Jason Bourne

This article is about the character. For the novel series, see Bourne (novel series). For the film series, see Bourne (film series).
Jason Bourne
First appearance Novel: The Bourne Identity
Film: The Bourne Identity
Last appearance Novel: The Bourne Ascendancy
Film: The Bourne Ultimatum
Created by Robert Ludlum
Portrayed by Matt Damon
Richard Chamberlain
Jeff Pierce
(Video Game only)
Information
Aliases David Webb (real name)
Jean-Pierre (Identity) [1]
Delta One
Cain/John Michael Kane
Nicolas Lemanissier
Charles Briggs
George P. Washburn
Foma Kiniaev
Mr. Cruet (Supremacy)
Gilberto de Piento
Paul Kay
Adam Stone
Gender Male
Spouse(s) Dao Webb (deceased)
Marie St. Jacques (beginning with Supremacy)
(deceased before Betrayal)
Children Jamie Webb
Alison Webb
Joshua Webb (known as Khan in The Bourne Legacy)
Alyssa Webb (deceased)

Jason Charles Bourne is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of novels by Robert Ludlum and subsequent film adaptations. He first appeared in the novel The Bourne Identity (1980), which was adapted for television in 1988. The novel was very loosely adapted in 2002 into a feature film under the same name and starred Matt Damon in the lead role.

The character has appeared in twelve sequel novels; the most recent (nine) were written by Eric Van Lustbader, with the latest published in 2014. Along with the first feature film, The Bourne Identity (2002), Jason Bourne also appears in two sequel movies The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), both with Damon again in the lead role. Jeremy Renner stars in the fourth film of the franchise, The Bourne Legacy, released in August 2012.[2] Damon stated in interviews that he would not do another Bourne film without Paul Greengrass, who had directed the second and third installments.[3]

Profile

Backstory

Jason Bourne has a tormented past, which continues to influence him throughout his lifetime. Jason Bourne is but one of many aliases used by David Webb. Webb is a career foreign service officer and a specialist in Far Eastern affairs. Before the events in The Bourne Identity, Webb had a Thai wife named Dao and two children named Joshua and Alyssa in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Webb's wife and two children were inadvertently killed during the Vietnam War when a fighter plane strayed into Cambodia, dropped two bombs and strafed a spot near the Mekong River. However, unknown to Bourne, Joshua survived.[4] Due to Cambodia's neutrality in the war, every nation disclaimed the plane, and, therefore, no one took responsibility for the incident. Having nothing left to live for, Webb went to Saigon and, under the careful guidance of Alex Conklin, ended up training for an elite Top Secret Special Forces unit called Medusa. Within that select organization Webb was known only by his code name, Delta One.

Medusa

David Webb's life was slowly consumed by his membership in Medusa. Webb was recruited into Medusa during the Vietnam War by friend and CIA officer Alexander Conklin after the violent deaths of Webb's wife and children. Webb was infuriated by both the utter injustice and randomness of his loss, and he sought revenge by joining Medusa. Initially, Medusa was designed to infiltrate parts of Northern Vietnam, and kill suspected members of the Viet Cong and its collaborators. Medusa was considered an assassination team or death squad. Each member of Medusa was paid for their work performing assassinations for the United States Government.

The members of Medusa were all criminals who were led by a man called Delta. Delta ran Medusa with an iron fist; he became well known for his ruthlessness, his disregard for orders, and his disturbing success rate on his missions, resulting in the kidnapping of his brother, U.S. Army Lieutenant Gordon Webb, during his tour of duty in Saigon.

During the mission to save David Webb's brother, an original "Medusa" team member named Jason Charles Bourne was discovered to be a double agent who alerted a large number of North Vietnamese soldiers to their whereabouts. When Delta found Bourne after killing his way through the North Vietnamese, he simply executed Bourne in the jungles of Tam Quan. Bourne had compromised the secret rescue of Gordon Webb. Bourne's murder by Delta was never exposed due to the Top Secret status of Medusa.

