not before one of Jackal's men cut his throat. As a result, Joseph was rendered mute.

Following the incident, Joseph's mother Adeline divorced Slade (she had previously tried to kill him, but only succeeded in blinding him in one eye) and took Joseph and his older brother Grant with her. At some point, Joseph learned to communicate through sign language (identified in Action Comics #584 as American Sign Language). While still a child, Joseph discovered that he possessed the metahuman power to take possession of any humanoid being by making eye contact with it, a result of biological experimentation done on his father years before. He first manifested his powers when his was saving a friend in danger, but Joseph was left traumatized by the event and his powers would lay dormant until his late teens. In his late teens, Joseph worked with his mother in her espionage organization, Searchers Inc. and receives training in combat and stealth. During a mission, Joseph's fully awaken his powers once again to save his mother from an assassin and embraced his abilities to further aid his mother in their work.

Titans

Sometime later (in a storyline called "The Judas Contract"), Adeline and Joseph discovered that Deathstroke had accepted a contract on the Teen Titans. They approached Dick Grayson to help him rescue the Titans, with Joseph adopting the identity of Jericho. The rescue mission was a success, and Jericho subsequently joined the team, but the Titans were initially wary of him because of his relationship to Deathstroke, and the betrayal of Terra.

Jericho proved to be a sensitive and pure-hearted individual, and was a loyal Titan for many years. Shortly after he joined the Titans, another new member, Kole, joined and Jericho immediately developed a bond with her. Jericho also developed a close and affectionate relationship with Raven, having possessed her once and learned about her demonic heritage. Jericho was the first Titan to understand Raven, bonding over their pasts with their fathers and finding comfort with one another.

Corruption

Unbeknownest to anyone, Jericho was possessed by the souls of Azarath, tainted by the essence of the demon Trigon, Raven's father. Unable to possess Raven herself, the souls entered Jericho, as his powers made it easier for the souls to enter him, and were weak at first, but gained strength with time and eventually merged with him after some time following Trigon's defeat.

Jericho laid dormant within his own mind while the souls of Azarath began searching for new bodies. The souls needed individual vessels to survive and sought to acquire superhuman ones. Slowly but surely, the souls began corrupting Jericho and seized control over his body after the villain known as Wildebeest (comics) campaign of terror against the Titans, framing Starfire for murder and nearly killing Cyborg after brainwashing him into serving as a proxy for him in a series of robberies. The possessed Jericho discovered that the Wildbeest was actually multiple people; members of the former Titans villain group The HIVE, rebranded following the organization's defeat at the hands of the Titans years earlier. Imprisoning the lead Wildebeest, Jericho became the group's new leader and used them to abduct current and former Titans to act as vessels. Jericho gained new powers: a powerful lion soul-self and a healing ability that repaired his throat and allowed him to speak again.

In the "Titans Hunt" storyline, Nightwing and Troia, accompanied by some new allies, found and confronted him. During the battle, the real Jericho resurfaced and begged his father to kill him. There was no help for him and, to spare his son any more suffering, Deathstroke killed him. A statue of Jericho was later erected in the Titans Tower memorial in San Francisco.

Return

Several years later, it was revealed that Jericho's spirit had survived by jumping inside his father right before he was killed. He had lain dormant until hearing that his friend Donna Troy had been killed in battle. Taking control of his father's body, he sought out the latest group of Titans; hoping to convince them that children shouldn't be superheroes and wanting to spare them his fate. He also killed his father's closest friend, Wintergreen, and mounted the man's head on a wall.

Further demonstrating his mental instability, while in Deathstroke's body he viciously attacked his former friends, and even shot Impulse in the knee.

During the combat, he jumped from body to body until Raven absorbed him. During a battle with Brother Blood, she repelled him when she unintentionally absorbed her teammates Deathstroke and Rose into her soul-self. Jericho managed to use the bodies of Wonder Girl and Superboy against the team, but when he tried to enter Cyborg, Cyborg used his cybernetic eye to transfer Jericho's spirit to a computer file, now stored in Titans Tower. Beast Boy says that they check on Jericho every day.

After the "One Year Later" jump following the events of Infinite Crisis, Raven took the disk with Jericho's essence and, using the same ritual the Church of Brother Blood previously employed to raise her from the dead, resurrected Jericho in a new body, missing the throat injuries from his childhood that left him mute. Jericho joined the latest incarnation of the team, taking the opportunity to bond with his half-sister Rose, who was the new Ravager. After possessing the body of Superboy's dangerous clone Match, Jericho moved to S.T.A.R. Labs until a way was found to control Match.

Later Jericho, still trapped in Match's body, seemingly escaped from S.T.A.R. Labs in visible distress and asking for his friends' help. The Titans managed to help him escape Match's body, but it soon became apparent how much the experience had twisted Jericho's mind, leaving him bent on the Titans' destruction.

