JAY LENO

Real Name: James Douglas Muir Leno

Identity/Class: Human (post-World War II era to modern era)

Occupation: Comedian, television personality;
    former host of The Tonight Show (see comments)

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Jackie Chan, Dr. Jericho Drumm, Eddie, Kevin Eubanks, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Timby Hughes, J. Jonah Jameson, Al Kraven (Alexei Kravinoff), David Letterman, Mal (see comments), Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Olsen, Bob Saget, Gene Shalit, Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Thing (Ben Grimm);
    formerly Dylan

Enemies: Dylan, the armed gunmen hired by Dylan

Known Relatives: Mavis Leno (wife), Angelo Leno (father, deceased), Catherine Muir Leno (mother, deceased), Patrick Leno (brother, deceased)

Aliases: "Dave," "Einstein," "Jay-O," "the King of Comedy," "the Malibu Boy," "Man" (nicknames)

Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California, USA;
    formerly New York, USA

First Appearance: (fully seen, identified only as Jay) Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (May, 1990);
    (last name revealed) Silver Sable & the Wild Pack I#18 (November, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Jay Leno is an extremely witty and sarcastic comedian, able to quickly keep up with any comedic back-and-forth and drop comedic insults at the drop of a hat.

    He is quite brave in the face of adversity most of the time but has been known to cower in the face of overwhelmingly life-threatening odds.

    In addition to his comedic chops, Jay Leno is a slightly skilled martial artist, having received minimal training in a few martial arts moves by actor/stuntman/martial artist Jackie Chan.

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 190 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (graying); formerly dark brown

History:
(real life history) - James Douglas Muir Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York on April 28, 1950 to Angelo and Catherine Leno.

(Muties I#4 / 2 (fb) - BTS) - Jay Leno lived in New York for years before moving to Los Angeles, California.

(real life history) - Jay became a successful stand-up comedian, appearing on television and in bit film parts before becoming a regular guest host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during times when host Johnny Carson was on vacation or otherwise unavailable in 1986. When Carson retired in 1992, Jay Leno took over the reigns of The Tonight Show as the new host, a position he served in until 2009 when comedian Conan O'Brien took over hosting as Jay was given his own primetime show. When O'Brien's ratings faltered early on, he refused an offer to have Jay Leno host a monologue prior to the show to boost ratings and Jay Leno ultimately returned to hosting The Tonight Show in 2010. He remained as the show's host until 2014 before returning to stand-up comedy, remaining a television personality and occasional show host. An avid vehicle collector, Jay Leno maintained a website for his collection and hosted the television series Jay Leno's Garage for several years.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (fb) - BTS) - Jay Leno often joked that his Harley motorcycle could fly. He eventually agreed to participate in a charity event alongside a man named Mal (see comments) and the heroic Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332) - At the charity event, Jay and Mal were lifted into the air atop motorcycles by Spider-Man. While being raised into the air, Jay joked with Mal that this would be the last time he asked some guys in tights for a lift. As Spider-Man lowered the two motorcycles, Jay joked about how he had always told people his Harley could fly and Spider-Man commented that he was glad the two men enjoyed the ride.

(Daredevil I#311 (fb) - BTS) - Arrangements were made for Dr. Jericho Drumm, formerly the superhero Brother Voodoo, to appear on a late night Jay Leno television appearance.

(Daredevil I#311 - BTS) - As Matt Murdock watched television, Jay Leno welcomed Dr. Jericho Drumm as a guest on a late night television appearance. When Drumm thanked Jay for having him there and for not making fun of his former superhero name of Brother Voodoo, Jay joked that it was quite alright, noting that he was sure MC Hammer would not mind Drumm wearing his pants either, as neither wanted to be turned into zombies. Drumm laughed and reminded Jay that the zombie trade was serious business. When Drumm then plugged his book, "Do You Voodoo? I Do!," Jay joked that Drumm had only been in the hot seat for four seconds and he was already making a plug. 

(Iron Man I#292 - BTS) - After the thought-dead Tony Stark was revealed to be alive, Jay Leno went on television and joked that Stark had received good news and bad news that day, the bad news being that all of Stark's assets were frozen and the good news being that Stark was going to be the new spokesman for Frigidaire. Watching Jay on television at the time, the angry Morgan Stark hurled a lamp into the TV set, smashing the screen.

(Silver Sable & the Wild Pack I#18 (fb) - BTS) - Arrangements were made for the mercenary Silver Sable to appear with Jay Leno on television.

