Jericho (comics)

Jericho (Joseph William Wilson) is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was originally a superhero, the son of Deathstroke, and a member of the Teen Titans during ''The New Teen Titans'' period by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. Since the early 1990s Jericho has gone through periods of both sanity and insanity.

Joe Wilson going by the name "Kane Wolfman" appeared as a recurring character on the sixth and seventh seasons of The CW Arrowverse show ''Arrow'', played by Liam Hall. He also appeared as a recurring character on the second season of the DC Universe series ''Titans'', portrayed by Chella Man.

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 trade in his identity as Robin in favor of becoming Nightwing. Jericho was part of this process of establishing the team as its own feature rather than, in Pérez' words, a "Justice Little League". Marv Wolfman had decided on the name, which he got from an unused story from the previous Titans series, and with the idea of Jericho being the son of Deathstroke, but could not think of any other aspects of the character. Pérez worked out the design, powers, and personality of Jericho and also suggested making the character mute. 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 by himself.

Fictional character biography

Childhood

Jericho is the second child of Slade Wilson (Deathstroke) and Adeline Kane. Jackal kidnaps Jericho in retaliation for Deathstroke killing an important colonel. Slade rescues Jericho, but one of his men slits his throat and renders him mute.

Slade and Adeline later divorce, with Adeline obtaining custody of Jericho and his older brother Grant. Jericho discovers that he is a metahuman who can possess others via eye contact and joins Adeline as a member of her espionage organization, Searchers Inc.

Titans

Sometime later (in a storyline called "The Judas Contract"), Adeline and Joseph discovered that Deathstroke had accepted a contract on the Teen Titans. Adeline and Joseph 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.

Turn to villainy and redemption

Later, Jericho is possessed by the souls of Azarath and killed by Deathstroke. He possesses Deathstroke before dying and lays dormant before resurfacing. He is transferred to a new body, but is driven insane by the remnants of the personalities he had absorbed over the years and battles the Teen Titans on several occasions. Vigilante gouges out Jericho's eyes to disable his possession abilities, traumatizing him and reawakening his original personality. It is later revealed that Jericho regenerated his eyes.

Jericho later possesses Deathstroke and attempts to kill him, but is stopped by DJ Molecule. Arsenal and Jericho decide to form a new team of Titans to restore the legacy that Deathstroke damaged.

The New 52

In ''The New 52'' (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), two versions of Jericho were presented. Jericho is initially depicted as an antagonist in Rob Liefeld's ''Deathstroke'' vol. 2, but restored to his traditional heroic depiction in ''Deathstroke'' (vol. 3).

DC Rebirth

Jericho later reappears after the ''DC Rebirth'' relaunch, once again mute and with his origin restored, though slightly modernized. This version of Jericho is also bisexual.''Deathstroke'' (vol. 4) #6-7

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 to his supposed government missions.

As a young adult, Jericho works as an executive vice-president for a tech firm that his mother owns in Los Angeles, and is engaged to his interpreter Etienne. Etienne is later revealed to be a member of H.I.V.E. and is killed by Rose Wilson.''Deathstroke'' (vol. 4) #12 - 29

Powers and abilities

Jericho can possess people 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 victim remains conscious and can express themselves vocally, but they are otherwise unable to control their body's actions while they are possessed by Jericho. If the person is unconscious or asleep upon possession, 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 to signal to his allies that he has taken possession of a person. Once the person's mind regains consciousness, they regain their awareness and ability to speak independently.

Despite his pacifistic nature and dislike 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.

Powers and abilities in 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 upon, Jericho demonstrated even more powerful abilities to rupture other human beings apart with a psychic blast, much to his horror. Although his telepathy can be blocked 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.

Powers and abilities in DC Rebirth

In ''DC Rebirth'', Jericho demonstrates the ability to separate his incorporeal, spiritual self from his physical body when he uses his powers to possess other people. Unlike his usual way of possessing others, 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 immobile, leaving it vulnerable to attacks if no one is there to protect it.

Other versions

* An alternate universe variant of Jericho appears in ''Tiny Titans''.
* An alternate universe variant of Jericho appears in '' Teen Titans: Earth One''. This version was manipulated and brainwashed by Elinore Stone of S.T.A.R. Labs into spying and fighting against his fellow "Project Titans" members.

