JERRY HUNT 

Real Name: Gerald "Jerry" Hunt

Identity/Class: Normal Human

Occupation: Espionage Agent

Group Membership: S.H.I.E.L.D. (London liaison)

Affiliations: Laura Brown, Barth Bukowski, Captain America, Bill Foster, Nick Fury, Magnus, Scotland Yard, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Tony Stark

Enemies: Brothers Grimm, Cult of Kâli (Los Angeles), Flag-Smasher, Hydra, Morgan Le Fay, Mrs. Dolly, The Needle, Nekra, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) (former), Pyrotechnics Inc., ULTIMATUM

Known Relatives: None known

Aliases: None known

Base of Operations: London, England, formerly Los Angeles, California

First Appearance: Spider-Woman I#1(April, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: Jerry Hunt has no known superhuman powers. He possesses the normal human strength level of a man of his size, height and build who engages in extensive regular exercises. He is in top physical condition required of all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and is a capable athlete and combatant in armed and unarmed combat trained in the use of a majority of firearms.

History: (Spider-Woman I#13 (fb)) - Jerry Hunt was one of the foremost agents of the counter-terrorist agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. During his training, he first became familiar with Jessica Drew through her photo in a S.H.I.E.L.D. dossier on known Hydra agents.

(Spider-Woman I#6 (fb)) - At one point, Jerry Hunt encountered Spider-Man, later considering him brash, flamboyant and talkative.

(Spider-Woman I#1 (fb)) - Jerry was sent to London by Nick Fury to aid Scotland Yard in their investigation of bombings and stolen printing plates.

(Spider-Woman I#1) - Jerry Hunt ran aground of Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman as she robbed a market looking for food. In a scuffle, he managed to remove her mask and was taken aback when he realized he recognized her. In trying to recall her, he unwittingly gave her time to escape, later encountering her on Oxford Street and going after her to confront her. Jessica stopped herself from killing him to preserve her identity, later giving Jerry a transfusion of her blood to exploit her immunity factor when he was injured by a laser during a mission. Later recuperating in the hospital, Jerry pondered over his mysterious female benefactor.

(Spider-Woman I#2) - Jerry turned to Scotland Yard to help track down Jessica and later realized he was smitten by her beauty. When the police found the delirious body of Slappy Struthers, formerly the villain Excaliber after his battle with Spider-Woman, Jerry found a note that Spider-Woman had departed London for Los Angeles.

(Spider-Woman I#4) - Jerry arrived in Los Angeles to meet Tony Stark but instead met Bill Foster to identify and locate Jessica.

(Spider-Woman I#6) - As Jerry searched through mug books to identify Jessica in the Los Angeles police headquarters, he was entranced by a mystical spell conjured by Magnus, Jessica's mentor, to leave the station and notice Spider-Woman carrying away the unconscious form of Jack Russell, the Werewolf, in his human form. Following her to the scene of Magnus' battle with Morgan le Fay, Jerry was seemingly destroyed with Magnus by Morgan, but Jessica lashed out and destroyed Morgan's body while her spirit was removed from it. Jerry and Magnus' deaths, however, had been a ruse concocted by Magnus to get Jessica upset enough to destroy Morgan. Revealed to be alive, Jerry confessed his love for Jessica.

(Spider-Woman I#7) - Jerry offered his S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to help Jessica discover who killed her father. Their research led them to Pyrotechnics Inc., a research company where her father had worked. Jerry smuggled himself into the company to poke through their company files and learned that they only kept Jessica's father alive to do research for them and killed him when he tried to escape. Working with Spider-Woman, Jerry ruined Pyrotechnics Inc.'s plans to capture every major American military base in the United States.

(Spider-Woman I#8 (fb)) - Jerry commended Jessica for being emotionally stronger just before she rushed off to stop Samuel Davis from taking his life.

(Spider-Woman I#9) - Jerry commiserated as Jessica ruined their night together at the theatre by flying home under her own power. Hearing a scream, he rushed to confront the serial killer known as the Needle about to take another victim, but he was admitted to the hospital afterward after the Needle paralyzes him and sewed his lips shut. He warned Jessica against confronting the Needle as Spider-Woman, but she went looking for him anyway. After his release, Jerry chided Jessica for trying to go after the Needle without him. They went after him together, but the Needle again got the jump on Jerry and Spider-Woman defeated him to save Jerry's life.

