Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent / Superman, and has a good working relationship with his boss Perry White. Olsen looks up to his coworkers as role models and parent figures. From 1954 to 1982, Olsen appeared in 222 issues of the comic series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and The Superman Family, in addition to the main Superman titles.
The character has appeared in most other media adaptations of Superman. He was portrayed by Tommy Bond in the two Superman film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950); Jack Larson in Adventures of Superman; Marc McClure in the Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1984 film Supergirl; Michael Landes in the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Justin Whalin in the subsequent three seasons; Sam Huntington in the 2006 film Superman Returns; Aaron Ashmore in The CW's Smallville; and Michael Cassidy in the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the Arrowverse series Supergirl, he was portrayed by Mehcad Brooks. Douglas Smith portrayed the character in Superman & Lois. In Superman (2025), he was portrayed by Skyler Gisondo and will return to Man of Tomorrow (2027). The character has also appeared in numerous television animated series, including Superman: The Animated Series, voiced by David Kaufman and My Adventures with Superman, voiced by Ishmel Sahid.
Contents
Publication history
Creation and early appearances
An unnamed "office boy" with a bow tie appeared in the story "Superman's Phony Manager," published in Action Comics No. 6 (November 1938); it was retroactively considered to be Jimmy Olsen's first appearance, though some argue that the "office boy" is a different character with no link to Olsen. The character was introduced as Jimmy Olsen by producer Bob Maxwell on The Adventures of Superman radio show on April 15, 1940. After eight early unnamed appearances in comics, Olsen first appeared as a named character in a story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster titled "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman No. 13 (November–December 1941). He occasionally appeared as an office boy in Action Comics, Superman, and World's Finest Comics throughout the next decade, and he made a notable appearance as the manager of a community baseball team in the 1946 radio serial Clan of the Fiery Cross. The first long story featuring the character, "King Jimmy Olsen," ran in the daily Superman newspaper strips from July 20-October 28, 1944. However, for the most part Jimmy Olsen was used only as a background character throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen
Jack Larson's portrayal on the 1952 Adventures of Superman TV series made Jimmy Olsen into a character beloved by the public, and Olsen was promoted from office boy to "cub reporter" beginning in the 1953 comic Superman #86. Olsen's popularity in the TV format prompted DC Comics to give him his own series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, in 1954. The first issue introduced the Signal Watch, a high-frequency supersonic device that allowed Jimmy to contact Superman in case of emergency. Lucy Lane debuted as Jimmy's off-again, on-again love interest in issue #36. Jimmy and Lucy were occasionally married in "imaginary stories" such as "The Wedding of Jimmy Olsen" (issue #38) and The Amazing Story of Superman Red and Superman Blue!
Though early adventures were relatively mundane, from issue #22 onward Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen saw Olsen in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations, such as Jimmy transforming into the giant "Turtle Boy" in issue #53. The stories in the title often featured particularly outlandish situations, ranging from Jimmy being hurled back in time to Krypton before its destruction in issue #36 to dealing frequently with gorillas of all sorts. During this period, Jimmy Olsen lived a glamorous life as "Superman's Pal" and even had his own (in-story) fan club. Beginning in 1958, Olsen gained the ability to temporarily transform into the superhero Elastic Lad by drinking a serum, becoming an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. When traveling to the Bottle City of Kandor, Superman and Jimmy donned the secret identities of Nightwing and Flamebird respectively. He was promoted by editor Perry White to the status of "full-fledged reporter" in issue #124 (October 1969).
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen was a best seller throughout the 1960s; at its peak it was the #4 best-selling comic book with an estimated 520,000 copies sold each month. Reprints from the magazine were also featured in 80-Page Giant #2 and 13 (1964–65).
Jack Kirby's Fourth World storyline began in Jimmy Olsen comics in 1970, with issue #134. Kirby began by introducing a secret "D.N.A. Project" to create Mutated Humans for Good, adding "the Hairies" (a group of technology-equipped hippies), superbeings from other planets (proto-New Gods), Intergang, Darkseid, and the WGBS media executive Morgan Edge. Kirby also used the series as a vehicle to reintroduce Golden Age characters that he previously created at DC Comics, such as the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. Before the end of his run, Kirby wrote stories involving vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, Victor Volcanum, a fire-eating archcriminal, as well as a two-part story that featured the comedian Don Rickles. Kirby left the series following issue #148.
