HUGH JONES
Real Name: Hugh Jones
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Former oil executive
Group Membership: Former President and C.E.O. of Roxxon Energy Corporation, former President of Republic Oil and Natural Gas
Affiliations: Former ally of Earth-S' Serpent Cartel, briefly controlled Earth-S' Squadron Supreme, oversaw creation of and employed Roxxon's Serpent Squad (Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder, Sidewinder), Bushmaster (Quincy McIver), Orka
Enemies: Avengers (Beast, Captain America/Nomad (Rogers), Hellcat, Iron Man (Stark), Moondragon, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision), Krang, Stingray, Thing,
Viper's Serpent Squad (Cobra, Eel, Princess Python, Viper).
Known Relatives: J.T. Jones (father), wife (name unrevealed).
Aliases: HJ
Base of Operations: One Roxxon Plaza, NYC; Brand Corporation, Jamaica, Queens, NYC.
First Appearance: Captain America I#180 (December, 1974)
Powers/Abilities: Hugh Jones is a normal human being. He is an experienced oil executive, and while President of Roxxon had full access to the capabilities of the company. When wearing the Serpent Crown, he had access to all the powers the crown offered him. Though he is currently institutionalized and has not worn the Crown in years, it is possible he still possesses a mental link to the crown.
History:
(Web of Spider-Man Annual#5/4 (fb)) - Hugh Jones' "daddy" was a Texan who built his first big oil strike into a major company.
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#9) - Hugh's father J.T. Jones built his company, Republic Oil and Natural Gas, into a valuable corporation, and upon his death, control of the company passed to his son, Hugh Jones. Whether under J.T. or Hugh, at some point Republic purchased Roxxon Oil.
(Iron Man: The Iron Age#1 (fb)) - With Hugh's awareness and approval, Republic Oil's Simon Krieger arranged the death of Maria and Howard Stark.
(Iron Man: The Iron Age#1-2) - Republic Oil, headed by President Hugh Jones and executives Simon Krieger, John T Gamelin, and Jonas Hale attempted a takeover of Stark Industries both through surreptitious purchases of Stark stock and use of superhuman agents Saboteur and the Dogs of War against Stark. Following Krieger's arrest, Jones had him killed in jail. To help separate the company from Krieger, the executives of Republic Oil oversaw the change of the company to a new corporate identity: Roxxon Energy Corporation (also known as Roxxon Oil).
(Web of Spider-Man Annual#5/4 (fb)) - An ex-lover tried to shoot Hugh Jones, but either missed or merely wounded him. The same attempt on the Squadron Supreme's Earth (Earth-S/Earth-712) resulted in the death of that world's Hugh Jones.
(Captain America I#180) - Attending, with his wife, the world premiere of a Captain America movie at the Strand Theater in New York, Jones was kidnapped by the Viper's Serpent Squad: Viper (the former Madame Hydra), Eel, Cobra, and Princess Python.
(Captain America I#181) - Viper's ally, the Atlantean Warlord Krang, placed the Serpent Crown on the captive Jones' head. Under the Crown's control, Jones issued a radio address ordering all Roxxon employees to cooperate with any demands. The Squad transported Jones to a central Pacific Ocean oil derrick, where Jones followed Krang's instructions and begin pumping water underneath sunken Lemuria, apparently for the purpose of raising the underwater continent. Nomad and the Sub-Mariner intervened, Krang reclaimed the Crown, and the Serpent Squad fled. Jones reversed the process which was raising Lemuria.
(Web of Spider-Man Annual#5/4 (fb)) - Jones voluntarily maintained a link with Set in the Crown's absence. Set informed Jones that Nomad was really Captain America. Jones set men to try to locate the Serpent Crown.
(Captain America I#185) - Jones informed Captain America of the location of the Red Skull (whom Captain America was hunting), claiming that this paid his debt for Nomad's rescue of him from the Serpent Squad.
(Marvel Two-in-One#66 (fb)) - Recovering the Crown, Jones began wearing it invisibly.
