JERICHO
Real Name: Joseph William Wilson
Class: Human mutant
Occupation: Supervillain, formerly superhero
Group Affiliation: formerly New Teen Titans
Known Relatives: Adeline Kane Wilson (mother, deceased), Grant Wilson (Ravager I, brother, deceased), Rose Wilson (Ravager, half-sister), Slade Wilson (Deathstroke, father)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile, formerly Titans Tower, Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: Tales of the Teen Titans #42 (May, 1984)
Powers: By establishing eye contact Jericho could become ethereal and enter another person's body. Jericho controlled the person he possessed, having full power over their every action, although superhumans with sufficient willpower could cast him out of their body.History: U.S. Army Lt. Col. Slade Wilson volunteered for an experimental process that gave him superhuman powers. The process altered his DNA, and when his wife Adeline gave birth to their son Joseph he was born a mutant.
Slade Wilson became the costumed mercenary Deathstrroke, and when he killed Col. Akba Kaba Kadar, President Marlo of Qurac hired the terrorist Jackal to make him pay. Jackal held Joseph hostage, but \Deathstroke refused to tell the Jackal who hired him. Deathstroke killed the terrorist, but not before he slit Joseph's throat, making him a mute. This incident alienated Deathstroke from his family thereafter.
(Titans II #9 (fb)) - Jericho was a very social child, but he never fit in with his classmates at the school for the deaf. Eric was his only friend outside the school, and one day when they were playing Eric fell over a balcony. Jericho tried to pull him up, but the stress unleashed his mutant power, and he entered Eric’s body possessing him as Eric fell to the ground and broke his neck. Jericho blocked the trauma of the incident and the discovery of his powers from his mind.
(Hawk and Dove III #11, 12) - Hawk and Dove reached out to Jericho and the Titans to provide back-up in defeating the robot thieves Andromeda, Gauntlet and M.A.C. The Titans weren't surprised that Hawk only came to see them because he wanted something, but they agreed and flew the T-Jet to the remote island where the robots were. They fought back the robots and their creator Professor Douglas Strange. The technorganic alien Scarab had been Strange to do his bidding, stealing gold so it could feed. The heroes injured Scarab and it fled. During the battle Andromeda, an android imprinted with the memories of Strange's wife Andromeda, was destroyed by Jericho. Hawk hated a victory that wasn't clear-cut and blamed the Titans, who doubted they'd work with him again.
(Titans II #6-10) - Jericho possessed Green Lantern Hal Jordan and tried to kill the candidates for president, but the Justice League foiled him. Jericho fled back to S.T.A.R. Labs and once again possessed Match. Jericho sought the help of the newly reformed Titans claiming he was trapped in the body of Match. Jericho had subdued Match’s mind, and terrorized him, but he wasn’t sharing these details because he was still posing as one of the good guys. Cyborg isolated Jericho’s neuron patterns from Match, and prepared a radio-ectoplasmic pulse to free his astral form. Jericho then had Match run berserk and attack the Titans, claiming he couldn‘t control him. After battering the team, Cyborg used the ecltoplasmic pulse to separate them. Raven probed Jericho’s mind and realized he was up to no good, but before the team could respond Jericho vanished, possessing one of the Titans. The Titans went into lockdown to keep Jericho from escaping, and Cyborg went with protocol for just such a situation, each Titan would take a security clearance interview with the Titans computer. The Titans kept an updated log of secrets only they and the computer would know. The Titans shared their secrets with the computer, and everyone passed. Cyborg decided to use the ectoplasmic pulse on the Titans, one at a time. Jericho revealed himself to Nightwing, and forced him to inject himself with an LSD compound that made his mind a battleground, enabling Jericho to overcome his will. He promised to reveal what he was planning to do, and why. The Titans used the ectoplasmic pulse on Cyborg and Red Arrow, and waited for them to recover before testing the rest of the team. Jericho made Nightwing feel his thoughts, and revealed that everyone he’d ever possessed had left their memories and a part of their mind in him. It was the vicious villains he’d had contact with, like Deathstroke, that were now making his decisions for him, and he begged for Nightwing to help him. The Titans contacted S.T.A.R. Labs and learned that before Jericho had come to them for help he’d possessed Green Lantern Hal Jordan The Justice League were right outside of Titans’ headquarters, demanding that Jericho be released to them. Jericho panicked and jumped into Flash’s body and vibrated out of Titan headquarters, but he couldn’t evade the Justice League. The Titans joined the League in battling Jericho as he lept from body to body, until he ended up in Superman. Previously he would never have been able to enter Superman’s mind, but his power had grown immensely. He still wasn’t strong enough to take control of Superman, who expelled his astral form from his mind. Jericho’s astral form dissipated into the wind.
(Titans II #11 (BTS)) - Jericho, having never left Titans Compound, hid in the body of Cyborg, accessed the Titans Compound security systems, and refused to go outside, claiming he wouldn’t rest until he found out where Jericho had gone.
(Titans II #12) - Jericho possessed a police officer to gain entry to a Central Park West apartment across from the hotel D‘Olivia, and proceeded to gun down the tenant. Jericho tried to fight off Deathstroke’s voice inside his mind, but his thoughts urged him on. Deathstroke called Jericho weak, and wondered how he could possibly be his son. Jericho started raving, promising to finish his deathtrap, and find and kill Deathstroke when he was done.
