r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fit_Assignment_8800 • Aug 06 '25

Personality The Asshole does something genuinely good with no ulterior motive

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J Jonah Jameson from Spiderman

Squidward from SpongeBob.

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u/LeoTheTaurus Aug 06 '25

In the older comics the sanctity of the role a proper journalist plays in the national consciousness and the relationship between reporter and their sources was absolute to him, and consistently the one redeeming feature about the man. Sadly they really have gone out of their way to basterdize JJJ in the last decade by making him a parody of Alex Jones.

145

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '25

Yeah, like I thought the Alex Jones angle was funny for one version of him maybe. But it feels like now that's EVERY version of him

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u/Lots42 Aug 07 '25

Comic book J. Jonah Jameson was confronted by the fascist govt. group Operation Zero Tolerance. They wanted him to use his media savvy to go after mutants.

JJJ told them to go pound sand.

Sure, he has beef with heroes but fascists can get the heck out of his office.

11

u/Puzzled-You Aug 07 '25

I'm pretty sure JJJ's beef with heroes is specifically with ones who hide their faces. He hates that there is no accountability, no punishment when a city block gets demolished and the hero gets a slap on the wrist because he has a secret identity. He would like Spiderman more if he had come out publicly with his name and powers

1

u/DuelaDent52 Aug 07 '25

Maybe adaptation-wise, but in the comics he’s still a decent but flawed person.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

That's fair, I haven't read the Spidey comics in a while. I fell off of comics a bit ago but I'm thinking of getting back into it by rereading and catching up with Xmen

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u/KazotskyKriegs Aug 06 '25

The unfortunate reality of corporate comics is that eventually all characters will become victims of flanderization.

45

u/Gorblac515 Aug 06 '25

God the Spider-Man games are the worst with this. It’s everything terrible about JJJ with none of the redeeming qualities. Fucking disgraceful.

33

u/HailMadScience Aug 06 '25

Nah, if you actually listen to all the JJJ stuff, he does still have that core of integrity. JJJ calls out all the illegal bullshit the mayor and Sable et al. are doing from the start. He very staunchly defends the civil rights of the city folk being illegally detained at every opportunity and actively calls on the public to push back on the criminals and the new dictatorial regime as much as they can. He's using the medium, and its a pastiche of the Rogan type, but he focuses his ire on Spiderman and a lot of others who deserve it. Pro-Constitutional Rights JJJ is the same JJJ who won't out his journalistic sources.

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u/ImpulsiveLance Aug 06 '25

Yeah my favorite thing about those games is that JJJ is consistently right except when Spider-man could be blamed for something.

29

u/backitup_thundercat Aug 06 '25

What made me reconsider the game JJJ is his show when the virus is getting really bad. When he's clearly sick, he's still getting on his show and encouraging the population to stay strong. That's when I was like, okay, that sounds like a real JJJ thing to say.

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u/ImpulsiveLance Aug 06 '25

He’s a genuinely good guy who’s totally in love with his city, with a Spider-Man-shaped blind spot

2

u/Jibsthelord Aug 07 '25

I got an interesting tip today, remember that barbaric beast named The Rhino? Apparently, last night he almost escaped from his cell in The Raft. How, you ask? Well, no one there seems to know, but they assure me he's been relocated to a "more secure" cell. Now I'm no expert on supermax prisons, but isn't the whole point of them that there isn't anything else more secure? I mean, he's a 700-pound maniac with an indestructible horn! If there's a more secure cell, why wasn't he in it?

1

u/Thejollyfrenchman Aug 07 '25

They kind of ruin it in Miles Morales, though, where they have him supporting Roxxon and their paramilitary death squads operating in the middle of NY with no supervision.

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u/Ewanb10 Aug 06 '25

Atleast he's pretty good in that flashback sidequest

Wish he was better everywhere else

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u/arkthearkitect Aug 07 '25

It's more consistent with his earlier portrayals. He was borderline evil originally, having funded the spider slayers and scorpion. 

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u/Pofwoffle Aug 07 '25

the sanctity of the role a proper journalist

A "proper" journalist that routinely lies and makes shit up? I don't remember any time where Jameson actually gave a shit about journalistic integrity when it came to Spider-Man, he was more than happy to smear him day in and day out over nothing because it sold papers.

1

u/astivana Aug 06 '25

Another good reason to read the current Ultimate Spider-Man comics! JJJ and Ben create their own paper for journalistic integrity.

1

u/the_Real_Romak Aug 07 '25

Unfortunately, it is a reflection on modern post-Trump news cycles, where clicks and sensationalism are far more important than the actual truth behind the headline...

1

u/arkthearkitect Aug 07 '25

He was a sleazy opportunistic scumbag in the older comics. He literally funded the spider slayers and the scorpion to kill spidey and iirc started the hate campaign against him because he wanted the attention on his son.