title: U.S. Agent

text: The murder of a man without trial causes a further schism with the Avengers, who blame the New Invaders for declaring open war on Mazikhandar. Namor responds that Mazikhandar had declared war on "his" nation when they decided to pollute the oceans.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent – captive for the time being – receives word from the Thin Man requesting a distraction, which Walker provides by breaking his bonds and aggressively approaching Captain America, growling that the New Invaders operation is sanctioned by the U.S., Britain, and Atlantis, and that the Avengers have no grounds to interfere. Hawkeye tries to cool the situation as only the hot-headed archer could by shooting U.S. Agent in the backside, prompting the now furious Walker to turn his attention from Captain America to Hawkeye.


title: U.S. Agent

text: With the two teams battling once more, Thin Man retreats to the inside of the Capitol building where he berates the new political leader for killing his predecessor and explaining that the previous leader had actually been a simulacrum – an imposter placed into that position when US Secretary of Defence Dell Rusk (secretly the Red Skull) had the real leader assassinated – and the New Invaders only agreed to help because they needed the synthetic alive.


title: U.S. Agent

text: The fighting ends when Namor announces that he has formed an alliance with Mazikhandar, and that it is now a protectorate of Atlantis thus giving the Avengers no need, and no power to remain.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Thin Man later informs the team that they have been formed to tackle a new threat – the "Axis Mundi" – a creation of the Red Skull and something born out of the ashes of Hitler's Third Reich, who have an army of assassins armed with sub-dimensional technology that gives them the ability to move instantly to wherever they wish without fear of barriers or borders and a plan to replace world leaders with synthezoids.


title: U.S. Agent

text: The U.S government, needing to counter the threat first created an elite strike force – the New Invaders – then equipped them with a battleship named "The Infiltrator", capable of travelling the world unseen and armed with tactical missiles with the ability to drop entire cities into sub dimensional space.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Walker insisted on being called Captain America. Captain America (Steve Rogers), while attempting to close down the New Invaders, threatened Walker with legal action over his use of the uniform, stating that he owned the copyright to it. Walker informed Rogers that he had only taken the role in the first place because Rogers had refused the Thin Man's invitation to lead the team and that they had to show their enemies "that Captain America is not afraid to fight!"


title: U.S. Agent

text: While Walker initially proved to be unpopular with many of his new allies, he later gained their respect, in particular winning over Namor who had been a close ally of Steve Rogers. Walker saved Namor from a brainwashed and murderous Wolverine, who had been resurrected by The Hand during the "Enemy of the State" storyline. The badly injured Namor later offered Walker his personal thanks.


title: U.S. Agent

text: In the special one-shot "Civil War: Choosing Sides", Tony Stark (at this point U.S Secretary of Defense) orders U.S Agent north to Canada – vulnerable due to the death of Alpha Flight, in order to act as U.S liaison to the newly formed Omega Flight team, with an objective to stop super-powered criminals attempting to flee America's Superhuman Registration Act.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent reacts as expected – furiously – stating he "serves Uncle Sam, not Major Maple Leaf", and there is no way he is going to "freakin' Canada". Stark makes the case that Canada supplies the U.S with 20% of its oil, and their security is a top priority for S.H.I.E.L.D., but U.S. Agent is unimpressed and even the threat of arrest is not enough to persuade him as he storms out.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Later U.S. Agent overcomes an attack by a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents mind-controlled by the super villain Purple Man, but is overcome by the Purple Man himself who orders him to fall from great height after stealing his shield – something he only survives because of his advanced biology.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Eager for revenge, U.S. Agent's defeat gives Stark the leverage to finally persuade him to join Omega Flight when he reveals that the Purple Man has fled north himself.


title: U.S. Agent

text: As an employee of Omega Flight, U.S. Agent is given the responsibility of training Weapon Omega (Michael Pointer).


title: U.S. Agent

text: During a mission to take down un-registered super-criminal Tentakill, Weapon Omega passes out mid-combat for unknown reasons forcing U.S. Agent to detain the criminal single handed. Weapon Omega's unusual behaviour rouses U.S. Agent's suspicions, who is later seen to be communicating covertly with an unknown source.


title: U.S. Agent

text: It later transpires that Weapon Omega is being manipulated by Omega Flight's handler Agent Brown as well as his psychologist Dr. Benning, but worse than that unregistered super-criminals are being detained, with no record being made of their detention, and their powers are being used to fuel Weapon Omega's energy absorbing power, resulting in the deaths of several of the inmates who are completely drained of life.


title: U.S. Agent

text: It is later revealed that U.S. Agent is acting on behalf of Iron Man who is monitoring Weapon Omega's progress and requires U.S. Agent to obtain the data analysis of Omega's powers as well as the details of his private consultations with Omega Flight's psychologists.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Before his departure Stark, due to his lack of knowledge that the super-villain Rap-tor had been recently detained—despite having access to all prisoner manifests—unknowingly confirms Agent's suspicions that super-villains detained by Omega Flight are not being officially recorded and that the villains are subsequently disappearing without explanation.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent's suspicions grow when Weapon Omega is not seen for weeks at a time. He is repeatedly told by Agent Brown that Omega is simply unwell and resting. Arachne (Julia Carpenter), acting with U.S. Agent in order to uncover the conspiracy, spies and informs him that Weapon Omega isn't resting and for some reason he is being constantly observed.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During their next training session U.S. Agent is easily besting Weapon Omega in combat when Omega's handlers increase the flow of power from the super-powered detainees. This results in Omega losing control as he manifests the various powers of numerous inmates, breaking U.S. Agent's ankle before manifesting the reptilian powers of Rap-tor, beating and lacerating U.S. Agent almost to death—an assault only stopped by the interference of Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski). U.S. Agent tries to warn Weapon Omega—who is shocked at his loss of control—that power is being fed into him via his suit, but is sedated before he is able to do so.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Weapon Omega eventually realizes that he is being manipulated and that his handlers intend to continue to use him even against his will, however this is stopped by the U.S. Agent having discharged himself from the infirmary despite his severe injuries. Dr. Benning boasts that as a fail-safe had been activated, all evidence of her manipulation of Weapon Omega had been destroyed. It is at this point that Omega reveals that one of the individuals whose powers he had absorbed had been a technopath, and that he had accessed all of Benning's confidential records and sent them to Tony Stark. Weapon Omega then exposes Benning to a glimpse of the hundreds of personalities within his being, leaving her in a vegetative state. He then vows to become a hero rather than a weapon and is last seen assisting the people of Alaska—the location where his powers had first manifested, resulting in the deaths of the original Alpha Flight team.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "Dark Reign" storyline, U.S. Agent is removed from Omega Flight by Loki (disguised as the Scarlet Witch) to aid Hank Pym in defeating the reality-altering Chthon. Initially the pro-registration U.S. Agent finds himself in combat with the anti-registration Hulk and Hercules, but they later endeavor to team up against their common foe. Chthon's power is tied to Wundagore Mountain and U.S. Agent plays a part in separating him from that source by planting explosives in order to destroy it. The team ultimately defeat Chthon, and U.S. Agent quits the Omega Flight team – with their blessing – stating it was an honor to serve with them, but 'once an Avenger, always an Avenger'.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Following their victory, U.S. Agent joins the Mighty Avengers. The team is sent on various missions including saving the Infinite Avengers Mansion from becoming untethered from reality. On a mission to China investigating the Unspoken (a former king of the Inhumans), U.S. Agent is devolved by Xenogen gas which turns him into an Alpha Primitive. He attacks Captain America (James "Bucky" Barnes) while in this condition. Quicksilver convinces him to attack the Unspoken by saying "The Commies will win!" Pym later creates a new shield for U.S. Agent after his previous shield was destroyed by the Collective Man.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent was one of the Avengers who joined Hercules in his Assault on New Olympus. He said he believes that the Gods are just people with super powers and battled against Eris, Goddess of discord.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Following a conflict involving a Cosmic Cube-empowered Absorbing Man and the Dark Avengers, U.S. Agent is stripped of his rank by Norman Osborn.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent and several members of the now disbanded Mighty Avengers are called upon by Amadeus Cho during the events of Siege. Their mission is to stop Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts from stealing Odin's spear from the Asgardian armory. After engaging the Thunderbolts in battle, Nuke uses the spear to sever U.S. Agent's left arm and leg.


title: U.S. Agent

text: As thanks for his service during the siege of Asgard, John Walker is appointed the new warden of The Raft maximum security prison. The injuries he sustained during his fight with Nuke have left him wheelchair bound and using a prosthetic arm. He refuses to repair his body using more technologically advanced prostheses because he does not want to become a cyborg like the man who crippled him. Walker engaged several inmates in hand-to-hand combat during a prison riot, demonstrating that he could still hold his own despite some limitations. The warden was influential in establishing the new Thunderbolts beta team, appointing Songbird as team leader and handpicking the new candidates.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "Fear Itself" storyline, the Juggernaut heavily damaged the Raft before escaping, causing a prison break. This triggered a security fail-safe in one section of the jail which reversed the air supply, eventually creating a fatal vacuum. Walker set out to override the system, which could only be done in person. He was assisted by Ghost, who earned Walker's respect after protecting the lives of the ungrateful inmates. Walker also rallies other help, inmate and powered alike, to assist him in his duties throughout this crisis. Norman Osborn escapes the Raft due in part to traitors on staff (one had a shrine to Osborn), which leaves Walker under a cloud of suspicion.


title: U.S. Agent

text: In August 2012 a teaser image for the Dark Avengers displayed U.S. Agent's traditional red, white and black shield followed by the tag line 'EVIL is our only HOPE!'.


title: U.S. Agent

text: An interview with writer Jeff Parker later confirmed that John Walker would be returning to the role of U.S. Agent with the Dark Avengers but that this return would 'come at a cost.'