(Silver Sable & the Wild Pack I#18 - BTS) - Silver Sable's public relations officer, Samantha Powell, met with Silver Sable and discussed how Silver's upcoming appearances on television with Jay Leno and Phil Donahue would help rebuild the clientele of Silver Sable International.

(Incredible Hulk II#442) - As the new television talk show, Keeping Up with the Joneses, was set to debut, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Gene Shalit were among the crowd gathered outside the TV studio. While hanging around outside, David Letterman jokingly asked if Jay wanted to hear his top ten reasons why he wasn't worried about the competition and Jay replied that David's reason number one was that David should be worried.

(Spider-Man Team-Up I#3 - BTS) - While trapped in the extradimensional realm of Perrinois, Ben Grimm ventured into a tall tower and was confronted by guards who demanded his name, prompting Grimm to claim he was Jay of the House of Leno.

(Muties I#4 / 2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Jay Leno befriended martial artist Jackie Chan and Chan taught Leno a few moves.

(Inhumans II#4) - During a late night performance, Jay Leno joked that the White House had released a statement regarding the fabled Inhuman city of Attilan, noting that the US President wanted to relocate somewhere he could wear his underwear in public.

(Thunderbolts I#26) - After the heroic Thunderbolts seemingly disappeared, Jay Leno made a joke at their expense during a comedic performance, claiming the group would next be seen on a television commercial where they would announce their plans to go to Disney World following their capture of twenty-three of the Masters of Evil.

(Muties I#4 / 2 (fb) - BTS) - Jay Leno was known to take his motorcycle out in Malibu on Sundays, where he enjoyed trying to performing stunts with the cycle. At some point, television director Dylan came up with an idea for a new reality show that he called Surviving the Marvels, in which celebrities and superheroes would have to survive an attempt on their lives, and for his pilot episode, Dylan decided to get Jay Leno involved by faking a television commercial shoot.

(Deadline I#2 /2 (fb) - BTS) - Jay Leno was offered a gig doing a television commercial for GM, a big advertiser with New York's Daily Bugle newspaper. Thinking he could perhaps use the commercial as an excuse to visit some of his New York friends and unaware of the director Dylan's true intent, Jay Leno jokingly accepted the job offer on the condition that he could do the commercial alongside Spider-Man, figuring GM would never get Spider-Man to agree to do the commercial and they would never actually shoot anything.

(Deadline I#2 /2) - Upon learning that Jay Leno wanted to do the commercial with Spider-Man, Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson tasked photographer Peter Parker, who was known for taking photos of Spider-Man, with making sure Spider-Man showed up to the commercial shoot and did whatever was asked of the hero. Parker grumbled back that his task was a tall order and when he noted that Spider-Man typically didn't do endorsements, Jameson angrily ordered Parker to make sure Spider-Man did that one, as he didn't want Leno using the Daily Bugle for monologue jokes for the next several months. Parker tried to argue that he couldn't guarantee anything but Jameson warned Parker that if he didn't get Spider-Man to the commercial set the following day, he would have Parker delivering newspapers in Queens like a child. That evening, Jay Leno met with some of his New York friends at a bar, where he laughed at how he'd only accepted the commercial offer on the condition that Spider-Man was involved and how they'd likely never film anything. Jay's friend Eddie then asked if Michelle Pfieffer was pretty in-person and Jay joked that Pfieffer was a dog before accusing Eddie of thinking too much and claiming Pfieffer was actually gorgeous. When another friend asked what Jay would do if Spider-Man actually showed up to the commercial shoot, Jay insisted Spider-Man wouldn't show, noting that he was sure Spider-Man had more important things to do with his time.

    The next day, Jay Leno showed up at the commercial shoot and joked with the commercial crew that they would be going home early that day since Spider-Man wasn't going to show up. He continued to joke with the crew and when the director, Dylan, asked if he could call Jay "Jay-O," a sarcastic Jay replied that he did mind being called that. Dylan laughed off Jay's response and moments later, Spider-Man showed up to the set, prompting a surprised Jay to ask the hero what was wrong with him. Happy to see the wall-crawling hero, Dylan suggested the two celebrities try a rehearsal and when Spider-Man noted that he didn't have a script, Dylan assured Spider-Man the script was on the dummy cards that were similar to what "Jay-O" used in his monologues. Jay responded by remarking that while he was not a superhero, he would hit Dylan if Dylan called him "Jay-O" again and he also corrected Dylan that the cards were called cue cards not "dummy cards." Dylan then accused Jay of having an attitude problem and asked if they could all respect his vision before he ushered Jay and Spider-Man over to the car. Sitting on the car, Jay and Spider-Man exchanged quips at one another until a lighting rig fell onto the car.

