I haven't followed the comics for a long while now, but yes--Jarvis was (and is) a real person in the comics. Nominally Tony's butler, he's actually been a fixture in the Avengers mansion (the Avengers team HQ) for as long as I can remember. In "regular" continuity he's classic gentleman's gentleman--never at a loss for words, always calm and polite, etc. In the "Ultimate Iron Man" universe he's...rather different. He and Tony have a prickly relationship in which it is suggested that Jarvis is a) gay b) in a rather creepy way, and c) he retains his position despite their rather acrimonious relationship because he's got some dirt on Tony*. He's also mentioned writing a tell-all book about Tony and/or the Ultimates (the "Ultimate Universe" version of the Avengers), but not publishing because Tony paid him for it.

As for housekeepers and other servants--none of note that I can remember.

*What he could possibly have on Tony that Tony would care about, much less allow himself to be blackmailed over beats the hell out of me, but....

Thank you :)

Entry for Edwin Jarvis at the official Marvel Comics site.

He has a mansion

Last I saw (and I am very behind), he was living in the penthouse apartment of a skyscraper he owns in Manhattan.

Thank you :)

In the movie, he lives in a mansion on a cliff overlooking the Malibu coastline, and Jarvis is an AI program. Though, as rich as he his, I'm sure he has a place in NY too. In the novelization, he has a mansion in Dubai.

There are a lot of differences between movieverse and comicverse Iron Man besides location. Comic!Tony is a recovering alcoholic and the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Pepper is Happy Hogan's widow and heads up something called the Order, Rhodey has his own set of armor and is known as War Machine, etc. Comic!Tony has been Iron Man for about a decade (a decade in Marvel time; about 45 years, real time) and has gone through a lot of changes, while Movie!Tony is a lone newbie superhero.

Looking to the comics to predict little details of the movies (such as servants) is probably futile. Even when the movies incorporate details from the comics, they transform them considerably (such as turning Jarvis into an AI). You might find more useful information by checking casting gossip, etc. for future Marvel movies.

I'm not worried about it, just figured if they used Happy and Pepper, etc., in the movie from the comic books, there might be other names they'd use in other movies. Just idle curiosity for the most part. And it saves me going back and changing names after the fact.

I just read fic where Pepper and Happy got married in fact. Nin had told me about Rhodey and his armor, and a few other bits and peices. I know future movies are going to incorporate other superheroes, but I haven't decided if I like that idea or not yet [g]

I've been thinking about what you said: that he'd need a staff. I'm not so sure that he would, outside of the people he already has (Pepper and Happy). Jarvis runs the house, so no housekeeper. There are robots to do the housework. As for a cook: this is a man who eats cold pizza and drinks icky-looking protein shakes. There's no sign of a cook on the premises, and no sign that he would want a cook.

They show robots in the workshop, but nothing upstairs. I'm thinking there would have to be some humans to take care of such a huge place. Not as many in a non tech type house, but some. And there are stairs [has visions of Daleks floating around Tony's mansion]

These little things give me something to mentally entertain myself with when it's slow at work [g]

Tony has had Jarvis and a variety of named executive assistants and staff at SI/SE/etc. (yay, Mrs. Arbogast! *g*), but no other named household staff. He did have a mansion, his childhood home, but he donated it to the Avengers (Jarvis went with it, apparently) and for years it was just the Avengers Mansion. Then it died a terrible, explodey death (luckily Jarvis didn't go with it that time). It never seemed to have any staff beyond Jarvis, named or otherwise, weirdly. Tony and Jarvis had been living in Stark Tower in Manhattan (Tony has lived elsewhere over the years- Long Island, Seattle, etc.), but now poor Jarvis is tangled in the last company-wide event, and things have gotten... complicated.

Jarvis is pretty much it, though, so I think you're safe. *g*

eta something I forgot- Jarvis cooks (Tony doesn't really), and Tony's various kitchens are often understood to be Jarvis's. He even makes a point of remembering and preparing various Avengers' favorite foods.

Edited at 2008-06-19 10:34 pm (UTC)

Mrs. Arbogast made it into the novelization and her name is stuck in my brain [g] Not sure why, but it is.

She's awesome. She's smart and fierce, and has just the right mix of mothering Tony and not putting up with his nonsense. Which is good, since most of her tenure coincides with his alcoholic years. I really wish they'd bring her back to the comic.

[makes note] That is so good to know! Thank you :)

But Jarvis is a human being in the comic books, right? Though maybe if he were in a robot body, he'd look just like C3PO! Then he could cook too.

My brain is melting!

Ha! Tony's pretty geeky, so yeah, probably he would. "No body = no cooking" was my main quibble with AI!Jarvis, which is sad because it's totally nonsensical and AI!Jarvis worked really well. But how can he make muffins for Carol if he has no body? Even if Carol's not in the movie... shakes head at self

And muffins are important! As are other assorted baked goods [g]

As cool as AI Jarvis is, I'm not sure they thought it through. Though, to be fair, it probably wouldn't occur to them that there would be fanatics people out there who would wonder.

Edited at 2008-06-19 11:03 pm (UTC)