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James Bartholomew Olsen

For the Daily Planet photographer, see Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy Olsen


Family	Unnamed parents, Henry James Olsen (brother, deceased)
Occupation	Photographer (Daily Planet)
Played By	Ryan Harder (Doomsday) Aaron Ashmore (Finale, Part 2)
Status	Alive
Last Seen	Finale, Part 2, 2018
Appeared In	Doomsday, Finale, Part 2

"Yes, Miss Lane." - Jimmy Olsen to Lois Lane, Finale, Part 2

James Bartholomew Olsen is the younger brother of Henry James Olsen.

In the future, Jimmy Olsen becomes a photographer at the Daily Planet, working alongside Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

1 Season Eight
2 Future
- 2.1 2013
- 2.2 2018
3 Appearances
4 In the Comics
5 Notes
6 Other Faces of Jimmy Olsen
7 Quotes
8 References

Season EightEdit

James (along with his father) was seen at his older brother's funeral along with Clark Kent, Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen, Bart Allen, Dinah Lance and a group of others.

At the end of the funeral, Chloe gave him Henry's camera. She tells that he may walk in his brother's footsteps someday, to which he thanks her and then leaves with his father.

FutureEdit

2013Edit

During Clark's dream of the year 2013, Lois Lane yelled at an "Olsen" (who was not seen or heard) to have his camera ready for a plane crash, telling him that he'd better be getting every pixel of the event.

2018Edit

In the year 2018, Jimmy abruptly stopped Lois when she was about to enter Perry White's office and warned her about it not being a good idea to speak to their editor. He then asked for Lois' opinion regarding photos that he took of Superman, to which Lois stated that while the color and lighting were fine, and that it was lacking the drama and awe worthy of Superman. She then reminded Jimmy that he had some big shoes to fill left by his brother, but that she was certain he can do it, leaving Jimmy to proudly smile back at her.

AppearancesEdit

Season Eight - Doomsday
Season Nine - Salvation (mentioned only)
Season Ten - Finale, Part 2

In the ComicsEdit

Jimmy Olsen is traditionally depicted as a bow tie-wearing, red-haired young man who works as a cub reporter and photographer for the Daily Planet, alongside Lois Lane and Clark Kent, whom he idolizes as career role models. In most depictions of the character, he also has a strong friendship with Superman. As Superman's friend, Jimmy has special access to the Man of Steel, thanks to Superman's gift to Jimmy of a wristwatch which or a "signal watch" with the press of a button, emits a special ultrasonic frequency signal that Superman can hear anywhere on Earth. Jimmy invented the watch himself in the Post-Crisis continuity and Superman briefly considered confiscating it while the watch was designed by Superman based on a larger signaling device Jimmy created in the New Earth continuity.

In many Silver Age comic books, Jimmy was often seen sharing adventures with Superman, who saved him from various predicaments ranging from dangerous to merely embarrassing. This was particularly pronounced in the series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (published from 1954 to 1974), which saw Olsen in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations. Like most DC characters, modern portrayals of Olsen have been more serious in tone.

NotesEdit

Jimmy Olsen's first appearance was an anonymous cameo in Action Comics #6 (November 1938). His first named appearance came in Superman #13 (November-December 1941).
As in the comics, Jimmy (James) is shown with red hair, a bow tie and his trademark camera.^[1]
James' name (as "Jimmy Olsen") was briefly seen in Season Ten's Homecoming.
The characterization for the character of photographer Bert Camp in Season Ten's Masquerade bears a remarkable similarity to the classic version of Jimmy Olsen from the comics.
It is shown that James Bartholomew Olsen is the Smallville incarnation of "Jimmy Olsen" and not his brother that was as seen in Season Six, Season Seven and Season Eight on Smallville. This would be consistent with Jimmy Olsen's character is somewhere between five to ten years younger than fellow Daily Planet reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane in the comics.
James (Jimmy) has been featured or mentioned in three season finales in a row:
- He first appeared at his brother's funeral in Season Eight's finale Doomsday.
- He was mentioned in Clark's dream of the future shown in Season Nine's finale Salvation.
- He was shown working at the Daily Planet in Season Ten's Finale, Part 2.
In Season Ten's Finale, Part 2, Jimmy (James) looks exactly like his older brother did. In real life, this is because they are both portrayed by Aaron Ashmore.