Henry James Olsen

This article is about the Daily Planet photographer Henry James Olsen, known as Jimmy Olsen. For his younger brother, also known as Jimmy Olsen, see James Bartholomew Olsen. For his Earth-Majestic doppelganger, see Henry James Olsen (Earth-Majestic).

"Why do you think they call me Jimmy the Infuriator?" - Henry James Olsen, Static

Henry James "Jimmy" Olsen was a young photographer who lived in Metropolis and worked at the Daily Planet until shortly before his death. He married Chloe Sullivan in 2008, although they later divorced.

Eager to advance his career and make a name for himself, Jimmy was a dedicated journalist. He was always determined to pursue a story, or get to the bottom of an investigation to photograph the best news.

Since beginning a relationship with Chloe Sullivan, Jimmy had become friends with Clark Kent. He also found himself in the crosshairs of Lex Luthor and began a relationship with Clark's cousin, Kara Kent. However, when Kara lost her memory, Jimmy came to the conclusion that they might not have a connection after all. He then rekindled his relationship with Chloe. They were committed to making their relationship work, even as Jimmy continued to question whether Chloe would rather be with Clark.

When Jimmy proposed to Chloe, Chloe was arrested by the Department of Domestic Security before she had a chance to respond. When Chloe returned from Montana a month later, she accepted Jimmy's proposal. On their wedding day, Jimmy was injured by a mysterious creature and was taken to a hospital in Star City. Upon returning to his hometown, he began to suspect that Davis Bloome was a murderer, but became desperate and upset when no one, not even Chloe, believed him. He separated from his wife and was dealing with the physical and psychological ramifications of his attack. He quit his job at the Daily Planet, and he and Chloe divorced.^[1]

After a short stint as a bartender, Jimmy asked to borrow money from Oliver Queen. Oliver correctly deduced that Jimmy had begun abusing his pain medication. After catching him stealing money from Chloe's apartment, Oliver offered Jimmy a job and a chance to get back on his feet. Jimmy accepted and worked for him at Queen Industries until his death.

Clark told Jimmy his secret after he removed a kryptonite arrow from Clark's back, and Jimmy saw a cut on his face heal. He finally understood why Chloe was so secretive and protective of him and he and Chloe reconciled their relationship. Davis Bloome who was now only human, mortally wounded Jimmy with a pipe out of anger at Chloe for being with him just to protect Clark. With the last of his strength, he saved Chloe by impaling Davis. With his last breath, he told Chloe he loved her and died.

Physical Appearance

In general, Jimmy had blond hair and blue eyes; and had a striking resemblance to Eric Summers (due to the actors of Jimmy and Eric being identical twins) and his younger brother James Olsen, after he grew up (who is also portrayed by Aaron Ashmore). He often wore shirts with short sleeves when he was off duty, otherwise mostly long ones and as well as a jacket.

Oftentimes, he also brought with him his camera on duty.

Personality

"Look, I'm not your James Bond. I went to a Halloween party once as James Bond. Everyone thought I was the maître d'." - Henry James Olsen in Sleeper

Jimmy was an oddly conflicted individual. Although he was very high-strung in regard to his work and his relationships, he was also easy-going in nearly every other aspect of his life.

He was also highly intuitive - although he, and his friends do not realize this. He was one of the first people to try to get Lois and Clark together in Crimson. In Identity, he not only gets the first picture of The Blur, but he figures out that this mysterious hero started out in Smallville and figures out that Clark was him.

Jimmy dated Chloe Sullivan for the majority of the time he worked at the Daily Planet, and their relationship illustrated many of Jimmy's personality traits. As Chloe's boyfriend, he was willing to help out Chloe's friends.
^[2] However, he would often get jealous of Chloe's fierce devotion to her best friend Clark Kent and her tendency to keep secrets (related to Clark's alien heritage and her own meteor-rock infection), which led to arguments and even caused them to break up several times.^[3] Jimmy expressed that he felt he had to constantly compete for Chloe's affections, which came to a head when Chloe even sided with Davis over Jimmy.^[4]

Even though he was envious of Clark, they remained on good terms and began a tentative friendship.^[5] When Chloe finally admitted that she was meteor-infected, Jimmy made a conscious effort to be more sensitive to the subject.^[6]

Jimmy enjoys amateur radio and basketball.^[7]

Early life

Very little is known about Henry James Olsen before he met Chloe Sullivan when they were interns at the Daily Planet together in the summer of 2002. They began an on-again, off-again relationship several years later, culminating in their engagement in the Summer of 2008. They married in November 2008. Before this time, Jimmy claimed his father was an investment banker, and that he had spent Thanksgiving of 2006 with his mother. However, several months before their wedding, Jimmy confessed that his father is not an investment banker, but a part-time mechanic and an alcoholic from Oklahoma City, and that he never really knew his mother. He stated that he recreated his identity in order to fit in the big city of Metropolis.

Smallville TV Series

Alternate Realities

Season Seven

In 2008, when Clark visited an alternate universe in which he never arrived on Earth, he found Jimmy, working at the Daily Planet and told him that he was a fan of his photos. Clark asked Jimmy to let him use the Planet's archives to search for Lana Lang and see where she is. With Jimmy's help, Clark learned that Lana was married to a Frenchman named Pierre Rosseau and that they lived in Paris with their two children.

Jimmy later showed Clark a newspaper that said that Lex was the President of the United States. Clark wondered how Lex could be the President while Jimmy spoke about the meteor shower. Clark later persuaded Jimmy to tell him the truth about Lex's plan.

