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Quote1 I'm not sure I can do it justice. All I can tell you is that you were gone, and the world was on the verge of following. But when the time came to make the highest sacrifice, the Avengers didn't blink. They did what only the mightiest heroes do. Quote2
Jimmy Woo[src]

History

Origins[]

James Woo's family ancestry dates back to the Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan. Over the years the Mongol Empire evolved into the Atlas Foundation in more contemporary times. When James was born, the Atlas Foundation's Mr. Lao deemed that Jimmy was going to replace their current leader the Yellow Claw. Unwilling for their son to have this fate, the Woo family immigrated to the United States where they raised Jimmy to pursue a career in law enforcement, unaware that they were in the end, playing into Mr. Lao's well-laid plans. As an adult in the 1950s, Jimmy became a successful member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As it was during the height of the Cold War, and American feelings toward China and other communist nations were immensely negative, the Atlas Foundation sought to improve Jimmy's image until such a time that the world at large could accept a hero of Chinese descent. To this end, they used their agent Yellow Claw to act as an international terrorist in order to raise Jimmy's profile in law enforcement.[5]

Solo FBI Career[]

Yellow Claw first surfaced in the late 1950s. He arrived in the United States, bringing with him his grand niece Suwan and recruiting Nazi war criminal Karl von Horstbadden to come with him as well, under the pretense that he was working with the communist Chinese government to overthrow the United States. He pretended to aspire to conquer the entire world. Learning of the threat of Yellow Claw, the FBI assigned Jimmy as the main agent handling Yellow Claw-related cases. Jimmy traveled to San Francisco where he investigated throughout Chinatown and uncovered Yellow Claw operating out of a curio shop using escaped convict Rocky Miller to steal secret plans from government officials. Woo appealed to Rocky's sense of patriotism to help foil Yellow Claw's plans. It was while investigating the curio shop that Jimmy met the Claw's grand niece Suwan, and first became attracted to her. Trying to convince her to turn against her grand-uncle, she refused to do so out of honour, and also because he could hypnotize her into doing his bidding at any time. When Jimmy followed her to Yellow Claw's new headquarters he tried to apprehend the Claw, but was captured. Before Yellow Claw could have him executed, Jimmy was freed thanks to Suwan — the first of many betrayals to her grand-uncle that she would make over the years;[6]

Jimmy next investigated a series of strange happenings where reality appeared to be bent entirely out of order. With the help of Suwan, Jimmy located Yellow Claw's new headquarters where he had enslaved a group of mutants to combine their powers to do his bidding. Thanks to Jimmy's intervention the mutants were freed from his control, but Yellow Claw escaped. Jimmy tracked Yellow Claw and his minions aboard the S.S. Aloha where he prevented Yellow Claw from capturing two American diplomats for his communist benefactors, but once again the Claw managed to escape. Despite his reluctance to do so, Jimmy later followed the orders of his superiors to exploit his relationship with Suwan to find Yellow Claw's next hideout. However, Yellow Claw anticipated this happening and had Jimmy launched into San Francisco Bay in a plastic bubble while he once again escaped. Jimmy was next dispatched to the Malay jungles where Yellow Claw constructed a massive android of Temujai to convince the locals to go to war against the United States. Jimmy was freed by Suwan after capture and used the android to tell the locals to remain at peace before destroying the android.[7]

