Jason Bourne (character)

Infobox character
colour = #DEDEE2
name = Jason Charles Bourne
(David Webb)

caption =
first = "The Bourne Identity"
last = "The Bourne Sanction"
cause = No further appearance yet.
nickname =
alias = Jean-Pierre ("Identity") [ [http://www.patrickburleson.com/?p=40 “The Bourne Identity” by Robert Ludlum » Pbur’s Adventures ] ] , Delta One, Jason Charles Bourne, Cain, John Michael Kane, Charles Briggs, George P. Washburn, Foma Kiniaev, Mr. Cruett ("Supremacy"), Gilberto de Piento
gender = Male
age =
born = 13 September 1970 ("Ultimatum" film)
death =
occupation =
title =
family =
spouse = Marie St. Jacques (beginning with "Supremacy") (novels only)
children = Jamie Webb, Alison Webb, Joshua Webb (Known as Khan in "The Bourne Legacy") (novels only)
relatives =
episode =
portrayer = Richard Chamberlain and Matt Damon
creator = Robert Ludlum

Jason Charles Bourne (real name David Webb) is a fictional character of Robert Ludlum novels and subsequent film adaptations starring Matt Damon. He first appeared in "The Bourne Identity" (1980). This novel was adapted for television in 1988 and a film by the same name in 2002.

The character has since been in five sequels (the last three written by Eric Van Lustbader) and two other films, "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) and "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007).

Backstory

Jason Charles Bourne has a mysterious past, which continues to torment him throughout his lifetime. His real name is David Webb, and he is a career foreign service officer and a specialist in Far Eastern affairs. Before the events in "Identity", Webb had a Thai wife named Dao and two children named Joshua and Alyssa in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. But during the Vietnam War, an aircraft strayed into Cambodia dropped two bombs and strafed a spot near the Mekong River, unintentionally killing Webb's wife and two children. Owing to Cambodia's neutrality in the war, every nation disclaimed the plane, since no one wanted to be responsible for the incident. Having nothing left, Webb went to Saigon and trained for an elite special top-secret forces unit called "Medusa." (Many years later the unit and its actions would still remain top secret.) At this point, Webb was known only as Delta One, his code name within the unit.

Medusa

The top-secret and government-funded project codenamed 'Medusa' is a vital part of David Webb's life. Taking place during the Vietnam War, Webb was recruited into Medusa by friend and CIA officer, Alexander Conklin, after the death of Webb's wife and children. At the time, Webb was furious and wanted revenge in any possible capacity. By joining Medusa, he felt he was seeking revenge against the people who presumably killed his wife and children, the North Vietnamese. The reason Medusa remains top-secret is the fact that many of the members of Medusa were criminals whom the American government hired during the war to infiltrate parts of Northern Vietnam and kill suspected members of the Viet Cong. In addition, they also killed village chiefs that were suspected to be in collaboration with the Viet Cong and aided in rescuing POWs wherever they could. They were considered an "assassination team" or a death squad. Each member would be compensated by the United States for doing this.

Most of the members were murderers, fugitives, smugglers, arms dealers, or drug lords who were led by a man called Delta. Delta became well known as a ruthless person, with little regard for orders, but succeeding in all his missions. But the fact that "Delta" was really David Webb had become known to too many people. To get to Delta, his brother, Gordon Webb, a US Army Lieutenant stationed in Saigon, was kidnapped.

One member of Medusa was a man by the name of "Jason Charles Bourne". During the mission to save Gordon Webb, it was found out that the Australian-born Jason Bourne was a double agent. Bourne was involved in illegal activity including slavery, narcotics, smuggling, and assassinations. With this knowledge, Delta executed Bourne in Tam Quan while he (Bourne) was busy exposing the rescue operation. This was on March 25, 1968. Due to the American government not wanting to acknowledge the existence of Medusa or its members, it never reported the death of Bourne, but rather listed his status as MIA.