title: U.S. Agent

text: The Dark Avengers team are thrown into an alternate world where, while unconscious, U.S. Agent is examined by an alternate reality Hank Pym and determined to be "John Walker, ex-Marine Captain." June Covington is seemingly able to restore his lost limbs with help from this reality's version of the Venom symbiote in lobotomized form.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "AXIS"' storyline, an inverted Doctor Doom recruits U.S. Agent to join his version of the Avengers in order to help fight the now-evil Avengers starting with Scarlet Witch when she invades Latveria.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "Civil War II" storyline, U.S. Agent meets with Paul Keane, president of Keane Industries, who, along with others, asks him to convince Captain America (Sam Wilson) to give up the shield and stand down. At first John declines the request, out of respect for Steve's decision to share the mantle with Sam, until they see a news report about Sam and former New Warrior Rage fighting the Americops, a private police force funded by Keane Industries. After Sam escapes from the Americops, U.S. Agent attacks him from behind knocking him out of the sky with his shield. He then tells Sam that he needs to stand down, saying that he is out of control and that he should hand over the shield. Sam refuses, acknowledging his mistakes when he assumed the mantle, and the two begin to fight, with John gaining the upper hand due to his powers. Sam defeats U.S. Agent by dragging him into a tunnel, where in the darkness the great horned owls that live in it gave him the advantage, allowing him to see through their eyes whilst Agent remains blind. It is later revealed that John never wanted to fight Sam until Steve approached him and convinced him to do so, saying that Sam has lost his way and needs to stand down. U.S. Agent was then reported missing in action on a secret mission to Syria, with a possible implication that his disappearance may have been the result of the now evil Steve Rogers's machinations.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the events of Avengers Standoff, U.S. Agent, in his civilian guise of John Walker, attended a black market auction on Barbuda (formally A.I.M) Island where he bid on and won the "Axiom Protocols"—a drive containing strategies on how to defeat every superhuman on Earth that had been derived from the encyclopedic knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D agent Phil Coulson. Coulson, who had also been in attendance at the auction disguised as Wolverine, later retrieves the protocols by disabling Walker with knock-out gas.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "Secret Empire" storyline, U.S. Agent appears briefly alongside the American resistance forces, including fellow former West Coast Avengers teammates Mockingbird and Tigra. Together while aiding other allied group of superhero and super-villain resistances, they battle the Superior Octopus (Otto Octavius) and the forces of Steve Rogers's Hydra organization which took over America. All-New Captain America, Ant-Man and the Winter Soldier manage to redeem Kobik and return the real Rogers back from imprisonment inside the Cosmic Cube, allowing the real Rogers (who immediately dons the classic Captain America costume) to defeat his Hydra counterpart.


title: U.S. Agent

text: He later joined a team of heroes recruited by Captain Marvel to hunt down the Punisher for his actions when he was a member of Hydra Supreme's "Secret Empire", even though the Punisher had been manipulated by Hydra and was now hunting every last one of them in revenge.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent, believing that the Steve Rogers who had led Hydra had been the genuine article, later confronted the real Rogers as he investigated a new spate of murders by the vigilante the Scourge of the Underworld, beating him and accusing him of manipulating him. He is stopped when Misty Knight activates a stasis beam to hold him in place, at which point Rogers explains that he did not commit the crimes U.S. Agent is accusing him of and that "someday we're going to grab a beer and I'll tell you exactly what went wrong".


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent forms part of a new iteration of the superhero team Force Works during the "Iron Man 2020" storyline. Assembled to act as the U.S government's last, best line of defense against an uprising of robots and artificial intelligences, they are sent to the fictional South American nation of Lingares where their aircraft is shot down by local rebels. After surviving the crash landing, U.S. Agent is forced to fight off a group of rebels with the assistance of Mockingbird before rendezvousing with the rest of the team, at which point they are attacked and seemingly overwhelmed by a group of rebels infected with Deathlok technology.


title: U.S. Agent

text: While held captive with his shield confiscated, it is revealed that the Deathloks want the team for spare parts in their war against an even bigger threat, that of Ultimo. The team is rescued by War Machine and are surprised to discover that he himself had been rescued by MODOK Superior who now desires to join the team in order to add some "much-needed brain power" to their ranks.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Having no other choice but for them to work together, MODOK Superior states to Force Works his prior studies of Ultimo allowed him to make a device that will use radioactive signatures to weaken the robot. Though Lingares doesn't have enough radioactive signatures for them to harness, they will make use of the War Machine's arc reactor as MODOK Superior tells Quake to call Ultimo. She sends out tremors on Lingares, and Ultimo arrives as do the Deathloks. MODOK Superior explains the Deathloks would only target Ultimo, and tells War Machine to aim the attack towards Ultimo's head. One of the Deathloks speaks in Spanish stating for them to join Ultimo and his creator and even reveals that MODOK Superior had made them for the purpose of capturing Ultimo. Once War Machine gets a clear shot on the head, MODOK Superior reveals his true motives: to connect to Ultimo's headless body to become Ulti-MODOK. Retreating into a bunker, Mockingbird states the Poseidon Protocols will have Quake sink the island if Ultimo can't be stopped, but Quake is reluctant to do this as there are innocent lives on Lingares. As War Machine explains he has a plan that doesn't involve killing anybody, Ulti-MODOK explains he found Ultimo asleep beneath Lingares until he awoke him and had to create the Deathloks when he couldn't stop him on his own. War Machine's plan involves using a generator in the bunker to jump-start his armor's arc reactor. Once the arc reactor has been re-energized, James Rhodes has Quake distract Ulti-MODOK in the War Machine armor to buy the rest of Force Works time to figure out how to stop the Deathloks. Rhodes finds the central processor in the command unit as U.S. Agent takes down the bearded Deathlok that has it. The Deathloks are soon controlled by Rhodes who partially turned himself into a Deathlok to use the command unit. Ulti-MODOK falls into the lava in the chasm that Quake opened as the Deathloks follow him in, attacking to get him in there. Rhodes is rescued by Mockingbird and U.S. Agent as Quake closes the chasm. A day later at a secure medical facility, Maria Hill reprimands War Machine, U.S. Agent, Mockingbird, and Quake for everything they did that turned the mission into a huge fiasco. After finishing the lecture by stating she has sent out a scrub team with flamethrowers and EMP guns to destroy the evidence of what happened on Lingares, she fires them from Force Works and takes the flash drive with MODOK's Deathlok plans from U.S. Agent. The rest of the group is against Maria obtaining the Deathlok plans, until Mockingbird deduces U.S. Agent is against it as well, having given Maria an empty drive.


title: U.S. Agent

text: A five issue mini-series written by Christopher Priest and illustrated by Georges Jeanty, "John Walker: U.S. Agent" sees the character fired by the government and now acting as a private security consultant. Having had his official status as U.S. Agent revoked, all of his government-issued equipment (such as his Vibranium shield) has been recalled, forcing him to make do with a series of much less damage resistant facsimiles. Whilst working a case to thwart a would-be bomber in New York, U.S. Agent encounters Morrie Watanabe before being reactivated by a low level employee of the Office of National Emergency as a joke to upset his former boss Valerie Cooper and sent to the town of Ephraim, West Virginia in order to investigate the destruction of a distribution facility by the disgruntled local population who blame it for taking employment from the towns folk. Upon their arrival they come under attack by a group of masked assailants, the leader of which is revealed to be Walker's younger sister Katie Tollifson.