Jimmy next investigated how top secret plans were being stolen from a secure facility. Discovering that Yellow Claw had used a shrinking ray to smuggle his spies into the facility, Jimmy used a similar device on himself to capture them, foiling the plot. Jimmy next investigated a strange UFO that was specifically targeting American missile tests. He discovered that Yellow Claw had manipulated an alien who he dubbed UFO the Lightning Man to do so, convincing him that democratic countries were warmongers. However, Jimmy and Suwan convinced UFO that Yellow Claw was lying. Disgusted by a species that would lie, UFO banished them all to their homes, erasing their memories of the encounter in the process. Jimmy seemingly succeeded in capturing Yellow Claw shortly after this, but quickly deduced that it was merely a android duplicate that was rigged with an atomic weapon, and had the FBI dump it in a safe place to detonate. When Yellow Claw obtained a powerful sedative gas, he unleashed it on Central City in the hopes of looting the town, however Jimmy discovered his hideout, forcing Yellow Claw to retreat with his plans unfulfilled yet again.[8] Soon after this, Suwan was taken into FBI custody for Jimmy to question, but she refused to talk. Both Jimmy and Suwan were then captured by the so-called Living Shadows, creatures from another dimension that were enslaved by Yellow Claw. Brought to Yellow Claw's base without the terrorist's knowledge, Jimmy forced Yellow Claw to return the Living Shadows to their home dimension, but the Claw escaped once more in the process. Yellow Claw next attempted to decimate the United States by unleashing the Screamies to consume the food supply. But, Jimmy learned that the creatures had human level intelligence and taught them how to farm and convinced them to return to the island they came from. Attempting to foil Yellow Claw's operations from within, Jimmy employed a hypnotist named Sleepy Eyes to offer his powers to the Claw. Using his hypnotic power, Sleepy Eyes tricked Yellow Claw into thinking he successfully looted Central City. Yellow Claw then used the mental powers of Barnaby Wade to try and eliminate Jimmy Woo, however Barnaby's inability to control his powers and yet another betrayal from Suwan, allowed Jimmy to thwart Yellow Claw once again.[9]

Forming the G-Men[]

In 1958, President Eisenhower was kidnapped by Yellow Claw and taken to outer Mongolia. Deciding this mission too dangerous to perform on his own, Woo recruited superhumans to his mission to stop Yellow Claw and formed Department Zero and the G-Men. The team consisted of Gorilla-Man, M-11, The Uranian, and Venus. After successfully rescuing the president the team operated for about six months before it was decided that the world was not ready for such a team and disbanded.[10]

Stark Seven[]

Much later Jimmy was approached by millionaire inventor Howard Stark whom Woo owed a favor. Jimmy was teamed with the transforming demolitionist known as the Bear, Nessa the Kitten (a Vegas card shark), CIA agent Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, and US Special Forces Lieutenant Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in forming a group later referred to as the Stark Seven. Stark had the group break into Area 52, a Nevada Casino owned and secretly run by aliens who called themselves the Greys in order to steal Rigellian Recorder #451, which Stark hoped to use to save the life of his unborn son.[11] Their mission was a success and the Recorder not only saved the unborn Stark child, but also biologically engineered him to become what the Recorder claimed would be the salvation of humankind.[12] When the Greys tracked down the Recorder, this threatened the secret of Stark's child, which the Recorder warned would cause the destruction of the Earth by other galactic empires who had grown nervous by the developments on Earth. Howard then regrouped the Stark Seven, including Jimmy Woo, and they attacked Area 52, destroying the Grey operation and wiping out the aliens in order to protect the secret of Stark's child.[13]

Modern Era[]

Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

Following the dissolution of the G-Men, Jimmy returned to regular government work. By the modern era, a still-youthful Woo joined Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. During this time with S.H.I.E.L.D. he fought alongside Fury and Captain America in battling what appeared to be a revived Yellow Claw.[14]

Godzilla Squad[]

Jimmy later joined on as a member of Dum Dum Dugan's "Godzilla Squad" aboard The Behemoth mini-helicarrier. Their primary mission was to stop the massive mutated dinosaur Godzilla as he rampaged across North America.[15] He assisted in tracking the beast to Seattle,[16] then San Francisco,[17] clashing with Doctor Demonicus and his monsters.[18] He soon traveled to Detroit where he began assisting Godzilla expert Yuriko Takiguchi in constructing a mecha to battle Godzilla, and soon a romance began to bloom between Jimmy and Yuriko's assistant Dr. Tamara Hashioka.[19] When Yuriko's grandson Robert Takiguchi took control of the completed Red Ronin robot to battle Godzilla in San Diego, Jimmy relocated there to witness the battle.[20] He joined the Godzilla squad their pursuit of the giant lizard to Las Vegas,[21] the creatures battle with Yetrigar the Grand Canyon,[22] and Godzilla's battle with Triax, Rhiahn, and Krollar,[23] saving Robert from the Red Ronin robot after being knocked out in battle.[24] Woo and the Godzilla Squad continued to pursue Godzilla through the Midwest[25] and Salt Lake City,[26] eventually using Henry Pym's Pym Particles to shrink Godzilla down to size.[27] However Godzilla quickly escapes S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, sending Woo and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents scrambling all over New York City to try and find him.[28] Woo and S.H.I.E.L.D. finally captured the creature with the help of the Fantastic Four, who briefly displaced Godzilla to Earth-78411.[29] Godzilla eventually returned to New York at his full size.[30] Woo then witnessed a massive battle in New York between Godzilla, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers until the creature finally fled into the Atlantic in apparent defeat.[31]

