Jasper Sitwell

Jasper Sitwell
Jasper Sitwell Art by Carlo Pagulayan.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Strange Tales #144 (May 1966)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Species	Human-turned-zombie
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D. S.T.A.K.E.
Notable aliases	Agent 22[1]
Abilities	Espionage skills Firearms expert

Jasper Sitwell is a fictional character, an espionage agent appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The character was portrayed by Maximiliano Hernández in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Publication history

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Strange Tales #144 (May 1966).

Jasper Sitwell appears as an agent of the fictional espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., beginning in the "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." feature in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales #144 (cover-dated May 1966) and continuing into the subsequent Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic-book series in 1968. He became the S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to defense industry contractor Tony Stark beginning in the "Iron Man" feature in Tales of Suspense #93 (September 1967), and continuing into that subsequent series as well. He was seldom featured from the early 1970s until the 1988 miniseries Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., and then again in the 1996–1997 series Iron Man (vol. 2). Sitwell afterward appeared in a three-issue arc of the superhero-team series The Avengers in 2000, and in Punisher War Journal (vol. 2) #1 (January 2007).

Fictional character biography

Jasper Sitwell graduated at the top of his class at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, with particularly high marks in airborne jump school and underwater maneuvers. When first introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive Director Nick Fury, the new agent's eager-beaver attitude meets initially with mock (and occasionally real) frustration from Fury and second-in-command Dum Dum Dugan, but Sitwell soon proves himself and earns his fellow agents' respect — albeit tinged with occasional humor aimed at his youthfulness and idealistic naïveté. Mentored by Fury himself and occasionally appointed interim director when Fury is on solo missions in the field, Sitwell later is assigned to Stark Industries as liaison between S.H.I.E.L.D. and that defense-industry contractor, which designs and manufactures much of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ordnance and equipment.^[2] There he confronts costumed assassins and terrorists such as Grey Gargoyle, Spymaster (who shoots him and puts Sitwell in a coma for a time),^[3] and A.I.M., and even romances Whitney Frost,^[4] a one-time Stark paramour. Sitwell is eventually reassigned back to S.H.I.E.L.D.,^{[volume & issue needed]} but continues to play a role in the affairs of Tony Stark from time to time. When Obadiah Stane takes over what was by then named Stark International, Fury sends Sitwell on an ultimately failed attempt to retrieve the Iron Man armors.^[5]

Sitwell, like most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership at the time, is seemingly killed by a self-aware, renegade "Deltan" variety of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s artificial human "Life Model Decoys", and replaced by one such LMD, which was then installed as executive director.^[6] The real Sitwell later turns up alive after having been brainwashed by a faction of the terrorist organization HYDRA, placed in suspended animation, released as part of a plot against Fury, and eventually deprogrammed.^[7] He has since become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top interrogator, often paired with fellow agent Jimmy Woo.^[8] He has also worked closely with G. W. Bridge, mainly in an attempt to neutralize the threat of the Punisher.^[9]

Sitwell was one of the many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who refused to join Norman Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R. organization in the wake of the Skrull Secret Invasion. He would join with Dum Dum Dugan to form a mercenary paramilitary group that would engage H.A.M.M.E.R., HYDRA and its associate "Leviathan" program, alongside Nick Fury's Secret Warriors.^[10] One of these many skirmishes sees Jasper lose his friends Eric Koenig and Gabriel Jones.^[11]

He also works with Nick Fury in regards to the underground activities of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.^[12]

During one of the Winter Soldier's missions, a brainwashed Black Widow is brought into custody at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. She had been influenced by old Russian brainwashing technology so it seemed she had broken free of one brainwashing attempt and had returned to her old self. This was actually a ruse by rogue Russian elements in order to strike at Nick Fury. Black Widow tried to kill Nick Fury but Sitwell got on the trajectory of the shot and was killed instead of Fury. His sacrifice gave Fury the opportunity to save himself.^[1]

He returned as a zombie through unknown ways and was held in Area 13 by a S.H.I.E.L.D. division called S.T.A.K.E. Sitwell joined the Life Model Decoy of Dum Dum Dugan and Agent Martin Reyna to fight Teen Abomination. After the defeat of Teen Abomination, Jasper was brought back to his cell. On the way back to his cell, he crossed Dugan and recognized him.^[13]

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Jasper Sitwell's zombie form appears as a member of S.T.A.K.E.'s Howling Commandos.^[14]

Jasper Sitwell's zombie form was seen with the Howling Commandos at the time when they help Old Man Logan rescue Jubilee from Dracula.^[15]

Powers and abilities

Jasper Sitwell has S.H.I.E.L.D. training in espionage, firearms, and hand-to-hand combat.

Other versions

The Ultimate Marvel version of Jasper Sitwell is a government operative. In Ultimate Fallout, he informs Nick Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s budget will be decreasing by 30 percent.^[16]

In other media

Television

Jasper Sitwell appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Tom Kane.^{[citation needed]} He has appearances in "Come the Conqueror" during Kang the Conqueror's invasion and "The Ultron Imperative" during Ultron's technology takeover. A Skrull infiltrator posed as him in "Secret Invasion". Sitwell himself is seen as of "Assault on 42", using a Mandroid battlesuit to assist in containing Annihilus's assault on Prison 42.

Film

Jasper Sitwell's zombie form appears in Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell, voiced by Mike Vaughn.^[17] This version is a member of the Howling Commandos.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Jasper Sitwell appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed by Maximiliano Hernández. This version is a bald Hispanic Hydra sleeper agent who works undercover as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

• Sitwell is introduced in the film Thor,^[18] wherein S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers Mjolnir, establishes a base around it, and confiscates Jane Foster and Erik Selvig's research on the wormhole that brought it to Earth before encountering Thor and the Destroyer.
• Sitwell appears in the Marvel One-Shot short film The Consultant.^[19] He meets with fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson to discuss the issue of the World Security Council wanting Emil Blonsky to be a part of the Avengers Initiative. They send the eponymous "Consultant", Tony Stark, to annoy General Thaddeus Ross into never releasing Blonsky from his custody.
• Sitwell makes a minor appearance in the film The Avengers.^[20]
• Sitwell appears in the Marvel One-Shot Item 47.^[18] He is assigned to track down two civilians using a Chitauri gun to rob banks. After eventually capturing them, he inducts them into S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Sitwell appears in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Adam Faison portraying a younger version in a flashback. While he makes minor appearances in the first season,^[21][22][23] the fifth season episode "Rise and Shine" reveals he once attended a Hydra academy in his youth.^[24]
• In the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier,^[25] Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson discover Sitwell's affiliation with Hydra. They capture and interrogate him for information until he is killed by the Winter Soldier.
• An alternate timeline version of Sitwell appears in the film Avengers: Endgame.^[26]

Video games

• Jasper Sitwell appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• The MCU incarnation of Jasper Sitwell appears in Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Keith Silverstein.^[27]
• Jasper Sitwell's zombie form appears in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by Jesse Adam.^[28]

See also

• List of S.H.I.E.L.D. members

References

External links

• The Grand Comics Database
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Iron Man Armory: Jasper Sitwell Archived 2020-02-18 at the Wayback Machine