Jerkass Has A Point / Spider-Man (Insomniac)

aka: Spider Man Miles Morales

As this page can attest to, there have been many moments where the Jerkass Has a Point in the series.

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Spider-Man (PS4):

• J. Jonah Jameson is overbearing, self-centered, and laser-focused on proving Spider-Man a criminal, but more often than not he raises some valid arguments:
  • In his very first broadcast, he correctly predicts (while insulting a caller) that Fisk's arrest will cause a spike in criminal activity, as various factions scramble to fill the power vacuum he left behind, and small-time criminals will feel free to act without worrying about disturbing the "bigger fish". Spidey himself will note an immediate increase in criminal activity even before the Demons show up - noting that "Fisk kept such things down" and comes dangerously close to missing Fisk after various crime-in-progress missions. The DLC further reinforces that he was right, what with Hammerhead waging war with the other Maggia dons, then against the city itself. Jonah does put the blame on all this at Spider-Man's feet (conveniently forgetting that the cops themselves were trying to arrest Fisk even before Spidey got involved).
  • As seen below, he raises a lot of valid points such as not taking precautions with supercriminals like the Rhino and Fisk's arrest causing gang war, though the point is muddied by his book shilling and blaming Spider-Man for all of Manhattan's ills.
  • He hits on the point of the Superhero Paradox, as while Spider-Man has repeatedly saved the city from dangerous super-criminals, those super-criminals didn't really exist before Spidey showed up. He also repeatedly makes the point that Spidey has a tendency to escalate situations, a claim with some validity following the rise of the Demons.
  • Jameson mentions that Rhino is being placed under tighter security after nearly escaping his cell in the supermax prison known as the Raft. He then asks why the 700-pound criminal nutcase permanently sealed in a suit of Powered Armor that enhances his already-existing strength wasn't under maximum security in the first place.
  • He correctly points out that while some of Mayor Osborn's policies have helped the city, it's not fair to thank just him for improving New York; it's actually the police who are cleaning up the city that are reducing the crime rate, and entrepreneurs and business owners taking risks who are improving the economy. He also correctly points out that the installation of surveillance towers across the city, while meant to help track crime, are a civil rights violation of personal privacy, they were installed using taxpayer dollars, and the system often crashes.
  • During the Rykers breakout and subsequent Sable occupation, he gives callers good, well meaning - if harsh - advice on what to do, in particular advising them not to make the problem any worse, but to trust the local police and instead document everything they see and wait for a time where the bad guys will be held accountable.
  • When a research lab mission goes south and causes several water towers to leak, you have to go around the area sealing them up before the leakage becomes critical. When this is brought up as an example of Spider-Man's heroism, Jameson correctly points out that the leaks were Spider-Man's fault in the first place.
  • The helicopter chase with the Demons was also entirely Peter's fault — he tried to web the helicopter to the building to stop it flying away, but instead the Demons flew off with a huge piece of construction equipment dangling from their ride, and also caused the collapse of a massive construction crane that Spidey had to web up to keep it from hitting the streets. Similarly, Spider-Man's chase with Shocker causes a fair amount of collateral damage due to the latter's method of fleeing.
  • When a police officer calls in on his show and tells Jonah he's changed his opinion of Spider-Man for the better, Jonah accurately points out that even if something Spider-Man does is justified, it's not fair that somebody with a public identity doing the same thing in the same situation would have to face consequences, and the only reason Spider-Man doesn't have to deal with those same consequences is because he keeps his identity secret. Though this one is somewhat justified: Yuri knows Spider-Man can do things the police cannot and permits him to handle situations they otherwise would not be able to.
  • It does not take him long to realize that Osborn hiring Sable International was an incredibly bad idea, given their cavalier attitude and being a firm that specializes in suppressing rebellions, not a police force.
  • He also points out that the Maggia are not any better than the supercriminals or recent gangs and crime bosses that sprung up in their absence, and their so called 'rules' are kept only when it's convenient.
  • At the end of Silver Lining, he points out that while Silver Sable did help stop Hammerhead, he would have never have gotten as far as he did if she hadn't left state of the art weapons and gear lying around New York.
  • He also doesn't intend to let Sable get away with leaving her well-armed and highly-maneuverable gunship to "collect dust in a Symkarian warehouse" while Martin Li, the Demons, and the Sinister Six were tearing the city to pieces mere months ago.
  • It also happens on a meta-narrative level: After the second battle with Shocker, Jameson will lament the collateral damage the fight resulted in, and will say that Spider-Man treats the city as a giant playground, and its content as toys. While it's not true of Spidey in-universe, it's sort of true of the players controlling Spider-Man. The entire city, and its contents, exist for the player's enjoyment.
  • Jonah claims at one point that Spider-Man hacks into the police network and spies on people's conversations. He later claims that his broadcasts keep Spider-Man honest and that he "knows" Spider-Man is listening. Both are technically true. Spider-Man hacked into the police networks, but he doesn't use it to spy on personal calls like Jonah claims, but to catch criminals. Spider-Man also does listen to Jonah all the time and while most people who are criticized as much as Spider-Man is would just ignore Jonah, Spider-Man does concede a bunch of points to Jonah. Not to say Spider-Man doesn't mock Jonah or expect the worst from him when it comes to criticizing him, but Spider-Man does realize that Fisk would've escaped from police if it wasn't for him and that he really did leave one hell of a power vacuum with his actions for catching Fisk.
  • When a caller points out that he's always on Spider-Man's case and blaming him for everything, Jonah admits that he would stop harping on Spidey if he joined the Police Academy and got a badge. At least then, his heroics could at least be made legal and sanctioned but also have oversight for his actions and the consequences thereof.
  • His general assertion that Spider-Man makes things worse isn't entirely unjustified, even if he greatly exaggerates how often it happens. The entire helicopter chase sequence for example, much of the collateral damage is because Spider-Man webbed the Helicopter to that machine. Had he not done that, the crane wouldn't have fallen, smashing a few facades, nor would the Helicopter played wrecking ball into several buildings. Similarly, Spider-Man's chase with Shocker causes a fair amount of collateral damage due to the latter's method of fleeing.
  • Jameson asserts several times that his criticism keeps Spider-Man honest. He's not wrong in his boast. Peter at several times bemoans how Jameson will react to his exploits. In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it's shown that Peter codes his suits to subscribe automatically to Jameson's podcast (something Miles considers makes Peter a glutton for punishment).
• Near the end of the game, Norman Osborn decides to oversee the antiserum to the Devil's Breath on his own while leaving Silver Sable behind. Sable objects, insisting he'll be completely vulnerable without her, Norman retorts by calling her and her PMC out as Incompetence, Inc.; considering that Sable's troops have repeatedly proven themselves to be complete screwups overall and never succeed at doing much of anything without Spider-Man's help, he's not wrong.
  Norman: I seem to be completely vulnerable with you.
• The end of a side mission in the Silver Lining DLC has Yuri Watanabe kill a Maggia enforcer. When Spider-Man discovers this, she makes a rant about the fact that the system doesn't work for people like the Maggia, and it is clearly meant to show that she has fully become the Wraith, but it is made very clear that the hitman escaped due to a technicality, and much of the Maggia used similar corruption tactics to avoid imprisonment.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales:

