Rick Jones was born in Scarsdale, Arizona. He lost his parents at a young age and grew up in an orphanage. Later, he accepted a dare to drive out to a
testing ground in
New Mexico as the
gamma bomb designed by Bruce Banner was being tested. Banner pushed Rick into a protective trench, saving his life, but absorbing the
gamma rays that transform Banner into the
Hulk. Rick thus became the sole confidant of the Hulk's identity.
Early days with the Hulk and the Avengers Rick's guilt over causing the incident (and lack of any other place to go) led him to stay close to Banner and the Hulk. In one story, he even gained mental control over Hulk. Eventually, the dangerous unpredictability of Hulk forced Rick to keep his distance. Later, Rick formed the
Teen Brigade, a loose network of teenagers with
ham radios throughout the United States. The first Brigade played a role in the origin of the
Avengers when the Norse god
Loki tampered with the Brigade's radio transmission. Originally, the Brigade intended to bring the
Fantastic Four together to battle the Hulk, but instead brought
Iron Man,
Ant-Man,
Wasp, and
Thor together to form the Avengers. After the Hulk's departure from the team, Rick became an honorary Avenger. He alerted the team to the Hulk's presence when they began searching for him. He became close to the recently revived
Captain America although his guilt led him to leave the Avengers and seek out Banner and Hulk on his own. Captain America rescued Rick from one of Hulk's rampages, and after that Rick became Captain America's sidekick, briefly taking the title and uniform of
Bucky Barnes, Captain America's long-dead junior partner. This was on Jones' own insistence, over Captain America's guilty objections, noting that others have also lost partners and that it was time to move on. Rick's brief time as Bucky gave him the training to survive around superheroes. When Rick believed Hulk to be dead (although Hulk had actually been sent to the future), he revealed the truth of Banner's condition to
Glenn Talbot, thus inadvertently making Banner a wanted fugitive by the military.
Captain Mar-Vell After being neglected by Captain America, Rick became fed up with the Captain's ego. After talking with
Edwin Jarvis, Rick decided to leave the Avengers for good. Rick joined with the
Kree Mar-Vell when he finds himself drawn to the mystical Nega-Bands. Donning the Bands, he is immediately linked to Captain Marvel. Once joined, one of the two remains in a protective bubble in the
Negative Zone. After either the person not in the Negative Zone strikes the Nega-Bands together or a certain amount of time passes, the two switch places. Rick and Mar-Vell go on various adventures encountering many different heroes, such as the Hulk,
Namor, and Captain America. Rick and Mar-Vell play a critical part in the
Kree–Skrull War. Rick is freed from the Negative Zone through a portal in the Fantastic Four headquarters. Mar-Vell is released from the Negative Zone while Rick is still in the regular world without the use of the Nega-Bands. The bond between the two is broken. At the height of the conflict, the
Supreme Intelligence briefly unleashes the Destiny Force from within Rick. Rick uses his newfound ability to summon images of various
Golden Age heroes. While at full power, Rick single-handedly stops both the
Kree and
Skrull fleets long enough to put an end to the conflict. Injuries that Rick sustains lead Mar-Vell to willingly bond with Rick to save his life. Shortly after this, the Captain Marvel series was re-launched and it is revealed that Rick could not contain Mar-Vell's energy. He was then bombarded with photonic energy, which saved him and enabled him to contain Mar-Vell safely. A consequence of this was that Mar-Vell gained the ability to absorb energy in addition to the Nega-Band energies to boost his strength and could fly using photonic energy. Rick and Mar-Vell serve as a duo for several years while Rick pursues his musical career and love life. Eventually, the two are again freed from their bond while aiding the Avengers against the
Super-Adaptoid. Rick then parts company with Mar-Vell. Rick begins to spend his time with the Hulk again and briefly forms a new Teen Brigade, after which Rick finds himself again teamed with Mar-Vell, though not merged with him as they deal with
Thanos. Sometime after, Mar-Vell dies from cancer that he developed after the villain
Nitro exposed him to
nerve gas.
Venturing with Rom After Mar-Vell's death, Rick began to team with the Hulk again. Guilt over causing Banner to be hit with the gamma rays made Rick decide to expose himself to gamma rays in an attempt to become another Hulk-like being that could stop the Hulk. However this plan backfired and Rick was dying of gamma poisoning until Banner cured him. However, this too led to the consequence of Rick developing a form of
blood cancer. Rick was going to undergo a massive blood transfusion to treat this ailment when the hospital was attacked by monsters created by the
Dire Wraiths. Rick was saved by the Spaceknight
Rom and began to team with Rom despite the fact that Rick was slowly dying. Following the defeat of the Wraiths, Rom banished them to Limbo and then bade farewell to Rick and Earth. Shortly after Rom left, Rick met the alien
Beyonder during the "
Secret Wars II" storyline where Beyonder cured his cancer.
