♥ SOAPS IN DEPTH Cover Story DAYS OF OUR LIVES Building A Mystery
The passion plays and question marks that have filled the life of John Black.
When he arrived in Salem twelve years ago under a cloak of darkness, his body wrapped in bandages, John Black was one more riddle to be solved. However, when the bandages were removed to reveal the man underneath, he proved to be more - much more - than anybody could have imagined.
Sure, his suave good looks set women's hearts aflutter, but it was his character that they fell in love with. He was mysterious and troubled, vulnerable yet strong. Through the years and countless identity switches, he never traded in his integrity and charm. And ultimately, he took control of his destiny and returned to the persona with which he was most comfortable...John Black. Here is his story.
The Pawn's Entrance:
Victor Kiriakis brought the man dubbed The Pawn to Salem, but when Patch Johnson stumbled across the bandaged stranger, he kidnapped and held The Pawn for ransom. Patch christened him - none too originally - John Doe.
But John showed more originality when he escaped, removed his bandages, and went to work in a soup kitchen. (OOPS! This is wrong. The Pawn removed his bandages FIRST and then he escaped. Here is what happened, when Patch told him that he was going to send him back to Victor's custody, the Pawn waited until Patch went out for some hamburgers, stripped off his bandages and ran away from Patch's apartment. Also The Pawn had wandered into a soup kitchen and met a man named Brother Francis and asked him about a job. He wasn't working in this soup kitchen like this article states.) When someone asked what his last name was, he borrowed a name from a plaque on the wall dedicated to veterans, and John Black was born. (OOPS! This is wrong. Brother Francis asked him what his name was, not just what his last name was as explained in this article.)
What's Up, Doc?
Soon, John Black moved from the soup kitchen to sweeping floors at the hospital. (OOPS! This is wrong. LOL! Didn't we just go through this whole shebang in the above paragraph? John at no time ever worked in a soup kitchen. He also was never a maintenance man at the hospital. He did in fact work at the hospital, but it was as a security guard.) Sparks flew between him and Dr. Marlena Evans, yet when she spotted a phoenix tattoo on his shoulder, she wondered whether he actually might be her archenemy, Stefano DiMera. Her fears were laid to rest when she and John tracked down his cosmetic surgeon. A delighted Marlena discovered that John was actually her presumed-dead husband, Roman Brady.
Though his memories were still hazy, John…er, Roman eagerly resumed his life with Marlena. However, his daughter, Carrie, wasn't so easy to convince. In fact, when she saw her stepmother in the arms of the new Roman, she ran into the street and was hit by a car. However, father and daughter forged a bond anew after Roman talked Carrie out of the coma into which she had slipped.
When As Roman...
John settled into his life as Roman, but it wasn't a settled life by a long shot. He was heartsick when Marlena had an accident that caused her to lapse into a month-long coma and go into cardiac arrest. Her near-death prompted the couple to renew their wedding vows.
Unfortunately, their honeymoon was short-lived. Orpheus, an ISA agent with his own agenda, kidnapped Marlena. Roman saved her, only to lose her again when Orpheus blew up the Brady house with Marlena supposedly inside. Later, Roman discovered that Marlena was alive and living on Orpheus' tropical island. Roman killed Orpheus, but it looked like Marlena was gone for good when the plane in which she was riding exploded.
Life After Marlena:
The grief-stricken Roman picked up the pieces to his shattered love life when he met the strong-willed Diana Colville, who was on a mission to track down a mysterious computer disk. Roman stood by while Diana pretended to fall in love with Victor, but refused to stay at home and trailed the two to Greece.
There, the sultry nights unleashed the passion between Roman and Diana, and they made love. However, life took an unexpected twist when Roman shot villainess Serena, and Diana dropped the bombshell that Serena was her mother. Diana then rejected Roman in favor of her feigned romance with Victor. When the charade led to the altar, Roman swept the bride off her feet - literally - and held her captive in a mountain cabin. Diana escaped, but later returned to Roman's waiting arms when she discovered that her mother was alive and plotting with Victor. (OOPS! This is wrong. The shoot-out that Roman had with Serena didn't kill her; Serena had just been left temporarily paralyzed.)
