Contributed by Mike McDermott
Jake Oh is a Korean-American man who is a former SHIELD agent and has been described as their most decorated agent on the eastern seaboard. He has also served as an agent for a variety of other agencies. He is highly skilled in armed and unarmed combat, and also possesses medical training. During his original stint with SHIELD he had encounters with the Agents Of Atlas and with the X-Men.
After Norman Osborn disbanded SHIELD and replaced it with his own HAMMER organization, Oh started working for a defense contracting firm Eaglestar International, based out of Aqiria. Lieutenant Oh was serving as a field medic when War Machine (Jim Rhodes) attacked the base he was stationed at to rescue a friend of his who was being detained there after discovering Eaglestar’s illegal weapon’s experiments. Jake had already started to recognize Eaglestar’s corruption and assisted War Machine in rescuing his friend and stopping the outbreak of the Ultimo virus Eaglestar had developed. Jake signed on as a member of War Machine’s support team, initially as medical support but later participating in field missions as well once he and Bethany Cabe were both suited up with additional War Machine armours. The War Machine team fought to expose the crimes and corruption of Norman Osborn and his HAMMER organization.
When SHIELD was later reinstated Jake Oh returned to their ranks. It is unknown if he still has the War Machine armour or not. He worked as SHIELD liaison to the Black Panther to help him track down the teenage Hulk, Amadeus Cho, when it appeared that he was losing control. He parted on good terms with Cho and later called on the services of Cho and other Asian heroes Shang Chi, Silk, Ms. Marvel and Jimmy Woo, as part of a demonstration to help inspire more donors of Asian descent to sign up with the bone marrow registry. When alien invaders attacked later that night, Jake and the others formed an ad-hoc team calling themselves the Protectors.
Since SHIELD disbanded again Jake Oh has been seen affiliated with Jimmy Woo’s Agents Of Atlas, and was most recently seen as one of the commanders of C.R.A.D.L.E., the Child-hero Reconnaissance And Disruption Law Enforcement organization, charged with enforcing the ban on teenage superheroes that are not registered with a licensed adult mentor.
Jake Oh was originally created as a back-up plan for the secret identity for the original Red Hulk if something happened and the writers were not able to use Thunderbolt Ross as originally planned. Greg Pak came up with the character, but Jeff Parker introduced him in Agents of Atlas to start seeding the character in case he was needed for Hulk.
Jake is either gay or bisexual. When he worked alongside the X-Men he had a brief romantic attachment with Celeste of the telepathic Stepford Cuckoos, but in a more recent appearance revealed he is currently dating a Methodist corporate lawyer, like his father wanted–except that instead of being a Korean girl, it is a black man.
Jake Oh was created by Greg Pak and first appeared in Agents of Atlas #1 (2006) by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk. Cover image by Leonardo Manco and Jay David Ramos from War Machine #5 (vol 2). Other art by Mahmud Asrar and Nolan Woodward from The Totally Awesome Hulk #15.
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