Jason Wynn
Jason Wynn is a fictional supervillain in the Todd McFarlane comic book series Spawn. Wynn is the director of the United States Security Group, an umbrella agency encompassing the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and National Security Council. He is perhaps the most powerful man in the world, and has politicians throughout the government on his payroll. His actions caused Al Simmons' soul to be sent to Hell and transformed into Spawn in the first place, making him a major villain in the comics as a result.
| Jason Wynn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Image Comics |
| First appearance | Spawn #1 |
| Created by | Todd McFarlane |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Jason Broderick Wynn |
| Team affiliations | US Government National Security Agency |
| Notable aliases | The Redeemer, The Man, Black Soldiers |
| Abilities |
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Wynn also runs a heavy trade within the black market, and has formed himself a multitude of underground alliances, some of which include the Chinese triads and the Mafia, whose boss, Tony Twist, answered directly to Wynn. He is depicted, in many ways, to be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan.[1]
Fictional character biography
Wynn is responsible for the death of Al Simmons, who would later become Spawn. Simmons had been ordered to carry out too many bloody missions and atrocities with fewer and fewer satisfactory explanations, and was beginning to ask difficult questions; to Wynn, the master controller, this was intolerable. While on a mission, Wynn had Simmons ambushed by his partner, Chapel, and burned alive. As Spawn, Simmons came back seeking revenge, but Wynn somehow always manages to escape.[2][3]
Wynn uses Machiavellian intrigue and subtle machinations to expand his power base. Wynn provides weapons to rebel armies in different countries, sometimes playing two factions off against one another so that whoever wins will be indebted to him. He is cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless.[4][5]
Deal with the "Devil"
Wynn had an agreement with Malebolgia in which he traded the soul of his best soldier, Simmons, in exchange for psychoplasm, the supernatural substance containing profound powers and is the very essence of what Hell is made of in the Spawn universe. The sample that Wynn obtained from the demon lord was combined with Simmons' memories and transformed into a training ground made up of building from his past known as "Simmonsville," which was a small piece of Hell on Earth and a very important project run by the US Government.[6]
Simmonsville was destroyed by Spawn during Wynn's brief stint as Anti-Spawn/Redeemer I. Because Wynn was tainted by evil, he could not attain his full potential as the Redeemer and was defeated, had his memory wiped and was returned to Earth two days after his disappearance. After this, Wynn would continue to work off and on with The Clown, Malebolgia's henchman, to try to bring about Spawn's second death.
The Return
When Mammon restored The Clown's existence on Earth and gave him a pass to take a new body, the Clown chose Wynn and assumed a dominant role in his psyche. The Clown took the form of a hallucination which allowed Wynn to collect himself enough to return to the NSA. He then went on a killing spree in his spare time, brutally murdering women that resembled Wanda Blake.
Wynn was caught in the act, and the Clown's face paint, at a construction site. Spawn beat him and saved the woman.
The Clown finally made his play for Wynn's body. By "stepping on his hands," he caused Wynn to let go of the steel girder he was clinging to and fall to his apparent death, then took full possession of his body.
Current status
During the torture of Spawn by Grand Inquisitor Thamuz, Wynn was seen in the assembled rogues gallery alongside Clown and The Violator, but it was revealed that they were lower-level demons, masked in the visage of Spawn's enemies through the magic of Thamuz.
Wynn reappeared in issue 167–168. After the white light event, he is alive and separated from Clown, the only side effect being that his hands have become permanently stained red. Though he attempts to regain his political power and authority, he is foiled by Spawn, who confronts Wynn to gather information on the reappearance of Clown/Violator. Throughout his career, Jason Wynn had gathered incriminating evidence on various governments and organizations, preventing him from being terminated and providing him with a bargaining chip to regain his authority if lost. However, Spawn reveals that he had found and destroyed Wynn's collection of evidence, leaving Wynn without the safety net that he had built for himself as protection against all those who want him dead. Spawn then leaves Wynn to his predicament, seeing Wynn as a "dead man".
In Spawn #227, Jason Wynn was finally hunted down and killed by having his neck broken by the new Spawn, former scientist Jim Downing, whose wife was tortured and killed by Wynn prior to his transformation.
In other media
Television
Jason Wynn appears in the Spawn cartoon series as one of the main antagonists, voiced by John Rafter Lee.[7]
Film
Jason Wynn appears in the 1997 film Spawn, portrayed by Martin Sheen. This version of Wynn is the head of an agency known as A6 and is Al Simmons's boss. Unlike his comics counterpart, Wynn in the film kills Simmons in person with Jessica Priest's help rather than ordering his murder.[8] Following the attack by Simmons, Violator convinces Wynn to have a device attached to his heart that will release Heat 16 worldwide if his vital signs flatline as a deterrent against assassination attempts. However, Malebolgia wants Simmons to kill Wynn and initiate the apocalypse. After Terry Fitzgerald sends an e-mail to reporters that would expose Wynn's illegal activities, Cyan and Wynn enter the room. Wynn destroys Terry's computer and takes the family hostage as Violator shows up. Spawn arrives and nearly kills Wynn, but Al extracts the device from Wynn's body with magic and destroys it. Following the defeat of Violator, Wynn is arrested by two detectives that resemble Sam and Twitch.
Video games
Wynn has appeared as an antagonist in a number of video games based on Spawn including Spawn: Armageddon,[9] Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Video Game,[10] Spawn: The Eternal[11] and Spawn: In the Demon's Hand.[12] Wynn was mentioned in Mortal Kombat 11 by Sonya Blade who says that he's now an enemy of the US Government.
Action figures
Like many characters in the Spawn Universe, Wynn has been made into a number of action figures.[13]
References
- Golden, Christopher (1996). "Top Comic Villains". Flux magazine. Vol. 1 no. 6 or 7. Harris. p. 37.
- M. Keith Booker (ed.). Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels. ABC-CLIO. p. 583. ISBN 978-0-313-35746-6.
- Boyd, Todd (30 October 2008). African Americans and Popular Culture [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-313-06408-1.
- Misiroglu, Gina (1 October 2004). The Superhero Book. Visible Ink Press. p. 968. ISBN 978-1-57859-370-5.
- Szadkowski, Joseph (September 20, 1997). "Steel Man Still Suffers from Heavy Metal Blues". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. – via Questia Online Library.
- Greenberg, Marc H. (27 June 2014). Comic Art, Creativity and the Law. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-78195-493-5.
- Muir, John Kenneth (2008). The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television. McFarland & Company. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-7864-3755-9.
- Vincent, Mal (August 4, 1997). "SPAWN has interesting effects but little plot". The Virginian-Pilot – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Norfolk, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014.
- Navarro, Alex. "Spawn: Armageddon Review". Gamespot.
- "Next Wave: Spawn". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 97. Ziff Davis. November 1995. pp. 96–97.
- Brown, Steve (August 1997). "Junk Drawer: Video Games". Wizard. No. 72. pp. 84–85.
- Satterfield, Shane. "Spawn Review". Gamespot.
- Moen, Justin (3 September 2010). Toys & Prices 2011. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 106. ISBN 1-4402-1653-3.