Jeri Hogarth


Jeryn "Jeri" Hogarth is a fictional supporting character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne and debuting in Iron Fist #6, the character is a friend of Iron Fist's father Wendell and an attorney for the Heroes for Hire, a team of heroes of which Iron Fist is a member.

Fictional character biography

After Wendell Rand's death, Hogarth became the executor of his estate, keeping Wendell's son Iron Fist under surveillance after his return to the states as well as hiring Misty Knight and Colleen Wing to contact him and verify that he was truly his deceased friend's son.
Initially, Heroes for Hire, Inc. was a small business licensed by the state of New York that offered a full line of professional investigation and protection services. Heroes for Hire was owned by Luke Cage and Daniel Rand. It had offices on Park Avenue and two paid employees: Jenny Royce, the group's secretary and Jeryn Hogarth, the group's lawyer and business representative. Heroes for Hire would not accept jobs that involved extralegal activities.
Jeryn asked Luke Cage and Iron Fist to escort their daughter Millie Hogarth to a debutante's ball to impress their ex-wife. Nightshade, Stiletto, Discus, Man Mountain Marko, and the Eel came to kidnap her.
During the 2006–2007 "Civil War" storyline, Hogarth opposes the Superhuman Registration Act. Jeryn stops Iron Man from arresting Iron Fist, stating that he is already a registered weapon in the US.

In other media

In season 2, Jeri somehow avoids prison for her involvement with Kilgrave, but is diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and learns that she has up to eight years to live. Her partners, Linda Chao and Steven Benowitz, try to invoke a medical clause in her contract to force her out of the firm. In the midst of dealing with conflict between Jessica and rival private investigator Pryce Cheng, Jeri hires Jessica to find dirt on Chao and Benowitz. Due to Jessica being busy investigating IGH with Trish, Malcolm is the one tasked with handling Jeri's case. Jeri later puts up and seduces Inez Green, a homeless IGH nurse found by Jessica and Trish, and protects her. However, Inez turns out to be a con artist, and swindles Jeri into getting her boyfriend Shane out of jail claiming that he was an IGH patient who could heal people by touch, after which Inez and Shane loot Jeri's apartment and flee. Enraged by the deception, Jeri acquires a gun from Turk Barrett, locates and manipulates Inez into murdering Shane, and calls the police to arrest Inez. With nothing to lose, Jeri is able to blackmail Chao and Benowitz into giving her a larger buyout by playing them a hidden camera recording of a lunch meeting Malcolm had with Chao in which Chao admits to laundering drug money into offshore bank accounts. With that, Jeri leaves HC&B and opens her own firm under the name Jeryn Hogarth & Associates, bringing Foggy and Marci along with her, with Malcolm and Cheng as her fulltime investigators. In season 3, Jeri's ALS worsens to the point that she briefly becomes suicidal, asking Jessica to kill her, but she changes her mind. When Trish Walker begins acting as the masked vigilante Hellcat and targets serial killer Gregory Sallinger, Jeri offers a bounty on Trish's head, as Sallinger is one of her clients. She reconnects with an old flame, Kith Lyonne, who she cheated on with Wendy but never stopped loving and who is now married to Peter Lyonne. Jeri seduces Kith into an affair, but Kith reveals that she and Peter are in an open marriage since their daughter's death and Peter is also having affairs. When Kith refuses to leave Peter, Jeri retaliates by discovering evidence of Peter's fraudulent activities and releasing them, resulting in Peter committing suicide while revealing on a video that Jeri is involved with superpowered people. Kith initially blames Jeri for tearing her family apart for selfish reasons, but soon turns to her for legal advice when one of her former business partners threatens to send Kith to prison for Peter's fraud. In desperation, Jeri asks Trish to find leverage on the partner, promising not to reveal her identity in the process. Trish, however, believes that Jeri asked her to kill the partner, and turns on Jeri instead, holding Kith hostage. Jessica intervenes in the ensuing confrontation, but Jeri begs Trish to release Kith, promising to get her out of the country while shooting Jessica in the leg. After Jessica tracks down and defeats Trish, Jeri tries to reconcile with Kith, but her ALS symptoms show even more to the point that her hands begin shaking, forcing Jeri to confess that she is dying. Kith subsequently discovers that Jeri only sabotaged her marriage with Peter, ruined her family and seduced her only so that she would have company during her final years. Kith finally realizes how evil Jeri truly is, and abandons her to die alone.