John Jonah Jameson, Sr. (Earth-21399)

"You're seriously calling me prejudiced?! Lemme give you a little lesson in the English language, kid: "prejudice" means to judge someone before you know anything about them. I know all I need to know about Spider-Man: He runs around wreaking havoc, wearing a mask so he doesn't have to answer for his actions, and wearing bright and flashy colors to attract attention to feed his insatiable ego! He's a menace, is what I say!"

- J. Jonah Jameson

Early Life
John Jonah Jameson's father was a World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific theater, and he instilled in the young Jameson a strong work ethic and the belief in the importance of political activism. It's not precisely known, however, where Jameson's conspiracy-theorist tendencies came from or when they emerged.

Journalistic Career
Jameson began his journalistic career as a political columnist for the Daily Bugle, a small but fairly profitable Manhattan newspaper, while in college. Over the years, he eventually worked his way up the ranks to become a part of its editorial team. It was also around this time that Jameson married his high school sweetheart, Martha, and later had a son with her named John Junior.

In 1993, the Bugle fell on hard times. Around the same time, Jameson came to inherit a sizable amount of money from his late father and used it to buy out the company, becoming its publisher and editor-in-chief.

When the masked vigilante Spider-Man emerged, Jameson was one of the loudest voices sounding off in opposition to his activities, all the while remaining unaware that his paper's web designer, Peter Parker, who worked at the Bugle over the summer, was actually Spider-Man.

Personality
Jameson is a very complicated individual. He comes off as a bad-tempered, bossy, loud, cynical and bitter old man. His most infamous trait is his immense, almost irrational hatred of Spider-Man, and his constant attempts at proving that Spider-Man is a public menace. Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man is not exclusive, but comes from a general distrust of masked vigilantes and superheroes, as Jameson believes them to be irresponsible and untrustworthy. The only exception he makes is to Captain America, who served in the armed forces. The main reason his rage is directed at Spider-Man is due mostly to proximity (Spider-Man operates in Jameson's hometown) and visibility - Spider-Man was the most publicly known superhero prior to the mutant panics, the rise of the Avengers and the return of the Fantastic Four, as well as the first since Captain America.

Political Views
Jameson is a controversial figure, as much for his political views as he is for his own journalistic integrity (or lack thereof, depending on who you ask).

Government and Regulation

 * Jameson supports governmental deregulation, believing that most governmental bureaucracies are inefficient at best and incompetent or malicious at worst. However, he's also not afraid to call out dishonest or corrupt politicians in his editorials.

Social Issues

 * On mutants: Jameson's relationship with mutants is rather complicated. On the one hand, he agrees that their powers pose a public safety threat, but on the other opposes the stripping of their civil rights. He instead advocates that mutants be taught to control their powers so that they could become responsible citizens - for this reason, he is an outspoken supporter of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children.
 * On crime and vigilantism: This should go without saying, but Jameson has a strict zero-tolerance policy towards vigilantism. His hatred of superheroes sometimes veers off into conspiracy-theory territory, where Jameson finds ways to blame the heroes for whatever chaos occurs around the world. At the same time, however, Jameson advocates a "tough on crime" policy, supporting anti-drug and anti-illegal immigration crackdowns and even speaking in favor of capital punishment in special cases.

Foreign Policy

 * Jameson also has a zero-tolerance policy towards dictators in any country - a consequence of being raised by a World War II veteran. Symkaria is currently his main target.