Return to S.H.I.E.L.D. Duty[]

After the seeming defeat of Godzilla, Jimmy returned to regular S.H.I.E.L.D. duty, and his relationship with Tamara Hashioka ended. During his tenure with S.H.I.E.L.D.. he was one of the high-ranking officers replaced by sentient Life Model Decoys known as Deltites, and was believed dead when the Deltite crisis ended.[32] However, Jimmy and many other members of S.H.I.E.L.D. who were believed deceased were actually held in stasis for many months, and eventually restored.[33]

Jimmy Woo and Jasper Sitwell began a tag-team partnership as investigators and interrogation specialists for S.H.I.E.L.D. Their interrogation of the tech-villain suspect Jack O'Lantern led to Nick Fury's investigation into the Tinkerer and his eventual downfall against Lucia von Bardas.[34]

Becoming Agents of Atlas[]

James Woo (Earth-616) from Agents of Atlas Vol 1 1 0001

Gravely injured in Agents of Atlas #1

On his last mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., Woo went rogue, leading a team of agents into the San Francisco branch of The Atlas Foundation. Inside the facility, they find a secret room and the team is all killed except for Woo. He is found by S.H.I.E.L.D. and taken back to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with very little brain function and on life support. Dugan brought in Gorilla Man for questioning as the only clues they had linked this mission to the original G-Men and Hale was the only member they could contact. With no knowledge of what Woo had done, Hale requested to say a final goodbye, but Hale instead contacted M-11 and Marvel Boy who rescue him. Marvel Boy was able to restore Woo by reconstructing him as he last remembered Woo, which was from there time together in the 1950s. This restored his youth, at the expense of Woo's memories of the intervening 50 years.[10]

James Woo (Earth-616) from Agents of Atlas Vol 1 1 0002

Restored youth in Agents of Atlas #1

The quartet traveled to Woo's house for clues and found Derek Khanata already there. After taking Jimmy Woo's Car and Marvel Boy taking an imprint of the house, the G-Men attempted to leave without Khanata but Khanata reveals he has discovered the whereabouts of Venus. Travelling with the group to Africa, the G-Men met Khanata's cousin, who found Venus at the site of Gorilla Man's transformation, having turned the war torn area peaceful. But soon after their arrival Yellow Claw attacked the group.[35]

After a small scuffle Yellow Claw was revealed to have been a robot and Jimmy was rescued by his team-mates. Leaving Africa with Venus, the team return to where Jimmy was initially injured in hopes of finding a temple, however they find nothing. Leaving M-11 behind, Woo and team travel to an old coffee shop Woo used to visit, Gorilla Man reveals M-11 visited him before S.H.I.E.L.D. did to inform Hale that he needed to rescue Woo and Marvel Boy revealed his origins and how there was a second version of himself. As the story concludes, the team sees M-11 trying to travel to Antarctica since he has concluded that Namora isn't dead and needs to be rescued. Travelling there they found what appeared to be the remains of Namora.[36]

Namora was revealed to be alive by Marvel Boy and while M-11 freed Namora, the rest of the team were attacked by giant crabs and were rescued by a newly revived Namora. Feeling that he has taken his team away from their lives, Jimmy tries to send the rest of the team home but they all refused and plan to continue helping him investigating. Using a list compiled by Woo before he lost his memories, they began to investigate all possible operations of the Atlas Foundation, with every single site they visit being one. After taking down some pirates, the team is attacked again by Yellow Claw and his terracotta army, in the fight Yellow Claw escaped and not even Grayson could detect his presence. After the attack Jimmy confided in Khanata that he suspected on his team to be a traitor.[37]