"I Do" Or Diana:
Roman discovered that life with Diana was filled with playfulness and problems. He followed her to Peru, where she lost her fortune trying to save her mother. Roman broke the bad news that it was her mother who had tried to steal Diana's inheritance in the first place. Their romance was called off when Roman discovered that Diana tried to swindle her fortune back, but it was on again when he saved her from the Torres crime family.
Diana returned the favor when she snapped Roman out of a posthypnotic suggestion that turned him into an assassin. After several glitch-filled trips to the altar, it finally looked like the duo would get hitched without a, uh, hitch. But Diana's presumed-dead hubby, Cal, crashed the ceremony. Later, he tried to kill Roman, and Diana shot at Cal. Tragically, Diana hit Roman instead. While he was in a coma, she left town feeling guilty. (OOPS! This is wrong. Contrary to what this article says, Diana didn't leave town while Roman was in a coma. Roman was out of the coma and was recovering at home after undergoing surgery to have the bullet removed from his neck. Roman and Diana had just made love and even though Roman told Diana time and time again that the shooting wasn't her fault, she wasn't able to live with her own guilt so she left town while Roman was sleeping.)
Guilty Of True Love:
Love was the last thing on his mind when Roman teamed-up with Isabella Toscano to track down her sister Marina's killer - who turned out to be Isabella herself! Thankfully, her incarceration was short-lived when it was proven that she had killed Marina in self-defense. Roman declared his love, and the two were well on their way to supercoupledom when he heard that his first wife, Marlena, was still alive. (OOPS! This is wrong. Back up the truck because there is about to be a tidal wave of corrections being made. First off, Roman didn't HEAR that his first wife, Marlena was alive. What happened is Marlena had been in a coma on a Caribbean island for four years. When she returned to Salem, Marlena held off contacting members of her family - which included Roman. After she saw Roman proposing marriage to his beloved, Isabella, Marlena decided at that moment that she must let Roman know she's alive or she'll risk losing him when he marries Isabella. Days later, during Roman and Isabella's engagement party, Marlena lured Roman to the pier and he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Marlena walk down the steps of the foggy pier and walk towards him. They shared an emotional reunion, but the facts remain that Roman had NO idea she was alive, contrary to what this article states.) He managed to track down Marlena in Mexico, but he had the shock of his life when the real Roman showed up, too. (OOPS! This is wrong. Um, say what?! Nope, Roman didn't track down Marlena in Mexico, see the paragraph above for an explanation regarding what REALLY happened. Roman and Marlena did want to get to the bottom of Marlena's disappearance and investigate her missing years, so they took off in search of the answers and their search lead them to the island of San Cristobal. It was here that they bumped into the REAL Roman Brady.) He was once again John Black.
Isabella Lost:
With a new Roman in town, John was back to mystery-man status. Then Danielle Stevens came to Salem and claimed to be his long-lost bride. He was attracted to her, and they spent some cozy time together, but Isabella poked into Danielle's past and discovered that Danielle was also Romulus, a master jewel thief. After Danielle left town, John's real identity, as the presumed-dead heir Forrest Alamain, was uncovered. It was also learned that his aunt, Vivian, had swindled away his inheritance. Surprisingly, Isabella's father, Victor, helped John replenish his bank book.
Through it all, it was Isabella who enriched John's life. She was nine months pregnant by the time that they made it to the altar. The priest began delivering his sermon, but was interrupted when Isabella delivered John's son, Brady. They resumed the ceremony, however, and left the church as man and wife.
The two were deliriously happy together…until Isabella found out that she had inoperable cancer. At first, John refused to believe it, but in a painful last goodbye, the couple traveled to Italy, where Isabella died in John's arms.
Torn Between Two Lovers:
John had just begun to pick up the pieces to his shattered life when he heard that Marlena was in trouble. When he rushed to save her, she ran into his arms. Their moment of passion produced Baby Belle, although neither Marlena nor John knew this until Sami kidnapped her half-sister. When John and social worker Kristen Blake saved the tiny tot, Stefano tricked Marlena into admitting that John, not Roman, was the dad.