The Superman Family
With issue #164 (April–May 1974) the series was renamed The Superman Family. An anthology title that incorporated the recently cancelled series Supergirl and Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, Superman Family initially featured one new story about Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, or Supergirl, with the featured character in each issue narrating reprints of the other characters' stories. By the second series, Jimmy Olsen became an investigative reporter for WGBS-TV nicknamed "Mr. Action", featuring in urban crime stories that less frequently involved Superman. Olsen appeared in new stories in The Superman Family #164, 167, 170, 173, 176, 179, and 182–222. A number of Superman writers including Leo Dorfman and Cary Bates contributed scripts for the stories, and they were most often pencilled by Kurt Schaffenberger. The series ended with issue #222 (September 1982). Afterwards, Jimmy Olsen continued to appear in issues of Superman, Action Comics, World's Finest Comics, and DC Comics Presents, where a 29th-century descendant of Olsen became Superwoman.
Post-Crisis
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jimmy's prior history as a character was erased. Despite recent modernization efforts on Superman and his supporting characters, Jimmy Olsen has not been significantly changed in the Modern Age. He is still a cub reporter working for The Daily Planet, and is still friends with Superman. His look was made over as he stopped wearing bowties, and started wearing casual clothing (though this trend started in the 1970s comics). An alteration to the relationship was that Jimmy designed the signal watch himself, leading to his first meeting with Superman. Superman briefly considers confiscating the watch, but decides to trust Jimmy to use it responsibly.
While Jimmy's transformations no longer occur as regularly as they did in the Silver Age, in one story Jimmy becomes a type of "Elastic Lad" on contact with the Eradicator; this transformation, however, is extremely painful for Jimmy and has not appeared since. He also took the identity of "Turtle Boy" in a series of pizza commercials, made when he was temporarily laid off from the Planet.
In the 1990s stories, Jimmy quits the Planet in a dispute over a story and goes to Metropolis broadcaster Galaxy Broadcasting, where he works as an on-air investigative reporter. This change matures Jimmy somewhat, but he becomes more ambitious, as well as more brash and arrogant. He stays on good terms with both Clark and Lois to the point where Jimmy is best man at their wedding. This period ends when he believes (wrongly) that he has discovered Superman's secret identity and says he would announce it live on air. He reconsiders his actions, but loses his job for wasting the time slot. He is again rehired by the Planet.
Jimmy later comes under the angry hand of the Alpha Centurion, an alternate universe dictator with a deep-seated hatred for Superman and eyes for Lois Lane. Jimmy uncovers his secret plot to control the world's finances through his company Aelius Industries, Inc.
Olsen is a central character in the 12-part miniseries Superman: Metropolis (beginning June 2003). Written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Danijel Zezelj, the series focuses on the futuristic technology unleashed in Metropolis by Brainiac in a previous storyline and how it affects the everyday lives of Metropolis citizens.
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (vol. 2)
Beginning with a cover date of September 2019, DC Comics published a 12-part comedic miniseries that restored some elements of the 1954 series to the main DC Comics timeline. Jimmy was once again shown as Turtle Boy and Elastic Lad, and his antics, glamorous lifestyle as Superman's pal, and strange transformations were depicted as a source of streaming-media ad revenue that was keeping the Daily Planet afloat. The series explored Jimmy's siblings Janie and Julian, his family's historic relations with Lex Luthor's family, a plot involving the attempted murder and faked death of Olsen, and a marriage in Gorilla City that Jimmy subsequently forgot to annul. The series poked fun at DC Comics' own history, including a sequence in which Jimmy angered Batman by suggesting a phone-in campaign to decide whether Robin lived or died. By the end of the series, Jimmy received a new Signal Watch and became the publisher of the Daily Planet.
The series was written by Matt Fraction, drawn by Steve Lieber, colored by Nathan Fairbairn, and lettered by Clayton Cowles. A collected edition titled Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? was published in September 2020, and it received an "honorable mention" in Publishers Weekly's year-end critics poll.
Powers, abilities, and equipment
Jimmy possesses a watch which emits a high-pitched signal only Superman can hear. In a 2010 story, he claimed it stopped working some time in the past, never worked particularly well in the first place, and that he contacted Superman through Morse code now, anyway, but still wore it for show.
