Jericho (DC 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.

For the Amalgam Comics character, see Jericho (Amalgam Comics). For the comic book based on the Jericho TV series, see Jericho Season 3: Civil War.

Jericho
Jericho as depicted in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984). Art by George Pérez.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Tales of the Teen Titans #43 (June 1984)
Created by	Marv Wolfman George Pérez
In-story information
Alter ego	Joseph William Wilson
Species	Metahuman
Team affiliations	Teen Titans Wildebeest Society Justice League Defiance Core Policy Group
Abilities	Motor function control of others through eye contact Possession Mind control Astral projection Telepathy "Soul-self" ("Titans Hunt" storyline) Skilled in hand-to-hand combat

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.^[1]

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 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". Wolfman had decided on the name, which he got from an unused story from the previous Titans series,^[2] 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 claimed that Jericho is the first character which he created by himself.^[3]

When Wolfman and Pérez were creating the character, they considered making Jericho gay. Pérez stated that "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".^[4] 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, which was confirmed by artist Nicola Scott.^[5] The DC Rebirth version of Joseph is confirmed to be bisexual,^[6] as is his Titans TV series version.

Fictional character biography

Childhood

Joseph Wilson is the youngest son of Slade Wilson (Deathstroke) and Adeline Kane, and had a happy early childhood. As a child, he is captured by Jackal, who was sent by the president of Qurac in retaliation for Deathstroke killing an important colonel. One of Jackal's men slits Joseph's throat, leaving him mute.^[7] Following this incident, Adeline divorces Slade and takes custody of Joseph and his older brother Grant. While still a child, Jericho discovers that he possesses the metahuman ability to take possession of any humanoid being by making eye contact with them, a result of biological experimentation done on his father years before. He first manifested his powers when he was saving a friend in danger, but Jericho was left traumatized by the event and his powers became dormant until his late teens. By then, Jericho worked with his mother in her espionage organization, Searchers Inc., and received training in combat and stealth. During a mission, Jericho's powers fully awakened again to save his mother from an assassin, and he embraced his abilities to further aid his mother in her work.

The New Titans #83 (1992), the final appearance of Jericho with his original appearance. The character returned eleven years later with a new look.

Titans

During the storyline "The Judas Contract", Adeline and Joseph discover that Deathstroke has accepted a contract on the Teen Titans. Adeline and Joseph approach Dick Grayson to help him rescue the Titans, with Joseph adopting the identity of Jericho.^[7] The rescue mission is a success, but the Titans are initially wary of Jericho because of his relationship to Deathstroke and the betrayal of Terra.

Shortly after Jericho joins the Titans, another new member, Kole, joins and Jericho immediately develops a bond with her. Jericho also has a close and affectionate relationship with Raven, having possessed her once and learned about her demonic heritage. Jericho is the first Titan to understand Raven, bonding over their pasts with their fathers and finding comfort with one another.^[8]

Jericho is later possessed by the souls of Azarath, which are tainted by the essence of the demon Trigon and influence him to take control of the Wildebeest Society. Due to the spirits' possession, Jericho gains a lion soul-self and a healing factor that repairs his throat and restores his ability to speak. Jericho captures the Titans and attempts to have the spirits possess them before Deathstroke kills him.^[9]

Return

Years later, it is revealed that Jericho's consciousness survived by possessing his father right before he was killed. He laid dormant until learning that Donna Troy had been killed in battle. Taking control of his father's body, Jericho seeks out the Titans, wanting to spare them his fate.^[10] When Jericho attempts to possess Cyborg, Cyborg uses his cybernetic eye to transfer Jericho's consciousness into a computer file, which is stored in Titans Tower.^[11]

After the "One Year Later" jump following the events of Infinite Crisis, Raven takes the disk with Jericho's essence and magically reconstructs his body, healing him of the throat injuries from his childhood that left him mute. Jericho joins the latest incarnation of the Teen Titans, taking the opportunity to bond with his half-sister Rose, who was the new Ravager.^[12] After possessing the body of Match, Jericho moves to S.T.A.R. Labs until Match can be controlled.^[13]

Jericho, still trapped in Match's body, escapes from S.T.A.R. Labs in distress and asking for his friends' help.^[14] The Titans help him escape Match's body, but the experience twists Jericho's mind, leaving him bent on destroying the Titans.^[15] Mento reads Jericho's mind and discovers that he has a form of dissociative identity disorder caused by the remnants of those he possesses remaining in his mind. The Justice League return Jericho to S.T.A.R. Labs, hoping for a cure.^[16]

Jericho later returns, having entered Cyborg's body through his mechanical eye, using an "imprint" left over from the last time. He uses Titans Tower's defenses to try to kill the Teen Titans, but Static shorts out the Tower's systems, creating feedback that knocks Jericho out of Cyborg. Jericho unsuccessfully attempts to murder both the Teen Titans and the Titans (his former teammates), who eventually apprehend him. While in police custody, Jericho is confronted by Vigilante, who gouges out his eyes, leaving him unable to use his possession abilities. The trauma of the incident causes Jericho to revert to his true personality, but he is left haunted by the various personalities in his mind.^[17]

In the Blackest Night crossover, Jericho possesses the Black Lantern Grant Wilson and saves Rose Wilson from the attack of Adeline, Wintergreen, and Wade DeFarge.^[18] 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 Grant attempted to kill him. In the aftermath, Jericho reconciles with his father.^[19]

