Ronald Jason
Ronald Jason
World-famous film actor renowned for his versatility, as well as his "expert knowledge of make-up and disguise". Clark Kent's interview with Jason for the Daily Planet is interrupted when Jason throws a "chemical bomb" at Kent which dissolves the reporter's clothing, revealing the distinctive blue-red-and-yellow uniform of Superman! Superman immediately demands an explanation from the movie star, who pulls off his life-like mask to reveal an alien face exclaiming, "I am not Ronald Jason!" The alien--Dur from the fifth planet of the Sirius solar system--tells Superman that the real Ronald Jason is secretly vacationing in Europe, and Dur is taking his place in order to elude political enemies from his home planet. Dur is Tontor-2, or vice-president, of his society and Tontor-1 has been assassinated. Dur is in hiding until the ten-day mourning period has ended, after which Dur will succeed him. Superman takes Dur to hide in his Fortress of Solitude. Later that day, Batman is surprised in his Batcave by a similar-looking alien. Tiron claims to be a law-enforcer in pursuit of his world's most dangerous criminal--the "very resourceful and cunning" Dur! Tiron informs Batman that Superman is working with Dur, so the Caped Crusader turns to Supergirl for help. During an altercation between the two Kryptonian cousins at the Fortress, Batman confronts Dur but the Man of Steel traps the Darknight Detective in a cage and takes Dur to a safe location. The next morning, Superman enlists the aid of Batgirl in a plan to protect Dur. In the midst of an all-out brawl between the Superman-Batgirl team and the Batman-Supergirl team, Tiron collapses. With his dying breaths, the alien reveals that he is really Ronald Jason and had been posing as both Dur and Tiron all along in order to give "the finest performance of [his] acting career!" After Jason expires, Superman and Batman reveal to Supergirl and Batgirl--as well as Robin and Jimmy Olsen who have independently discovered the hoax--that they were aware of the dying actor's deception all along and went along with it to allow Jason to die happy (WF No. 176, Jun 1968: "The Superman-Batman Split!"; Pt. II: "A Tale of 3 Teams").