• Like in the first game, J Jonah Jameson might be a jerk, but he isn't entirely wrong about Miles. For one, he repeatedly lambasts the titular character for being a Destructive Saviour, something Miles fully acknowledges. Notably, after the Brooklyn Bridge incident, Miles is shown listening to JJJ's podcast-when at the start of the game he purposely turned it off and subscribed to Danika's instead.
  • Speaking of Danika, JJJ's debate with her has him highlight a lot of these points again, and Danika's only real rebuttal is to point out that ROXXON is worse. Unsurprisingly, the conversation goes basically nowhere until JJJ ends it prematurely.
• Aaron Davis may have some very selfish reasons for wanting to protect Miles, but he makes some good points during the story however:
  • Miles is protesting that Phin is "too smart" to allow him to become an Underground member when Aaron advised him to tell her as Miles, not Spider-Man, then Aaron points out that people get stupid when they care about someone, like Miles being stupid in the same way. Most of Phin's actions proved Aaron correct, especially when it comes to her relationships with both Rick and Miles:
    • Her entire plan of getting back at Roxxon through destructive means due to them being involved in Rick's death is basically this. Come to think of it, a Teen Genius who is one of two people who made an award-winning invention, makes an otherwise stupid decision in hindsight all because she cares too much about her brother and father-figure.
    • Despite Miles' protests beforehand, Phin ultimately (albeit temporarily) lets Miles join the Underground with no hesitation after he revealed that he knew about what happened to Rick. Because she has no idea about the identity and cloaking abilities of Spider-Man at the time, this allows Miles to sneak in their hideout and locate all their remaining ones.
    • Miles tells Aaron about his plan to meet Phin in Trinity Church the day after he reveals his identity, unbeknownst to him that Aaron informed Roxxon about it while telling them to leave Miles alone (until it was revealed they didn't hold up their end of the deal). While still upset about nearly killing Miles, Phin accepts his invitation to meet on the EXACT same area. Then Rhino, whose armor got upgraded comes out of nowhere, getting them both captured in the process.
  • Aaron makes some valid arguments during his fight with his nephew in a train station as well:
    • This can come out as Both Sides Have a Point, as Miles points out that he needs to fight for New York, and Aaron then points out that it's not possible when he's dead. It comes from personal experience for the both of them as Miles is sharing the burden with Peter as the city's protector and Aaron is willing to make up for the mistakes that happened between him and Jeff prior to the latter's death.
    • His view on the "Dog eat Dog" part on how the world works is justified, considering the amount of criminal organizations trying to conquer parts of the city from Fisk Empire, Inner Demons, Maggia and Underground and how they fight EACH OTHER for a territory.
    • He asks Miles what he owes New York and says that the latter didn't ask to become Spider-Man. He's correct that Miles gaining powers was a coincidence even though Aaron's not able to comprehend why he's fighting so hard for it.
    • While it did trigger Miles' Berserk Button, Aaron was right to point out that Jeff did throw himself at the Inner Demons, an enemy he cannot beat, albeit in a Heroic Sacrifice saving everyone. He doesn't want to see Rio bury her son like she had to do with her husband so it's easy to see where Aaron is coming from.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2:

• After the fight against Sandman, Principal Evans subsequently fires Peter for his leaving his students during the battle and refuses to hear out any excuses on his part. Though Peter technically did do what she accused him of not doing, but as Spider-Man, she's right that Peter's responsibility was to look out for the students, and, if he were just a regular person, she has every reason to fire him.
• Arguably subverted in The Flame side mission.
  • Yuri (now Wraith) gives a scathing rant to Spider-Man during her boss fight after he stops her from killing the Flame. While Yuri's declaration that she'd lose much less sleep over his life than those of his victims is understandable—especially once it's revealed after he'd already escaped with the red-colored symbiote fated to bond with him and made clear his intent to continue spreading mayhem and carnage that one of several aliases the Flame uses is Cletus Kasady— everything revealed about the Flame's identity only undercuts Yuri's actions in hindsight. Even if Spider-man refused to kill him, he had webbed the Flame up outside. Yuri's picking a fight with Spider-Man over what to do with their target pulled both combatants' attention away from him and is very likely what allowed The Flame to escape.
  • Another read is that Yuri was right to try and kill The Flame, but should have backed off and focused on making sure he didn't escape after Peter refused to let it happen.
• Jameson gets a minor comedic example when near the end of the game, after Peter gets his final suit, he complains about how the Spider-Men seem to constantly be changing their costumes even during crisis situations when they have more important things to do^note Only counting canonical suits, this is the fourth costume iteration that Peter wears in less than a week. The very next cutscene has Miles show up in a new costume simply because he felt like making a new one… in the middle of an ongoing alien invasion.
• Peter while he's at his worst period of being Not Himself notes that after everything Martin Li did in the previous game to both Miles and the city, treating him like a hero for one good deed is hardly right. Notably, for the rest of the game the best that Martin gets is Forgiven, but Not Forgotten.

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