(Web of Spider-Man Annual#5/4 (fb)) - Using Set's power, Jones made psychic contact and allied with the Serpent Cartel, a group of businessmen on Earth-S who were acolytes of Set.
(Avengers I#141) - Following Roxxon's purchase of the Brand Corporation, Hugh Jones was at the Brand facility in Jamaica, Queens, NYC when the Avengers broke in, investigating Roxxon's activities. Using an interdimensional transporter, Jones transported the Squadron Supreme to Earth, where they captured the Avengers.
(Avengers I#142) - Jones oversaw the Avengers imprisonment.
(Avengers I#144) - Following the Avengers' escape, Jones launched experimental Brand/Roxxon weaponry against them, and again set the Squadron Supreme against them. When the police investigated, Brand activated the interdimensional transporter, sending both the Avengers and the Squadron to the Squadron's world.
(Avengers I#147) - After deceiving and dismissing police investigators, Jones psychically communed with the wearer of the Squadron Supreme's world's Serpent Crown, that world's U.S. President Nelson Rockefeller.
(Avengers I#149) - When the Avengers again invaded the Brand Plant, Rockefeller, again psychically communing with Jones, informed Jones that the Avengers have overthrown him. Jones sent the Brand-mutated Orka against the Avengers and defeated them, but Thor and Moondragon arrived and defeated Orka. Jones ordered the execution of the other Avengers, but they'd escaped in the meanwhile, and Jones was captured.
(Marvel Two-in-One#66 (fb)) - Using Brand and Roxxon facilities, Jones fashioned his own superpowered serpents for a Serpent Squad to retrieve a second Serpent Crown, one which the Avengers had brought from the Squadron Supreme's Earth and dropped in the Pacific Ocean.
(Marvel Two-in-One#66) - Hugh Jones was given Earth-S' Serpent Crown by Sidewinder, who had retrieved it in Jones' employ. Wearing both Crowns, Jones acquired a scaly appearance, and used his newly heightened powers to assume complete control over the residents of Washington D.C., for the purpose of placing them under Set's control. Jones allowed the Thing, Stingray, and Scarlet Witch to enter unopposed so he could assume control over them, and then created versions of the Crown's recent former wearers to oppose the threesome. Simultaneously fighting both the Scarlet Witch mentally and the Thing physically, Jones was surprised when the Witch unexpectedly capitulated, and the Thing took advantage of Jones' momentary disorientation to wrench the Serpent Crown from Jones' head.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#11) - Following his traumatic separation from the Crown, Jones was driven insane and was hospitalized. He was replaced as President of Roxxon by Vice President of Foreign Operations John T. Gamelin, who would in turn subsequently be succeeded by other men.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, and Vince Colletta.
Hugh Jones was undoubtedly involved in many of Roxxon's other legal and illegal activities during this time, but we've only listed here those where a direct connection has been demonstrated.
Profile by SQUEAK
CLARIFICATIONS:
Hugh Jones has no known connections to
She attended with Hugh the world premiere of a Captain America movie at the Strand Theater in New York, where Jones was kidnapped by the Viper's Serpent Squad.
--Captain America I#180
images: (without ads)
Marvel Two-in-One#66, cover (main image)
Marvel Two-in-One#66, page 10, panel 2 (head)
Captain America#180, page 23, panel 4 (wife)
Other Appearances:
Captain America I#180-181 (December, 1974-January, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Captain America I#185 (May, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Sal Buscema & Frank Robbins (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Len Wein (editor)
Avengers I#141-142 (November-December, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#144 (February, 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#147 (May, 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Avengers I#149 (July 1976) - Steve Englehart (writer), George Perez (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Two-in-One#66 (August, 1980) - Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio & Steven Grant (writers), Jerry Bingham (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#11 (October, 1986)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#5 (1989) - Peter Sanderson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Iron Man: The Iron Age#1-2 (August-September, 1998) - Kurt Busiek & Richard Howell (#2) (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Bob McLeod (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#9 (September, 2006)
First Posted: 03/26/2007
Last updated: 11/11/2011
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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