Dr. Donovan Jamison is a supporting antagonist who became involved with LuthorCorp and Project Ares in the WB/CW Television series Smallville.
He served as a major antagonist appearing in web series, comic books and some episodes of season 6.
He was portrayed by Gerard Plunkett, who also played Roland Kantos in Highlander: The Series.
Biography
Past
Dr. Donovan Jamison was the CEO at NuCorp, a high-tech energy firm but was arrested for selling or trading sensitive technology secrets. Shortly after being arrested, NuCorp asked Dr. Jamison to resign. After being cleared of any crimes in court, Jamison vanished from public eye.
Meteor Experiments
After disappearing from public eye, Dr. Jamison began to experiment with meteor rocks with fellow scientists Arthur Walsh and Steven Hamilton. After some unethical experiments, Dr. Walsh quit the project and prevented Jamison from studying any further. Chloe Sullivan learned of Dr. Jamison's involvement in research with meteor rocks and interviewed him about it. Jamison said some insulting things about Dr. Walsh before asking Chloe to leave his office.
Dr. Jamison later escorted Chloe and Pete Ross to an underground secret laboratory after catching them snooping around outside. He explained that Dr. Hamilton, and Dr. Walsh chose this location for their lab because it contained the largest meteor anywhere. There it was revealed he was experimenting on the bodies of deceased metahumans to find a cure for the meteor-infection.
But secretly Dr. Jamison wanted to cultivate the powers for himself. He temporarily gained the ability to create seizures. Chloe and Pete were able to escape from Dr. Jamison's experiments by destroying his lab through explosions and flooding. Jamison managed to escape and elude the authorities once again.
Ares Project
Years later, Dr. Jamison had lost his meteor abilities and became a primary physician on Lex Luthor's Level 33.1 project, which continued his aim to cultivate metahuman powers into one super-powered individual. His facility of Level 33.1 at Corto Maltese was destroyed by the Justice League.
The lab's destruction didn't slow down Lex's plans to create an army of super-soldiers, however and was successful with the creation of the Mark IV prototype. Dr. Jamison worked with other scientists on the super soldier Wes Keenan who was given various metahuman and alien abilities. They conducted a field test where Keenan tested the facility's defenses and he was able to reach his target: Lex Luthor.
Dr. Jamison was monitoring the prototype when Jason Bartlett entered and announced there was a witness to the murder of Senator Ed Burke. Lex ordered this loose end to be tied up and Jamison and Bartlett prepare Wes for programming. Wes found Lois Lane at the Kent Farm and took her a warehouse. Due to his childhood connections to her, he felt conflicted of the programmed control that was embedded in his head and fought to resist his orders.
Failing to secure the asset, Lex and Bartlett returned to the lab to berate Jamison for losing the subject. The doctor said Wes was impossible to track, but activates LuthorCorp satellites in an attempt to track Wes down and re-initiate his commands. After failing his programming, Wes passed away and his body was brought back to Level 33.1 where Lex ordered a complete study of the corpse.
Dr. Jamison revealed that they didn't have any more alien DNA from Titan to continue the project. Lex was undeterred and reveals that he was already working on securing a replacement source and that he has hundreds of subjects ready to be turned into super-soldiers.
Lex desired to acquire the last Phantom Wraith to use its DNA to power his soldiers. His forces found the Phantom possessing the body of an old man but it had escaped, killing its host in the process. The phantom later possessed a mail carrier in a neighboring village but could not contain it and he passed away. Bartlett had the body brought to the Level 33.1 facility where Dr. Jamison examined it.
Lex asked Jamison if his blood produced any results, but the doctor said it contained no abnormalities. Lex ordered Bartlett and Jamison to find the phantom in a living host and capture it to study it. It was later discovered that the phantom had control of a young boy named Philipe Lamont. The local doctors were unsure what was wrong with him. When Lex found the boy, he took him in an unmarked helicopter back to Reeves Dam.
Donovan extracted a blood sample from the boy stating it looked normal but hoped it wasn't. Doctor Jamison examined it got the sample he needed for Project Ares, realizing that it was sufficient for Lex's army of clones. Suddenly the phantom awakens and killed Bartlett.
Lex pushes the doctor into the path of the wraith and leaves him behind to be killed so he can buy more time to escape. Doctor Jamison tried to escape, but Lex betrayed him and locked the metal doors, leaving Jamison trapped with the blood-thirsty phantom. The possessed boy dragged Donovan's corpse to the entrance using his fingerprints to open the door and escape the lab.