title: U.S. Agent

text: It is revealed that Katie has followed in her brother's footsteps by becoming a government contractor herself and has developed a grudge against John, considering that he had forgotten about her in favor of concentrating on his career as a costumed hero. Like John, Katie had been hired to investigate the destruction of the facility which she discloses to have been a front for secret S.H.I.E.L.D activities. The destroyed facility contained specialised fuel cells, one of which has gone missing and in its damaged state is leaking a highly toxic energy that could kill everyone in the town. Additionally the fuel cells were powering a containment field around a classified subterranean asset that is now in danger of being released. U.S. Agent takes off towards the town to investigate but upon his arrival is immediately mistaken by the locals for Captain America despite his efforts to persuade them otherwise. Through his enquiries Walker concludes that the people of the town have no involvement in the disappearance of the missing fuel cell, which brings him into conflict with his sister who considers them to be "liars and bigots who reject science and reason for guns and religion" and doesn't share John's faith in what he sees as "his people". Katie also reveals to John that their brother Mike, who John had always considered his personal hero and inspiration, did not die in a helicopter crash in a war zone as he had long thought, but actually committed suicide after being responsible for a fire at their childhood home that nearly resulted in the death of his two siblings. A furious Walker leaves at which point the members of Katie's team are silently killed by masked assailants led by a man who Katie passionately embraces before addressing as the new U.S. Agent.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Back at the Office of National Emergency in Washington D.C, Val Cooper attempts damage control by contacting Walker's one-time partner Battlestar to try and persuade him to drop his interest in events at Ephraim. Walker later visits Cooper to enquire about how his sister ended up working for the government to which she replies she had no involvement in recruiting her but does confirm that Walker's replacement as U.S. Agent has been sent to clean up the mess in the town, although she has no idea who the new U.S. Agent actually is. Cooper informs Walker that Katie had dyed her hair blonde when last she met her, which leads him to conclude that she must have been involved in the theft of the missing fuel cell in light of the fact her hair in now lavender - a change that he is aware can be caused by chemical waste from the fuel cell reacting with hair dye. It is also confirmed that Walker was fired/quit as U.S. Agent after he refused to follow orders to use what would have been unreasonable force to break up a peaceful protest. Elsewhere it is confirmed that Katie and the new U.S. Agent were indeed responsible for taking the missing fuel cell in order to remove the containment field around the secret asset so that they could access it for themselves. The new U.S. Agent, who refers to himself as "Saint", is shown to derive his powers from periodic injections of a mysterious blue substance that also increases his height, mass, and build (as well as causing him to grow a moustache). Saint ambushes Battlestar on his way to contact Walker and the two engage in a vicious battle during which Saint criticized Battlestar for allowing himself to be a sidekick to Walker during his time as Captain America despite being more qualified than Walker for the role, also accusing him of being ashamed of his own blackness and being a living symbol of black people's complicity in their own oppression, before beating him into unconsciousness. Katie retrieves an old S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier that had been buried below the destroyed Ephraim facility, and Saint is shown kneeling before Morrie Watanabe and referring to him as "master" - indicating a previous connection between the two.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Saint is revealed to have been recruited and trained as part of a secret military program that Morrie had led, and obtained the title of U.S. Agent after the role was privatized and sold off. Katie is confirmed to also have super powers obtained as a result of the same injection that grants Saint his. Both Walker and Saint fear that Katie is suffering a psychosis induced by prolonged exposure to the damaged fuel cells and intends to use the retrieved helicarrier to wipe out the town of Ephraim and its people who she professes to hate. Walker makes his way to the helicarrier standing on the wing of an old crop duster plane, at which point it is revealed that the asset hidden under the destroyed facility was not the helicarrier at all but in fact a monstrous Kaiju that destroys the plane and sends Walker plummeting towards the creature.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Walker correctly surmises the Kaiju as being part of the "American Kaiju Project" - another failed attempt to create the super-soldier serum. A failure, but too potentially useful to abandon completely, the Kaiju was contained below the town of Ephraim and later provided the source of the serum used to grant Katie and Saint their powers - a serum that is revealed to be the only thing keeping Saint alive after prolonged use of it altered his DNA. On the Helicarrier, Saint, wielding the original vibranium U.S. Agent shield, confronts Katie in an attempt to stop her and save the town. Katie reveals to Saint that she considers her brother a joke, that she can do better, and that she manipulated Saint as the new U.S. agent to gain access and powers of her own that she will use to stop government lies and corporate manipulation as America's newest super patriot. The two fight and Saint uses the distraction caused by Walker steering the Kaiju into the helicarrier to stop Katie with a bullet to the head from his pistol. Landing on the helicarrier, Walker attacks Saint for his role in injuring Battlestar and indoctrinating his sister, to which Saint responds that it was Katie who manipulated "him" and that her motive had been to replace Walker as U.S. Agent. The helicarrier crashes and Saint drags Walker from the wreckage before collapsing due to overuse of the Kaiju serum at which point Walker retrieves the original U.S. Agent shield for himself. Later Val Cooper informs Walker that his sister survived her gunshot wound and has been moved to a psych ward for treatment. Cooper also reveals that Katie's story about their brother committing suicide was a lie and a result of her psychosis. Cooper expresses that Walker might actually be more useful without official government status, which Walker interprets as him being able to break the rules and act with impunity and without oversight, also refusing to return the shield despite it being official government property.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Days before he was due to lend his shield to a museum exhibit, Captain America is robbed by a super-fast assailant wearing his costume. He enlists former Captain Americas Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, and John Walker to reclaim the stolen shield, and their pursuit leads them to the "Captains Network" - a loose collective of people protecting their communities under the mantle of Captain America. Walker is recruited by Steve Rogers in a bar having had one too many Boilermaker but he soon regains sobriety when Rogers informs him that there is a neo-fascist plot to destroy the legacy of the shield and reminds Walker that he loves his country "...more than most. Perhaps as much as I do". Together the assembled Captains past and present travel to a top secret facility where Sin, Warrior Women and a brainwashed Speed Demon are seeking to release Hate-Monger who they propose to set up as a new leader for a divided America. Walker knocks out the hypnotized Speed Demon. When Sin is captured she is confident that she will be able to resist any questioning from the likes of Rogers and his "cub scouts", that is until Walker volunteers to interrogate her, adding that he was "expelled from the cub scouts".


title: U.S. Agent

text: Sure enough Sin talks under Walkers interrogation as he reveals that he used techniques such as fear, futility, sleep adjustment, isolation, sensory deprivation, and stress positions. Captain America seems shocked at the methods used but Walker reassures him that all of the techniques are permissible under the Geneva Conventions.


title: U.S. Agent

text: It is an election year and as part of his re election campaign during the "Devil's Reign" storyline, Mayor Wilson Fisk is gunning for the superhero community, making all super-powered activity within New York City prohibited. U.S. Agent is the leader of the latest iteration of Mayor Fisk's Thunderbolts as he leads Agony, Electro II, and Rhino against Moon Knight as their first target.


title: U.S. Agent

text: His enlistment is seen when he enters Mayor Fisk's office at the time when Agony, Electro II, Rhino, Taskmaster, and Whiplash were present, introducing himself as "reporting for duty". U.S. Agent's pitch to Fisk to allow him to join the Thunderbolts is the fact that the criminals he has hired for the team are inevitably going to start playing by their own rules eventually. U.S. Agent promises to keep them on a short leash and make sure they play nice so that everyone stays safe and Fisk ends up looking good, adding "I don't walk the line. I don't cross the line. I AM the line". True to his word, U.S. Agent prevents the Thunderbolts from keeping diamonds stolen during a robbery they stop for themselves by beating each member single-handedly and promising to turn them into a team, threatening that anyone who thinks otherwise "is gonna find themselves under my boot". What Mayor Fisk does not know is that the U.S. Agent is secretly working with the FBI to find any incriminating evidence of any illegal activities that Mayor Fisk has committed while in office, although Agony has her suspicions about his motives.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent and the Thunderbolts were involved in attempting to seize the mutant Krakoan gate and tree house in Central Park on the orders of Mayor Fisk, but was stopped by a plan hatched by Emma Frost who had the tree house declared as a mutant embassy and so protected by the United Nations as sovereign mutant territory.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent and Agony would later encounter the Purple Child called Conviction who stated that Mayor Wilson Fisk kept her locked in Ravencroft to find a way to replicate her abilities. U.S. Agent would question the legality of Mayor Fisk's request for the Thunderbolts to hunt down the children of the Purple Man, but Fisk used the pheromone-based powers of persuasion derived from the thumb of the Purple Man located within his cane to compel U.S. Agent to follow his orders.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent and the Thunderbolts locate the children of the Purple Man and seek to detain them, but the kids do not want to cooperate and seek to stop U.S. Agent with their mind-control powers. U.S. Agent was prepared for this eventuality however as the nearby Electro uses her powers to shock all of the occupants of the apartment into unconsciousness, with U.S. Agent being spared because of his insulated boots. Jessica Drew and the Champions attempt to stop U.S. Agent and the Thunderbolts but are unable to prevent the abduction of the Purple Children after the appearance of the Thunderbolts latest member Abomination.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the fight between the heroes, the Thunderbolts, the Superior Four, and the mind-controlled crowd, Captain America faced off against a mind-controlled U.S. Agent and tried to get through to him.


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent would later come face to face once more with former Avenger's team mate and adversary Hawkeye (Clint Barton) who is leading new team of Thunderbolts under the direction of newly-elected mayor Luke Cage. Hawkeye's first mission is to capture the escaped members of Wilson Fisks Thunderbolts team and he manages to take down U.S. Agent with the assistance of new Thunderbolt member Gutsen Glory who incapacitates Walker with a dozen tranqualizer darts. Later Luke Cage berates Barton because he specifically told him that U.S. Agent was working with the F.B.I as part of the police escort for Fisk's team. Barton claims not to remember Cage telling him that and that he took U.S. Agent down because "he acted like a bad guy".


title: U.S. Agent

text: U.S. Agent was employed to provide security at the Myrmidon high-security super-powered holding facility when it was attacked by Daredevil who, as leader of "the Fist" (an organization meant to challenge The Hand) infiltrates the facility in order to break out the various villains incarcerated there and offer them "salvation". Daredevil takes out the armored Guardsmen by first killing the lights before taking them down with his baton. U.S. Agent then challenges Daredevil to fight him "like a man", but Daredevil - who reminds U.S. Agent that he lead the Thunderbolts under Wilson Fisk's rule - easily beats him before leaving, taking U.S. Agent's shield with him.


title: U.S. Agent

text: As a result of the experimental mutagenic augmentation process conducted on him by Dr. Karl Malus on behalf of the Power Broker, John Walker has superhuman strength (capable of lifting 10 tons under maximum exertion), agility, reflexes and endurance. His speed, dexterity, coordination, and balance are of the order of a superior Olympic athlete.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Aside from the above advantages, U.S. Agent is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant and highly trained in gymnastics and acrobatics, having received rigorous training in unarmed combat and the use of his shield in a style similar to Captain America's own fighting style by the Taskmaster.


title: U.S. Agent

text: He is a seasoned combat veteran with military combat experience in tactical and strategic planning, observations, and special operations, has been shown to have a fluent grasp of Arabic and Spanish, is technically proficient enough to bypass an advanced security system, is a qualified fixed-wing pilot, a trained scuba diver, and is highly proficient in the use of conventional firearms.


title: U.S. Agent

text: He is capable of using his nearly indestructible vibranium shield for defensive purposes and as a weapon. He has great accuracy at throwing his shield, and due to his superhuman strength, it is potentially a lethal weapon.


title: U.S. Agent

text: Agent has used a variety of shields in his time, initially inheriting Captain America's indestructible circular shield after Steve Rogers relinquished it upon quitting the role and refusing to work for the Commission for Super-Human Activities. U.S. Agent was later provided a vibranium replica of this shield by the Black Panther, which was also used by Steve Rogers when Rogers adopted the title of 'The Captain'. U.S. Agent then briefly adopted a remote control shield against Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts. During his time with the New Invaders, U.S. Agent possessed a star-shaped shield with retractable spikes. The shield was decorated with the names of Americans who had died at the hands of terrorists, as well as a photograph of U.S. Agent's parents.


