Jim Harper is a police officer in Metropolis' Suicide Slum who becomes a vigilante to catch crooks that the law could not prosecute, describing himself as guarding society from criminals. He was trained to fighting condition by ex-boxer Joe Morgan (the same man who trained two other mystery men, Wildcat and the first Atom). He doesn't have superpowers, but he carries a bulletproof shield. He's aided by a group of boys known as the Newsboy Legion, to whom he is, literally, a guardian, having volunteered to take them in rather than allowing them to be sent to prison; he does so on the grounds that they're basically good kids who just needed a chance. The Legion grows up to become the heads of the Cadmus Project, subsequently saving Harper's life by transferring his mind from his old, dying body into a younger clone of himself. It's later revealed that Jim Harper is the great-uncle of Roy Harper, who becomes Green Arrow's sidekick under the name of "Speedy". Other relatives include his niece Roberta "Famous Bobby" Harper, who is briefly a member of the second Newsboy Legion and Jamie Harper, his grandniece working for the Gotham City Police Department. She works as Robin's personal contact in the GCPD, similar to the role Commissioner James Gordon plays for Batman. After helping Robin and Jason Bard expose two dirty cops in the GCPD, Jamie Harper is promoted to Detective Specialist and transfers to the Metropolis Science Police. Following Infinite Crisis, the Guardian clone's backstory was retconned. As Dubbilex explains to Jimmy Olsen, Jim Harper was not killed in the line of duty, but shot by Cadmus' first head of security, Jonathan Drew, upon discovering the clone was already being created. It's also revealed that the original Guardian clone had left Cadmus early on, and was now living in the town of Warpath on the Mexican border, where he assisted Sheriff Greg Saunders. Subsequent appearances of the Guardian had been new clones, each of which died within a year. The original Guardian clone has decided to move to Metropolis with Gwen, his adopted daughter (in fact, an adolescent female clone of himself that he rescued), during the New Krypton storyline. Science Police team leaders DuBarry and Daniels, along with several prison guards, are killed during the events of New Krypton when a team of Kandorians led by Commander Gor assault Stryker's Island and demand custody of Parasite. The Science Police Control 'Rachel' tasks Guardian to act as a liaison between the Metropolis Police Department and a coalition of superheroes in bringing justice for the fallen science police officers and prison guards. After the Kandorians leave Earth, Guardian is appointed Field Commander of the Science Police, as replacement for DuBarry and Daniels, due in part to his cloned memories of Jim Harper as a police officer and Guardian as a superhero. He is asked by Superman to help Mon-El, offering him a job with the Science Police and mentoring him on how to be a hero.
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James Harper appears in the Supergirl episode "Manhunter", portrayed by Eddie McClintock. In this episode, Harper is a colonel in the United States Marine Corps, and arrives with Lucy Lane to investigate the disappearance of Hank Henshaw and his subsequent replacement by the Martian Manhunter. Harper tries to take both the Martian Manhunter and Alex Danvers (DEO agent and foster sister of Supergirl) to be experimented on at Project Cadmus only to be thwarted by Supergirl and Lucy Lane. At the end of the episode, Martian Manhunter erases Harper's memories of the event and learns that Alex's father is also at Project Cadmus. It was announced by executive producer Andrew Kreisberg that James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) would become Guardian in Season 2. In the Supergirl episode "Changing", after Olsen helps battle Parasite while wearing a specially designed suit and wielding the shield created for him so he could be a hero, reveals Guardian as his chosen code name. A vigilante later uses Guardian as a scapegoat to kill murderers let go on technicalities; however, James manages to get the impostor arrested.
Guardian appears in Young Justice.