Publishing history
The Daily Bugle is featured prominently in many Marvel Comics titles, especially those in which Spider-Man is the lead character. In 1996, a three-issue (black and white) limited series was printed.
Since 2006, Marvel has published a monthly Daily Bugle newspaper reporting on the company's publications and authors. Marvel earlier used the newspaper format to promote Marvel's crossover events Civil War and House of M—reporting on storyline events as if the comic book Daily Bugle had come to life. Marvel restored this promotional function for the 2007 death of Captain America.
Fictional History
The Daily Bugle was founded in 1898 and has been published daily ever since. The Daily Bugle is printed in tabloid format like its rival the Daily Globe. The editor and publisher of the Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, began his journalistic career as a reporter for the Bugle while still in high school. Jameson purchased the then-floundering Bugle with inheritance funds, from his recently deceased father-in-law and turned the paper into a popular success. Other magazines published from time-to-time include the revived Now magazine and the now-defunct Woman magazine, edited by Carol Danvers.
J. Jonah Jameson, Inc. purchased the Goodman Building on 39th Street and Second Avenue in 1936 and moved its entire editorial and publishing facilities there.[3] Now called the Daily Bugle Building, the office complex is forty-six stories tall, and is capped by the Daily Bugle logo in 30-foot (9.1 m) letters on the roof. There are loading docks in the rear of the building, reached by a back alley. Three floors are devoted to the editorial office of the Bugle and two sub-basement levels to the printing presses, while the rest of the floors are rented. (A panel in #105 of The Amazing Spider-Man showed the Bugle building located near a street sign at the corner of Madison Avenue and a street in the East Fifties (the second digit was not shown). This suggests that the building may have been relocated at some point.)
The newspaper is noted for its anti-superhero slant, especially concerning Spider-Man, whom the paper constantly smears as a part of its editorial policy. However, the Editor-in-Chief, "Robbie" Robertson, the only subordinate to Jameson who is not intimidated by him, has worked to moderate it. More positively, the newspaper has also published important exposés of political corruption and organized crime in the city, and also takes a strong stance in favor of mutant rights, which has led to its being targeted by various criminals and hate groups.
Due to declining circulation, Jameson has conceded to Robertson's objections and has created a special feature section of the paper called The Pulse, which focuses on superheroes. In addition, the paper also intermittently ran a glossy magazine called Now Magazine.
Soon after the team's formation, the New Avengers decided to strike a deal with Jameson regarding exclusive content in exchange for removing the strong anti-Spider-Man sentiment from the newspaper, to which Jameson agreed. Merely one day later, Jameson broke the spirit (though not the letter) of his agreement with Iron Man, using the headline "a wanted murderer (Wolverine), an alleged ex-member of a terrorist organization (Spider-Woman) and a convicted heroin-dealer (Luke Cage) are just some of the new recruits set to bury the once good name of the Avengers," but refraining from attacking Spider-Man. This prompted Jessica Jones to sell the first pictures of her newborn baby to one of the Bugle's competitors instead.
In the first issue of Runaways vol. 2, Victor Mancha states in an exchange about Spider-Man that "The only people who think he's a criminal are Fox News and the Daily Bugle. And the Bugle is, like, the least respected newspaper in New York City." The paper's major named competitors are the Daily Globe, which implicitly takes a more balanced look at the superhero, Front Line, run by EIC Ben Urich and Sally Floyd, and The Alternative. After Peter Parker revealed he is Spider-Man and the Bugle planned to sue him for fraud, the paper itself was put on the defensive with front page accusations from The Globe (with information secretly supplied by Bugle reporter Betty Brant) of libeling the superhero.
The adventures of the staff of the newspaper beyond Peter Parker have been depicted in two series, Daily Bugle and The Pulse.
The DB
After Jameson suffered a near-fatal heart attack, his wife sold the Bugle to rival newspaper man Dexter Bennett, who changed the name to The DB (either standing for Dexter Bennett or Daily Bugle), and transformed it into a scandal sheet.[2] Since after Brand New Day no one knows the secret identity of Spider-Man anymore, the animosity between Jameson and Parker is retconned as a simple financial question, with Jameson's heart attack coming right after a monetary request from Peter.
The reputation of the DB since the mention in Runaways has plummeted down because of the new, scandalistic angle Bennett gives it. Several reporters unwilling, or refusing the new course, like Peter himself, are forced to go away, finding a new safe haven in the Front Line, the only magazine willing to accept people fired by Bennett, pursuing a scorched earth policy over them.
The villain Electro targeted Dexter Bennett because of a government bailout plan for the financially strapped paper. Spider-Man intervened, and during a battle inside the DB offices, the entire building was demolished, bringing an end to the newspaper as well.[4]
Front Line
Front Line was a newspaper founded and run by Ben Urich and Sally Floyd. The organization was formed in Civil War: Front Line #11 as Frontlines.com. The newspaper appeared in the miniseries World War Hulk: Front Line and Siege: Embedded. Originally it was not competitive with the Daily Bugle while Jameson was still in charge, but it became an alternative view to The DB once Bennett took control.