title: U.S. Agent

text: After being badly injured by the villain Protocide, U.S. Agent was fitted with an exoskeleton by S.H.I.E.L.D. that allowed him to continue to walk, and according to then-Director Sharon Carter may have also provided "an additional benefit or two".


title: U.S. Agent

text: After being crippled by Nuke, John Walker lost one arm and one leg. Electing to use ordinary low-tech prosthesis, he retired his U.S. Agent identity, and no longer has access to his weapons and gear. However, he still retains his full capability to act in self-defense.


title: U.S. Agent

text: At one point, the Agent used wrist guards which produced an energy shield as well as energy blasts. U.S. Agent's costume incorporated a "thought relay receptor" that picks up his mental commands and shapes his shield however he wills it. In U.S. Agent's own words "It's better than the old trash can lid!"


title: U.S. Agent

text: In his first costumed identity as the Super Patriot, Walker wore a costume that was capable of stopping multiple shots from a handgun at point-blank range, and also used throwing stars and a flame torch. The U.S. Agent also wears synthetic stretch bulletproof fabric.


title: U.S. Agent

text: In an alternate reality, John Walker is Captain America and battles with Steve Rogers, with only the intervention of Nick Fury and then-President Ronald Reagan bringing the hostilities to an end. Reagan gives a speech in which he enshrines the importance of helping the government against foreign enemies and in support of domestic affairs, but also the importance of America as a nation of individuals—ideologies represented by Walker and Rogers respectively. His speech is cut tragically short however when the head of the Commission, Douglas Rockwell, assassinates Rogers by shooting him dead on the orders of the Red Skull—who has secretly been planning Rogers' downfall and was close to seeing his plans fail. In light of Rogers's death, the President requests that Walker be the new Captain America. However, as it was before, Walker is lethally violent, and with Rogers not alive to stop his fury, he goes unchecked until the nation burns. Eventually, Walker is stopped and imprisoned in the Vault for his crimes, but the government—realizing that the man inside the costume was far more important than the costume itself—decides to retire the Captain America role and consign it to a museum. Later, the Red Skull visits the museum, stands below the memorial of his greatest foe—a foe now utterly destroyed and reduced to nothing but a memory—and laughs, finally triumphant.


title: U.S. Agent

text: In another dystopian alternate reality in which Steve Rogers's icy tomb was not discovered by the Avengers until much later in history, U.S. Agent is once again a villain, working for an oppressive United States government and going by the name of "American Agent".


title: U.S. Agent

text: In one panel, U.S. Agent is shown as one of the surviving heroes. He questions why Magneto is present, to which Nick Fury answers "anyone who is not a zombie is an ally".


title: U.S. Agent

text: In the Ultimate Marvel version, "Major" John Walker is a high-ranking official at the Camp Angel facility used to house mutants in the aftermath of "Ultimatum", appearing to be complicit in the beating and torture of some mutants. When the news breaks that all mutants are actually the result of secret government experiments, a riot breaks out at the camp led by the X-Man Storm.


title: U.S. Agent

text: John Walker of Earth-9907 is the deputy leader of the Thunder Guard, that Earth's feared superhuman police force. SS Agent has a costume and photonic energy shield similar to that worn and used by USAgent during his time with Force Works. He first appeared in "Avengers Next" #10.


title: U.S. Agent

text: During the "Infinity Wars" storyline, John Kaluu is the U.S.Archmage, a character that is the result of a combination of John Walker and the villain Kaluu and including physical features of both characters. John Kaluu was a soldier in the U.S Army who became the new soldier supreme when the original disappeared. He fought against the Communists during the Cold War, although he was dangerously out of control because of his use of dark magic and was placed into suspended animation by the military. Kaluu eventually broke out after the return of Stephen Rogers and the two would eventually form an uneasy alliance.


title: U.S. Agent

text: John Walker appears in live-action media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed by Wyatt Russell. This version wields a firearm and Steve Rogers's shield, which the latter bequeathed to Sam Wilson, who in turn gave it to the government, who gave the shield to Walker. Additionally, Walker has a supportive wife named Olivia (portrayed by Gabrielle Byndloss).


title: Judy Blume

text: Judith Blume (née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 25 novels. Among her best-known works are "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" (1970), "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" (1972), "Deenie" (1973), and "Blubber" (1974). Blume's books have significantly contributed to children's and young adult literature.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and graduated from New York University in 1961. As an attempt to entertain herself in her role as a homemaker, Blume began writing stories. Blume has been married three times. As of 2020, she had three children and one grandson.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume was one of the first young adult authors to write some of her novels focused on teenagers about the controversial topics of masturbation, menstruation, teen sex, birth control, and death. Her novels have sold over 82 million copies and have been translated into 32 languages.


title: Judy Blume

text: She has won many awards for her writing, including American Library Association (ALA)'s Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1996 for her contributions to young adult literature. She was recognized as a Library of Congress Living Legend and awarded the 2004 National Book Foundation medal for distinguished contribution to American letters.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume's novels are popular and widely admired. They are praised for teaching children and young adults about their bodies. However, the mature topics in Blume's books have generated criticism and controversy. The ALA has named Blume as one of the most frequently challenged authors of the 21st century. There have been several adaptations of Blume's novels. The most well-known adaptation was the movie "Tiger Eyes", released in 2012, with Willa Holland starring as Davey.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume was born on February 12, 1938, and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of homemaker Esther Sussman (née Rosenfeld) and dentist Rudolph Sussman. She has a brother, David, who is five years older. Her family was culturally Jewish. Blume witnessed hardships and death throughout her childhood. In third grade, Blume's older brother had a kidney infection that led Blume, her brother, and her mother to temporarily move to Miami Beach to help him recover for two years. Blume's father stayed behind to continue working. Additionally, in 1951 and 1952, there were three airplane crashes in her hometown of Elizabeth. 118 people died in the crashes, and Blume's father, who was a dentist, helped to identify the unrecognizable remains. Blume says she "buried" these memories until she began writing her 2015 novel "In the Unlikely Event", the plot of which revolves around the crashes. Throughout her childhood, Blume participated in many creative activities such as dance and piano. Blume attributes her love of reading as a trait passed on by her parents. She has recalled spending much of her childhood creating stories in her head. Despite the love of stories, as a child Blume did not dream of being a writer.


title: Judy Blume

text: She graduated from the all-girls' Battin High School in 1956, then enrolled in Boston University. A few weeks into the first semester, she was diagnosed with mononucleosis and took a brief leave from school. In 1959, Blume's father died. Later that same year, on August 15, 1959, she married lawyer John M. Blume, whom she had met while a student at New York University. Blume graduated from New York University in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in Education.


title: Judy Blume

text: After college, Blume's daughter Randy Lee Blume was born and Blume became a homemaker. In 1963, she gave birth to her son, Lawrence Andrew Blume. Blume began writing when her children began nursery school. John M. Blume and Judy Blume were divorced in 1975, and John M. Blume died on September 20, 2020. Shortly after her separation, she met Thomas A. Kitchens, a physicist. The couple married in 1975, and they moved to New Mexico for Kitchens' work. They divorced in 1978.


title: Judy Blume

text: A few years later, a mutual friend introduced her to George Cooper, a former law professor turned non-fiction writer. Blume and Cooper were married in 1987. Cooper has one daughter from a previous marriage, Amanda, to whom Blume is very close.


title: Judy Blume

text: In August 2012, Blume announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing a routine ultrasound before leaving for a five-week trip to Italy. Six weeks after her diagnosis, Blume underwent a mastectomy and breast reconstruction. Blume was cancer-free following this surgery and able to recover.


title: Judy Blume

text: Randy Blume became a therapist with a sub-specialty in helping writers complete their works. She has one child, Elliot Kephart, who is credited with encouraging his grandmother, Judy Blume, to write the most recent "Fudge" books. Lawrence Blume is now a movie director, producer, and writer. As of 2021, Cooper and Blume resided in Key West.


title: Judy Blume

text: A lifelong avid reader, Blume first began writing through New York University courses when her children were attending preschool. Following two years of publisher rejections, Blume published her first book, "The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo", in 1969. A year later, Blume published her second book, "Iggie's House" (1970), which was originally written as a story in "Trailblazer" magazine but then rewritten by Blume into a book. The decade that followed proved to be her most prolific, with 13 more books being published. Her third book was "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." (1970), which was a breakthrough best-seller and a trailblazing novel in young adult literature. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" established Blume as a leading voice in young adult literature. Some of Blume's other novels during the decade include "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" (1972), "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great" (1972), and "Blubber" (1974).


title: Judy Blume

text: In 1975, Blume published the now frequently banned novel "Forever", which was groundbreaking in young adult literature as the first novel to display teen sex as normal. Blume explained that she was inspired to write this novel when her daughter, 13 years old at the time, said she wanted to read a book where the characters have sex but do not die afterward. These novels tackled complex subjects such as family conflict, bullying, body image, and sexuality. Blume has expressed that she writes about these subjects, particularly sexuality because it is what she believes children need to know about and was what she wondered about as a child.


title: Judy Blume

text: After publishing novels for young children and teens, Blume tackled another genre—adult reality and death. Her novels "Wifey" (1978) and "Smart Women" (1983) reached the top of "The New York Times" Best Seller list. "Wifey" became a bestseller with over 4 million copies sold. Blume's third adult novel, "Summer Sisters" (1998), was widely praised and sold more than three million copies. Despite its popularity, "Summer Sisters" (1998) faced a lot of criticism for its sexual content and inclusion of homosexual themes. Several of Blume's books appear on the list of top all-time bestselling children's books. As of 2020, her books have sold over 82 million copies and they have been translated into 32 languages. Although Blume has not published a novel since 2015 ("In the Unlikely Event"), she continues to write. In October 2017, Yale University acquired Blume's archive, which included some unpublished early work.