Operation Treadstone

Years later, a black ops arm of the CIA was formed to eliminate the notorious Carlos the Jackal and called Treadstone Seventy-One, named after a building on New York's Seventy-First Street, and Webb was called up by the creator of Treadstone and Medusa, David Abbott, who was nicknamed The Monk, (short for The Silent Monk of Covert Operations) to be its principal agent. At this point, Webb (Delta) takes the identity of Jason Bourne due to the actual Bourne's status as MIA in the war as well as the fact that Bourne was in reality a ruthless killer with a long criminal record. The point of all this was to turn Jason Bourne into something more than he really was, a contract assassin who would be known all over the world for terminating the lives of just about anyone. The assassin's alias was Cain. The reasoning for creating such a myth was to create competition for the well-known assassin named Carlos, or Carlos the Jackal (real name Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) who at that time was considered the world's best and most famous assassin. The name Cain was chosen because it had some significance for what he was doing. During Vietnam, Cain was used instead of Charlie in the phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot...) because Charlie became synonymous with Viet Cong. So Delta dropped back one letter to Cain, which stood for Charlie. In Spanish, Charlie is Carlos; Carlos was Venezuelan. The myth of Cain was created by having Cain take credit for any well-publicized killings that took place in Asia, and later in Europe, regardless of the circumstances. By creating this myth, Cain was to drive the reclusive Carlos out in the open "long enough to put a bullet in his head". To add insult to Carlos's name, Cain stole the credit for Carlos's kills, even when Cain had no part in them.

Appearances

Novels

The Series has included twelve novels which have been written by two authors, Robert Ludlum and Eric Van Lustbader. Ludlum's series include the first three books, better known as the Bourne Trilogy. After Ludlum's death in 2001, Lustbader took over the character in his own series of novels, which span nine books so far.

Written by Robert Ludlum

Identity (1980)

Jason Bourne who is found in the Mediterranean sea near Marseille by Italian fishermen, floating unconscious with two gunshot wounds in his back, wakes up and discovers he is suffering from extreme memory loss. As he tries to reclaim his memory, he attracts the attention of hostile people for reasons unknown to him. At a hotel, while cornered, Bourne takes a young woman hostage to escape. This woman, named Marie St. Jacques, is an employee of the Canadian government. Bourne and Marie start discovering the identity of Jason Bourne, the contract assassin. It is later discovered that both the CIA and a contract killer known as Carlos the Jackal have an interest in him. Marie is convinced that the man she knows as Jason Bourne cannot be the ruthless killer that all the discoveries they make seem to imply. It is due to Marie that Jason continues to search for his true identity and, in the end, finds the truth. Through this time, Bourne continually has the phrase "Cain is for Charlie, and Delta is for Cain" flash through his mind, propelling him in the direction of his mission.

Supremacy (1986)
Main article: 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, it has pinned the blame on a fictitious, powerful Chinese drug lord. This scheme was conducted to send Bourne after a phony Jason Bourne who 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.

Ultimatum (1990)
Main article: The Bourne Ultimatum

As Carlos the Jackal enters old age and his infamy fades, he decides that he will do two things before he dies: kill Jason Bourne and destroy the KGB facility of Novgorod, where the Jackal was trained and later turned away. Webb's family is forced to hide in the Caribbean while Webb himself works with old friend and CIA officer Alex Conklin to hunt down and kill the Jackal first. Webb poses as an important member of Medusa, now a nearly omnipotent economic force that controls the commander of NATO, leading figures in the Defense Department, and large NYSE firms. The plan is to use Medusa's resources to contact the Jackal. Webb just misses the Jackal several times before Webb feigns his own death and convinces the Jackal that he has succeeded. Following this, the Jackal turns to his second goal. Webb tracks the Jackal down with the help of Conklin and a KGB agent as the Jackal begins destroying the KGB compound. In a final confrontation, the Jackal is led into a dam lock in which he drowns and Webb returns to his family.

Written by Eric Van Lustbader

Legacy (2004)

With the climactic events of The Bourne Ultimatum behind him, Jason Bourne is able to once again become David Webb, now professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. However, this serenity does not last for long. When a silenced gunshot narrowly misses Webb's head, the Bourne persona reawakens in him. His first objective is to reach his long-time friend and handler at the CIA, Alex Conklin. However, unknown to Bourne, a Hungarian by the name of Stepan Spalko has now drawn Jason into a web — one which he cannot escape as easily as his professional facade. And the man who nearly killed him in Georgetown continues his deadly, intensely personal pursuit.