Jericho briefly escaped the Titans to plague the Presidential Election of 2008 of the main DC Universe, even going so far as to use Green Lantern's body to fight the Justice League upon being discovered. The will-based powers of Hal prove to be his undoing, as Hal was able to push Jericho out of his body. Jericho was brought to the JLA Satellite for safe-keeping. Mento mindprobed Jericho, discovering that he was suffering from a particular and severe form of dissociative identity disorder, caused by years of reckless body-hopping. Unable to purge his mind of the lingering echoes of the personality he had to submerge when taking possession of an individual, he had his mind overruled by the most evil and strong willed patterns, causing him to take on a criminal, ruthless personality opposed to his former gentle self. The JLA decides to send him back to S.T.A.R. Labs, hoping for a cure.

Jericho managed to escape the JLA, and returned to the Titans, now inhabiting Nightwing's body. The JLA arrived to reclaim him, and he started jumping into the bodies of whoever tried to capture him. This backfired when Jericho jumped into Superman's body. Although stronger than he once was, Jericho found himself unable to control Superman's alien body. Jericho briefly managed to gain control of himself over the evil impulses, and seemingly vanished into nothingness.

Deathtrap

Jericho later returns, having entered Cyborg's body through his mechanical eye, using an "imprint" left over from the last time. He used Titans Tower's defenses to try to kill the Teen Titans, but their new member Static used his electrical powers to short out the Tower's systems, creating feedback that knocked Jericho out of Cyborg. Jericho escaped once more and, spurred on by the multiple personalities inside him (particularly that of his father), sets into motion a "Deathtrap" scenario. Jericho unsuccessfully attempted to murder both the Teen Titans and the Titans (his former teammates), who eventually apprehend him. While in police custody, he was confronted by the new Vigilante. Determined to end the villain's rampage permanently (but having promised Rose Wilson that he would not kill him), Vigilante gouged out both of his eyes, rendering him unable to use his possession abilities. The trauma of the incident caused Jericho to revert to his true personality, but he was left haunted by the various personalities in his mind.

Blackest Night

In a Teen Titans tie-in to the Blackest Night crossover, Jericho is seen in possession of Grant's body, now a member of the undead Black Lantern Corps, saving Rose from the attack of Adeline, Wintergreen, and Wade Defarge. Jericho revealed to Rose that his eyes grew back after Vigilante's attack, and that he used his power to enter Grant's body when he attempted to kill him. Jericho then entered his mother's body, tricking the Black Lanterns into destroying each other. In the aftermath, Jericho reconciled with his father, reasoning that Deathstroke would be the only one who could kill him if he were ever to succumb to the murderous personalities inside his mind.

Brightest Day

Deathstroke hired Doctor Sivana and Doctor Impossible to create a diabolical invention with a healing factor called the "Methuselah Device" to save Jericho who was dying from leprosy. Once Jericho is placed in the machine, they activate the Methuselah, which restores Jericho's body. Deathstroke offers its abilities to all of the Titans, promising to restore their deceased loved ones as payment for their services. Some Titans accept, but other Titans refuse and the team fights. Deathstroke walks away with his son, but Jericho possessed him, disgusted at what his father did to achieve his restoration. He intends to destroy first the Methuselah Device, then himself and Deathstroke. While the Titans fight over the Methuselah, its power source, a metahuman named DJ Molecule, is released. DJ Molecule blasts Deathstroke, knocking Jericho out of his body and is then slashed by Cheshire. When Cinder sacrifices herself to destroy the Methuselah, Jericho is carried out by Arsenal. Arsenal and Jericho then decide to form a new team of Titans, to restore the legacy that Deathstroke damaged.

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), two versions of Jericho were presented. Unlike previous comics, Jericho is not mute and is fully capable of talking by using his voice.

The first version appeared as an antagonist in Rob Liefeld's Deathstroke vol. 2. He and his mother were believed to have died when North Koreans attacked their home. Slade Wilson (now calling himself Deathstroke) had made many enemies worldwide and had repeatedly placed his family in the cross-hairs. Jericho at some point exposed himself to the Gen-factor, which gave him his powers. Now a man in his early 20s, Jericho has plans to destroy his father's life that he had built for himself with the help of his mother and brother. However, it was eventually revealed that Jericho had taken control of his own mother and brother and forced them to hate Deathstroke. Joseph was apparently killed along with his brother until, a later scene of a worker with glowing green eyes hinted at Joseph possessing a man to save himself and escape.