(Cable I#105 / 2) - Spider-Man managed to save Jay Leno by wall-crawling up a nearby wall and noting that he didn't see that falling lighting rig on their dummy cards. Jay responded by correcting Spider-Man that they were called cue cards not dummy cards. Once back on the ground, Jay suggested they help clean up the mess caused by the falling rig but Dylan insisted "Jay-O" could not help due to union issues. Noting that "Dill-O" sure knew how to ingratiate himself to people, Jay listened as Spider-Man suggested the falling rig was no accident but Jay responded back by accusing Spider-Man of being paranoid. Sitting down, Jay then went on a brief tirade about superhero observations and Spider-Man grumbled that Jay should just have the heroes on his show and make fun of them there. Jay admitted that he thought Spider-Man might know the heroes he was joking about and when Spider-Man argued that he didn't know every single superhero just because he was one. When Spider-Man followed up by asking if Jay had met every single person in show business, Jay replied with a "Pretty much, yeah." The two then shared a back and forth before Jay noticed the set had become empty. Curious where everyone had went and noting that they were just supposed to have went to get a new car to replaced the one damaged by the falling rig, Jay soon noticed someone in the rafters and asked if everyone had went to lunch. Spider-Man's Spider-Sense soon went off and the hero managed to grab Jay mere moments before people fired guns at the two from the rafters. Still in Spider-Man's arms, Jay cowardly exclaimed that he wanted to go home and Spider-Man agreed before creating a web trampoline that bounced the two through a nearby window to escape the gunmen. Landing roughly outside, Spider-Man and Jay Leno quickly ran for it as Spider-Man ran out of web fluid and the gunmen exited the building to continue their pursuit of the two. Exclaiming that this looked like a job for a professional stand-up comedian, Jay ushered Spider-Man over to his motorcycle and the two rode off with Jay noting that he never left home without his motorcycle.

(Muties I#4 / 2) - Jay Leno sped off on the motorcycle with a terrified Spider-Man in tow as the armed gunmen pursued in a car. During the chase, Spider-Man admitted that he had hung off the Silver Surfer's board, flown on Iron Man's back and swam with Namor the Sub-Mariner, none of which was as scary as riding a motorcycle with Jay Leno. Leno accused Spider-Man of being a baby before asking who the gunmen trying to kill the hero were. Spider-Man insisted that the gunmen were trying to Leno rather than himself and Leno jokingly replied that no one wanted to kill a comedian moments before one of the gunmen shot out Leno's motorcycle tire. Jay managed to do a bit of trick driving to get the motorcycle safely to a halt, all while continuing to insist the gunmen were after Spider-Man. When Spider-Man commented that Leno was lucky Captain America himself didn't come after the comedian with the way he ragged on superheroes, Leno replied that he could take on Captain America even without a spandex costume. As the duo prepared to battle the gunmen, Jay claimed he was street tough, having lived in New York for years before moving to California, and he suggested Spider-Man visit California sometime. When the thugs approached, Spider-Man easily defeated the gunmen, all while asking Jay if he could be on Jay's television show. Standing back and watching Spider-Man in action, a sarcastic Jay Leno claimed Spider-Man would choke if he were on television, prompting an annoyed Spider-Man to remark that he no longer wanted to be on Jay's show.

    The gunmen soon surrounded the duo once more and a nervous Jay offered to let Spider-Man guest host his show if Spider-Man could save them, admitting that he had earlier claimed to be able to take Captain America because Cap wasn't there. When one of the gunmen threatened Jay and mistakenly called Jay "Dave," Jay flew into a rage and managed to take down the surrounding gunmen using martial arts techniques taught to him by Jackie Chan. A surprised Spider-Man then asked if he really could be on Jay's show, to which Jay replied with a "No." The two then had a brief back and forth, again arguing over who the gunmen were truly after until they realized the gunmen were after both of them. Deducing that something suspicious was going on, Jay Leno and Spider-Man confronted Dylan, who was watching footage of the fight on a video screen. Jay demanded to know if there truly was a commercial gig and Spider-Man asked if Dylan had hired gunmen to kill them. Dylan insisted that he had only hired the gunmen to attack the two, not kill them, and when Dylan claimed the entire attack was a set up for his new reality show idea, Spider-Man punched Dylan through a window. During the following week, Jay Leno had Spider-Man as a guest on his late-night comedy talk show and as soon as he brought Spider-Man, Spider-Man froze in stage fright at the thought of eight million people watching him and web-swung his way away from the cameras. Looking directly into the cameras after trying to get Spider-Man to speak up, Jay Leno remarked "Yes! I knew he'd choke!"