title: Judy Blume

text: In addition to writing books, Blume has been an activist against banned books in America. In the 1980s, when her books started facing censorship and controversy, she began reaching out to other writers, as well as teachers and librarians, to join the fight against censorship. This led Blume to join the National Coalition Against Censorship which aims to protect the freedom to read. As of 2020, Blume is still a board member for the National Coalition Against Censorship. She is also the founder and trustee of a charitable and education foundation, called The Kids Fund. Blume serves on the board for other organizations such as, the Authors Guild; the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators; the Key West Literary Seminar; and the National Coalition Against Censorship." In 2018, Blume and her husband opened a non-profit book store called Books & Books located in Key West.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume's novels have been read by millions and have flourished throughout generations. The element in her work readers are said to love most is Blume's openness and honesty regarding issues like divorce, sexuality, puberty, and bullying. Her first-person narrative writing has gained positive appraisal for its relatability and its ability to discuss difficult subjects without judgment or harshness. Following the publishing of "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret" (1970), Blume received many letters from young girls telling her how much they loved the book and identified with Margaret. Female novelists have praised Blume for her “taboo-trampling” literature that left readers feeling like they learned something about their bodies from reading her books. For example, "Deenie" (1973) explained masturbation and "Forever" (1975) taught young women about losing their virginity. Blume's children's books have also been praised for their delicate way of portraying hardships kids can face at a young age. "It’s Not the End of the World" (1972) helped many kids understand divorce and the Fudge book series explored the various aspects of loving siblings despite the rivalry.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume's novels have received much criticism and controversy. Parents, librarians, book critics, and political groups have wanted her books to be banned. When her first books were published in the 1970s, Blume has recalled facing little censorship. With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the number of book censors rapidly grew. Since 1980, Blume's novels have been a central topic of controversy in young adult literature. Critics of Blume's novels say that she places too much emphasis on the physical and sexual sides of growing up, ignoring the development of morals and emotional maturity. Five of Blume's books were included in the American Library Association (ALA) list of the top 100 most banned books of the 1990s, with "Forever" (1975) in seventh place. "Forever" is censored for its inclusion of teen sex and birth control. Blume recalls that the principal of her children's elementary school would not put "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret" in the library because the story involves menstruation. Conservative and religious groups continuously attempt to ban "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret" for the novel's portrayal of a young girl going through puberty claiming that it violates certain religious views. Blume's children's novels have also been criticized for these reasons, especially "Blubber" (1974), which many believed sent the message to readers that kids could do wrong and not face punishment.


title: Judy Blume

text: Judy Blume has won more than 90 literary awards, including three lifetime achievement awards in the United States. In 1994, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one author who has made significant contributions to young adult literature. Blume won the annual award in 1996 and the ALA considered her book "Forever," published in 1975, was groundbreaking for its honest portrayal of high school seniors in love for the first time. In April 2000, the Library of Congress named her to its "Living Legends" in the Writers and Artists category for her significant contributions to America's cultural heritage. Blume received an honorary doctor of arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and was the main speaker at their annual commencement ceremony in 2003. In 2004 she received the annual Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Medal of the National Book Foundation for her enrichment of American literary heritage. In 2009, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored Blume for her lifelong commitment to free speech and her courage to battle censorship in literature. Blume also received the 2017 E.B. White Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for lifetime achievement in children's literature. In 2020, Blume was named an Honoree for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community by the Authors Guild Foundation.


title: Judy Blume

text: The first media adaptation of Blume's novels was the production of a TV film based on Blume's novel "Forever" that premiered on CBS in 1978. "Forever" is the story of two teenagers in high school, Katherine Danziger and Michael Wagner, who fall in love for the first time. The film starred Stephanie Zimbalist as Katherine Danziger and Dean Butler as Michael Wagner. A decade later, in 1988, Blume and her son wrote and executive produced a small film adaptation of "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great". The film was later shown on ABC. In 1995, a Fudge TV series was produced based on Blume's novel "Fudge-a-Mania." The show ran from 1995 to 1997 with the first season aired on ABC and the second on CBS. The series starred Jake Richardson as Peter Warren Hatcher, the storyteller, and Luke Tarsitano as Farley Drexel "Fudge" Hatcher.


title: Judy Blume

text: In 2012, Blume's 1981 novel "Tiger Eyes" was adapted into a film version. This was the first of Blume's novels to be turned into a theatrical feature film. "Tiger Eyes" is the story of a teenage girl, Davey, who struggles to cope with the sudden death of her father, Adam Wexler. The screenplay was co-written by Blume and her son, Lawrence Blume, who was also the director. "Tiger Eyes" stars Willa Holland as Davey and Amy Jo Johnson as Gwen Wexler.


title: Judy Blume

text: Blume is the subject of the 2018 song "Judy Blume" by Amanda Palmer. Thematically, the song explains to the listener Blume's role in Palmer's adolescent life. The song explains Blume's books as influential in Palmer's understanding of intimate and female-centered subjects such as puberty, menstruation, and the male gaze, and universal subjects like molestation, eating disorders, poverty, grief, and parental divorce.


title: James Maslow

text: James David Maslow (born July 16, 1990) is an American actor, singer and dancer. He played the role of James Diamond on Nickelodeon's "Big Time Rush", had roles in "Getaway" and "The Frozen Ground", and is a member of the boyband Big Time Rush.


title: James Maslow

text: In 2014, Maslow competed as a contestant on the eighteenth season of "Dancing with the Stars", in which he reached fourth place. In 2018, Maslow was cast as one of the celebrity houseguests on the first American edition of "Celebrity Big Brother" where Maslow finished in sixth place.


title: James Maslow

text: James Maslow was born in New York City, New York and raised in La Jolla, California. Born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, he was raised Jewish.


title: James Maslow

text: At the age of six, Maslow began training as a singer when his parents placed him in the San Diego Children's Choir. He attended La Jolla and Torrey Pines elementary schools, Muirlands Middle School, and San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SDSCPA). He had a small role in the San Diego Opera's production of "La bohème" when he was 10 years old. He attended acting camp at the La Jolla Playhouse, and got his first agent when he was 14. At SDSCPA, he portrayed lead roles in select feature productions, including Danny Zuko in "Grease" (2004) and Marius in "Les Miserables" (2006). Maslow transferred from SDSCPA partway through the tenth grade, switching to Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). He graduated from CoSA's musical theater department in 2007.


title: James Maslow

text: Maslow made his acting debut in 2008 as Shane in an episode of the Nickelodeon show "iCarly". He also appeared in "urFRENZ" in 2009, "" in 2010, and "Arena" in 2011. In 2010, he appeared in "Easy A" as himself. In 2013, he appeared in "Getaway" as Max and "The Frozen Ground" as Daniel O'Brian. Also in 2013, he filmed an episode of "See Dad Run", playing the role of actor Scott Baio's former TV son, Ricky. In 2007, Maslow sent his audition tape for a new Nickelodeon sitcom and received the role of James Diamond two years later in the show Big Time Rush, along with Kendall Schmidt, Carlos Pena Jr., and Logan Henderson. They also formed the real boy band Big Time Rush. An album of original songs from the first season plus some others was released October 11, 2010, entitled B.T.R. It sold 67,000 copies in its first week and was certified Gold by the RIAA five months later in March 2011. On November 21, 2011, the band released their second album called "Elevate" which sold over 70,000 copies on its first week. Maslow and his bandmates co-wrote 8 out of the 12 songs. Maslow wrote "Elevate", co-wrote "Love Me Love Me" and the first single from the album, "Music Sounds Better With U". The UK version of the album included a bonus song called "Epic" which he also helped write.


title: James Maslow

text: Maslow and Big Time Rush have a third album called 24/Seven which was released on June 11, 2013. The band promoted the album with the tour shared with Victoria Justice called the Summer Break Tour. which began on June 21 and ended on August 15. On late Winter 2014, Maslow and the band went to their latest tour called "Big Time Rush Live 2014 World Tour", where they performed in Texas and 7 countries in Latin America.


title: James Maslow

text: On March 4, 2014, ABC announced that Maslow would take part in the 18th season of "Dancing with the Stars". He was paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd. Ultimately, Maslow made it to the finals, but was eliminated on the first night. Maslow finished in fourth place, with an average score of 26.9 (excluding scores from guest judges). In a vote on Twitter, Maslow was nevertheless chosen "in a landslide" to perform an encore of his freestyle dance during the season finale. During his time on the show, Maslow earned the first perfect score of the season for his contemporary dance to "Let It Go" from "Frozen" on Disney Night. He featured on the cover of the July 2014 issue of "FitnessRx Magazine".


title: James Maslow

text: Also in 2014, Maslow was cast in the 2015 Lifetime television movie "Seeds of Yesterday" in the leading role of Bart Foxworth. He released his first single "Lies" on July 24, 2015. He has also released another single called "Circles" on October 23, 2015. In addition, he has two covers, "Cheerleader" and "One Call Away" available for purchase on iTunes. In 2017, Maslow debuted his solo album titled, "How I Like It" from which he has highlighted the single by the same name. Towards the end of 2017, James collaborated with director Joshua Schultz for his music video for the song "Who Knows", off his "How I Like It" debut album. In 2018, Maslow competed in the first American season of "Celebrity Big Brother" where he was evicted on day 24.


title: James Maslow

text: Most recently, on April 26, 2019, Maslow released ""Love U Sober"", and announced that he is about to start releasing more singles.


title: James Maslow

text: In May 2019, it was announced that Maslow would be starring in independent film "We Need to Talk", co-starring Emily Bett Rickards, and written and directed by Todd Wolfe.