The second version appears in Deathstroke vol. 3, which erases the previous volume from continuity, with Jericho once again being his heroic and peace-loving self. Due to his enormous powers, Jericho was captured by his own grandfather, Nathaniel Wilson. Under the alias of Odysseus, he wanted to siphoned Joe's metahuman power to become practically invincible and experimented on Jericho, awakening new psychic powers within him. Jericho was eventually saved by his father and sister Rose, but the ordeal left Jericho with problems controlling his new powerful powers, and sought solitude while trying to run from Odysseus. Sometime later in Gotham, Jericho met with Rose, who tried to find someone to help Jericho learn to control his new powers, but the meeting went astray and Odysseus shows up to reclaim Jericho. Due to the arrival of Deathstroke, Jericho was able to escape his grandfather's clutches and once again seclude himself. Sometime later, it was reveals that Jericho went to Ra's al Ghul to seeks sanctuary, and has gain better control of his psychic powers. He and Ra's al Ghul reappeared before his father and sister again to save them from his father's enemies, who are also part of the Nova Council, an anti-metahumans organization that targets criminals and those who uses their powers for money. Weeks later, Jericho and his family made a preemptive strike against his father's enemies, in which Rose fell under the mental control of Lawman and Jericho had to unleash a strong mental blast to sever the link, but injuring Rose's mind in the process. When Ra's al Ghul offered to heal Rose with a special "elixir" in return of Deathstroke's fealty to the League of Assassins, Deathstroke accepts and Ra's al Ghul instructs Jericho dive into his sister's subconsciousness to bring out of her comatose state. After they retreated, Jericho and Rose also reveals, much to their father's disliked, that they joined the league out of debt for Ra's al Ghul's assistance and to make sure Rose would have access to the "elixir," which Ra's al Ghul states she would need to take daily if she wants to live. In their next attack on Danger Island, Jericho uses his powers to fight (non-violently) with his family, protecting with his family an energy shield and using his telepathy to halt the enemies' movements. When Deathstroke disobeys Ra's al Ghul, who was attempting to get the Nova Council into the league by sparing their lives, and killed his ex-ally Victor Ruiz, causing the two men began fighting one another. Jericho intervenes and threats Ra's al Ghul to stops or he'll kill everyone with a psychic blast. Having read Ra's al Ghul's mind, Jericho also reveals the "elixir" Rose took was just drug stimulant, therefore Ra's al Ghul never saved Rose's life, and rescind their oath to the League of Assassins. Once Ra's al Ghul releases them and left, Jericho and Rose tenderly said goodbye to their father, who decide they should distance themselves from him for their safety, and departed from the island.

DC Rebirth

Jericho later reappears after the DC Rebirth relaunch, once again mute and with his original origin restored, though sightly modified and has a edgier personality. This version of Jericho is also bisexual.

Unlike his blissful childhood in the original comics, Jericho's family life was strained by the time he was a young teenager, as his father and mother were constantly fighting over his father's long-absences due his supposed government missions. After Jericho got kidnapped by Jackal and got his throat slit, an outraged Adeline shot Deathstroke (blinding him in one eye) for his lies, his infidelity that resulted in his illegitimate daughter, Rose, and for Jericho's fate.

As a young adult, he is working as an executive vice-president for a tech firm that his mother owns in Los Angeles, and is engaged to his interpreter, Etienne. Although mute and still using ASL, Jericho uses a special technology called a "subvocal mic," which let a person's phone Bluetooth sync with the mic so he can vocalize his thoughts through the phone in a computerized voice. After Rose came to visit him, Jericho secretly met up with Dr. Isherwood, his father's ex-tech guy, a superhero, and Jericho's former lover. Jericho tells Isherwood of his marriage, who disapproves of Jericho's choice because of his sexuality and not believing his love for Etienne is genuine, and tells Jericho that he will prevent the marriage. Angered by Isherwood's interference, Jericho uses his powers to possess his body, turning off his super "Ikon suit" that allows him to fly, making them fall off a tall building. Following Dr. Isherwood's seemly demise, Jericho takes over his duties as a superhero and uses the Ikon suit to aid him in his deeds, as Isherwood once explained the suit's capabilities to Jericho and how to use it. While out on a mission to help Superman apprehend his father during a government mission, Rose finds out that Etienne is secretly a member of H.I.V.E., though it unknown if she plans to inform Jericho of Etienne's deception.

While continuing his new superhero duties (which Etienne knows about), Jericho starts taking pills due to experiencing migraines due his guilt of Isherwood's fall. Later, Jericho meets his father's personal physician, Arthur Villain, who is looking for him, but Jericho explains that his father is "tied up" right now. Wanting figure why he's having migraines, Jericho has Dr. Villain examines him, who also explains the finer details of how his powers works and that of his family members. Dr. Villain states Jericho is perfectly healthy and his problem is a emotional issue, but Jericho denies if something traumatic happened and left. While Jericho was sleeping, Deathstroke, who broke out of jail a few days later, pay a visit to check on his son, but left before Jericho could awake. That morning, Jericho hallucinates about Isherwood, showing that migraines become worse over time, causing him to crash the shower's glass door. While he hides the reason for his migraines from Etienne, he hastily set an early wedding date, which she agrees to.