(Spider-Man: Sweet Charity#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Jay Leno had comedian Bob Saget on his show and Saget proved to be quite funny. Jay Leno later agreed to host a Daily Bugle charity celebrity auction for World Trade Center victims but refused to be auctioned off like several of the other celebrity participants.

(Spider-Man: Sweet Charity#1) - As the fundraiser was coming together, J. Jonah Jameson held a top level Daily Bugle staff meeting to discuss the fundraiser and when Betty Brant listed the celebrities involved and noted Jay Leno's agreement to host but not be auctioned, Jameson asked why Leno had refused to be auctioned. Betty Brant suggested Leno refused because he was shy but still wanted to help in some way but Brant herself and some of the other Daily Bugle staff secretly thought it was because Leno hated Jameson. As if sensing his staff's thoughts, Jameson commented that Leno probably refused because he hated Jameson but Jameson admitted he didn't care and accused Leno of being a "motorcycle-riding menace." That night, Jay Leno appeared on television and discussed with Kev how he would be in New York the following Friday to host to charity celebrity auction, completely unaware that his show was being watched by Mac Gargan, the criminal Scorpion. As the monologue continued, Kev asked if he could just donate money rather than being auctioned but Jay reminded Kev that he had to be auctioned too, jokingly remarking that perhaps Kev would be paired up for bowling with the Hulk. Jay then mentioned that Spider-Man would also be there and made a joke that Spider-Man was the worst guest he'd ever had following their adventure a month earlier. Upon hearing that Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson would be at the charity auction, Gargan became revenge-minded and thanked Jay Leno from afar for mentioning the guests. Also watching Jay's show was Al Kraven.

    The following Friday night, Jay Leno hosted the Daily Bugle's charity celebrity auction as announced and as they came down to the last few celebrities, the Thing jokingly heckled Jay from the audience about Jay's large chin but Jay responded by pointing out how a guy who looked like a walking fireplace was making fun of the way Jay looked. He then introduced the last two celebrities up for auction: J. Jonah Jameson and Spider-Man. When Spider-Man proved to not bring in much money, Jay tried to get the audience interested and reminded them that Spider-Man had developed a better personality since he had choked on Jay's show a month earlier. Spider-Man claimed he was suffering from stage fright but Jay shrugged off Spider-Man's comment and continued trying to get people to donate. In an effort to make Spider-Man and Jameson miserable, Al Kraven goaded his girlfriend Timby Hughes to ask if she could bid to force Jameson and Spider-Man to go on a camping trip together and, despite Jameson and Spider-Man's objections, Jay Leno announced that was definitely on the table. Jay's announcement prompted more people to bid on such a disastrous camping trip and Al Kraven himself eventually bid one hundred thousand dollars to force Jameson and Spider-Man to go on a camping trip together.

(Daken: Dark Wolverine I#9.1 - BTS) - As the Avengers landed at the Manhattan headquarters, Wolverine smelled a familiar scent and Spider-Man joked that he feared Wolverine's sniffing, noting that either Jay Leno had moved his television show to TBS or the Avengers were in mortal danger.

(Uncanny X-Force I#12 - BTS) - While on Earth-295, the talkative mercenary Deadpool asked Earth-295's X-Men if they had Axe Body Spray, ABBA and Jay Leno in their reality, noting that if Earth-295 had been spared of Jay Leno, it might've gotten "the better end of the dimension stick."

(Daken: Dark Wolverine I#19 - BTS) - As he was being attacked by the mutant Daken and several police officers, powerful drug dealer Marcus Roston wondered if perhaps his own celebrity status was waning, commenting to himself that one minute a celebrity was on the David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno shows while the next moment could see the celebrity attacked by their own potential audience.

Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by David Michelinie, Erik Larsen, Mike Machlan and Friends.

    Jay Leno is, of course, a long-time real-life stand-up comedian known for his lengthy tenure as host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (see right for a photo of the real Jay Leno). He has been active on the stand-up circuit since the 1970s and still actively performs at the age of (as of 4/24/2025) 74! While I do remember the days of Johnny Carson, Jay Leno was The Tonight Show host I grew up with and I was always a fan of his "Headlines" and "Jaywalking" segments of the show.