Brightest Day

Deathstroke hires Doctor Sivana and Doctor Impossible to create the "Methuselah Device" to save Jericho, who is dying from leprosy.^[20] After Jericho is healed, Deathstroke offers the device's abilities to all of the Titans, promising to resurrect 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 possesses him, disgusted at what his father did to achieve his restoration. He intends to destroy first the Methuselah Device, then himself and Deathstroke.^[21] While the Titans fight over the machine, its power source, a metahuman named DJ Molecule, is released. Molecule blasts Deathstroke, knocking Jericho out of his body and is then slashed by Cheshire. When Cinder sacrifices herself to destroy the machine, Jericho is carried out by Arsenal. Arsenal and Jericho form a new team of Titans to restore the legacy that Deathstroke damaged.^[22]

The New 52

In The New 52 continuity reboot, two versions of Jericho appear. Unlike previous comics, Jericho is not mute and is fully capable of speech.

The first version appears as an antagonist in the second volume of Deathstroke. He and his mother were believed to have died when forces from North Korea attacked their home. 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.

The second version appears in Deathstroke vol. 3, which erases the previous volume from continuity and brings Jericho closer to his original depiction. Due to his enormous powers, Jericho was captured by his grandfather, Charles Wilson. Under the alias of Odysseus, he wanted to siphon Jericho's metahuman powers to become practically invincible and experimented on Jericho, awakening new psychic powers within him.^[23] Jericho was eventually saved by his father and sister Rose, but the ordeal left Jericho with problems controlling his new 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 revealed that Jericho went to Ra's al Ghul to seek sanctuary, and had gained 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-metahuman organization that targets criminals and those who uses their powers for money.

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.^[6] Unlike his blissful childhood in the original comics, Jericho's family life was strained by the time he was a young teenager, as his parents were constantly fighting over his father's long absences due to his work with the government.^[24]

As a young adult, Jericho 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 Bluetooth technology that vocalizes his thoughts. After Rose comes to visit him, Jericho secretly meets with David Isherwood, Slade's weapon designer and Jericho's former lover. Jericho tells Isherwood of his marriage, and he disapproves of Jericho's choice because of his sexuality. He does not believe his love for Etienne is genuine, and tells Jericho that he will prevent the marriage. Angered by Isherwood's interference, Jericho possesses him, turning off his suit and making him fall off a building.^[6] Following Isherwood's seeming death, Jericho takes over his duties as a superhero and takes the Ikon suit for his use.^[25] While out on a mission to help Superman apprehend his father during a government mission, Rose learns that Etienne is secretly a member of H.I.V.E.^[26]

Stricken with guilt, Jericho goes to a hospital to visit Isherwood, who survived his fall, but was rendered comatose. Jericho apologizes to Isherwood for his current condition and tells him that he still cares about him.^[27] Unbeknownst to Jericho, Etienne is having an affair with his father while spying on him.^[28] On the morning of their wedding, Jericho finds Etienne dead in their apartment and believes his father killed her.^[29] One night, Rose visits Jericho and confesses that she killed Etienne while being possessed by an entity called "Willow", much to his confusion.^[30]

After Emiko Queen apparently kills Deathstroke, an angry, grieving Jericho attempts to round up all the villains that attended his father's funeral. Intrigued by Jericho's potential, the Legion of Doom offers him a place with them.^[31] While trying to keep Rose from taking revenge on Emiko, Jericho is gravely injured and calls his mother for help. A hologram of Lex Luthor appears and offers to help Jericho if he joins the Legion of Doom.^[32]

Jericho accepts a special piece of nanotechnology as a "gift", which heals his wounds and amplifies his powers.^[33] Over the course of the next few days, Jericho begins to stop crime more actively using his new powers, but starts developing a Messiah complex as a result.^[34] Jericho is confronted by David Isherwood, who sacrifices himself to remove the nanotech from Jericho's body.^[35]

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 his host's powers and memories. Jericho's victim remains conscious and can express themselves vocally, but they are otherwise unable to control their body's actions while possessed.^[7] 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.

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 factor.^[36]

Powers and abilities in The New 52

In The New 52, Jericho possesses 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 the second and third volumes of Deathstroke, Jericho retains his telepathy to read minds and control others. After being experimented on, Jericho demonstrates even more powerful abilities, being able to rupture humans apart with a psychic blast.^[37] Although his telepathy can be blocked by others with mental powers, Jericho can read their aura to see if they hold malicious intent and can also project a defensive energy field.^[38][39]

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 as akin to near-field communication, being able to possess people within a certain distance from him. When Jericho projects his consciousness, his body is left dormant and immobile, leaving it vulnerable to attacks if no one is there to protect it.^[40]

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.^[41]

In other media

Television

Chella Man portrays Jericho in the second season of Titans.

• Jericho appears in Teen Titans.^[42] This version is an honorary member of the eponymous team.
• Joe Wilson appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Liam Hall as an adult and William Franklyn-Miller as a child.^[43]
  • 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 and 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.^[44] After being taken into A.R.G.U.S.'s custody, Joe is 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.^[45]
• Jericho appears in Titans, portrayed by Chella Man.^[46][47] 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.

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.^[48]
• Jericho appears in Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie, voiced by Griffin Puatu as a teenager and Asher Bishop as a child.^[49][42] 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.^[50]
• Jericho appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.^[51]
• Jericho appears as a playable character in DC Legends.^[52]

Miscellaneous

• Jericho appears in Teen Titans Go!.^[53]
• 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.^[42] 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.