(Spider-Woman I#10) - While Jerry was kissing Jessica on a moonlit beach, she caught an image of Gypsy Moth and rushed off to investigate. Upset by her decision to rush off, Jerry takes her home in a huff, but later while attending a party by himself, he witnessed Spider-Woman in a scuffle with Gypsy Moth and used his gun to give Jessica an advantage. She shocked him to keep Gypsy Moth from getting hurt. Catching up later with Jessica, he realized that Spider-Woman was getting in the way of his relationship with Jessica.

(Spider-Woman I#11) - Jerry trieds to make amends with Jessica by taking her out to dinner and met Mrs. Dolly, the mother of the original Brothers Grimm. One of the Brothers Grimm appeared at the restaurant and Jessica fought him as Spider-Woman. Jerry rushed to help only to be captured by the other Brother Grimm. When he finally regained conscious, he found himself being held captive in a theatre.

(Spider-Woman I#12) - Jerry learned that Mrs. Dolly expected him to be the new body for her husband whose spirit now animated both the Brothers Grimm. She forced Magnus to complete the spell as Spider-Woman burst loose to save Jerry. Without him, the reunited spirit of Mrs. Dolly's husband departed the earthly plane, leaving the unanimated Brothers Grimm behind and Mrs. Dolly grief stricken.

(Spider-Woman I#13) - After Magnus departed Jessica's life, Jerry offered her a place at S.H.I.E.L.D., but she nixed the idea after her Hydra experiences. Realizing that was from where he recognized Jessica, he took a new assignment from Barth Bukowski at S.H.I.E.L.D. and learned he would be teamed with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Laura Brown to locate missing agents Jeffrey Cochren and Margaret Huff.

(Spider-Woman I#14) - With Laura, Jerry searched Cochren's Glendale, California residence for clues to his location while regretting Jessica hadn't remained in London.

(Spider-Woman I#15/Spider-Woman I#16 (fb)) - Jerry's investigation with Laura led to the Hatros Clinic where he learned Jessica was working as a receptionist. Kidnapped by members of a Cult of Kali from Laura's Malibu beach house, they were nearly  sacrificed by cult members before Spider-Woman and the Shroud burst in and saved him and Laura.

(Spider-Woman I#16) - Jerry summarized his experience with Laura against the Cult of Kali to Barth Bukowski and how he found the cult defeated and tied up after regaining consciousness. Having discovered the dead bodies of the murdered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he suspected Jessica having come to his rescue again. When he caught up with Jessica at her apartment, he revealed he'd been reassigned back to London and offered her a place by his side, but she opted to stay stateside. Jerry departed for London realizing his feelings for her were probably not as strong as they once were.

(Spider-Woman I#50 - BTS) - When Spider-Woman discovered her body had died while she was on the astral plane, Magnus cast a spell to remove all memories of her from the people she knew so that no one would grieve for her. As a result, Jerry forgets his life with Jessica.

(Captain America I#322) - Lt. Hunt led a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission in the Swiss Alps alongside Captain America to rout the forces of the terrorist organization ULTIMATUM and their leader Flag-Smasher. When Captain America and the Flag-Smasher were lost in the mountains, Hunt was unable to launch a rescue party because his forces were committed to guarding the many ULTIMATUM agents taken prisoner. Captain America eventually reappeared, bringing Flag-Smasher as his prisoner.

(Alias#20 - BTS) - While investigating the disappearance of Mattie Franklin, Jessica Drew contacted Jerry for a favour, obtaining the location of criminal Denny Haynes from him.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Carmine Infantino and Anthony DeZuniga

Since Spider-Woman I#50, Magnus's spell has weakened or been cancelled out, and now everyone who knew her, including Jerry Hunt, remembers her.

It's not easy to tell by the story, but it's possible that Jerry's attraction to Jessica was conjured by her pheromone powers of attraction.

After Jerry, Jessica goes on to have a relationship with Scotty McDowell.

Although Jerry Hunt was created originally as a Spider-woman recurring character, I see him having the potential of supporting his own series as the Marvel Universe counterpart to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

Jerry was mistakenly called "Jeff" in Alias#20.

Profile by: WillU and Prime Eternal