Betrayal (2007)
Main article: The Bourne Betrayal

Jason Bourne takes a mission to rescue his only friend in the CIA, Martin Lindros, who disappeared in Africa while tracking shipments of uranium. Once safely back in America, Lindros persuades Bourne to help track the money trail of terrorists buying the nuclear material in Odessa. But once there, Bourne is hampered by confusing flashbacks of unfamiliar places and events and he wonders if someone is brainwashing him in order to throw him off the trail, or worse, if the man he saved in Africa is really Martin Lindros. Now, Bourne must gather evidence while trying to stay one step ahead of the terrorists who won't let anyone stand in their way.

Sanction (2008)
Main article: The Bourne Sanction

Jason Bourne returns to Georgetown University, and the mild world of his alter ego, David Webb, hoping for normality. But, after so many adrenaline-soaked years of risking his life, Bourne finds himself chafing under the quiet life of a linguistics professor. Aware of his frustrations, his academic mentor, Professor Spector, asks for help investigating the murder of a former student. The young man died carrying information about a group's terrorist activities, including an immediate plan to attack the United States. The organization, the Black Legion, and its plot have also popped up on the radar of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose new director Veronica Hart is struggling to assert her authority. Sensing an opportunity to take control of the CIA by showing Hart's incompetence, National Security Agency operatives attempt to accomplish what the CIA never could do, hunt down and kill Jason Bourne. In Europe, Bourne's investigation into the Black Legion turns into one of the deadliest and most tangled operations of his double life—while an assassin is getting closer by the minute.

Deception (2009)
Main article: The Bourne Deception

Jason Bourne's nemesis, Arkadin, is still hot on his trail, and the two continue their struggle, reversing roles of hunter and hunted. When Bourne is ambushed and badly wounded, he fakes his death and goes into hiding. In safety, he takes on a new identity, and begins a mission to find out who tried to assassinate him. Jason begins to question who he really is, how much of him is tied up in the Bourne identity, and what he would become if that was suddenly taken away from him. Meanwhile, an American passenger airliner is shot down over Egypt by what seems to be an Iranian missile. A massive global investigative team is assembled to get at the truth of the situation before it can escalate into an international scandal. Jason Bourne's search for the man who shot him intersects with the search for the people who brought down the airliner, leading Bourne into one of the most deadly and challenging situations he has ever encountered. With the threat of a new world war brewing, Bourne finds himself in a race against time to uncover the truth and find the person behind his assault, all the while being stalked by his unknown nemesis.

Objective (2010)
Main article: The Bourne Objective

The Bourne Objective is the eighth novel in the Bourne series, and the fifth written by Eric Van Lustbader. The book was released in 2010, sequel to The Bourne Deception. The killing of an art dealer dredges up snatches of Jason Bourne's impaired memory, in particular the murder of a young woman who entrusted him with a strangely engraved ring. Now he's determined to find its owner and purpose. But Bourne never knew what terrible acts he'll discover he committed when he digs into the past. The trail will lead him to a vicious Russian mercenary, Leonid Arkadin, also a graduate of the Central Intelligence training program Treadstone. The covert course was shuttered by Congress for corruption, but not before it produced Bourne and Arkadin, giving them equal skills, equal force, and equal cunning. As Bourne's destiny circles closer to Arkadin's, it becomes clear that someone else has been watching and manipulating them.

Dominion (2011)
Main article: The Bourne Dominion

[5]

Imperative (2012)
Main article: The Bourne Imperative

The tenth book in the series was published on June 5, 2012. The man Jason Bourne fished out of the freezing sea is near death, half-drowned and bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound. He awakens with no memory of who he is or why he was shot, and Bourne is eerily reminded of his own amnesia. Then Bourne discovers that the Mossad agent named Rebeka is so determined to find this injured man that she has gone off the grid, cut her ties to her agency, and is now being stalked by Mossad's most feared killer. The answers to these mysteries may lie back in southeast Lebanon, in a secret encampment to which Bourne and Rebeka escaped following a firefight weeks ago. The complex trail links to the mission given to Treadstone directors Peter Marks and Soraya Moore: find the semi-mythic terrorist assassin known as Nicodemo. In the course of Bourne's desperate, deadly search for a secret that will alter the future of the entire world, he will experience both triumph and loss, and his life will never be the same. Now everything turns on the amnesiac. Bourne must learn his identity and purpose before both he and Rebeka are killed. From Stockholm to Washington, D.C., from Mexico City to Beijing, the web of lies and betrayals extends into a worldwide conspiracy of monumental proportions.