title: James Maslow

text: Maslow received a nomination in 2014 at the annual Young Hollywood Awards for hottest body which he lost to former Dancing With The Stars competitor Derek Hough. In the same year, Maslow again received recognition for his charitable efforts with the annual VH1 Do Something! "Celebs Gone Good Awards", though he failed to make the winners list as Taylor Swift had won that time for the third consecutive Year. In addition to these nominations, James Maslow was nominated as Favorite International TV Star at the Australian Kids Choice Awards in 2010 and also again in 2011. He has also been recognized with an Australian Astra Award nomination for Favorite International Actor or Personality at the 2011 event, but did not win. In 2014, Maslow along with cast and crew of the Sony Crackle drama series "Sequestered" received 2 International Academy of Web Television Awards (IAWTVA) for Best Drama Series and one for Best Ensemble Cast losing both bids. As a musician, in July 2017, Maslow was declared the winner of Macy's iHeartRadio Rising Star competition and opened the iHeartRadio Music Festival.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: Miss USA 2022 was the 71st Miss USA pageant. The competition was held on October 3, 2022 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada and was broadcast on the FYI cable channel. The competition was hosted by Zuri Hall for the second consecutive year, while Julissa Bermudez and Micah Jesse served as sideline correspondents. This competition was also rebroadcast on October 19, 2022 on the official YouTube channel.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: Elle Smith of Kentucky crowned R'Bonney Gabriel of Texas as her successor at the end of the event. She will go on to represent the United States at Miss Universe 2022. This was Texas' tenth Miss USA title and first win in 14 years. At the age of , Gabriel became the oldest Miss USA winner in the pageant's history, surpassing Cheslie Kryst in 2019, who was also 28 when she crowned, the first Asian-American to win the title since Brook Lee in 1997, and the first titleholder of Filipino descent.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: On July 14, 2022, it was reported that the competition would be held in Reno, Nevada, with the city securing a three-year deal to host the pageant for the next three years. This would be the second time that the pageant is held in Reno, following Miss USA 2019. The following day, it was confirmed that the pageant would be held at the Grand Sierra Resort on October 3. Crystle Stewart confirmed that the location was chosen to honor Cheslie Kryst, whom had been crowned Miss USA 2019 in the same venue and had committed suicide in January 2022.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: In September 2022, it was announced that the competition would be hosted by Zuri Hall for the second consecutive year, while Julissa Bermudez and Micah Jesse would serve as sideline correspondents and Chloe Flower would perform.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the duration between most of the state pageants from the previous year's competition, with previous year's state titleholders' reign being shortened to eight to eleven months into their calendar year, depending on state. Delegates from the 50 states and the District of Columbia are selected in state pageants in a period began in September 2021 and scheduled to end in July 2022 to avoid scheduling conflicts with Miss America 2023 state pageants, as the state pageant schedule can become very dense between the last state pageant held from 2021. The first state pageants were Idaho and Montana, held together on September 12, 2021, and the last state pageant was Colorado, held on July 3, 2022.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: Eleven delegates have previously competed in Miss Teen USA and Miss America, eight are former Miss Teen USA state winners, two are a former Miss America state titleholders, and one is a former Miss America's Outstanding Teen state titleholder.


title: Miss USA 2022

text: Moments after the final competition when R'Bonney Gabriel was crowned Miss USA, allegations emerged that the competition had been rigged for Gabriel to win. Several of the contestants, including Miss Montana USA Heather Lee O'Keefe and Miss Georgia USA Holly Haynes, expressed in disbelief and claimed that Gabriel allegedly travelled to Nizuc Resort and Spa in Cancún a couple of weeks after Gabriel was crowned Miss Texas USA and was able to shoot promotional material, which the resort's Instagram account posted less than 24 hours after the final competition. Nizuc has been become one of the pageant's sponsors since national director and Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart took over at the end of 2020 after Miss USA and Miss Teen USA were separated from the Miss Universe Organization. Both Gabriel and Miss Colorado USA Alexis Glover, were not included in the official Cancún retreat along with the rest of the contestants as Texas and Colorado had not yet crowned at the time of the retreat. In an interview with "E! News", Gabriel refuted claims that the pageant was rigged, stating "I would never enter any pageant or any competition that I know I would win."


title: John Frankenheimer

text: John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962), "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), "Seven Days in May" (1964), "The Train" (1964), "Seconds" (1966), "Grand Prix" (1966), "French Connection II" (1975), "Black Sunday" (1977), "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996), and "Ronin" (1998).


title: John Frankenheimer

text: He won four Emmy Awards—three consecutive—in the 1990s for directing the television movies "Against the Wall", "The Burning Season", "Andersonville", and "George Wallace", the last of which also received a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's 30 feature films and over 50 plays for television were notable for their influence on contemporary thought. He became a pioneer of the "modern-day political thriller", having begun his career at the height of the Cold War.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: He was technically highly accomplished from his days in live television; many of his films were noted for creating "psychological dilemmas" for his male protagonists along with having a strong "sense of environment," similar in style to films by director Sidney Lumet, for whom he had earlier worked as assistant director. He developed a "tremendous propensity for exploring political situations" which would ensnare his characters.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Movie critic Leonard Maltin writes that "in his time [1960s]... Frankenheimer worked with the top writers, producers and actors in a series of films that dealt with issues that were just on top of the moment—things that were facing us all."


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer was born in Queens, New York City, the son of Helen Mary ("née" Sheedy) and Walter Martin Frankenheimer, a stockbroker. His father was of German Jewish descent, his mother was Irish Catholic, and Frankenheimer was raised in his mother's religion. As a youth Frankenheimer, the eldest of three siblings, struggled to assert himself with his domineering father.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Growing up in New York City he became fascinated with cinema at an early age, and recalls avidly attending movies every weekend. Frankenheimer reports that in 1938, at the age of age of seven or eight, he attended a 25-episode, 7 hour marathon of The Lone Ranger accompanied by his aunt.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: In 1947, he graduated from La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, Long Island, New York, and in 1951 he earned a baccalaureate in English from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. As captain of the tennis team at Williams, Frankenheimer briefly considered a professional career in tennis, but reconsidered:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: After graduating Williams College, Frankenheimer was drafted into the Air Force and assigned to the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), serving in the Pentagon mailroom at Washington, D. C. He quickly applied for and was transferred, without any formal qualifications to an Air Force film squadron in Burbank, California. It was there that Lieutenant Frankenheimer "really started to think seriously about directing."


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer recollects his early apprenticeship with the Air Force photography unit as one of almost unlimited freedom. As a junior officer, Frankenheimer superiors "couldn't have cared less" what he did in terms of utilizing the filmmaking equipment. Frankenheimer reports that he was free to set up the lighting, operate the camera and perform the editing on projects he personally conceived. His first film was a documentary about an asphalt manufacturing plant in Sherman Oaks, California.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Lieutenant Frankenheimer recalls moonlighting, at $40-a-week, as writer, producer and cameraman making television infomercials for a local cattle breeder in Northridge, California, in which livestock were presented on the interior stage sets. The FCC terminated the programming after 15 weeks. In addition to mastering the basic elements of filmmaking, Frankenheimer began reading widely on film technique, including the writings of Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: During his years in military service, Frankenheimer strenuously sought a film career in Southern California. Failing this, at age 23, he returned to New York upon his military discharge to seek work in the emerging television industry. His earnestness impressed Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) television executives, landing him a job in the summer of 1953 to serve as a director of photography on The Garry Moore Show. Frankenheimer recalls his apprenticeship at CBS:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer was picked up as assistant to director Sidney Lumet's for CBS's historical dramatization series You Are There, and further on Charles Russell's Danger and Edward R. Murrow's Person to Person. In late 1954 Frankenheimer replaced Lumet as director on "You Are There" and "Danger" under a 5-year contract (with a studio standard option to terminate a director with a two-week notice). Frankenheimer's directorial début was "The Plot Against King Solomon" (1954), a critical success.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Throughout the 1950s he directed over 140 episodes of shows like Playhouse 90 and Climax! under the auspices of CBS executive Hubbell Robinson and producer Martin Manulis These included outstanding adaptations of works by Shakespeare, Eugene O'Neill, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Miller. Leading actors and actresses from stage and film starred in these live productions, among them Ingrid Bergman, John Gielgud, Mickey Rooney, Geraldine Page and Jack Lemmon. Frankenhiemer is widely considered a preeminent figure in the so-called "Golden Age of Television".


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Film historian Stephen Bowie offers this appraisal of Frankenheimer's legacy from the "Golden Age" of television:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's earliest films addressed contemporary issues such as "juvenile delinquency, criminality and the social environment" and are represented by The Young Stranger (1957), The Young Savages (1961) and All Fall Down (1962).