    The man named Mal that Jay Leno was participating in a charity event with in Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (May, 1990) was intended to be entrepreneur and politician Malcolm Forbes (hence, Jay calling him "Mal"). The issue was dated May, 1990 but the real Malcolm Forbes actually died on February 24, 1990. The issue was likely already completed by the time Forbes had died so the issue would have been released posthumously. Of course, due to Marvel's sliding time scale, the person in the charity event with Jay Leno could not possibly have been Malcolm Forbes, as he would have been deceased at the time the story takes place. It would just be another older man named Mal.

    Jay Leno's hosting on a late night talk show in Daredevil I#311 would no longer be Jay's real life gig as the host of the Tonight Show, as Marvel's sliding time scale would make that story occur after Jay had retired as host of the Tonight Show. However, the real life Jay Leno still does stand up comedy to this day (as of 4/24/2025) so any appearances where he is seen hosting a television talk show could just written off as Jay would doing a television appearance somewhere or perhaps some sort of TV special that involved guests. It just wouldn't be the Tonight Show due to the sliding time scale...

    The "Jay Leno & Spider-Man: One Night Only (Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress)" storyline ran across several titles in July, 2002. In many cases, the same story was published first in one issue and reprinted in several others that same week and that goes for each part of the story. For example, I know Part One of the story was published in at least Deadline I#2 and Thor II#49 if not two or three other issues that came out that same week and Part Two was published in Black Panther III#44, Cable I#105, Iron Man III#55, Morlocks I#2 and Spider-Man: Blue#1 the following week. Part Three was similar in that it was published in Daredevil II#33, Muties I#4, New X-Men I#126, Peter Parker: Spider-Man I#44, Spider-Man: Quality of Life#1 and Ultimate X-Men I#18.

    The "Kev" that Jay Leno is talking to on his television show in Spider-Man: Sweet Charity#1 is obviously Kevin Eubanks, Jay Leno's latter day bandleader on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. However, we are never given a full name in the issue and with the sliding time scale having Jay Leno not even being the host of The Tonight Show by the time the story takes place, one might argue that it could be someone else named Kev or perhaps Jay was doing a televised stand-up routine with his old bandleader and it IS Kevin Eubanks. My vote is for the latter and, as such, he receives a subprofile below.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jay Leno should be distinguished from:

• any other "Jay" or "Leno" characters
  

Jackie Chan

Dylan

Eddie

Kevin Eubanks

Bob Saget

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (May, 1990) - David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Mike Machlan & Friends (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Daredevil I#311 (December, 1992) - Glenn Alan Herdling (writer), Scott Alan McDaniel (pencils), Bud la Rosa (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Iron Man I#292 (May, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Kevin Hopgood (pencils), Steve Mitchell (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Silver Sable & the Wild Pack I#18 (November, 1993) - "Recouping Losses" story - Gregory Wright (writer), Steven Butler (pencils), Pam Eklund (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#442 (June, 1996) - Peter David (writer), Angel Medina (pencils), Robin Riggs (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spider-Man Team-Up I#3 (June, 1996) - Dan Jurgens (writer), Bob McLeod (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Inhumans II#4 (February, 1999) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Jae Lee (art), Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti (editors)
Thunderbolts I#26 (May, 1999) - Joe Casey, Kurt Busiek (writers), Leonardo Manco, Mark Bagley, Scott Hanna (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Deadline I#2 (July, 2002) - "Jay Leno & Spider-Man: One Night Only! (Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress) - Part One" story - Ron Zimmerman (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Cable I#105 (July, 2002) - "Jay Leno & Spider-Man: One Night Only! (Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress) - Part Two" story - Ron Zimmerman (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Muties I#4 (July, 2002) - "Jay & Spider-Man: One Night Only! (Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress) - Part Three" story - Ron Zimmerman (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity#1 (August, 2002) - Ron Zimmerman (writer), Darick Robertson (pencils, inks), Rodney Ramos (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Daken: Dark Wolverine I#9.1 (July, 2011) - Rob Williams (writer), Ron Garney (art), Jeanine Schaefer (editor)
Uncanny X-Force I#12 (September, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Mark Brooks (pencils, inks), Andrew Currie (inks), Jody Leheup (editor)
Daken: Dark Wolverine I#19 (March, 2012) - Rob Williams (writer), Matteo Buffagni (pencils), Michele Bertilorenzi, Andrea Mutti (pencils, inks), Craig Yeung (inks), Jeanine Schaefer (editor)

First posted: 04/24/2025
Last updated: 04/24/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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