In other media

Television

* Jericho appears in ''Teen Titans''. This version is an honorary member of the eponymous team unconnected to Slade whose green eye color extends to whomever he is possessing.
* Joe Wilson appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Liam Hall as an adult and William Franklyn-Miller as a child.
** Primarily appearing in ''Arrow'', this version has a more violent personality, plays a villainous role akin to his brother Grant Wilson, is the god-son of Billy Wintergreen, and is not mute. In flashbacks depicted in the sixth season, Joe followed in Wintergreen his father Slade Wilson's footsteps and joined the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS). After Slade returned from a mission on Lian Yu, he and Joe worked with each other for some time until Slade massacred their comrades in a Mirakuru serum-induced frenzy and left to seek revenge on Oliver Queen. Following this, Joe became a criminal and traveled to Kasnia, where he rejected his birth name, took the alias Kane Wolfman, was taken prisoner by the local government, and joined a criminal organization called the Jackals, eventually becoming their leader. In the present, a cured Slade and Queen travel to Kasnia to find Joe, believing he is still imprisoned before discovering what happened afterward. Joe attempts to force Slade to kill Queen, but his father refuses and fights him and the Jackals instead. While escaping, Joe reveals Slade has another son named Grant and that their mother kept him secret from Slade. In the seventh season, Joe assumes Slade's Deathstroke suit, travels to Star City, and fights A.R.G.U.S. agents until he is apprehended by Oliver, the Flash, and Supergirl. After being taken into A.R.G.U.S.'s custody, Joe is later recruited into the " Ghost Initiative".
** Joe makes a cameo appearance in the crossover "Elseworlds" as a Central City Police Department police officer in an altered reality created by John Deegan.
* Jericho appears in ''Titans'', portrayed by Chella Man. This version is the oldest child of Deathstroke who was rendered mute after enemies of Deathstroke's threatened Jericho to reach him, after which Jericho's overprotective mother Adeline took him and left Deathstroke. Five years prior, despite living away from his father and being unaware of his mercenary work, Jericho admired him. Seeking to exploit this, Deathstroke's enemy Dick Grayson befriends Jericho, invited him to join the Titans, and revealed the truth about his father. Uncertain about this, Jericho locates his father in the hopes of learning his side of the story, only to get caught in a fight between Deathstroke and Grayson, during which Jericho sacrificed himself to save the latter. While his body died, Jericho's spirit became trapped in Deathstroke's body for the next four years until his sister Rose Wilson grievously injures Deathstroke, causing Jericho's spirit to jump to her body.''Titans (TV Series) Episode: Jericho''

Film

* Jericho makes a non-speaking appearance in '' Teen Titans: The Judas Contract'' as a test subject of Brother Blood, who developed a machine capable of granting people superpowers. Once the experiment is finished, Mother Mayhem seemingly kills Jericho, though he turns up alive in the post-credits scene.
* Jericho appears in '' Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie'', voiced by Griffin Puatu as a teenager and Asher Bishop as a child. Seeking revenge on his absentee father Slade Wilson, a conflicted Jericho joins his sister Rose Wilson and H.I.V.E. to take over the world before reconciling with his parents.

Video games

* Jericho appears in ''DC Universe Online'' as part of the "Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" DLC. This version is an associate of the Teen Titans.
* Jericho appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''.
* Jericho appears as a playable character in ''DC Legends''.

Miscellaneous

* Jericho appears in ''Teen Titans Go!''.
* The ''Arrow'' incarnation of Joe Wilson appears in the non-canonical tie-in novel ''Arrow: Vengeance''. In this version of events, following Slade Wilson's return from Lian Yu, he abused ASIS resources to find Oliver Queen. When his superior Wade DeFarge discovered this, Slade attempted to kill him, but Joe and his mother Addie were killed in the crossfire.
* Joseph Wilson / Jericho appears in '' Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons'', voiced by Griffin Puatu as a teenager and Asher Bishop as a child. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version is the only son of Slade and Adeline who shares a close relationship with the former. Additionally, he was rendered mute after H.I.V.E. took him hostage to coerce Slade to join them and Joseph's throat was slit. Following this, Slade left him and Adeline, who sent Joseph to a private boarding school in Switzerland. The isolation and trauma left the now teenage Joseph angry and resentful as he was forced to address his burgeoning and unstable psionic powers alone, which cause him to enter a trance-like state and become more violent due to his lack of control over them.

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". However, it is eventually revealed that he is not interested in women, saying in sign language to Kole, who was in love with him, that he is gay in ''Convergence: New Teen Titans'' #2, which was confirmed by artist Nicola Scott.Nicola Scott on Twitter: "Yes, he is."Archived
The DC Rebirth version of Joseph is canonically confirmed to be bisexual, as is his ''Titans'' TV series version.

References

External links

Titans Tower: Jericho

{{Titans
Characters created by George Pérez
Characters created by Marv Wolfman
Comics characters introduced in 1984
DC Comics psychics
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics LGBTQ superheroes
DC Comics LGBTQ supervillains
DC Comics male superheroes
DC Comics male supervillains
DC Comics metahumans
DC Comics telepaths
DC Comics titles
Bisexual male characters in comics
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters with body or mind control abilities
Fictional gay men
Fictional LGBTQ characters in television
Fictional murderers
Fictional mute characters
Gay superheroes
Suicide Squad members