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's first foray into filmmaking occurred while he was still under contract to CBS television. The head of CBS in California, William Dozier, became the CEO of RKO movie studios. Frankenheimer was assigned to direct a film version of his television "Climax!" production entitled "Deal a Blow", written by William Dozier's son, Robert. The 1956 movie version, The Young Stranger stars James MacArthur as the rebellious teenage son of a powerful Hollywood movie producer (James Daly). Frankenheimer recalled that he found his first film experience unsatisfactory:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer adds that in the late 1950s, television was transitioning from live productions to taped shows: "...a live television director was like being a village blacksmith after the advent of the automobile...I knew I had to get out..." In 1961 Frankenheimer abandoned television and returned to filmmaking after a four-year hiatus, continuing his examination of the social themes that informed his 1957 "The Young Stranger". Film historian Gordon Gow distinguishes Frankenheimer's handling of themes addressing individualism and "misfits" during the Fifties' obsession with disaffected teenagers:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's second cinematic effort is based on novelist Evan Hunter's "A Matter of Conviction" (1959). United Artists publicity executives changed the box-office title to the vaguely lurid "The Young Savages," to which Frankenheimer objected. The story involves the attempted political exploitation of a brazen murder involving Puerto Rican and Italian youth gangs set in New York City's Spanish Harlem. District Attorney, Dan Cole (Edward Andrews), who is seeking the state governorship, sends assistant D. A. Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) to gather evidence to secure a conviction. Bell, who grew up in the tenement district, has escaped from his impoverished origins to achieve social and economic success. He initially adopts a cynical hostility towards the youths he investigates, which serves his own career aims. The narrative explores the human and legal complexities of the case and Bell's struggle to confront his personal and social prejudices and commitments. The film's arresting opening sequence depicting a killing, which is key to the plot, reveals Frankenheimer's origins in television. The action, "brilliantly filmed and edited", occurs preliminary to the credits, and is accompanied by an impelling soundtrack by composer David Amram, serving to quickly rivet audience interest.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "The Young Savages", though focusing on juvenile delinquency, is cinematically a significant advance over Frankenheimer's similarly themed first film effort "The Young Stranger" (1957). Film historian Gerald Pratley attributes this to Frankenheimer's insistence on hand-picking his leading technical support for the project, including set designer Bert Smidt, cinematographer Lionel Lindon and scenarists J. P. Miller. Pratley observed:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Though "contrived and familiar in its social concerns" Frankenheimer and leading man Burt Lancaster, both Liberals in their political outlook, dramatize the "poverty, violence and despair of city life" with a restraint such that "the events and characters seem consistently believable."


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer recalled "I shot "The Young Savages" mainly to show people that I could make a movie, and while it was not completely successful, my point was proved...The film was made on a relatively cheap budget and shooting on location in New York for a Hollywood company is very expensive. Those were the days before Mayor Lindsay when you had to pay off every other cop on the beat…"


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The coming of age film "All Fall Down" was both filmed and released while Frankenheimer's "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) was in post-production and his "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) was in pre-production.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The picture was scripted by William Inge, who also wrote "Splendor in the Grass" (1961) and concerns character Berry-Berry (Warren Beatty), an emotionally irresponsible hustler, and his adoring younger brother Clinton (Brandon deWilde), to whom Berry-Berry appears as a romantic Byronesque figure. The older brother's cruel treatment of Echo O'Brien (Eva Marie Saint), his lover who becomes pregnant, disabuses the naive Clinton of Berry-Berry's perfection. His anguished insight permits Clinton to achieve emotional maturity and independence. Film critic David Walsh comments:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Based on a biography by Thomas E. Gaddis, "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) is a documentary-like dramatization of the life of Robert Stroud, sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement for killing a prison guard. While serving his sentence, Stroud (Burt Lancaster) becomes a respected expert in avian diseases though the study of canaries. Frankenheimer traces Stroud's emergence from his anti-social misanthropy towards a humane maturity, despite the brutal conditions of his incarceration.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: In 1962, the production and filming of "Birdman of Alcatraz" was already underway when United Artists enlisted Frankenheimer to replace British director Charles Crichton. As such, key production decisions had already been made, and Frankenheimer regarded himself as a “hired director” with little direct control over the production. Producer Harold Hecht and screenwriter Guy Trosper insisted on an exhaustive adaption of the Gaddis biography. The filmed rough cut that emerged was over four hours in length. When simply editing the work was ruled out as impracticable, the script was rewritten and the film largely re-shot, producing a final cut of 2 ½ hours. According to Frankenheimer, he had an option in the 1950s to make a television adaption of the Stroud story, but CBS was warned off by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the project was dropped.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's 1962 political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" is widely regarded as his most remarkable cinematic work. Biographer Gerald Prately observes that “the impact of this film was enormous. With it, John Frankenheimer became a force to be reckoned with in contemporary cinema; it established him as the most artistic, realistic and vital filmmaker at work in America or elsewhere.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer and producer George Axelrod bought Richard Condon's 1959 novel after it had already been turned down by many Hollywood studios. After Frank Sinatra committed to the film, they secured backing from United Artists. The plot centers on Korean War veteran Raymond Shaw, part of a prominent political family. Shaw is brainwashed by Chinese and Russian captors after his Army platoon are imprisoned. He returns to civilian life in the United States, where he becomes an unwitting “sleeper” assassin in an international communist conspiracy to subvert and overthrow the U.S. government.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The film co-starred Laurence Harvey (as Sergeant Raymond Shaw), Janet Leigh, James Gregory and John McGiver. Angela Lansbury, as the mother and controller to her “sleeper” assassin son, garnered an Academy Award nomination for a “riveting” performance” in “the greatest screen role of her career.” Frank Sinatra, as Major Bennett Marco, who reverses Shaw's mind control mechanisms and exposes the conspiracy, delivers perhaps his most satisfactory film performance.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer declared that both technically and conceptually, he had “complete control” over the production.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The technical “fluency” exhibited in "The Manchurian Candidate" reveals Frankenheimer's struggle to convey this Cold War narrative. Film historian Andrew Sarris remarked that the director was “obviously sweating over his technique...instead of building sequences, Frankenheimer explodes them prematurely, preventing his films from coming together coherently.” "The Manchurian Candidate", nonetheless, conveys the “paranoia and delirium of the Cold War years” through its documentary-style mise-en-scène. A demonstration of Frankenheimer's bravura direction and “visual inventiveness” appears in the notable brainwashing sequence, presenting the sinister proceedings from the perspective of both the perpetrator and victim. The complexity of the sequence and its antecedents in television are described by film critic Stephen Bowie:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: In 1968, Frankenheimer acknowledged that the methods he used on television were “the same kind of style I used on "The Manchurian Candidate". It was the first time I had the assurance and self-confidence to go back to what I had been really good at in television.” Compositionally, Frankenheimer concentrates his actors into “long lens” menage, in which dramatic interactions occur at close-up, mid-shot and long-shot, a configuration that he repeated “obsessively.” Film critic Stepen Bowie observes that “this style meant that Frankenheimer's early output became a cinema of exactitude rather than spontaneity.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "The Manchurian Candidate" was released in the post-Red Scare period of the early 1960s, when anti-Communist political ideology still prevailed. Just one month after the film's release, the John F. Kennedy administration was in the midst of Cuban Missile Crisis and nuclear brinkmanship with the Soviet Union.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: That Frankenheimer and screenwriter Axelrod persisted in the production is a measure of their political liberalism, in a historical period when, according to biographer Gerald Pratley “ it was clearly dangerous to speak of politics in the out-spoken, satiric vein that characterized this picture.” Film critic David Walsh adds that “the level of conviction and urgency” that informs "The Manchurian Candidate", reflects “the relative confidence and optimism American liberals felt in the early 1960s.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's “terrifying parable” of the American political milieu was sufficiently well-received to avoid its summary rejection by distributors.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "The Manchurian Candidate", due its subject matter and its proximity to the Kennedy assassination is inextricably linked to that event. Frankenheimer acknowledged as much when, in 1968, he described "The Manchurian Candidate" as “a horribly prophetic film. It's frightening what's happened in our country since that film was made.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: After completing "The Manchurian Candidate", Frankenheimer recalls that he was determined to continue filmmaking: “I wanted to initiate the project, I wanted to have full control, I never wanted to go back to be hired as a director again.” He was offered a contract to direct a biopic about French singer Edith Piaf, with Natalie Wood in the starring role. He emphatically rejected the offer when he learned that Piaf's songs would be sung in English, rather than in the original French.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: In 1963, Frankenheimer and screenwriter George Axelrod were introduced to the producer Edward Lewis, considering a TV production concerning the American Civil Liberties Union. When the project was deemed too expensive for television, Frankenheimer was approached by an associate of Lewis, actor and producer Kirk Douglas, to purchase and adapt to film the novel "Seven Days in May" by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "Seven Days in May" (1964), based closely on Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II's best-selling novel and a screenplay by Rod Serling, dramatizes an attempted military coup d’état in the United States, set in 1974. The perpetrators are led by General James M. Scott (Burt Lancaster), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) a virulently anti-Communist authoritarian. When US President Jordan Lyman (Frederic March) negotiates a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union—an act that Scott considers treasonable—Scott mobilizes his military cabal. Operating at a remote base in West Texas, they prepare to commandeer the nation's communication networks and seize control of Congress. When Scott's JCS aide Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey (Kirk Douglas) discovers the planned coup he is appalled, and convinces President Lyman as to the gravity of the threat. Lyman mobilizes his own governmental loyalists, and a clash over Constitutional principles between Lyman and Scott plays out in the Oval Office, with the President denouncing the General as a traitor to the US Constitution. When Scott is exposed publicly, his military supporters abandon him, and the conspiracy collapses. Frankenheimer points to the topical continuity of his political thrillers:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The character of General Scott has been identified by film historians as a composite of two leading military and political figures: Curtis LeMay and Edwin Walker. The film places great emphasis on the sanctity of US Constitutional norms as a bulwark against encroachments by anti-democratic elements in the United States. Biographer Gerald Pratley writes:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Film critic Joanne Laurier adds that “screenwriter Rod Serling and Frankenheimer's major theme is the need for the military to be subordinated to elected civilian rule.” As visual emphasis “the opening credits of "Seven Days in May" roll over an image of the original 1787 draft of the Constitution of the United States.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "Seven Days in May" has been widely praised for the high caliber of the performances by the cast. Biographer Charles Higham writes that “the film is played with extraordinary skill, proving that Frankenheimer's intensity communicated itself successfully to his actors.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer, a former Air Force officer who worked briefly in the Pentagon, anticipated hostility from the military establishment to the premise of "Seven Days in May". Indeed, internal memos circulated in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) registering alarm that "Seven Days in May" could potentially damage the bureau's reputation. Film critics Joanne Laurier and David Walsh report that “The military and FBI took a very definite note of Seven Days in May, revealing their intense sensitivity to such criticism. A memo uncovered in Ronald Reagan's FBI file reveals that the bureau was concerned the film would be used as Communist propaganda and was therefore ‘harmful to our Armed Forces and Nation.’” President Kennedy personally expressed approval for the film adaption, and his Press Secretary Pierre Salinger permitted Frankenhiemer to view the Oval Office so as to sketch its interior.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "Seven Days in May", filmed in the summer of 1963, was scheduled for release in December that year, but was delayed due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November. The release of director Stanley Kubrick's satire Dr. Strangelove (1964) was similarly postponed.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer recognized the “prophetic” aspects of his "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), a film that examines conspiratorial political assassinations. The historical context in which "Seven Days in May" appeared inevitably links it to the 1963 Kennedy assassination. Film critic David Walsh makes the connection explicit: “By the time "Seven Days in May" reached movie theaters, Kennedy had been assassinated, in an operation widely believed to have been organized by those with CIA or military connections.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: In early 1964, Frankenheimer was reluctant to embark upon another film project due to fatigue: “The Train is a film I had no intention of ever doing [and was] not a subject that I cared that much about...I'd just finished "Seven Days in May" (1964). I was quite tired.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Adapted from the novel "Le Front de l’Art: Le front de l’art: Défense des collections françaises, 1939-1945" by Rose Valland, the documentary-styled picture examines the desperate struggle by the French Resistance to intercept a train loaded with priceless art treasures and sabotage it before Wehrmacht officers could escape with it to Nazi Germany. The film dramatizes a contest of wills between French railway inspector Labiche (Burt Lancaster) and German art connoisseur Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield), tasked with seizing the art work. Shooting for "The Train" had commenced in France when filmmaker Arthur Penn, originally enlisted to direct the adaption, was dismissed by actor-producer Lancaster, allegedly over personal incompatibility and irreconcilable interpretive differences.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer, who had successfully directed Lancaster on three previous films, consented to replace Penn, but with grave reservations, considering the screenplay “almost appalling” and noting that “the damn train didn't leave the station until p. 140.” Frankenhiemer postponed production of "Seconds" (1966) to accommodate Lancaster's production.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Filming for "The Train" was temporarily shut down and the existing footage discarded. Frankenhiemer, in collaboration with screenwriters Nedrick Young (uncredited), Franklin Coen, Frank Davis and Walter Bernstein framed an entirely new script that combined suspense, intrigue and action, reflecting Lancaster's prerequisites.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer inserts an ethical question into the narrative: Is it justified to sacrifice a human life to save a work of art? His controversial answer was emphatically, no. Film critic Stephen Bowie observes ““Frankenheimer's thesis—that human life has more value than art—may seem simplistic, but it adds an essential moral component to what would otherwise be just an expensive live-action version of an electric train set.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The Train is lauded for its documentary-like realism and Frankenheimer's masterful integration of the human narrative with its tour-de-force action scenes.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Film critic Tim Palen elaborates on Frankenheimer's technical expertise in "The Train": “The director makes excellent use of wide angle lenses, long tracking shots, and extreme close-ups whilst maintaining depth of field...deliberately ensures that elaborate camera movement and cutting was planned so that ‘logistically you knew where each train was,’ in relation to the action.” The Train exemplifies the centrality of technical applications that began to characterize Frankenheimer's approach to film in the late 1960s “brandishing style for its own sake.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "The Train"’s original screenplay received an Academy Award nomination. It had cost $6.7 million. and was one of the 13 most popular films in the UK in 1965.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: "Seconds" presents a surreal and disturbing tale of a disillusioned corporate executive, Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph). In an effort to escape his empty existence, he submits to a traumatic surgical procedure that transforms his body into that of a younger man, Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson). Randolph's effort to erase his former self in a new persona proves futile and leads to his horrific demise. Biographer Gerald Pratley describes "Seconds" as “a cold, grey, frightening picture of a dehumanized world...based on the age-old search for eternal youth...an amalgam of mystery, horror and science fiction…”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Based on a novel by David Ely and a screenplay by Lewis John Carlino, Frankenheimer explained his thematic objectives:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer acknowledged his difficulty in casting for the elderly and demoralized Arthur Hamilton, which required the director to convincingly show his metamorphosis, both surgically and physiologically, into the youthful and artistic Tony Wilson. A dual role played by a single actor was considered, with Frankenheimer advocating for British actor Laurence Olivier. Paramount rejected this in favor of two players, in which one actor (Randolph) undergoes a radical transformation to emerge with the appearance and identity of the other (Hudson). Rock Hudson's portrayal of Wilson introduced a troubling plausibility issue that Frankenheimer fully recognized: “We knew we were going to have a terrible time getting audiences to believe that the man who went into the operating room (Randolph) could emerge as Rock Hudson, citing the physical disparity between the actors as problematic. Film historian Gerald Pratley concurs: “the weakness [in "Seconds"] is trying to convince audiences that the actor playing Hamilton could emerge, after plastic surgery, as Wilson in the form of Rock Hudson. This is where the star system has worked against Frankeheimer.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer identified the source of the film's weakness less on the physical disparities in his actors, and more on the his difficulties conveying the themes required to explain Wilson's inability to adjust socially to his new life: “We thought we had shown why [Wilson] failed, but after the film was finished I realized we had not.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's technical prowess is on display in "Seconds", where the director and his cameraman James Wong Howe experimented with various lenses, including the 9.5 mm fisheye lens to achieve the “distortion and exaggeration” that would dramatize Hamilton's struggle to “break free of his emotional straightjacket.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Howe and Frankenheimer's use of visual distortions are central to revealing his character's hallucinatory mental states, and according to Frankenheimer “almost psychedelic”. In one scene, a total of four Arriflexes are brought to bear to emphasis Hamilton's sexual impotency with his estranged wife. Film historian Peter Wilshire considers Frankenheimer's choice of James Wong Howe as cameraman for the project was his “most important directional decision.” Howe was nominated at the Academy Awards in Best Cinematography for his efforts.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: At Frankenheimer's urging, Paramount executives agreed to enter "Seconds" at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, hoping the film might confer prestige on the studio and enhance box office returns. On the contrary, Seconds was savaged by European critics at the film competition, regarding it as misanthropic and “cruel”. Frankenheimer recalled “it was a disaster” and declined to attend the festival's post-preview press conference. In the aftermath of this fiasco, Paramount withdraw promotional resources and "Seconds" failed at the box office. As consolation for its critical and commercial failures, "Seconds" was ultimately rewarded with a cult following among cineastes.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Critical appraisal of the film has varied widely. Gerald Pratley, in 1968, declares that "Seconds", despite its poor reception in 1966, will one day be recognized as “a masterpiece.” Film critic Peter Wilshire offers qualified praise: “In spite of its obvious weaknesses, "Seconds" is an extremely complex, innovative, and ambitious film.” Brian Baxter disparages "Seconds" as “embarrassing...unconvincing, even as science fiction.” and critic David Walsh considers "Seconds" “particularly wrongheaded, strained and foolish.” Biographer Charles Higham writes:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: As such, M-G-M provided lavish financing for "Grand Prix" (1966), Frankenheimer's first color film and shot in 70mm Cinerama. A former amateur race car driver himself, he approached the project with genuine enthusiasm.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and an uncredited Frankenheimer, concerns the professional and personal fortunes of Formula One racer Pete Aron (James Garner) during an entire season of competitive racing. The action climaxes at Monza, where Aron, Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford), Jean Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) and Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabàto Sr.) compete for the championship, with tragic results.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Wishing to craft a highly realistic rendering of racing and its milieu, he assembled a panoply of innovative film techniques with ingenious apparatus and special effects. Working closely with cinematographer Lionel Lindon, Frankenheimer mounted cameras directly onto the race cars, eliminating process shots and providing audiences with a driver's-eye view of the action.