Sometime later, Jericho gets call from Deathstroke, who is a the middle of a fight with Raptor and Red Lion, to get in contact with Isherwood (who invented the Ikon suits) for his help in deactivating Raptor's Ikon suit. However, Jericho lied about knowing Isherwood's whereabouts, but Deathstroke orders his son to find Isherwood and to call Adeline, which he does. Still wrestling with his guilt, Jericho goes to a hospital to visit Isherwood, revealing to be alive after Jericho made them fall of the building, but is greatly injured and seems to be in a comatose state. Jericho apologizes to Isherwood for his current condition and tells him that he still cares about him. In a flashback six years ago, it shows that Isherwood was the one who design Jericho's bulletproof costume when he's starting to be a young hero and the one who gave him the code name "Jericho". While Jericho's guilt starts causing him to cut himself, he remains oblivious that Etienne is in a secret relationship with his father, who figure out that her mission is to target Deathstroke through his son. Deathstroke doesn't know who Etienne is working for, but he tells Etienne break up with Jericho. Although she proclaims to love his son, and their clandestine affair, Deathstroke warns Etienne that he will kill her if she betrays Jericho.

Powers and abilities

Jericho can possess a person after making eye contact with them; his body turns insubstantial and enters the subject. While he is in possession, Jericho has access to all of that host's powers (physical, mental, and magical), and is also able to tap into their memories. Jericho's victims stay conscious and may even express themselves vocally, but they are not able to control the actions of their bodies as directed by Jericho. If the person is unconscious, Jericho can use their voice to speak, albeit with their accent or any other speech impairments, and only using the words they know. Jericho sometimes uses the American manual alphabet letter "J" as his Sign name in order to signal to his allies that he has taken possession of a person.

This power is most effective on human or meta-human bodies; when Jericho once possessed Superman, he was unable to maintain control of the Kryptonian brain for long. Jericho's power depends on eye contact with living beings; if he is blinded, or the being he attempts to possess is not a natural creature, his power fails. In this way, he was tricked by his teammate Cyborg during a training exercise, when the latter closed his natural eye and Jericho failed to take possession by attempting to contact his artificial eye. Jericho has since overcome this limitation and was able to control Cyborg through his electronic eye. Jericho has also shown the ability to regrow his gouged out eyeballs; this feat apparently came with the price of a still impaired vision, but the return of his possession ability in its full capacity.

Despite his pacifistic nature and dislikes for physical violence, he is also skilled in hand-to-hand combat and able to hold his own against his father, Deathstroke.

When possessed by the spirits of Azarath, Jericho had a powerful lion soul self and a healing ability.

The New 52

In The New 52, Jericho receives an array of psychic abilities, aside from his possession powers, such as being able to telepathically control his brother Grant and his mother Adeline.

Despite conflicting continuity between Deathstroke vol. 2 and 3, Jericho still retains his telepathy to read minds and control others. After being experimented on, Jericho demonstrated even more powerful abilities to rapture other human beings apart with a psychic blast, much to his horror. Although his telepathy can block by others with mental powers, Jericho can read their aura to see if they hold malicious intents and can also project an energy field to defend against attacks.

DC Rebirth

In DC Rebirth, Jericho demonstrates the ability to separated his incorporeal, spiritual self from his physical body when he using his powers to possess other people. Unlike how his usual way of possessing others works, Jericho describes this ability like a Near field communication, being able to possess people within a certain distance from him, and the person he is possessing speaks using his voice, not theirs. In addition, his physical body is dormant and immobilize, leaving it vulnerable to attacks if no one is there to protect it.

Earth One

In Teen Titans: Earth One, Jericho serves as an antagonist for the Teen Titans, having been manipulated and brainwashed by Dr. Stone of S.T.A.R. Labs into spying and fighting against his fellow " Project Titans" members.

Tiny Titans

In the children's series Tiny Titans, Jericho is one of the younger toddlers and part of the "Little Tiny Titans" with Wildebeest, Kid Devil and Miss Martian. As a running gag, Jericho often uses his powers to possesses others for his and his friends' benefit and amusement, including his older sister, Rose and father Deathstroke.

Television

Film

Miscellaneous

Sexuality

When Marv Wolfman and George Pérez were creating the character, they toyed around with the idea of making Joseph gay. Pérez had this to say: "While Marv and I did discuss the possibility of Joseph Wilson being gay, Marv decided that it was too much of a stereotype to have the sensitive, artistic, and wide-eyed character with arguably effeminate features be also homosexual". Joseph has had romantic connections with Raven and Kole. The DC Rebirth version of Joseph is canonically confirmed to be bisexual.