The 20 greatest (and 10 worst) Spider-Man villains of all time
By Mike McNulty
3rd Best Villain: J. Jonah Jameson
He doesn’t have any super powers. He doesn’t have years worth of combat or martial arts training. And he’s definitely not as smart as he likes to think he is. But J. Jonah Jameson does have what all of Spider-Man’s villains lack—the press.
Oh sure, “Jolly Jonah” doesn’t have the best of tempers. He’s also notoriously cheap. But the third best Spider-Man villain? Isn’t that going a little too far?
Well, consider the following: this one journalist has done more to tarnish Spider-Man’s reputation as a hero than an army of Chameleons and Mysterios. Through mere photographs (ironically provided to him by Peter himself), Jonah has branded the wall-crawler not only as a menace, but also a crook, a murderer, a terrorist, a traitor, and a showboating phony.
What’s more, Jonah personally funded experiments which created some of Spider-Man’s more dangerous super villains–two of whom appear on this very list. For someone who rants about superheroes taking the law into his own hands, Jonah’s definitely done his share of going outside the law as far capturing Spider-Man. Then again, it doesn’t matter if he’s the editor of the Daily Bugle or the mayor of New York City. Jonah will always finds a means to abuse his place of authority.
Despite this, he remains a popular Spider-Man supporting character. After all, just because Jonah does morally dubious things, doesn’t make him a bad person. He also is capable of kindness, as he’s fiercely loyal to those who work for him, even Peter. Not to mention he has great love for his son, and for his wife and father when they were alive. Whose to say that, in any other comic, Jonah might be seen as the hero?
Well…maybe if we really, really use our imagination, he might.