Retribution (2013)

The eleventh book in the series was published on December 3, 2013. Bourne's friend Eli Yadin, head of Mossad, learns that Ouyang Jidan, a senior member of China's Politburo, and a major Mexican drug lord may have been trafficking in more than drugs. Yadin needs Bourne to investigate. Bourne agrees, but only because he has a personal agenda: Ouyang Jidan is the man who ordered Rebeka—one of the only people Bourne has ever truly cared about—murdered. Bourne is determined to avenge her death, but in the process he becomes enmeshed in a monstrous world-wide scheme involving the Chinese, Mexicans, and Russians. Bourne's desperate search for Ouyang takes him from Tel Aviv to Shanghai, Mexico City, and, ultimately, a village on China's coast where a clever trap has been laid for him. Bourne finds himself pursued on all sides and unsure whom he can trust.

Ascendancy (2014)

The twelfth book in the Bourne series was published on June 10, 2014. Bourne has been hired to impersonate a high-level government minister at a political summit meeting in Qatar, shielding the minister from any assassination attempts. Suddenly, armed gunmen storm the room, killing everyone but Bourne. Their target, however, isn't the minister Bourne impersonates....it is Bourne himself.

Kidnapped and transported to an underground bunker, Bourne finds himself face-to-face with an infamous terrorist named El Ghadan ("Tomorrow"). El Ghadan holds as his captive Soraya Moore, former co-director of Treadstone, and a close friend to Bourne, along with her two-year-old daughter.

Meanwhile, the President of the United States is in the midst of brokering a historic peace treaty between the Israelis and the Palestinians-an event that El Ghadan is desperate to prevent. He demands that Bourne carry out a special mission: kill the President. If Bourne refuses, Soraya and her daughter will die.Bourne must make a monstrous choice: save Soraya and her daughter, or save the President.

Television

In 1988 a two-part made-for-television movie of The Bourne Identity aired on ABC. It starred Richard Chamberlain in the role of Jason Bourne and Jaclyn Smith as Marie St. Jacques. The TV movie was largely faithful to Robert Ludlum's novel, both in plot as well as in the portrayal of the character of Jason Bourne.

Film universe

In the 2002 - 2007 films, the character of Jason Bourne, portrayed by Matt Damon, differs from the character described in the novels. The plots jettison the original cold war theme and omit the Vietnam War and the character of Carlos the Jackal. They also focus significantly more on the role of Nicky (Julia Stiles).

Background

In the films, David Webb was born in Nixa, Missouri on September 13, 1970. He joined the United States Marine Corps at age 18, stationed at Camp Lejuene. He was later assigned to served in Afghanistan, Iraq and North Africa. He then requested a transfer to the United States Army 82nd and 173rd Airborne, and eventually, U.S. Army Special Forces. He was a Captain in the U.S. Army Special Forces, a Roman Catholic, and his Social Security Number is 829-63-1204. Other details vary in different parts of the trilogy: his blood type is O- on his dog tags but A+ in his induction report, and numerous birth dates are given, including April 15, 1971 on his file in Supremacy and September 13, 1970, as indicated by his various files in Ultimatum, although September 13, 1970 is his real birthday, since the first birthday file was actually a code given to him as a New York address, 415 East 71st Street (his birthday was given as 4/15/71).

In 1997, around 5 years before losing his memory, Webb volunteered for Operation Treadstone, a top-secret CIA project. He was an Army Captain and he was brought in by Neil Daniels, then a CIA executive, and he was placed under the wing of a CIA psychiatrist and recruiter, Dr. Albert Kircsh, under which he endured behavioral modification, shaping him into a malleable asset after succumbing him to break his spirit, forcing him to stay awake for days and barely having anything to eat. His first test was to kill a man, after which he was informed that his transformation into Jason Bourne was complete. He initially refused to shoot the unknown man under the pretense that he wasn't given a reason why he was to do so, but after persuasion he capitulated and killed the subject. He was then given the identity as Jason Bourne, a name created by Kircsh himself.