Reunion with the Hulk Shortly after the encounter with the Beyonder, Rick once again teamed with the Hulk. This time, the Hulk had been split into two beings, Banner and Hulk, but the experiment was a failure and both were dying.
Thunderbolt Ross tried to stop the process of remerging the two, and Rick intervened only to be dumped into the chemical nutrient bath that was fusing Banner and the Hulk again, transforming into a Hulk-like creature. Rick stays with Banner, the Grey Hulk,
Betty Ross, and
Clay Quartermain for several months as they travel the country looking for a government supply of
gamma bombs. The group splits after the Hulk's apparent death at the Leader's hands. Rick's psionic potential is later released by
Moondragon against
Atlantean invaders. Rick authors the book "Sidekick", an autobiography of his time with super-heroes. While on a book tour, he meets
Marlo Chandler without realizing that she had only recently broken up with the Hulk (then acting as a thug in
Las Vegas under the alias Mr. Fixit). Rick is kidnapped by a Skrull vessel and the Hulk aids in Rick's rescue. This starts another period with Rick and the Hulk, this time with Marlo and Betty.
Encounters with death Rick came in touch with death in several ways during this time with the Hulk. First, Rick dies at the hands of Thanos, along with half of the universe, when Thanos uses the
Infinity Gauntlet to impress
Death. Rick and the others are brought back in ensuing events. Rick assisted the Hulk many times during his tenure with the
Pantheon. During this time, he guns down an insane killer, but is still wracked with remorse. Over time he bonds with
Wolfsbane of
X-Factor, who also killed another insane murderer during the same debacle; he even ends up inviting her to his wedding. Another major encounter with death occurs when Jackie Shorr (who is revealed to be a demented
serial killer) comes into his life and claims to be his mother. This claim has not been proven, but she insists that those she killed and left mummified in her basement were substitutes for Rick, and that he is her real son. Shorr is discovered to be insane, but not until after she kills Marlo by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. A horrified Rick refuses
Reed Richards's offer to carry out a DNA test, saying that he does not want to know, especially if she is truly his mother. Rick attempts to bring Marlo back using a
resurrection device known as the "
deus ex machina" that the Leader developed, but the Hulk, believing that the Leader's efforts are part of a larger villainous plan, destroys the equipment partway through the process. Marlo is left in a
catatonic state. Rick's care eventually helps Marlo return to full health despite the intervention of many other well-meaning friends and family, including Marlo's brothers and Captain America. Shortly after Marlo is revived, the two become engaged and quickly marry. Neither of them realizes, however, that a portion of Death remains
in Marlo. This piece of Death attracted many strange visitors to the wedding, including
Mephisto and
Death herself. but it is cut short when Rick is crippled by a Banner-less Hulk, who made a deal to work for
Apocalypse and become his
Horseman "War" if he removed the shrapnel from the Hulk's brain. The injury confines Rick to a wheelchair and the debilitation strains his relationship with Marlo. The strain increases following Betty Ross' death, with the couple splitting shortly thereafter. His health problems force him to be brought by the Avengers to the now-captive
Supreme Intelligence for aid, which marks the beginning of the
Destiny War, as
Kang the Conqueror's rejection of his apparent destiny to become Immortus results in Rick's access to the Destiny Force being used to draw in a team of seven Avengers from different points in time to act as his protectors. Over the course of these events, Rick's injury is healed when he channels the Destiny Force into himself, and after the battle with the Time Keepers, he is joined with
Genis-Vell (the new Captain Marvel and son of Mar-Vell), due to a temporal paradox involving the future Genis-Vell linking with Rick to save his life.
Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) Rick's bond with Genis works in about the same way as his bond with Mar-Vell. The biggest difference is that the two switch in and out of the
Microverse rather than the
Negative Zone. Genis-Vell's unique birth and accelerated aging makes him the opposite of Rick: full of power but without experience. They compensate for each other's weaknesses with Rick taking on the role of mentor. He helps Genis learn to control his
cosmic awareness and accept his role as a
superhero. As Rick's confidence grows, he also attempts to rekindle his romance with Marlo. It was not until this point that Marlo's connection with Death is finally revealed. Thanos aids in separating the two, but Rick is prematurely aged and loses an arm in the process. He is later yanked back in time to the Destiny War, where he aids his younger self in the conflict leading to his bond with Genis. Marlo tries to aid the elderly Rick the way he had helped her when she was catatonic. Rick's pride, however, just causes more problems. The
Supreme Intelligence attempts and fails to restore Rick to his normal condition, but he is spontaneously restored to his normal age and health shortly thereafter. Rick believes this was divine aid, while Genis believes it was a delayed reaction to the Supreme Intelligence's procedure. For a while, Rick and Genis are yanked back and forth through time. Rick encounters two older versions of himself: one an aging collector surviving under the rule of the
Maestro; the other a super-villain named Thanatos. The super-villain Rick was in the process of creating the "ultimate Rick Jones". He is stopped by the elder Rick's ability to wield Thor's hammer
Mjolnir, Rick having been judged worthy for things the present Rick had yet to do and things that Thanatos would never achieve. Rick and Marlo again split when Marlo becomes romantically involved with
Moondragon. Shortly after, Genis goes insane when his cosmic awareness reaches its peak. Rick's attempts to continue as Genis' guide are fairly unsuccessful. Genis becomes a callous, homicidal maniac believing himself a god. Rick's friend even destroys the universe just to rebuild it with Rick and Genis as sole survivors. In the rebuilt reality, Genis again loses his mind. Rick develops an ability to mentally attack Genis through their psychic bond, although the pain is reciprocal. For a time, Genis uses this same link to control Rick. He goes as far as 'convincing' Rick to kill himself on a whim. Genis brings Rick right back to life just as easily. In part due to Rick's influence, Genis' madness calms to a point where he maintains a degree of sanity, albeit with some unpredictability. He creates a recording studio for Rick that allows for fame and fortune at the sake of Internet-based sales of a song written for Marlo. The same song also acts as a catalyst for the two to reunite, with Marlo ending her relationship with Moondragon. At the end of the series, it is revealed that Rick has a "
comic awareness" that the
Captain Marvel comic series is ending. He pushes for several loose ends to be resolved: Rick and Genis are separated again and Rick is reunited with Marlo.
Runaways Rick was revealed to be the mysterious benefactor of
Excelsior. The group is composed of former teenage superheroes dedicated to reforming other super-powered kids from following down the same path. Their first targets are the
Runaways patrolling Los Angeles in the wake of the supervillain power vacuum since the defeat of the Runaways' evil parents, the
Pride, who once controlled the city.
World War Hulk Rick re-connects with the Hulk during the
World War Hulk mini-series. He seeks out the Hulk and attempts to talk him down, telling his friend that, while he recognized that the
Illuminati had been out of line in their decision to exile him to
Sakaar and their apparent involvement with the deaths of thousands of innocent people on that planet, including the Hulk's wife
Caiera, his quest for vengeance was not him, using Hulk's willingness to protect innocent people caught in the fight between him and a
Zom-possessed
Doctor Strange as proof that the Hulk was still a hero rather than a man blindly seeking vengeance. After the Hulk's climactic battle with the
Sentry resulted in him reverting to Bruce Banner,
Miek stabs Rick to provoke Banner into turning back into the Hulk. Rick is seen being loaded into an ambulance.
Becoming A-Bomb . In the aftermath of
World War Hulk, the
Intelligencia use
Abomination's DNA to transform Rick Jones into a Hulk-like creature called A-Bomb. He initially possesses a low level of intelligence similar to the Hulk, but later gains the ability to retain his human consciousness. In
Hulk (vol. 3), Rick loses his powers after being given a cure by Doc Green, a new personality of Bruce Banner who believes gamma-powered superhumans to be a threat to humanity.
Working as Whisperer As a side effect of losing his Hulk abilities, Rick briefly gains the ability to learn any task at lightning speed. During the "
Avengers: Standoff!" storyline, he uses this ability to become a
hacktivist known as the
Whisperer and secretly aids the new
Captain America. Rick uncovers a plot by
Maria Hill called Project
Kobik, which uses shattered
Cosmic Cube remains to create a new cube.
Phil Coulson's group learns about Pleasant Hill and Rick's involvement.
Deathlok,
Daisy Johnson, and
Jemma Simmons investigate Rick's house and discovered a hidden escape route. They follow Rick through the
Morlock tunnels and apprehend him. During an interrogation at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Battlecarrier, the New Avengers arrive to retrieve Rick from S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Pentagon retaliates by unleashing the
American Kaiju on the New Avengers. In the aftermath, Steve Rogers offers Rick the chance to join S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of his reparations for his hacktivism. In the
Secret Empire storyline (2017), Rick entrusts
Rayshaun Lucas with data to prove the innocence of
Captain America, who the
Red Skull brainwashed into becoming a member of
Hydra. Captain America later executes Rick by
firing squad.
Immortal Hulk In
The Immortal Hulk (2019), Charlene McGowan and several other scientists retrieve Rick's corpse and revive him as an Abomination-like creature called Subject B. Rick is later cut in half by McGowan and his remains fuse with the gamma mutate Del Frye.
Shaman determines that the two cannot be separated, but
Absorbing Man does so using the Cathexis Ray, a weapon that drains gamma energy.
All-New Venom In
All-New Venom (2025), Rick becomes the host of the
Sleeper symbiote and assumes the alias of
Sleeper Agent. Later in the series, he bonds with the
Toxin symbiote to save it from death. ==Powers and abilities==