James Jesse

Lore & Background

James Jesse first appeared in The Flash #113 (June–July 1960) and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. Infantino originally designed the character for the issue's cover, which became the basis of its plot and the character's history. The original Trickster's real name is James Jesse. He created shoes that allowed him to walk on air to aid his criminal activities, along with other dangerous gag gadgets for his crimes.

In Their Own Story

After Barry Allen's death, the Trickster relocates to Hollywood, where he spends some time working in special effects. In the miniseries Underworld Unleashed, Neron tries to create Hell on Earth. When Jesse tricked his way into Neron's domain, it was only to find himself an expected visitor. Neron made vague promises to Jesse, and seemed to keep Jesse in his confidences. Trickster manages to trick Neron and defeat him with Captain Marvel's help. Upon finding himself back on Earth, Trickster laments that he had engineered 'the greatest sting of all time' and no one had witnessed it. Trickster begins using his con artist skills for good, collecting the weapons of incarcerated supervillains because such things were too dangerous to be left lying around and could fall into the wrong hands. In the series Countdown to Final Crisis, Trickster and Pied Piper go on the run after the other Rogues murder Bart Allen. After attending Bart's funeral in secret, Piper and the Trickster are captured by Deadshot and Multiplex and handcuffed together with cuffs that will explode if they are tampered with, separated by a five-foot chain. They manage to escape from their captors, but remain shackled together. The two are eventually tracked down by Deadshot, who kills Trickster. Pied Piper survives and escapes on the train. Unable to destroy the cuffs, Piper chops off Trickster's left hand after carrying his corpse as far as he can. In Blackest Night: The Flash #1, Trickster is reanimated as a Black Lantern. He was later resurrected following the DC Rebirth relaunch.

Reader's Guide

The Trickster has a number of trick items that he employs. This includes itching powder, potato head bombs, exploding rubber chickens and yo-yos, sharpened jacks, hard shell candy, and various other joke-themed weapons. The Trickster wears a pair of shoes that allow him to fly for up to 10 hours.

Did You Know?

• James Jesse first appeared in The Flash #113 (June–July 1960), created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.
• Infantino originally designed the character for the issue's cover, which became the basis of its plot and the character's history.
• The original Trickster's real name is James Jesse.
• He created shoes that allowed him to walk on air to aid his criminal activities.
• Actor Mark Hamill played Jesse in two live-action television series and voiced the character in several animated and video game appearances.