Mostly during the Silver Age of Comic Books, Jimmy would find himself temporarily transformed, for better or worse, or undergo a disguise for various purposes. The variety of transformations Jimmy received during the Silver Age is often homaged or parodied in later comics and adaptations featuring the character – for instance, in JLA: The Nail, Jimmy cites three of these transformations as his motivations behind backing Luthor's bill to outlaw metahumans and in Countdown, Jimmy is used as a spirit container for the deceased New Gods, causing him to exhibit strange powers, albeit uncontrollably, with other stories simply making passing references.
Speed Demon – In a 1956 story, Jimmy drank a potion produced by Professor Claude in order to gain super-speed.
Radioactive – After being exposed to a radioactive substance, Jimmy began to irradiate everything in his presence.
Super-Brain – Jimmy evolved into a "man of the future" with superhuman mental powers.
Monstrous beard growth — The machinations of the Beard Band cause Jimmy to grow an immense beard.
Gorilla – When Jimmy switched minds with a gorilla, he went about his reporting duties as a gorilla in Jimmy's clothes.
Elastic Lad – As Elastic Lad, Jimmy by serum or by alien virus could sometimes stretch himself, akin to the Elongated Man or Plastic Man. As Elastic Lad, Jimmy was inducted as an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. In the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, Jimmy was afflicted with uncontrollable and painful elasticity by the Eradicator.
Other versions
JLA: The Nail
JLA: The Nail is set in an alternate reality in which a nail punctures a tire on the Kents' car, preventing them from finding the spaceship containing a baby Kal-El; subsequently, Kal-El never becomes Superman. Jimmy Olsen, an aide to Metropolis mayor Lex Luthor, is revealed to be the primary villain. Having discovered Superman's spaceship and using DNA samples to create numerous Bizarro clones, Luthor grafts Kryptonian DNA onto subjects, which inevitably causes them to die. Olsen survives the graft, but is driven insane, mentally transforming him into a Kryptonian determined to replace human life with Kryptonian life. Olsen plays up the public's fear of superheroes via propaganda, encouraging the popular view of them as alien invaders rather than the enhanced humans of the Justice Society, hoping to have them imprisoned so he can use their DNA as well in an attempt to create a stable template to create other new Kryptonians.
When his identity is revealed, Olsen engages in a fight with the Justice League that spills into the local countryside. An Amish farmer attempts to stop Olsen but is blasted by his heat vision—which reveals that the farmer is an adult Kal-El. An Amish couple had raised Kal-El as a pacifist encouraged to ignore worldly affairs so that he could walk in righteousness. Olsen asks Kal-El to join him, claiming that they are virtually brothers with the same DNA. When Kal-El refuses, Olsen kills Kal-El's foster parents. During the subsequent battle, Olsen's body rejects the Kryptonian DNA, causing him to disintegrate.
Frank Miller's Batman titles
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen appears in The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen who became a reporter for the Gotham Gazette appears in All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #6.
Superman: Red Son
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-30 appears in Superman: Red Son. This version is a CIA agent who later becomes Vice President of the United States under Lex Luthor.
Superman: Kal
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-395 appears in Superman: Kal. This version is Jamie Ollson, an alchemist and teacher to Merlin.
Superman: Emperor Joker
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen who serves the Joker appears in the Emperor Joker storyline.
All-Star Superman
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen appears in All-Star Superman.
Flashpoint
An alternate timeline version of Jimmy Olsen appears in Flashpoint. This version is a secret agent working for Cyborg before he is killed in action and replaced by Lois Lane.
Earth 2
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen from Earth-2 appears in Earth 2. This version is a hacktivist who later fuses with a Mother Box, becoming a New God with intangibility and technopathy.
Absolute Universe
An alternate universe version of Jimmy Olsen appears in Absolute Superman. This version is a member of an anti-corporate terrorist group called the Omega Men before discovering their leader Omega Prime is Talia al Ghul. Following this, he joins Superman and former Lazarus agent Lois Lane in defending Smallville from Lazarus's forces.