Season Eleven

Chaos (Earth-Majestic)

See: Hank Olsen

In the Comics

Unlike the television series, Jimmy is usually portrayed as being five-to-ten years younger than both Lois and Clark while his comic book counterpart is in his mid twenties while they are in their thirties. However, when Jimmy was killed by Davis, it was revealed at Jimmy's funeral that his name was "Henry James Olsen" implying that he was not the same Jimmy as from the comics, but rather his younger brother James Bartholomew Olsen would turn out to be the Jimmy of the mythology.

Appearances


	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	#
Season 1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-			0
Season 2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Season 3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		0
Season 4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		0
Season 5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		0
Season 6	X	-	X	-	-	X	-	X	X	X	-	-	X	X	X	-	-	-	-	X	-	-		10
Season 7	-	-	X	X	-	X	-	-	X	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X				12
Season 8	X	-	-	X	X	X	X	-	X	X	-	-	-	-	-	X	-	-	X	X	-	X		11
Season 9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		0
Season 10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X		1
Total																								34

Season Four: Unsafe (Mentioned only)
Season Six: Rage (Mentioned only), Justice (Mentioned only), Progeny (Mentioned only), Prototype (Mentioned only)
Season Seven: Action (Mentioned only), Blue (Mentioned only), Fracture (Mentioned only), Apocalypse (alternate universe)
Season Eight: Plastique (Mentioned only), Toxic (Mentioned only), Bulletproof (Mentioned only), Power (Mentioned only), Infamous (Mentioned only), Hex (Deleted scene),
Season Nine: Savior (Mentioned only), Metallo (Mentioned only)
Season Ten: Harvest (Mentioned only), Finale, Part 2 (Mentioned only)

Trivia

According to Chloe in Season 2, Jimmy went to Metropolis High School (as did Victor Stone). However, Jimmy has since admitted to recreating his early life story, so it is unknown if he actually went to school in the city.
Chloe lost her virginity to Jimmy when they were interns.
Jimmy refers to Clark as "C.K." - a characteristic of the Jimmy Olsen from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Jimmy knew the steps to a modern tango, as does Chloe.^[8]
Most versions of Jimmy show him as much younger than Clark and Lois. Jimmy on Smallville is at least as old as Chloe and Clark, who are younger than Lois. This issue is explained as the Jimmy Olsen comics equivalent is the Smallville incarnation's younger brother, who is of the proper age relation to Clark and Lois.
Jimmy's name is revealed to be Henry James Olsen, not James Bartholomew Olsen, like it is in the comics. Ashmore would later play James Bartholomew in the last portion of the finale, which takes place in 2018.
Jimmy's radio handle was "Jimmy the Infuriator."
Jimmy lived at 200 North Hamilton Drive, Metropolis,.^[9] prior to being engaged and married to Chloe.
Although Jimmy died, he was shown in many pictures at the Watchtower in several episodes from Season 9.^[10]

Notes

Even though Jimmy was a main character, he does not appear in every episode because, like Erica Durance prior to Season Ten, Aaron Ashmore was contracted to appear in a set number per year.
Jimmy was featured in less episodes per season than any other main character. He was originally meant to appear in 13 episodes for season 7, but the writers strike meant that it was cut to 12, which was then cut to 11 when his only scene in Traveler was cut and limited to a cameo appearance in the background of a shot (This scene was deleted, but appears on the Season 7 DVDs. In it, he helps Lana and Chloe from inside the mansion and has a brief talk with Kara). A similar thing happened in season 8, which cut his episodes from 12 to 11 when his scene from Hex was cut.
Jimmy had no scenes with Tess Mercer in Season 8.
Jimmy knew Clark's secret the shortest out of all the main characters, since he died the same episode he found out.
Jimmy used Nikon cameras mostly.
Jimmy was the fifth main character to die.
Aaron Ashmore is the twin brother of Shawn Ashmore, who, incidentally, played Eric Summers in Leech in Season One and Asylum in Season Three.

Relationships

Male relationships

Clark and Jimmy - Details on their friendship.
Oliver and Jimmy - Details on their friendship.
Jimmy and Davis - Details on how they went from friends to enemies.

Female relationships

Chloe and Jimmy - Details on their tragic romance.
Jimmy and Kara - Details on their short-lived romantic relationship.
Lois and Jimmy - Details on their working friendship.

Love Triangle

Clark, Chloe and Jimmy - Details on the love triangle Jimmy shared when he first came into Clark and Chloe's lives.
Chloe, Jimmy and Kara - Details on how Jimmy was torn between the two.
Chloe, Jimmy and Davis - Details on the turbulent love triangle that rocked all of their worlds.

References

↑ Chloe stated they are divorced in Stiletto.
↑ This can be seen in Static, Subterranean, Cure, among others.
↑ This can be seen in Crimson, Instinct, Cure, among others.
↑ Turbulence
↑ Gemini, Hero
↑ Hero.
↑ Jimmy talks about ham radio in Static and Cure and proposes that he and Clark settle any differences they may have over a "game of hoops" in Subterranean.
↑ Sleeper
↑ Sleeper
↑ As seen in Savior and Metallo.

[1] Chloe stated they are divorced in Stiletto.

[2] This can be seen in Static, Subterranean, Cure, among others.

[3] This can be seen in Crimson, Instinct, Cure, among others.

[4] Turbulence

[5] Gemini, Hero

[6] Hero.

[7] Jimmy talks about ham radio in Static and Cure and proposes that he and Clark settle any differences they may have over a "game of hoops" in Subterranean.

[8] Sleeper

[9] Sleeper

[10] As seen in Savior and Metallo.

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