Perry White, Jr. (New Earth)

Perry White, Jr. - usually going by his middle name Jerry - was the son of Daily Planet editor Perry White.

History

Perry White married Alice Spencer when he returned from reporting for two years in a war in Asia, and their son Jerry White was born shortly after. However, during Perry's absence, Lex Luthor lied to Alice by saying Perry died during the war, and they had a brief affair.^[2] A genetic study made years later revealed that Luthor was Jerry's biological father instead of Perry.^[3]

As years passed, Jerry grew up detached from his father. On one occasion, a gang kidnapped Jerry to blackmail Perry and force him to retract some exposes he wrote about a crime-lord in Metropolis. Perry was unable to write it, and Superman had to save Jerry, deepening the rift between father and son.^[4]

Jerry moved from his parents' house and started living with his friend and mentor, Jose Delgado. However, Jerry still got involved in numerous crimes with a gang working for Lex Luthor, against Jose and Superman's advice. Eventually, he ended up in prison.^[5]

After leaving the gang, Jerry started to have a normal life and a job at Big Belly Burger, where he met Tammy, who would become his girlfriend.^[6] However, the rift between Jerry and his father opened again when Perry adopted Alice almost as their daughter, making Jerry believe they cared more about her than their son.^[7]

His relationship with Tammy also started to fall apart. And things got worse when Jerry took a job at Blaze's, a nightclub constructed on the abandoned St. Christopher's Church, a place filled with alcohol, drugs, and bad company. He even dragged Jimmy Olsen to that environment.^[8] Unaware to Jerry, the nightclub's owner, Angelica Blaze, was a demon in disguise who used the club to lure her victims and steal their souls, and two of her victims were Jerry and Jimmy. Superman traveled to Blaze's hell to save the two young men, but Jerry sacrificed himself to save Jimmy.^[9]

Before Jerry's death, Lex Luthor visited him at the hospital and dropped on Perry the revelation that he was the biological father, affecting Perry's private life with his wife and his performance at work, forcing him to take a leave of absence from the Daily Planet. On Luthor's side, he mourned for Jerry's death only because he would've been the heir to his empire if he had claimed his role as the biological father.

Related

• 26 Appearances of Perry White, Jr. (New Earth)
• 2 Images featuring Perry White, Jr. (New Earth)
• Quotations by or about Perry White, Jr. (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Perry White, Jr. (New Earth)

Footnotes