(Vigilante III #5) - Jericho completed the second part of his deathtrap by possessing D’Olivia’s hotel manager, gaining all the hotel’s secrets. He entered Mr. Dorsey an d saw his connection Quis about obtaining more explosives. Quis was ready to kill him on behalf of Tobias Whale for getting Whale’s muscle killed, but Jericho took him, and ordered the explosives himself. He hired more muscle to rob the Union Federal to draw in the Titans, and then set off an explosion that killed his hired men and a number of police officers. He had another internal conversation with Deathstroke, promising to kill the Titans, something his father could never do. Vigilante was following Jericho, and attacked him, but Jericho kept jumping bodies, and then threw a grenade, damaging Vigilante’s suit, and made his escape. Jericho called up the Teen Titans aboard their T-Wing to tell them he was going to kill the Titans and use them to do it. They kept him on the phone to trace his call, and this allowed him to infect the wing ‘s computer system with a worm that gave him control over it. Jericho flew the wing to NYC and used it to attack the Titans.
(Teen Titans III #70) - The Titans and Teen Titans managed to disable the T-Wing and crash it into the East River without anyone getting injured. Ravager was stowed away on the T-Wing, and old he Titans she waned o help them stop her brother without him getting killed. Jericho possessed Raven and spirited away his sister. He told her he was trying to kill he Titans, but only because of the voices in his head. He asked for her help, and she turned him down. Jericho was disappointed in her, he thought she would always be on his side, and pointed out that she was working with heroes associated with Vigilante, who was trying to kill him. He returned her to the Titans and fled to Time Square. The Titans spotted Vigilante, who was following them, and subdued him, though Ravager wanted to keep beating him for trying to kill Jericho. Vigilante promised to not kill Jericho if they promised that Jericho’s killing days were over. The next day Jericho entered the Hamilton Grande, prepared for a slaughter.
(Titans II #13) - Jericho entered the Hamilton Grande, prepared for a slaughter. He announced that he had rigged explosives throughout the restaurant, and every wealthy patron was his hostage. Using a cellphone video, he recorded himself shooting the hotel manager in the head, and promised to kill a patron every two minutes, unless the Titans arrived to stop him. The Titans confronted Jericho, and tried to reason with him, but he as having none of it, telling them he’d succeed in killing them here his father failed, finally allowing him to overshadow his dad. He’d strapped explosives to his hostages, and held the trigger, guaranteeing that the Titans would die trying to save them. He offered Ravager a chance to escape, but she wasn’t abandoning her teammates. They tussled, and Jericho set off the detonator, and escaped. News crews filmed what appeared to be the dead Titans. Cyborg heard the broadcasts, and ripped off his life-support system, vowing to make Jericho pay. Jericho was tormented by the voices of his friends in his head, and when he felt guilty this led to another round of arguments with the voice of Deathstroke in his head. He raged, and promised to kill Deathstroke, at which point it seemed his father actually appeared to confront him.
(Vigilante III #6) - Raven had actually created the illusion of the Titans’ death, and Miss Martian disguised herself as Deathstroke to confront and confuse Jericho. The Titans reached out to Jericho, and Raven tried to enter his mind to heal him, but all she found was darkness. They defeated him, but Vigilante made his presence known, and drew his guns, saying Jericho would kill again if not stopped. Ravager reminded him of his promise, and he slipped away. He later ambushed Jericho’s police convoy, and cut out his eyes so he could never use his power again. The Titans realized too late what Vigilante was up to, and they found Jericho in the back of his transport, bleeding and babbling that he was cured.
(Titans II #33 , Titans Annual II #1, Titans II #37, 38) - Jericho was slowly and painfully dying from cellular death. Deathstroke hired Sivana to build the Methuselah Device, a machine that could restore health and youth, in order to save his son Jericho from death. Deathstroke formed the Titans, who helped him gather components for the machine, and kept Jericho safely locked away in the Titans go the Labyrinth. Deathstroke regenerated Jericho with the Methuselah Device, and told the Titans it wa theoretically possible to resurrect their dead loved ones if they agreed to keep following him and help him kill superheroes whose superior DNA would form the templates for the Methuselah Device to work. They all agreed, except for Cinder and Arsenal, who saw resurrecting the dead as an abomination. Cinder tried to destroy the Device, and the Titans brawled. Jericho was horrified; he blamed himself for the mayhem Deathstroke committed to heal him, and decided it was time to finally take responsibility for both of their lives. He possessed Deathstroke, and vowed to destroy the Device, and then himself and Slade. Cheshire, desparate to have Lain back, attacked Jericho and broke his control over his father. Deathstroke was taken aback at being rejected by his son, the first time he’d ever felt that way. Cinder set off a chain reaction inside the Device, causing her apparent death, and destroying the machine. All the Titans except for Deathstroke and Osiris escaped, and Arsenal wanted to know if they’d be interested in being heroes. Cheshire told him she’d never forgive him, and Tattooed Man just wanted to go home, but Jericho and Arsenal decided to revive their friendship and take things one day at a time.
Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman & George Perez
Jericho received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #11 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #1.
Jericho had cameos in Faces of Evil: Deathstroke #1, R.E.B.E.L.S. #15, Teen Titans III #30 and Titans I #24.
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