Jason Bourne Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Jason Bourne is a fictional character in a series of novels by Robert Ludlum and later Eric Van Lustbader who picks up where Ludlum left off. He first appeared in The Bourne Identity (1984). This novel was adapted for both television in 1988 and a movie by the same name in 2002 – see The Bourne Identity (movie). The character, currently, has since been in three more novels and one other movie.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Movies |
Novels
The character named Jason Bourne has a long and mysterious past. First off, his real name is David Webb. He was a career foreign service officer, specifically a specialist in Far Eastern affairs. Before the events in Identity, Webb had a wife and two children in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. During the Vietnam War an aircraft strayed into Cambodia and dropped two bombs at a spot near the Mekong River unintentionally killing Webb's wife and two children. Due to Cambodia's neutrality in the war, every nation disclaimed the plane since no one wanted to be responsible for the incident. Having nothing left, Webb went to Saigon and trained for a special top-secret unit called Medusa (many years later the unit and its actions would still remain top-secret). At this point, Webb turned into Delta, his codename within the unit.
The top-secret and government-funded project codenamed Medusa is a vital part of David Webb's life. Taking place during the Vietnam War, Webb was recruited into Medusa by friend and CIA agent, Alexander Conklin after the death of Webb's wife and children. At the time, Webb was furious and wanted revenge in any possible capacity. By joining Medusa, he felt he was seeking revenge against the people that presumably killed his wife and children, the North Vietnamese. Since no nation took responsibility for the bombings in Cambodia (and the Americans were not supposed to be there) whoever was responsible remains a mystery. The reason why Medusa remains top-secret is because the members of Medusa are all criminals, who were hired by the American government during the war to do its dirty work: to infiltrate parts of Northern Vietnam and kill suspected members of the Viet Cong. In addition, they also murdered village chiefs that were suspected to be in collaboration with the Viet Cong and aided in rescuing POWs wherever they could. They were considered an assassination team or a death squad. For doing this, each member would be taken care of by Uncle Sam.
Most of the members were murderers, fugitives, smugglers, arms dealers, or drug lords being lead by Delta. One member of Medusa was a man by the name of Jason Charles Bourne who at some point during a mission was found out to be a double agent born in Australia. Bourne was into all sorts of illegal activity including slavery, narcotics, smuggling, and assassinations. With this knowledge, Delta executed Bourne on a mission in Tam Quan. Due to the American government not wanting to acknowledge the existence of Medusa or its members, they never reported the death of Bourne, but rather listed his status as MIA.
Years later, a black ops arm of the CIA was formed called Treadstone 71 and Webb was called up by the creator of Treadstone and the creator of Medusa (nicknamed The Monk). At this point, Webb (Delta) takes the identity of Jason Bourne due to his status as MIA in the war and the fact that Bourne was in reality a ruthless killer that had a long criminal record. The point of all this was to turn Jason Bourne into something more than he really was, into a contract assassin who would be known all over the world for terminating the lives of just about anyone. The assassin's nickname was Cain. The reasoning for creating such a fallacy was to create a competition for a well-known assassin named Carlos or Carlos the Jackal (real name: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez) who up until then was the world's best and most famous assassin. The myth of Cain was created by having him take credit for any well-publicized killings that took place in Asia (and later Europe) regardless of the circumstances. By creating Cain, it would drive Carlos out in the open where Cain could kill Carlos and take his place. To add insult to Carlos' name, Cain decided to beat Carlos to his next victim and protect him so that Carlos would fail. Unfortunately Cain was unsuccessful and ended up shot a few times (once in the head) and left for dead in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Luckily he would later be recovered by a fishing boat only to awake as an amnesiac.
For the plot of the novel see The Bourne Identity.
Throughout the novel Bourne fights to learn about his past and his true identity while being chased by both the CIA and Carlos' henchmen. During the novel at a hotel Bourne takes a young woman hostage to escape. This woman named Marie St. Jacques , as it turns out is an employee of the Canadian government. She would later in the novel sympathize with Bourne and would even help him to accomplish his goal of finding out who he his. Between the books Identity and Supremacy, Bourne marries Marie and they both settle down (although under guard) in a small town in Maine. David Webb would go on to become an associate professor in Oriental studies at a local university.
For the plot of the novel see The Bourne Supremacy.
When Supremacy starts Marie is taken captive by the United States government in an attempt to turn David Webb back into his former self, the mythical Jason Bourne. While in reality it was the U.S. government who took Marie captive they pinned the blame on Carlos. This scheme was done to make Bourne go after a faux Jason Bourne that had been credited with a Far East political assassination that could, in a worst case scenario, cause a civil war in China over the ownership of Hong Kong.
Near the end of The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne learns that his real name is actually David Webb. This is an Article on Jason Bourne. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Jason Bourne Medusa
Treadstone 71
Identity
Supremacy
Movies
In the films, Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, is much more simplified. He was a contract CIA assassin working on a job when he had a sudden attack of conscience, failed his mission, and was shot multiple times in the back trying to flee. Similar to the novel, he was left for dead in the Mediterranean Sea and when he awoke was an amnesiac.