Reborn
Sometime after the DB's destruction, Jameson, now the mayor of New York cashed in the DB shares he acquired from Bennett and gave the money to Robbie Robertson. Jameson asked Robertson to remake Front Line (which itself was on hard times) into the new Daily Bugle.[5]
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, the Daily Bugle is a clandestine paper run by humans meant to inform the public about the secrets of Apocalypse, here the tyrannical ruler of North America. This Daily Bugle is run by Robbie Robertson, who is killed by a Brood-infected Christopher Summers, leaving the status of the paper unknown.[155]
Amalgam
The Daily Bugle appears in the Amalgam Comics world. Similar to the mainstream Bugle, employees include J. Jonah White, Tana Moon, Jack Ryder and Spider-Boy. In this world, the Daily Bugle regularly produces cover stories revolving around Spider-Boy's love life.[156]
1602
In the Marvel 1602 setting, Jameson is publisher of the first "news-sheet" in the New World; the Daily Trumpet.
House of M
In this alternate reality, the Daily Bugle exists mostly as a propaganda machine for the ruling mutant hierarchy. Stories can be and are repressed if they aren't favorable enough to mutants. In this reality, a blue-skinned woman named Cerena Taylor is the editor-in-chief. Other staff members include Bugman (the Daily Bugle's paparazzi driver), Jacob Guntherson (the Daily Bugle's photographer), and Triporter (the Daily Bugle's three-eyed reporter).
Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, the Bugle is much the same as in the 616 version. The main difference is that Peter Parker is not employed as a photographer, but works on the newspaper's website after Jameson sees him assist with a problem. The newspaper plays less of a role in Ultimate Spider-Man than it did in the comics portraying the equivalent period of the 616 Spider-Man's career. Peter frequently implies that he doesn't spend much time there. After the events of Ultimatum, the Daily Bugle, much like the rest of New York, was heavily damaged. Instead of a full rebuild, the Bugle was made into an online newspaper and blog.
In other media
Television
Film
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy
The Daily Bugle appears in Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007), all directed by Sam Raimi. This version is housed in the Flatiron Building like in the Marvels miniseries, with J. Jonah Jameson (portrayed by J. K. Simmons) as the editor in-chief, Robbie Robertson (portrayed by Bill Nunn) as associate editor, and Betty Brant (portrayed by Elizabeth Banks), Peter Parker (portrayed by Tobey Maguire), and Eddie Brock (portrayed by Topher Grace) as employees. One Bugle employee who appears exclusively in the films is Hoffman (portrayed by Ted Raimi), who serves as comic relief and is frequently harassed by Jameson.
20th Century Fox's Daredevil film
Ben Urich appears in Daredevil (2003), although he works for the New York Post instead, as the film rights to the Daily Bugle were owned by Columbia Pictures at the time.
Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films
The Daily Bugle appears as both a newspaper and television station in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), both directed by Marc Webb, with Peter Parker (portrayed by Andrew Garfield) working for the Bugle in the second film. Jameson is mentioned, but does not appear physically. To promote the second film, an official Daily Bugle blog was hosted on Tumblr, where promotional material was posted as in-universe articles.
Spider-Verse animated films
The Daily Bugle appears in a flashback depicted in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
Sony's Spider-Man Universe
In films set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, the Daily Bugle appears as a newspaper outlet with the same title treatment as the version seen in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.
In Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), the Bugle documents convicted serial killer Cletus Kasady's crimes, which Eddie Brock (portrayed by Tom Hardy) and Patrick Mulligan read while separately collecting evidence for his crimes. In the mid-credits scene, Brock and Venom are transported to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and watch Jameson of TheDailyBugle.net broadcasting Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man, as seen in Far From Home.
During the events of Morbius (2022), Milo (Matt Smith) orders a Daily Bugle newspaper from a street news stand in New York City. The organization is also established to have an online presence in a similar fashion to TheDailyBugle.net (see below). In a deleted scene, Michael Morbius reads the front page of a Bugle newspaper covering his apprehension by the police for a "vampire murder" case.[157][158]
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Christine Everhart is featured prominently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010) as well as part of promotional material for Ant-Man (2015) and Captain America: Civil War (2016). Due to Sony Pictures owning the Spider-Man film rights and all associated characters and organizations at the time, Everhart was not announced as being portrayed as a reporter for the Daily Bugle. Instead, she initially works as a journalist for Vanity Fair before transitioning towards being an anchor for the in-universe news organization WHIH Newsfront in later years.
Ben Urich appears as a series regular in the first season of the Netflix television series Daredevil. However, since the show was in production prior to Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' agreement to share the Spider-Man film rights, the crew on the show were also restricted from adapting the character as a Daily Bugle employee. Instead, he works for the fictional newspaper agency the New York Bulletin, whose origins in the comics included the company being established by Caxton J. Ford, a former Daily Bugle employee. The agency is also featured prominently throughout the rest of Marvel's Netflix television series, which all share continuity with the MCU.
A controversial online news outlet called TheDailyBugle.net appears in the mid-credits scene of the live-action film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019),. The outlet is run by J. Jonah Jameson (again portrayed by J. K. Simmons), who plays doctored footage sent in by one of Mysterio's associates to demonize Spider-Man (portrayed by Tom Holland) before publicly revealing his secret identity.
The outlet and Jameson return in the sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the web series The Daily Bugle (2019–present), the latter of which is headlined by Simmons as Jameson and Angourie Rice as Betty Brant. In the film, Jameson launches a misinformed slander campaign against Parker following the reveal of his secret identity as Spider-Man while Brant, who is undergoing an internship at the firm, serves as a correspondent for Jameson while continuing her work on Midtown High's news program, covering Parker's celebrity status within the school. Following Doctor Strange's second, successful attempt at wiping the world's knowledge of Peter's civilian identity, Jameson resumes his coverage of Spider-Man's vigilante activity while promising his viewers that he will uncover the truth of his secret identity.
Video games
Miscellaneous
