| Jimmy Woo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Yellow Claw #1 (October 1956) |
| Created by | Al Feldstein Joe Maneely |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Woo Yen Jet[1] |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of Atlas G-Men Protectors Three Xs |
James "Jimmy"Woo (Woo Yen Jet) is a fictionalsecret agent appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created byEC Comics writerAl Feldstein and artistJoe Maneely, theChinese American character first appeared inYellow Claw #1 (October 1956)[2] fromAtlas Comics, the 1950s predecessor of Marvel. Woo has since appeared occasionally in a variety of Marvel publications.
The character has made minor appearances in animated media and video games. Additionally, he appears in theMarvel Cinematic Universe filmAnt-Man and the Wasp (2018), theDisney+ seriesWandaVision (2021), and a small cameo inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) portrayed byRandall Park.
Jimmy Woo was the hero of theespionage seriesYellow Claw, named for hisantagonist, a "yellow peril"Communistmandarin.[clarification needed] While the short-lived series named after that villain ran only four issues (October 1956 – April 1957), it featured art by Maneely,Jack Kirby, andJohn Severin.
Kirby took over as writer-artist with issue #2—inking his ownpencil art there and in the following issue, representing two of the very rare occasions on which he did so. On the final issue, the inking was done byWestern- andwar-comics veteran Severin. Also, other artists drew the covers: Severin on #2 and #4,Bill Everett on #3.
Well regarded[citation needed] for its relatively mature storyline with a rare Asian fictional hero for the period and in particular for Maneely's exquisitely atmospheric art,[citation needed] the book nevertheless failed to find an audience. Woo and other characters from the series were brought into theMarvel universe a decade later, beginning with the "S.H.I.E.L.D." story inStrange Tales #160 (Sept. 1967). Woo joins that espionage agency inNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (July 1968).
Woo went on to be featured in the 1977–1979 Marvel seriesGodzilla and the 2006–07 Marvel seriesAgents of Atlas. Before the cancellation of the 1990salternate universe Marvel imprintRazorline, as produced but unpublished titles of its various series were preparing to blend the Razorline into primary Marvel continuity, Woo as well asNick Fury and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents guest-starred inWraitheart #5.Woo starred as the leader of a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives code-namedAgents of Atlas, in the 2006–2007 series of that name.
James Woo is anAsian-AmericanFBI agent assigned primarily to investigate and apprehend theChinese-national mandarin known as the Yellow Claw, aFu Manchumanqué (authorSax Rohmer had a Fu Manchu novel titledThe Yellow Claw). The Yellow Claw, who attempts world domination, claimed in 2000s comics that his American rubric is a mistransliteration of the Chinese characters for "Golden Claw".[3] Complicating matters, the Claw's grandniece, Suwan, was in love with Woo in the 1950s series.
Inretcon stories, Woo is anFBI agent assigned in 1958 to oversee the 1950s superhero team theAvengers, a short-lived predecessor of the later, more established team of that name.[4][5]
As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Woo joins the "Godzilla Squad" to huntGodzilla. This unit, led byDum Dum Dugan, employed such weapons as agiant robot calledRed Ronin (for which Woo was shortlisted as a pilot candidate), and was headquartered in a smaller version of the S.H.I.E.L.D.Helicarrier, known as the Behemoth.[6]
Woo was temporarily replaced by aLife Model Decoy (a form ofartificial human utilized by S.H.I.E.L.D.) of the self-aware, renegade "Deltan" class,[7] and went through five such bodies before dying with other repentant LMDs.[8] Woo reemerged from stasis, along with other high-ranking officers that had been taken and replaced.[9]
In 2006–2007 stories, Woo attempted a secret raid of a group identified asThe Atlas Foundation. GoingAWOL and taking several other willing agents with him, he infiltrated an Atlas Foundation location, resulting in all the recruits being killed. Woo was critically burned and lost higher brain function. The former 1950s AvengerGorilla-Man, by now also a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, gave the organization a classified record of the 1950s team, of which S.H.I.E.L.D. had no prior knowledge. Gorilla-Man rescues Woo with the aid of fellow 1950s teammatesM-11 andMarvel Boy, who restores Woo to his 1958 self.[10]
With his teammates he follows the Atlas Foundation around the world, restoringNamora to life,[11] and eventually confronting the Yellow Claw, who reveals that the whole ordeal was only a test. As Woo passed it, the Yellow Claw commitssuicide, ending his long life and placing Woo as head of the Atlas Foundation.[12] Woo later surfaces in New York, where he andSpider-Man shut down a rebellious cell of the Atlas Foundation.[volume & issue needed] Later, Woo becomes head of the Pan-Asian School for the Unusually Gifted, aMumbai, India-based school for Asian teenagers with superhuman abilities. Sanjar Javeed is a teacher there.[13]
Woo appears alongside the Asian-American superheroesAmadeus Cho,Ms. Marvel,Shang-Chi, andSilk and SHIELD agent Jake Oh at a charity event attacked by an alien army. Dubbing their group the Protectors, Woo rallies the heroes and bystanders to overthrow their captors.[14] InThe War of the Realms, Woo recruits most of the Protectors and several other Asian and Pacific superheroes into the Atlas Foundation as the New Agents of Atlas.[15] Afterward, Woo resumes his duties as the head of the Atlas Foundation and makes Cho the leader of the New Agents. He also teams withBlue Marvel andNight Thrasher to form a new iteration of the Three Xs.[16] InAtlantis Attacks, Woo introduces the original and new Agents of Atlas to each other.[17]
Jeff Yang, curator of the "Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942–1986" exhibit at theJapanese American National Museum, called Jimmy Woo a "positive exception" to the "largely negative" depiction of Asians and Asian-Americans in comics at time when "the view of Asians was shaped by racist, xenophobic wartime propaganda."[18]
In theUltimate Marvel universe, Jimmy Woo is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., partnered withSharon Carter. He was introduced inUltimate Spider-Man #16, in which he and Carter are trying to captureDoctor Octopus.[19]
Jimmy Woo appears inThe Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced byNolan North.[20][21]
Jimmy Woo appears in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed byRandall Park. This version isJames E. Woo, an FBI agent fromBakersfield, California. Introduced in the live-action filmAnt-Man and the Wasp (2018),[22] Woo makes subsequent appearances in the live-action miniseriesWandaVision (2021), the live-action filmAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023),[23][24] and the animated seriesMarvel Zombies (2025).[25]
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