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. The character appears in the DC Universe franchise portrayed by Skyler Gisondo in the film Superman (2025) and will return to Man of Tomorrow (2027). The character has also appeared in numerous television animated series, including Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), voiced by David Kaufman and My Adventures with Superman (2023–present), voiced by Ishmel Sahid.
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,Action Comics #6 (November 1938) at the Grand Comics Database 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 MaxwellRobert Greenberger, "Extra! Cub Reporter Gets Own Title!" in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1: Millennium Edition. DC Comics, April 2000. 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).Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 37 "Superman No. 13 (November–December 1941) Jimmy Olsen made his first appearance as a named character in this issue."Superman #13 (Nov.-Dec.1941) at the Grand Comics Database 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.Superman No. 86/2: "Jimmy Olsen ...Editor!" January 1954. Olsen's popularity in the TV format prompted DC Comics to give him his own series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, in 1954.Irvine, Alex "1950s" in Dolan, p. 73: "Jimmy Olsen got his own adventures in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 1. A comic remarkable for its inventiveness and longevity, it ran for 163 issues." The first issue introduced the Signal Watch, a high-frequency supersonic device that allowed Jimmy to contact Superman in case of emergency.Lois Lane's sister, 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!. In another imaginary story, seen in issue #57, Jimmy marries Superman's cousin, Supergirl (Kara Zor-El/Linda Lee Danvers) after she lost both her powers and her memories, until she regains them after her marriage; once she reveals to him that she is Supergirl, he is completely happy about it.
The Mort Weisinger era 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
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.McAvennie, Michael "1970s" in Dolan, p. 141 "Since no ongoing creative team had been slated to Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, "King of Comics" Jack Kirby made the title his DC launch point, and the writer/artist's indelible energy and ideas permeated every panel and word balloon of the comic." 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.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 159 "DC's 100-page Super Spectaculars were proving popular, so DC said goodbye to Supergirl, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, and housed the characters together in Superman Family. Continuing the numbering from where Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen ended, the series featured classic reprints with new tales in the lead spot." 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.
Superman: Metropolis 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.
Jimmy takes a position as a regular star reporter for The Daily Planet, replacing the recently demoted Clark Kent. This causes a strain at the Planet.
Countdown to Final Crisis
Jimmy's story in the 2007–08 weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis begins with an investigation into the death of Duela Dent. Tying into the Death of the New Gods storyline, Jimmy starts to develop many superpowers, which he first discovers when he is attacked by Killer Croc while gathering information on Duela's death. As the story progresses he tries to uncover the origin of these powers and starts to discover their potential limitlessness in stories which mimic the Silver Age Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen adventures. Briefly operating as the superhero Mr. Action, Jimmy is unable to command the respect of established superheroes in the Justice League and Teen Titans. He gives up on this particular avenue. One of these powers allows Jimmy to realize the identities of some superheroes, such as Robin and Superman, who requests that he take care of Krypto.