Thinking that his and Marlena's time had passed - even without Roman in the picture - John pursued the spirited Kristen. Nonetheless, she married her adopted brother, Tony. Then, she returned to John when she discovered her husband's lying ways.
Together, Kristen and John unlocked one more secret from his past - that he was in fact a priest. This knowledge sent a horrified Kristen running back to her husband. While John wasn't too happy to find that he had taken a vow of celibacy, his newfound status protected him from Tony's jealous vengeance.
To Hell And Back:
Through the years, John thought that he had encountered every evil, but that was before Satan took up residence in Marlena's body - for the purpose of shaking his faith! While under the devil's control, Marlena engaged in all manner of atypical behavior, and even morphed into Kristen. Thankfully, John returned to the priesthood to exorcise the Desecrator and stared down Marlena's demon as well as his own demons.
His Heart's Desire:
After John left the priesthood, he tried to resurrect his romance with Kristen, but Tony decided that enough was enough. In a diabolical move, the terminally-ill Tony killed himself but made it look as though John had pulled the trigger. Luckily, a mysterious Lady in White saved John from a capital conviction by producing Tony's detailed diary.
The truth set John free in more ways than one. During his incarceration, he had come to a startling conclusion: He loved only one woman - Marlena.
Kristen's Reign Of Terror:
Yet Kristen wasn't about to let her handsome hunk go so easily, and she announced that she was pregnant with John's child. The delighted dad-to-be put aside his yearning for Marlena, not realizing that Kristen was no longer the sweet social worker he remembered.
In fact, he was completely clueless when Kristen miscarried but continued to fake her pregnancy. Unbeknownst to John, she had taken a walk on the wacky side and hired pregnant bumpkin Susan Banks to take her place in the birthing room and later give up her child.
Unfortunately, Susan bonded with both her baby and John, and it was Susan to whom John got married in an impromptu bedside ceremony. Later, Susan tried to wed John for real (albeit still impersonating Kristen). She took her impersonation all the way to the altar in an Elvis-themed wedding. John was stunned when it was revealed that "Kristen's" teeth weren't the only things that were fake!
A Happy Ending?
When the truth and Kristen's trickery were exposed, John broke off their engagement. It didn't take him long to move in on Marlena again, but moments before their wedding, Kristen wheeled in an alive - albeit dying - Roman. John was devastated when Marlena canceled the wedding in order to care for her ex-hubby. Still, John realized that it was better to compete with an alive Roman than a dead man's memory, so John tracked down an antidote for Roman.
The dying man made a full recovery, but John was left to twiddle his thumbs while Marlena dithered between the two. Ironically, Kristen brought John and Marlena together when she poisoned a piece of candy that Belle inadvertently ate. They couldn't conceal their tenderness for each other as they held a vigil over their daughter's hospital bed, and Roman took himself out of the race for Marlena's heart. John didn't waste time popping the question (again!). This time, nothing would stop him and Marlena from marrying, he vowed. This time, they really, finally would be together...forever!
A Trail Of Broken Hearts - It's Led John Back To Marlena Time And Time Again. See For Yourself!
