Jonathan Powers was born in
Hoboken, New Jersey. He was a struggling actor with a huge ego who finally got his big break as the leading character in an off-Broadway revival of
Cyrano de Bergerac. Panned by critics, jeered by the audience, and disdained by his fellow performers, Powers was fired after one performance. Obsessively, he continued to study the various arts and crafts that he thought would earn him roles, things like gymnastics and body building. He turned down suggestions that he should take actual acting classes, insisting that he already had more raw acting talent than anyone who had ever lived. Still, Powers was only able to find employment as a stooge in a children's television show taped in New York. After gaining some notoriety as a professional thief, the Jester is hired by Richard Raleigh to get
Foggy Nelson to resign his campaign for district attorney. This brings the Jester into conflict with
Daredevil, who continues trying to apprehend him, even after they find Raleigh dead. Angered by Daredevil's persistence, he vows revenge. In his civilian guise as Jonathan Powers, he stages his own murder at the hands of Daredevil. However, Daredevil clears his name by defeating and then unmasking the Jester on live television, demonstrating that his "victim" was still alive. He later escapes prison and teams up with two fellow enemies of Daredevil, the
Cobra and
Mister Hyde, for revenge. They lure Daredevil to an amusement park, but he defeats and apprehends them there. The Jester later kidnaps an inventor of computer-generated video and uses his invention to broadcast false news reports smearing Foggy Nelson's re-election campaign and undermining public trust in the government and the media. Though he succeeds in making Nelson lose his post as district attorney, his plan to take over the city and execute Daredevil for murder are foiled by Daredevil and new district attorney Blake Tower. While in prison, the Jester falls under the mental control of the
Purple Man, along with the Cobra, Mister Hyde and the
Gladiator. The Purple Man forces them all to attack Daredevil and
Paladin. He later battles the
Moon Knight and Daredevil as well. After escaping prison, the Jester kidnaps an actor portraying Cyrano de Bergerac on live television and takes his place. His performance is a success with the audience. When he afterwards learns that Daredevil was diverting the police's attention so that he could finish his performance, he voluntarily surrenders. Later, Powers allows himself to be the host of a demon, gaining great strength in the process. When the demon leaves him, Powers is apparently left comatose. The Jester later collaborated with Screwball when they started a web show called "Jested". Their first episode had them doing a prank on Mayor
J. Jonah Jameson. After that happened, both of them are tracked down by the
Superior Spider-Man (
Doctor Octopus' mind in
Spider-Man's body) and (after performing a series of pranks on the Superior Spider-Man himself) are brutally defeated by him. During the
Civil War II storyline, Powers apparently retires from his former role until he is arrested as part of an entrapment operation set up by undercover police officers and an informant, despite the fact that all he was doing was talking about his old days rather than actually planning a crime. Despite the
She-Hulk making a passionate argument about the need to believe in redemption and not condemn someone for their thoughts, Powers is sentenced to prison, where he is shot by a prison guard during a riot a couple of days later. During the
Spider-Men II miniseries, the Jester turns up alive. During his recent criminal activities, the Jester was defeated by
Jessica Jones and the She-Hulk. ==Powers and abilities==