Operation Treadstone

Years later, a black ops arm of the CIA was formed called "Treadstone Seventy-One," named after a building on New York's Seventy-First Street, and Webb was called up by the creator of Treadstone and the creator of Medusa, David Abbott, who was nicknamed "The Monk," short for "The Silent Monk of Covert Operations." At this point, Webb (Delta) takes the identity of Jason Bourne due to his status as MIA in the war and the fact that Bourne was in reality a ruthless killer with a long criminal record. The point of all this was to turn Jason Bourne into something more than he really was, a contract assassin who would be known all over the world for terminating the lives of just about anyone. The assassin's alias was "Cain." The reasoning for creating such a fallacy was to create a competition for a well known assassin named "Carlos," or "Carlos the Jackal", real name Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who at that time was considered the world's best and most famous assassin. The name Cain was chosen because it had some significance for what he was doing. During Vietnam, Cain was used instead of Charlie in the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot...) because Charlie became synonymous with Viet Cong. So Delta dropped back one letter to Cain, which stood for Charlie. In Spanish, Charlie is Carlos; Carlos was Venezuelan. The myth of Cain was created by having Cain take credit for any well publicized killings that took place in Asia, and later Europe, regardless of the circumstances. By creating this myth, Cain was to drive Carlos out in the open and capture him. To add insult to Carlos's name, Cain stole the credit for Carlos's kills, even if Cain had no part. Later in the story, Cain learns of a contract Carlos accepted on an Ambassador Leland, which he attempted to prevent. However, Cain was unsuccessful and ended up being shot several times, once in the head, and left for dead in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. He would later be recovered by a fishing boat and awake as an amnesiac, presumably a side effect of the gunshot wound to his head.

Novels

Identity

Throughout the novel Bourne fights to learn about his past and his true identity while being chased by both the CIA and Carlos' henchmen. During the novel, at a hotel, Bourne takes a young woman hostage to escape. This woman, named Marie St. Jacques, is an employee of the Canadian government. Bourne and Marie start discovering the identity of Jason Bourne, the contract assassin. The true identity of David Webb is known only to those at Treadstone. She is convinced that the man she knows as Jason Bourne cannot be the ruthless killer that all discoveries they make seem to imply. It is due to Marie that Jason continues to search for his true identity and in the end finds the truth. Through this time, Bourne continually has the phrase "Cain is for Charlie, and Delta is for Cain" flash through his mind, propelling him in the direction of his mission. Charlie refers to Carlos in Spanish and Bourne (Cain) is to replace him.

Between the books "Identity" and "Supremacy", Bourne marries Marie and they both settle down (although under guard) in a small town in Maine. David Webb would go on to become an associate professor in Asian studies at a local university.

upremacy

When "Supremacy" starts, Marie is taken captive by the United States government in an attempt to turn David Webb back into his former self, the mythical Jason Bourne. While in reality it was the U.S. government who took Marie captive, it has pinned the blame on a fictitious powerful Chinese druglord. This scheme was conducted to send Bourne after a phony Jason Bourne who had been credited with a Far East political assassination that could, in a worst-case scenario, cause a civil war in China over the ownership of Hong Kong.

Ultimatum

As Carlos the Jackal enters old age and his infamy fades, he decides that he will do two things before he dies: the first is to kill Jason Bourne. Webb's family is forced to hide in the Caribbean while Webb himself works with old friend and CIA agent Alex Conklin to hunt down and kill the Jackal first. Webb poses as an important member of Medusa, now a nearly omnipotent economic force that controls the commander of NATO, leading figures in the Defense Department, and large NYSE firms. The plan is to use Medusa's resources to contact the Jackal. Webb just misses the Jackal several times, including when the Jackal locates Webb's family in the Caribbean, before Webb stages his own death and convinces the Jackal that he has succeeded. Following this, the Jackal turns to his second goal: to destroy the KGB facility of Novgorod, where the Jackal was trained and later turned away. His files with his real identity were still stored there. Webb tracks the Jackal down with the help of Conklin and a KGB agent as the Jackal begins destroying the KGB compound. In a final confrontation, Webb at last kills the Jackal and returns to his family.

Legacy

With the climactic events of "The Bourne Ultimatum" behind him, Jason Bourne is able to once again become David Webb, now professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. However, this serenity does not last for long and, when a silenced gunshot narrowly misses Webb's head, the Bourne Persona reawakens in him yet again. Bourne's first objective is to get to his long time friend and handler at the CIA, Alex Conklin. However, unbeknownst (as yet) to Bourne, a Hungarian by the name of Stepan Spalko has now drawn Jason into a web—one which he cannot escape as easily as his professorial façade.

Betrayal

Jason Bourne takes a mission to rescue his only friend in the CIA, Martin Lindros, who disappeared in Africa while tracking shipments of yellowcake uranium. Once safely back in America, Lindros persuades Bourne to help track the money trail of terrorists buying the nuclear material in Odessa. But once there, Bourne is hampered by confusing flashbacks of unfamiliar places and events and he wonders: Is someone brainwashing him in order to throw him off the trail? Worse, is the man he saved in Africa really Martin Lindros? Now, Bourne is alone gathering evidence while trying to stay one step ahead of the terrorists who won't let anyone stand in their way of destroying the U.S.

anction

Television movie

In 1988 a two-part made-for-television movie of "The Bourne Identity" aired on ABC. It starred Richard Chamberlain in the role of Jason Bourne and Jaclyn Smith as Marie St. Jacques. The TV movie was largely faithful to Robert Ludlum's novel, both in plot as well as in the portrayal of the character of Jason Bourne.