Bourne was trained in the CIA's protocols and tradecraft and he learned many skills before deployed in field. His skills include expertise in hand-to-hand combat, firearms, explosives, handling numerous vehicles, and speaking fluent English, French, Dutch, Russian, German, Spanish, Czech, Polish and Italian. Although he is never shown speaking Portuguese, he holds a Brazilian passport as Gilberto de Piento in The Bourne Identity & The Bourne Ultimatum.

Once his training was complete, Bourne was deployed as a highly trained assassin for a variety of missions all involving lethal action. He completed his missions mechanically, without knowledge of his subjects' identities or the crimes they had allegedly committed. He was the most valuable asset in Operation Treadstone. His direct superior was Alexander Conklin, who ran Treadstone‘s operations for CIA Deputy Director, Ward Abbott, also the head of Treadstone. Kircsh kept recruiting other Treadstone assets for Abbott.

His first assignment was in Berlin in 1998, and it was off-the-records in case he fails the attempt. He staged it as a murder-suicide after the target's wife caught him. Mission was also off-the-records since the target, Vlademir Neski, was about to reveal Abbott's involvement of stealing 20 million dollars from CIA funds and his alleigance with a Russian oligarch Yuri Gretkov. His official CIA records state that his first task was in Geneva and his Berlin mission was known only by him, Conklin and Abbott, which created a problem for him after he had Berlin flashbacks, since not even Nicky, who knew all of his operations, was aware of the Berlin mission, and while he was pursued by Pamela Landy, CIA Deputy Director who was trying to apprehend him, she falsely believed that he murdered several CIA agents in Berlin just days earlier and referenced it, but Bourne falsely believed he was chased because of the death of Vlademir Neski rather than the murder of the CIA agents.

It is implied that he had some type of relationship with fellow Treadstone operative Nicky Parsons — the agents' psychiatrist, assigned to monitor potential behavioral problems they might develop due to their stressful careers — but this is never confirmed, although Nicky's interaction with him is suggestive of some form of affection, either friendly or romantic, although he stated that he barely remembered anything from his life. Although, one line said by Nicky references their relationship during his life in Treadstone.

A turning point in his life was when he was deployed in Marseille, France to kill an African dictator named Wombosi, in 2002. He infiltrated his yacht posing with a fake alias of John Michael Kane, and one night, he was prepared to kill him, but he saw his target in the company of his children, and he was unable to gun him down. Realizing that Wombosi is aware of his attempt, Bourne aborted his mission, and was shot in the back twice by WombosI while attempting to escape, and fell into the Mediterrean Sea. He woke up on an Italian fishing ship that rescued him with severe retrograde amnesia, and was unable to remember anything about his entire life.

The character of Bourne in the films is a very quick-thinking, linear type of person who moves quickly and brutally towards his goal. He gives the impression of someone who has been severely traumatized. He is tormented by fragmented memories of his past. He is highly adept at martial arts, and appears to retain his knowledge of how to remain 'off-the-grid' even if he cannot recall how he learned such skills. He also shows an immediate ability to utilize lateral thinking to solve problems and can utilize plans in matter of seconds. He is extremely adept in multitasking, guiding a journalist over a path through blind spots of CCTV cameras while following a similar path himself, also analyzing the environment and correctly deducing all CIA agents in the crowd. He often uses improvised weapons, for example using a pen to stab an assassin, utilizing a wrapped up magazine as a blunt object and using a book and a towel to kill an opponent. He is shown using tactical improvisation such as using a fan, torch light, and a tape to fake his location, and gas, a toaster, and a magazine to cause an explosion.

He is also proficient with firearms, explosives, electronics and evasive protocols—for moving and driving. He was a cold, brutal asset with no remorse or curiosity of his targets. However, when his amnesia was triggered, he lost all the memories of his life, therefore reverting to his original, David Webb persona before he became Jason Bourne, therefore being able to express emotions and a high sense of morality. With his memories returning, he felt remorse for his victims, traveling to Russia to find Vladimir Neski's daughter to tell her the truth of the death of her parents and finding Marie's brother to inform him of her death. He also incapacitates his opponents rather than killing them (unless it's necessary), shown in one scene where he held a police officer at gunpoint, and instead of killing or knocking him out, he only destroyed his radio to prevent him from calling backup and ran away. He also spared a Blackbriar asset, who was trapped in a car and injured, instead walking away. He also has skills in first-aid, managing to heal his wounds with stitches and painkillers.

