Cast out from his family, the teenager Jim Wilson embarks on an adventure that leads him to connect with fellow outcast Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk. Partnering with the man-monster, he picks up fighting skills and helps him against nefarious foes.
History in Harlem
Jim Wilson grows up in Harlem at odds with his father, a strict Christian minister. A restless dreamer, Jim desires to travel, an impulse perhaps fueled in part by the demise of the Wilsons’ upstairs neighbor “Smiley.” An elderly blues musician, Smiley dies a lingering, lonely death while Jim’s young, and the shaken Wilson boy grows up praying that he would never die old and helpless like that. Seeking adventure and escape from his fractious household, Jim drops out of school at age 15, sparking an angry argument with his father that nearly ends in violence. Jim leaves town on the next bus to Los Angeles, where he soon lives on the streets, practically starving. Unwilling to return home, Wilson lives in a burned-out tenement building and claims to others that he was an LA native whose parents had died in a fire, sometimes even convincing himself that his story was true. The desperate Jim then snatches a woman’s purse, but feels so ashamed that he leaves it behind without taking any money.
When the fugitive man-monster the Hulk, seeks refuge in Jim’s tenement, he and Wilson bond with each other as kindred spirits and fellow outcasts. Jim quickly becomes one of the Hulk’s closest friends, aiding him against fearsome foes.
Resourceful Combatant
Quick-witted and resourceful, Jim develops some fighting skills while partnering with the Hulk; achieves a passing familiarity with assorted military equipment, installations and procedures during his association with the United States Army; learns chess from Betty Ross; and trains in unarmed combat with the Young Watchers, a group of underaged vigilantes. An experienced traveler and a frequent hitchhiker, he had extensive knowledge of many American towns and highways. Charismatic and funny, Jim is a loyal and courageous young man who makes friends easily. He is also a capable manager and a dedicated social activist.
Family, Friends, and Foes
Jim has a tumultuous relationship with his father, Gideon Wilson, and ends up leaving home at a young age. He later learns through his affiliation with the Hulk, that Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon, is his uncle.
Becoming close friends to the Hulk, Jim aids him in battling his foes, such as Hydra, Samuel Sterns, AKA the Leader, Xemnu, Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino, Emil Blonsky, AKA Abomination, Quintronic Man, and Walter Newell, AKA Stingray.
Jim has a recurring association with the U.S. Army, who often call on him for aid since he was one of the few people with any positive influence over the unstable Hulk’s actions. Despite his wariness of authority in general and the military in particular, Jim gradually becomes friendly with General “Thunderbolt” Ross (now Red Hulk) and his daughter Betty (now Red She-Hulk). Wilson also embarks on a serious long-term romance with fellow civilian Talia Green, though she disapproves of Jim’s ties to the Hulk.
Later, Jim joins the Young Watchers, a community-policing group that takes down criminal factions.
A Sidekick’s Story
Briefly drawn into the subversive Corporation organization, Jim quickly turned on them and was marked for death, but Hulk rescued him from their assassin Frank Schlichting, AKA Constrictor. Befriending stage magician Kropotkin the Great and Banner’s landlady April Sommers, Jim also participated in Leonard Samson, AKA Doc Samson’s ill-fated attempts to rehabilitate the Hulk, sabotaged by Corporation agent Karla Sofen, AKA Moonstone. The Hulk subsequently helped Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, Falcon, and Wendell Vaughn, AKA Marvel Man (now Quasar), deal the Corporation a crushing defeat. In the process, Jim learned the Falcon was his uncle and he renewed ties with some of his Harlem relatives. Jim also joined community-policing group the Young Watchers, helping Falcon and Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, purge a secret criminal faction within the Watchers led by gang boss Stone-Face.
One night, the Young Watchers came up on a liquor store being robbed. Jim ran up ahead of the others and cornered the culprit, only to be shot four times, but he pulled through after receiving care at the Harlem Community Hospital.
Somehow contracting the HIV virus and developing AIDS, Jim was abandoned by Talia and found a new calling as manager of a Los Angeles clinic that cared for dying AIDS patients. When the clinic ran afoul of crime boss Paul Lang, Jim called in Falcon, fellow Hulk sidekick Rick Jones and the now-intelligent Hulk for assistance, and Jim helped fight off Lang’s super-assassin Joss Shappe, AKA Speedfreek. Seriously wounded, Jim recovered but later suffered further injuries when he was attacked at a protest rally. The Hulk broke up the scuffle and arranged medical treatment for Jim, whose health was far worse than he had previously admitted. Dying, Jim begged for a transfusion of Banner’s gamma-irradiated blood in the hopes that it might cure him, but the Hulk refused, fearing he might transform Jim into another destructive monster. Accepting Bruce’s decision, Jim died peacefully shortly thereafter with the Hulk at his bedside. Banner later anonymously donated enough money to keep Jim’s clinic running for the next decade.