Films and video games

In the films, the character of Jason Bourne, portrayed by Matt Damon, is a much simpler character than the one described in the novels, the background story does not involve the Vietnam War and the only mention of Carlos the Jackal is an homage; "Carlos" is the assassin originally thought to have made an attempt on Nykwana Wombosi's life, but is just another alias.

Jason Bourne was born as David Webb on September 13, 1970, in Nixa, Missouri and joined the Army, later being recruited into Special Forces as a Green Beret. In his military career he went on to be indoctrinated into the elite Delta Force, attaining the rank of Captain. He is a Catholic as shown on his dog tags in "The Bourne Ultimatum". The dog tags also show his blood type as type O and his Army affilliation, evident in their setup; however, a Treadstone file seen earlier in the film list his blood type as A+. His film backstory also makes no mention of Jason Bourne as a separate character (the real Jason Bourne in the novel backstory was a double agent who was killed by Webb, who then later assumed his identity); however, a scene in "The Bourne Ultimatum" implies this killing and identity exchange.

Webb volunteered for Operation Treadstone, which was a secret CIA black-ops program. "The Bourne Ultimatum" reveals that Webb's free will and sense of morality were intentionally broken down by means of an insidious behavior modification process; he was deprived of sleep for days on end; a hood was pulled over his head and he was repeatedly submerged head face-forward almost killing him; and he was told to shoot and kill an unknown bound, gagged and hooded man sitting in the corner of a room, as the head of the department asks him, "Will you commit to this program?". Webb's questions of "what has he done" were brushed aside; the man is to be killed because Webb has been ordered to kill him, and refusal to kill the man results in Webb being subjected to another near-death experience in the water tank. Finally Webb's personality was broken; he capitulated and killed the subject without remorse. The Treadstone chief welcomed him to the program, and told him that David Webb was dead and that he is now Jason Bourne.

As Jason Bourne he gained the knowledge of CIA's protocals and tradecrafts. His other special skills include expert in hand-to-hand combat, superb at handling vehicles, and speaks fluent English, French, Russian, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Spanish, rather than French and "Eastern dialects" as in the novels.

Once training was over, Bourne was deployed to various locations around the world as an assassin. But on a job in France he had a sudden attack of conscience when he saw his target in the company of his children, aborted his mission, and was shot in the back twice while attempting to escape. Similarly to the story in the novel, he woke up with his memory gone.

The character of Bourne in the films is a very quick-thinking, condition, and linear type of person that moves quickly and brutally towards his goal. He is tormented by fragmented memories of his past, which tend to hit him so hard and suddenly that he reacts to them physically, such as flinching. He is highly adept at hand-to-hand combat and also shows an immediate ability to utilize lateral thinking to solve problems. He sometimes uses improvised weapons, for example using a pen to stab an assassin and using a book and a towel as defence. He is shown using tactical improvisation such as using a fan, flashlight and tape to fake his location and gas, a toaster and a magazine to cause an explosion. He is also proficient with firearms, explosives, electronics and evasive protocols, such as driving.

Not only is the plot of this movie completely different from the original novel. The character of Jason Bourne himself has changed. In the book, Jason Bourne is a hard, ruthless man, capable of hurting or killing anyone who gets in his way, even after he has lost his memory. As the story progresses he slowly begins to show a more gentle side, but it takes a lot of time and he never completely loses the underlying hardness. Though Richard Chamberlain stayed true to this character in the 1988 television movie, the portrayal by Matt Damon is much more positive, giving the impression that with the amnesia Bourne's character has fundamentally changed.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

For the plot of the film see The Bourne Identity (2002 film).

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

For the plot of the film see The Bourne Supremacy (film).

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

For the plot of the film see The Bourne Ultimatum (film).

Untitled Jason Bourne Project (2010)

Source: IMDB Matt Damon.

The Bourne Conspiracy (video game)

For the plot of the video game see The Bourne Conspiracy.

Franchise

The Bourne franchise consists of several novels, movies, and a video game, all featuring one of the several versions of the Jason Bourne character.

*Novels:
**"The Bourne Identity" (1980)
**"The Bourne Supremacy" (1986)
**"The Bourne Ultimatum" (1990)
**"The Bourne Legacy" (2004)
**"The Bourne Betrayal" (2007)
**"The Bourne Sanction" (2008)
*TV Movies:
**"The Bourne Identity" (1988 TV film)
*Movies:
**"The Bourne Identity" (2002)
**"The Bourne Supremacy" (2004)
**"The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007)
*Video game:
**"The Bourne Conspiracy" (2008)

References

[http://www.jbourne.com The Real JASON BOURNE] A american chemist pursuing a PhD in Chemistry.