Bourne in the films

The overarching story of Jason Bourne through the 2002 - 2007 film trilogy is his attempt to regain knowledge of who and what he is.

In The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne aborts an assassination on an exiled African leader named Nykwana Wombosi and is shot in the back by Wombosi as he leaps into the Mediterranean Sea south of Marseilles. Bourne is rescued from the water by the Italian crew of a fishing boat, where he discovers he's suffering from amnesia. While Bourne is on board, the captain discovers a microchip implanted in Bourne's hip that contains the number of a safe deposit box in a Swiss bank. After spending 2 weeks of unsuccessful attempts to recover his memory, Bourne eventually lands and makes his way to the Gemeinschaft Bank in Zürich and opens the safe deposit box. Inside, he finds multiple passports with his photo on them, each with a different name. He also finds assorted personal items, cash in various currencies, and a Sig Pro handgun, but is forced to flee when the police arrives. Bourne later attempts to take refuge in the American embassy, but is forced to strike out on his own after guards try to arrest him. He then enlists the aid of Marie Kreutz, a nomadic German-born woman trying unsuccessfully to get a US student visa, to take him to Paris, to an address listed on one of his passports. After Bourne offers her $20,000, Marie agrees, and the two embark on their journey, arriving at Bourne's apartment on Rue Du Jardin. In the apartment, while Bourne is looking for clues to his identity, he is attacked by another Treadstone assassin known as Castel. After brutal hand-to-hand combat, Bourne emerges the victor but is unable to interrogate Castel before Castel leaps out a window to his death. Bourne and Marie flee the apartment and are involved in a high-speed pursuit by Parisian police. They finally evade the police and ditch their vehicle. The two stay in a small hotel in Paris while they investigate Bourne's whereabouts during the previous few weeks. Bourne eventually learns that he was the man Wombosi claimed had sneaked onto his yacht in the middle of the night and tried to kill him. After this revelation, Bourne and Marie remain together to again evade the Paris police after the location of their hotel is discovered. Marie is frightened, but trusts Bourne. He begins to teach her espionage craft. They venture into the French countryside, where they plan to stay with Marie's ex-lover Eamon. It is there that Bourne encounters another Treadstone assassin known as The Professor. Bourne succeeds in eliminating The Professor, but not before the Professor makes him think about what has been done to them. He then sends Marie away with Eamonn and his children in order to keep her safe. He returns to Paris where he arranges a meeting with Treadstone's director, Alexander Conklin, on the Pont Neuf. Bourne uses the meeting to tag Conklin's vehicle and track him to the Treadstone safehouse. There, Bourne confronts Conklin and informs him that he's finished with Treadstone. Nicki (Nicolette) Parsons, the Paris CIA office fixer is there, but keeps quiet and allows Bourne to escape. After killing several CIA guards, Bourne escapes the safehouse and disappears into the night. Bourne eventually tracks Marie to the Greek island of Mykonos where she is running a small scooter rental shop and restaurant; the two reunite.

In The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne and Marie are living in Goa, India, when their quiet life is disturbed by the arrival of a man named Kirill. Bourne immediately concludes that Kirill is a threat. He and Marie attempt to flee Goa. Kirill tries to kill Bourne with a long-range shot from a sniper rifle, but kills Marie by mistake. Bourne is presumed dead, however, and uses the advantage to once again wage war on Treadstone, which Bourne believes is still active. Bourne arrives in Naples, Italy, by ferry and intentionally has his passport run by immigrations. A European CIA substation in London is alerted to Bourne surfacing on the grid, and they order the authorities in Naples to take Bourne into custody. Bourne subdues the embassy agent and an Italian security officer in the interrogation room, then clones the agent's phone. Listening on the cloned line, he learns of a new name in the company, Pamela Landy, who suspects Bourne of being behind the assassination of two CIA agents involved in an operation in Berlin a few days prior. The agents were in actuality assassinated by Kirill. Bourne arrives in Berlin by way of Münich, where he encounters Jarda, a supposedly inactive Treadstone agent. It is there that he shadows and later makes contact with Landy. After some investigation and indirect aid from Bourne, Landy discovers the assassination of her agents was part of a larger conspiracy perpetuated by former Treadstone director Ward Abbott and his co-conspirator, oil mogul Yuri Gretkov. When Bourne discovers Marie was killed by mistake, he refuses to kill Abbott but instead sends an audio recording of the confrontation to Landy. When Landy goes to confront him, Abbott commits suicide in front of her. Gretkov is arrested by Russian police. Having learned that the flashes of his first mission involving a Russian politician, Vladimir Neski, and his wife had been the work of Abbott to cover up his theft of CIA funds, Bourne travels to Russia. In Moscow, Bourne engages Kirill in a high-speed pursuit that results in the apparent death of Kirill in a tunnel. From there, he finds the child of his first victims (the Russian couple in Berlin) and confesses the truth to her. He is last seen spying on Landy as he speaks to her over the phone.

