Rick Jones? Who’s Rick Jones? Before I get to the most important Marvel character you’ve never heard, indulge me a moment, please.
I often play this game. If I could have been someone else who would it be. Like literary figures, or historical ones or fantasy characters. Among the historical I’d like to imagine that I would be an Apostle like Paul. Living miraculously through storms and ship wrecks, venomous snake bites and stonings all the while teaching others great spiritual truths and wisdom. But then, realistically I would probably be Peter. From the moment he saw Jesus he challenged him, “Yeah, yeah. I’m a great fisherman and have been out all night without finding anything, and you say you can take me out and just fill the boat! Well let’s go, let me show you that you’re wrong!” (Gary Stuber paraphrasing). You saw how that worked out. When Jesus told Peter he would have to go into Jerusalem and be taken captive and killed, Peter insisted on stopping him so that Jesus had to say, “Satan get behind me!” to him. At the last supper he bragged, “everyone else might betray you but I won’t!” Liar, liar, pants on fire. Hours later in the garden, Jesus would have to take a sword out of his hand and heal the ear Peter cut off. Even after the resurrection, Peter went back to fishing and Christ would have to shame him, “Peter if you love me, feed my sheep.” Not once, not twice but three times. Yeah, I’d be Peter, brash, impulsive, in need of correction, hard-headed and full of pride. Though I’d want to be Paul.
If I were a superhero I would have to be a Marvel Superhero. No Superman, Batman or other DC hero for me. And even more I would want to be an X-Man. From the day in 1963 when I picked up X-Men #1 off the stands of my local drugstore as a ten year old, I WAS Scott Summers also known as Cyclops. I identified with the quiet loner, unsure of his ability to lead, silently in love with Jean Grey.
But, realistically, I’d probably be Rick Jones. Rick Jones was partner to some of Marvels greatest heroes. Partner. He probably created the Avengers, was the key figure in the Kree-Skrull War, was an Avenger, spent more time in the Negative Zone than either Warlock or Annillius, and managed to kill the Abomination with his bare hands, stopped the Red Hulk and presently is living the life as a normal human with his wife. He has been all over the universe, every Marvel hero knows his name and yet there are not now, nor ever will be any Rick Jones Halloween masks. In fact, it is my allegment that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is CONSPIRING to keep him out of existence.
Let me introduce you to Richard Millhouse “Rick” Jones. Rick first appeared in Hulk #1 in 1962. Dr. Robert Bruce Banner while conducting a Gamma-Radiation Bomb experiment in the Southwestern desert, first saw him from the bunker in his field glasses. He told the techs to hold up the countdown and rushed out to the desert where he threw the teen into a hole and took the full brunt of the radiation explosion. It wasn’t held up.
In gratitude, the teenage orphan Rick hung with the doctor watching him transform for the first time into the hulk (who was grey for the first two issues before becoming green).
The young sidekick stuck with him, guiding him out of trouble and exercising limited control.
Once hulk came out of control Rick formed the Teen Brigade, a team of ham-radio operators that tracked the Hulks movements.
In fact, it was Rick’s ham radio alerts that were picked up simultaneously by Iron Man, Thor, Antman and Wasp that united them in a battle against the hulk that led to them becoming the Avengers.
A few years later, Rick Jones would become an Avenger, and partner to Captain America, wearing Bucky’s original costume and playing partner throughout the 60’s and 70’s.
That is until a cosmic encounter with Captain Marvel made him cosmically entangled with the Kree entity. While he spent part time as Rick Jones on earth, he alternately exchanged places with Captain Marvel trapped in the Negative Zone. They shared consciousness in the same place, while their bodies were universes apart.
This cosmic exchange put Captain Marvel on earth and Rick Jones into the Negative Zone. They lived this way, alternately switching back and forth for years until ultimately separated.
This however was an event that also briefly gave Rick his own super-powers as well as bringing a decisive end to the long-running Kree-Scrull war.
Rick became human and normal once again. Until he was thrust into another cosmic war between the Dire Wraiths and Rom the Space Knight. He met his love along this route. After a brief stint as a super-powered hero he once again became human.
He got married and wrote a best seller about his life as a sidekick, partner, Avenger and cosmic entity.
Life was good if not boring. In an incident that got him injected with the super-soldier formula he ended up like the monster the Abomination (only blue) aS A-Bomb and ended up killing the out-of-control Abomination. Afterword he brought down the Red Hulk before he was “cured” with a dose that turned him human again.
That could be the subject for the next book if he wants to write it. For now he is living the simple life again as a normal married man. No super-villains, no aliens, no cosmos, no superheroes. Still, no Rick Jones Halloween masks or merchandise either. Worse. No one will be playing him anytime soon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There he is the most important person who doesn’t now or will probably never exist. Yep, that would probably be me.