James Gibson was the main antagonist of the episode "Stray" in the First Season of the WB series Smallville.
He is the stepfather of Ryan James who used the boy's telepathy to commit crimes.
He was portrayed by Jim Shield, who also played Sylvester Pemberton in the same series.
History[]
Early life[]
James was married to Ryan's mother until her death and later remarried another thief named Debra Burch. Together, James and Debra were professional criminals who carried out a number of successful robberies by exploiting the abilities of their stepson Ryan.
He kept Ryan around but was horrible towards the boy and only cared about exploiting his abilities. Ryan possessed a form of telepathy that allowed him to read the surface thoughts of anyone around him and his so-called guardians used him to gain knowledge of their marks, such as safe combinations and passwords.
Stray[]
During a heist at a pawnshop, Ryan witnesses his abusive parents shoot and kill the broker Jules Casey. He then ran away blindly into the woods with his stepparents chasing after him. Trying to cross the street, Ryan was struck by Martha Kent's car and was taken to the hospital. After spending a night in hospital, Ryan was allowed to return home with the Kents until any next of kin could be contacted.
At the hospital, James Gibson posed as a private detective looking for Ryan. He asked about a lost boy and learned that Ryan wasn't there anymore and of the Kents. James then went to the Talon where Ryan was and became frightened when he saw his stepfather and hid in a dumpster but was rescued by Clark.
James and Debra later found Ryan at the Kent Farm and waited for their opportunity to strike. James disguised himself as Lex Luthor's limo driver and took him to the Kent House to say good-bye to Clark as he was returning to Metropolis. James then met up with Debra and Ryan, planning to hack into Lex's account with a laptop. He said he already has the account number for his trust fund and asked Lex for the password.
Ryan reads Lex's mind and got the password, saying it's "Julian." After Ryan obtained the password from Lex Luthor, they dumped Lex on the side of the road and made their way to a nearby bowling alley. Meanwhile, Chloe visited Clark and shows him James Gibson's rap sheet. Clark recognizes him as Lex's limo driver and speeds away. The Gibsons stopped at a bowling alley to torch the limo and hack into Lex's account through use of a laptop.
James grew infuriated when the password didn't work and threatens Ryan. Ryan reveals to Debra that he planned to kill her after James gets the password. James tried to make it look like Ryan was playing games, but Debra realized that Ryan never lied before. He admitted the truth and killed Debra, then chases Ryan into the bowling alley. Clark arrives and uses his X-ray vision to find James and Ryan. He threw a bowling ball and hits James in the chest. The bowling ball was thrown with enough force to crash through a wall before hitting him, knocking James unconscious.