| Name |
Story |
| Marlena Evans |
When John arrived in Salem, the amnesiac turned to the town's attractive analyst for help, and learned that he really was her presumed-dead husband, Roman.(OOPS! This is wrong. Typo alert! We think this should say "When The Pawn arrived in Salem," not "When John arrived in Salem." Drake was playing The Pawn at that time.) |
| Diana Colville |
After Marlena's "death," John kidnapped this reporter to prevent her from marrying Victor Kiriakis, but after two tries, they never managed to wed themselves.(OOPS! This is wrong. Typo alert! We think this should say "Roman kidnapped this reporter to prevent her from marrying Victor Kiriakis," not "John kidnapped this reporter to prevent her from marrying Victor Kiriakis." Drake was playing Roman at that time.) |
| Yvette DuPrés |
What goes around came around for John when he fell for this call girl.(OOPS! This is wrong. Typo alert! We think this should say "What goes around came around for Roman when he fell for this call girl," not "What goes around came around for John when he fell for this call girl." Drake was playing Roman at that time.) Hired to seduce Victor, she went right back to Daddy Warbucks after her fling with John. |
| Isabella Toscano |
This spitfire safeguarded her romance with John against everything from murder charges to Marlena's resurrection, but eventually, she succumbed to cancer. |
| Danielle Stevens |
This trickster claimed to be John's first wife, but, thanks to Isabella, the schemer was revealed to be Salem's most-wanted jewel thief, Romulus.(OOPS! This is wrong. In our opinion this should say "the schemer was revealed to be Europe's most-wanted jewel thief, Romulus," not "the schemer was revealed to be Salem's most-wanted jewel thief, Romulus" like this article states.) |
| Rebecca Morrison |
John and this district attorney shared an interest in law enforcement, but their relationship couldn't hold a candle to the one that he dreamt of rekindling with Marlena. |
| Kristen DiMera |
Stefano's adopted daughter forgot the importance of being earnest in her bid to snag John. By the time he bid her adieu, he hardly recognized the fallen angel. |
| Susan Banks |
While playing Kristen, this bumpkin fell as hard for John as her look-alike had, but when her identity was revealed at their nuptials, the honeymoon was over. |
| Marlena Again |
With Roman now clued-in to her heart's desire and with Kristen(and everyone who resembles her) sent packing, the path at last is clear for John to marry his Doc, but will they finally make it to the altar this time? |
Enemies Mine - A Rogues' Gallery Of John's Most Formidable Foes:
No matter who John has thought that he was on any given day - The Pawn, Father John, Forrest Alamain, whoever - he has worn a white hat and matched wits with Salem's most maddening men and master criminals. Consider:
| Name |
Story |
| Victor Kiriakis |
The underworld overlord relocated John (then The Pawn) to Salem for a little rest and relaxation. However, after John escaped captivity and assumed the identity of Roman, he and his abductor played cat and mouse for several years. |
| Orpheus |
This former ISA agent held John responsible for accidentally shooting his wife. (OOPS! This is wrong. In our opinion this should say, "This former ISA agent held Roman responsible for accidentally shooting his wife," not "This former ISA agent held John responsible for accidentally shooting his wife" like this article states.) So, the nut-job endeavored to get even by faking the death of John's missus, Marlena, and holding her hostage on his own personal tropical island.(OOPS! This is wrong. In our opinion this should say, "So the nut-job endeavored to get even by faking the death of Roman's missus, Marlena," not "So, the nut-job endeavored to get even by faking the death of John's missus, Marlena" like this article states.) |
| Stefano DiMera |
The Phoenix started messing with John's head long before he ordered it lopped-off by a guillotine. In fact, so thorough was the maniac's brainwashing of John that, to this day, he is plagued by his lack of memories. |
| Roman Brady |
Although not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, this top cop gave John a real run for his honey by returning from the dead and reclaiming his rightful role as Marlena's husband - and lover. |
| Tony DiMera |
Stefano's son swore vengeance upon realizing that adopted sister and fiancée Kristen was in John's thrall. To that end, the conniver tried to kill John, then killed himself and framed John for the "murder." |
| Roman Again |
Although still not a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, this top cop gave John another run for his honey by returning from the dead - yes, again! - and surviving a terminal illness to fight for Marlena's love. |
The Troubles They've Seen - Who Has Endured More Sturm And Drang - John Or Marlena?
Is it fate that has bound these two together or just plain old-fashioned bad luck? Draw your own conclusions as SOAPS IN DEPTH reviews the brutal storms that they each have weathered on their way into one another's arms.
| John |
Marlena |
| Once borrowed the life of Marlena's husband, Roman. |
Once had her life borrowed by her twin sister, Samantha. |
| Mourned the passing of wife number two, Isabella. |
Mourned the passing of husband number two, Roman, three times. |
| Was bewitched by she-devil Kristen. |
Was possessed by the devil. |
| Briefly believed that he was a priest. |
Briefly morphed into a bitch (Kristen). |
| Nearly was beheaded by Stefano. |
Was crowned Queen of the Night by Stefano. |
| Accidentally shot the wife of Orpheus. |
Deliberately shot The Phoenix. |
| Incurred stepson Eric's wrath by pursuing Marlena. |
Incurred daughter Sami's wrath by pursuing John. |
NBC SOAPS IN DEPTH, 10/6/98
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