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer incorporated split-screens to juxtapose documentary-like interviews of the racers with high-speed action shots on the track. Frankenheimer explains his use of the “hydrogen cannon”:


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Characterized largely by Frankenheimer's bravura application of his striking cinematic style, "Grand Prix" has been termed “largely a technical exercise” by film critic David Walsh and “brandishing style for its own sake” according to The Film Encyclopedia. Film historian Andrew Sarris observed that Frankenheimer's style had “degenerated into an all-embracing academicism, a veritable glossary of film techniques.”


title: John Frankenheimer

text: A commercial success, "Grand Prix" garnered three Oscars at the Academy Awards for Best Sound Effects (by Gordon Daniel), Best Editing (Henry Berman, Stu Linder and Frank Santillo), and for Best Sound Recording (Franklin Milton and Roy Charman)


title: John Frankenheimer

text: Frankenheimer's first foray into “light comedy” represents a major departure from his often dystopian and dramatic work addressing social issues and his big budget action films. "The Extraordinary Seaman" presents a menagerie of misfit characters set in the final days of World War II in the Pacific theatre. British Lt. Commander Finchhaven, R. N. (David Niven), a ghost, is condemned to a Flying Dutchman-like existence, roaming the seas in his ship "Curmudgeon" in search of redemption for his shameful ineptitude during a World War I combat mission. During World War II, the "Curmudgeon" is chartered, then beached on a remote Pacific Island by party goers. Four castaway American sailors stumble upon the unseaworthy vessel: Lt. Morton Krim (Alan Alda), Cook 3/C W.W. J. Oglethorpe (Mickey Rooney), Gunner's Mate Orville Toole (Jack Carter) and Seaman 1/C Lightfoot Star (Manu Tupou). Jennifer Winslow (Faye Dunaway), the proprietor of a jungle garage, provides supplies to repair the derelict "Curmudgeon" for passage off the island. Commander Finchaven enlists the largely incompetent crew to seek out and sink a Japanese battleship and thus vindicate his family honor. The 79-minute picture depicts the crew's subsequent “hazards and misadventures.”