In The Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne travels to London in an attempt to contact an investigative reporter named Simon Ross who has been writing articles speculating on who Bourne is. Bourne learns that Ross may have been in contact with someone involved deep within Treadstone and desires to learn the information. His plans are thwarted when Ross is assassinated in Waterloo Station by Paz, one of a new breed of assassins generated by a Treadstone upgrade program called "Blackbriar". From London, Bourne travels to Madrid and locates a CIA safehouse where Neil Daniels had been residing; Daniels was Ross's source for the story on Bourne. Bourne finds the safehouse empty, and is forced to engage two CIA operatives sent to eliminate him. Nicky Parsons, now posted in Madrid, arrives on site, realizes the situation, and teams up with Bourne to help him track Daniels to Tangiers, Morocco. Before they can get to Daniels, he is assassinated by another Blackbriar asset known as Bouksani Desh. Noah Vosen, director of Blackbriar, authorizes Desh to eliminate Bourne and Parsons as secondary objectives. Landy objects strongly to Desh being set on Nicky. After a long pursuit through Tangier on moped and on foot, Bourne manages to intervene just before Desh closes in on Nicky's location. Bourne eliminates Desh and fools Blackbriar into believing that he and Parsons had been successfully eliminated by Desh, giving them enough time to escape. He helps Nicky change her appearance and leave, then closes in on Blackbriar. Bourne travels to America alone. The truth about his identity is finally brought to light as Landy goes rogue and attempts to reach out and help Bourne in his pursuit. Bourne learns his real name is David Webb and is given a false date of birth, which leads him to the address to the Treadstone training facility on 71st St. in New York City. He gives Landy the paperwork he has stolen from Vosen about Blackbriar, and she faxes it to the press. At the hospital where the training facility was hidden, Bourne's past is revealed in full, including his torture during training, and after a pursuit through the building he is apparently shot by Vosen as he leaps off of the 10th story roof into the East River. It is reported that Bourne's body was never recovered and that he is still at large. Bourne is seen swimming away after regaining consciousness, somewhat reminiscent of the opening scene of The Bourne Identity. The first part of this movie corresponds chronologically to the events portrayed in the previous film; Bourne's telephone conversation with Landy upon arriving in New York is the same scene as at the end of the last movie, meaning that there was a longer gap between the crash that killed Kirill and Bourne's phone call than it originally appeared (six weeks).

Films

Video games

A video game titled Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy was released in 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The Ludlum estate obtained the rights to the video game franchise and sold it to Electronic Arts in 2009. EA plans to make several Bourne games. The first Bourne game will be developed by Starbreeze Studios.[6] However, the new game has been shelved by Starbreeze Studios.

Radical Entertainment were reportedly developing a Bourne game titled Treadstone after a former animator of the now-defunct developer released a rough test reel, but it has been cancelled since.

Franchise overview

The Bourne franchise consists of several novels, movies, and a video game, all featuring one of the several versions of the Jason Bourne character.

References

  1. ↑ “The Bourne Identity” by Robert Ludlum » Pbur’s Adventures
  2. ↑ "Exclusive Matt Damon Interview". totalfilm.com. 12 November 2009. p. 6. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  3. ↑ Sperling, Nicole (2009-12-04). "Matt Damon on 'Bourne 4': 'I wouldn't do it without Paul Greengrass'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  4. ↑ Van Lustbader, Eric. The Bourne Legacy. St. Martin's Press, 2004
  5. ↑ "Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion : Eric Van Lustbader, Robert Ludlum : 9781409116431". bookdepository.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Bourne license surfaces at EA - News at GameSpot". gamespot.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.