During the search, Namora revealed the secret about Venus' true nature, having known of the legend of the Siren. Venus fell into depression and filled all of her companions with despair. This caused Marvel Boy to reveal the fact that Jimmy suspected M-11 of being the traitor in the midst. While the rest of the team began to fight each other, Woo calmed her and was able to help her rediscover her confidence. Venus has finally reconnected with her past life and regained all of the abilities she possessed as a naiad. Venus proceeded to sing, soothing the rest of the team and they returned to their mission to take down the Atlas group. However, M-11 still wanted revenge against Marvel Boy for attacking him, and was only stopped when Jimmy stood in his way, and asked M-11 to sever his connection to Yellow Claw. M-11 then revealed the missing information on how to find the hidden temple.[38]

Woo and his team go back to the San Francisco branch of Atlas and re-enter the hidden room. This time, they survive and confront Yellow Claw and Mr. Lao. It turns out that Yellow Claw was waiting for Woo to come, to claim the mantle of Genghis Khan. With the title of Great Khan, Woo also assumed control over the holdings of The Atlas Foundation. Jimmy then asked Khanata to lie to S.H.I.E.L.D. and tell them that they actually perished in the temple so they can continue in secret.[5]

Spider-Man[]

The transition away from being a criminal organization was not easy however as one of the the early missions after becoming the Atlas foundation involved a rogue faction of the organization who did not want to stop their criminal activities. Using a theatre production they would use the audiences life force, combined with totemic vessel to create an army of Monsters. The group teamed up with Spider-Man to stop them, after him and the group were attacked. Initially unsure which side the group was on Spider-Man fought with Gorilla Man until Siren used her song to calm him down. Teaming up, they stopped the rogue faction when M-11 destroyed their power source at the Rockefeller Center. In order to keep. their existence a secret, Marvel Boy wiped everybody but his team's memory of the incident including Spider-Man's.[39]

Secret Invasion[]

During the Secret Invasion, Namora killed a Super Skrull and was captured by other Skrulls. She was later rescued by Gorilla Man and M-11, and returned to the Marvel Boy's Ship with a Skrull as a hostage. their location is discovered, the team defends the ship and Jimmy asks Venus to us her powers the kill the attackers. Venus doesn't want to use her powers to kill and Marvel Boy reveals that the Skrulls are not malevolent and just want to join the human and skrull race together. Jimmy however, is defending the human race and gets M-11 to wipe out all the attacking Skrulls.[40]

Dark Reign[]

The Atlas Foundation hindered the Skrulls' activities on the West Coast during their Invasion. Afterwards, however, the world had changed, and Woo and his team took a surprising step: to use Plan Chu's villainous reputation to present themselves as the Agents of the Atlas Empire. Their first act was to steal all the gold in Fort Knox, which Norman Osborn had earmarked for special weapons programs.[41]

Student Contest of Champions[]

At some point Woo opened a school alongside former villain Sanjar Javeed. It is unknown why he opened the school, but it is believed that he opened it to train the next generation of agents.[42]

Attributes

Power Grid[47]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Experienced Fighter:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Powers

Nick Fury's intel classified him as Power Level 2, as he is a normal human.[4]

Abilities

  • Level 3 Interrogator.[4]
  • Strong Willpower: Among his teammates, Woo was the only one able to withstand the out of control effects of Venus' powers and also prevent his thoughts being broadcasted by Marvel Boy.[43]
  • Martial Arts: Jimmy is a skilled fighter and Ronin commented that he is fast, although not fast enough to defeat him.[44] He also claim to be trained in fourteen different forms of martial arts from the F.B.I, S.H.I.E.L.D. and a dragon.[45]

Notes

  • James Woo was a Level 8 agent some time before the Secret War.[4]

See Also

Links and References

References

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