In other media
Television
Jimmy Olsen appears in Adventures of Superman, portrayed by Jack Larson.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, portrayed by Michael Landes in the first season and Justin Whalin for the rest of the series' run due to Landes heavily resembling Superman actor Dean Cain and to emphasize Jimmy's youth. Landes played Olsen as a cocksure, sarcastic Generation X character who often seemed like he was very sure of himself despite the opposite being true. Whalin gave a portrayal closer to previous incarnations of the character, playing Jimmy as a lovably naïve rookie and a computer whiz. Additionally, Jack Larson plays an aged Olsen in the episode "Brutal Youth" while Jimmy's father Jack Olsen, a secret agent for the fictional National Intelligence Agency (N.I.A.) appears in the episode "The Dad who Came in from the Cold".
Two characters named Jimmy Olsen appear in Smallville:
The first version seen is Henry James "Jimmy" Olsen (portrayed by Aaron Ashmore) in a relationship with series original character Chloe Sullivan before he is ultimately killed by Doomsday.
The second version seen is Jimmy's younger brother named James Bartholomew "Jimmy" Olsen (portrayed by Ryan Harder as a teenager in "Doomsday" and by Ashmore as an adult in "Finale" Pt. 2). He was seen attending his older brother's funeral. By "Finale" Pt. 2, an older James Olsen goes to work for the Daily Bugle by the year 2018.
James "Jimmy" Olsen appears in TV series set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by Mehcad Brooks. Introduced in Supergirl (2016), this version is African-American and a former Daily Planet photographer who joins CatCo in National City as an art director in the pilot episode. Additionally, he is aware of Superman and Supergirl's secret identities and lost his father to criminals when he was a child, leading him to become the vigilante Guardian. Later in the series, Olsen becomes head of CatCo after Cat Grant moves to Metropolis before quitting after Andrea Rojas buys the company and forces him to report on stories based on profitability instead of the truth. Following this, he becomes the editor of his hometown paper, The Calvintown Gazette.
Film
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman (1948), portrayed by Tommy Bond.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Atom Man vs. Superman, portrayed again by Tommy Bond.
Jimmy Olsen appears in the Salkind/Cannon Superman film series, portrayed by Marc McClure.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Supergirl (1984), portrayed again by Marc McClure.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman Returns, portrayed by Sam Huntington. This version is an older and more confident yet incompetent photographer. Prior to Huntington's casting, Shawn Ashmore was offered the role, but he declined due to his commitments to X-Men: The Last Stand.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, portrayed by Michael Cassidy. This version is a CIA operative who poses as a photographer during Lois Lane's journey to Africa until he is exposed and killed by terrorists.
Jimmy Olsen appears in films set in the DC Universe (DCU), portrayed by Skyler Gisondo.This version has a secret relationship with Lex Luthor's girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher.
Jimmy appears in Superman (2025), where he teams up with Lois Lane and the rest of the Daily Planet to help Superman unmask Luthor's plans and prove his innocence.
Jimmy will appear in the film Man of Tomorrow (2027).
Jimmy Olsen appears in Showdown, voiced by Jack Mercer.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman: Brainiac Attacks, voiced again by David Kaufman.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman: Doomsday, voiced by Adam Wylie.
Video games
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman 64.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman: The Man of Steel, voiced by Dave Gochman.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, voiced again by David Kaufman.
Jimmy Olsen appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Brandon Young.
Jimmy Olsen appears in Lego Dimensions.
Jimmy Olsen appears as a NPC in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced again by Max Mittelman.
Miscellaneous
Jimmy Olsen appears in The Adventures of Superman, voiced initially by Jackie Kelk and subsequently by Jack Grimes.
The DC Universe Online incarnation of Jimmy Olsen appears in the prequel comic DC Universe Online: Legends, in which he is transformed into a reptilian metahuman after being exposed to Brainiac's Exobytes.
The DCAU incarnation of Jimmy Olsen appears in the one-shot Superman Beyond. In the future, he purchases the Daily Planet after Perry White's death.
Jimmy Olsen appears in the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic, in which the Joker kills him while he is on a stakeout with Lois Lane.
Cultural references
Jimmy Olsen appears in the Spin Doctors' 1991 song "Jimmy Olsen's Blues".
Jimmy Olsen makes a cameo appearance in the 2010 Chew graphic novel Just Desserts.