In the modernized world of Marvel's Spider-Man for PS4, it is not hard to imagine J. Jonah Jameson being called a "Boomer." Especially when the mighty John Jonah Jameson, Spider-Man's most persistent foe, also finds social media confusing. In the game's world, Jameson makes a classic social media mistake, which is an interesting addition to the character's lore. While not necessarily narratively important, it does add an extra layer to his characterization.
During the character's relentless crusade against the webslinger throughout the game, he uses podcasts and other online platforms a lot. This makes his lack of social media awareness particularly interesting, as it would imply that Jameson does not totally understand the methods he is disseminating hate with. In fact, Spider-Man might well be casting Jameson as an older pundit that has not quite made the transition to newer media properly. Either way, it adds some subtle background information to a character that many Spider-Man adaptations fail to give nuance.
What Is J. Jonah Jameson's Social Media Mistake?
To put it simply - Earth-1048's J. Jonah Jameson accidentally made a second account. Originally, the media tycoon turned raving podcast pundit had an account called "JJatHome" on the social media of Marvel's Spider-Man game, where he clearly shorted his handle by one "J." He uses this account to disseminate his anti-Spider media across the entire globe, not just through a New York broadsheet. However, the ex-editor-in-chief seems to have created a second for use, this properly one called "JJJatHome." Funnily enough, this account is revealed thanks to his son, who appears to mention the subtly different second username in a post about his father's show.
This seems fairly innocuous mistake, and it fits really well into the general feel of the world that the game creates. Adding dynamic social media into the game was a powerful move for the game's worldbuilding. Layers of interpersonal stories unfurl within Spider-Man and the game-world feels lived in as a result. Much of the social media content in game is incredibly accurate to real posts, and as such, it captures a very particular sense of millennial humor. With a litany of internet-literate young people posting about their love of the webslinger, Jameson as a less social media-savvy person makes for a nice contrast.
J. Jonah Jameson's social media faux pas demonstrates a couple of things about his character. Above all else, it reinforces the type of caricature he is meant to be, especially since the Earth-1048 variant of Jameson shifted from traditional print media to online digital media. Interestingly, the type of caustic, often hypocritical punditry espoused on Jameson's show is similar to many online conspiracist media. Jameson's portrayal in this game is very paranoid, with some wild beliefs about Spider-Man, both Peter and Miles. One of these theories is that the superhero might be a spider dressed as a man, really just driving that conspiracy interpretation home.
How Should Jameson Be Using Social Media Differently?
There is a Twitter account that Jameson could be taking notes from, if he's to learn how to properly use social media. When Spider-Man: Far From Home was releasing, a Daily Bugle Twitter account was set up to help promote it. Some of the posts from it were fantastic, and really captured the spirit of the character. If the Spider-Man game had a lot of video content on its social media, it could look a bit like this.
Earth-1048 Jameson could learn two things from this approach: video has more reach than a podcast, and that it's better to use one account, and not two different ones. To be fair to Earth-1048 Jameson, he does not have the same social media budget as Far From Home. However, some kind of social media manager would benefit the pundit massively, maybe even Earth-1048's Peter Parker could give it a shot.
Spider-Man 2 for PS5 is rumored to be in development.