Justin Russo

Justin Russo
	WBWP; WOWP; Headmaster;
	Character Information
Full Name:	Justin Vincenzo Pepe Russo
Dad (by Roman and Milo Russo); Principal Russo; DJ Mad Hatter ; J-Man (by himself, Alex and Giada) ; Justin Timber-Lame ; Justine Russo; Headmaster Russo; Mr. Russo ; Professor Russo ; Russo; Giuseppe (by Max); Romeo (by Alex); Alex Russo's Brother (by the Wizard World)
Birthday:	Late October, 1991
Lives In:	Staten Island, New York (currently); WizTech (formerly); Waverly Place, New York City, New York (formerly)
School:	Tribeca Prep (formerly; graduated); WizTech (formerly)
Age:	16 (WOWP Season 1); 16-17 (WOWP Season 2); 17-18 (WOWP Season 3); 18-19 (WOWP Season 4); 34 (WBWP Season 1)
Principal of Greenwald Middle School (currently since Wizards Just Wand to Have Fun); Billie's Wizard Professor/Mentor (Wizards Beyond Waverly Place) (currently) ; Magic Teacher (currently) ; Vice Principal at Greenwald Middle School (formerly); Head Master of WizTech (formerly; fired); Tutor to Delinquent Wizards (formerly) ; Writer; Student Body President (formerly); Monster Hunter (formerly) ; Mechanic; Musician; Athlete (formerly); Waiter at Waverly Sub Station (formerly) ; Student (formerly)
Affiliation:	Greenwald Middle School; WizTech (formerly); Waverly Sub Station (formerly)
Gender:	Male
Talents:	Magic; Building Robots
Likes:	Magic and being a wizard, Academics, Aliens, Robots, Tears of Blood, Being the best, His family, His friends
Dislikes:	Alex being better than him at magic
	Appearance
Species:	Full Wizard (currently) ; Human (formerly); Angel of Darkness (temporally in Wizards vs. Angels); Werewolf (temporally in Beware Wolf)
Height:	6’0”
Eye Color:	Green
Hair Color:	Dark Brown
	Relationships
Jerry Russo (father); Theresa Russo (mother); Alex Russo (younger sister); Max Russo (younger brother); Giada Russo (wife); Billie (ward/friend/daughter figure); Roman Russo (oldest son); Milo Russo (youngest son); Hank Russo (paternal grandfather); Rose Russo (paternal grandmother); Kelbo Russo (paternal uncle); Megan Russo (paternal aunt); Carmela (paternal cousin); Francesca (paternal cousin); Bianca Russo (paternal cousin); Gino Russo (paternal cousin); ; Unnamed Maternal Grandfather ; Magdalena (maternal grandmother); Ernesto (maternal uncle) ; Unnamed Maternal Great-Grandmother; Kim (cousin) ; Ignatius Russo † (paternal great-great-great-grandfather)
Zeke Beakerman (best friend); Billie ; Susan; Mason Greybeck; Harper Finkle; Hugh Normous; Professor Crumbs; Dragon (former pet); Marcus
Wife: Giada Russo; Ex-Crush: London Tipton, Millie, and Kari Landsdorf; Dated: Isabella and Sarah; Ex-Girlfriends: Juliet van Heusen, Rosie, Daphne, Miranda Hampson, and Amy; Former Admirers: Harper Finkle, Lucy
Gigi Hollingsworth; Frankie; Brad Sherwood; Jerko Phoenix; T.J. Taylor; Cragmont; Dr. Evilini (arrested); Gorog (deceased); Mummy (deceased); Morphia Murkshadow; Alistair Goodspeed; Nigel Dragonberry ; Xander Dragonberry
	Production Info
Portrayed by:	David Henrie
Season(s):	1, 2, 3, 4
First Appearance:	Crazy 10-Minute Sale (WOWP); Everything is Not What it Seems (Wizards Beyond Waverly Place)
Last Appearance:	Who Will Be the Family Wizard? (WOWP)

"The bear, me, you, bear trap. "

―Justin Russo^[src]

Character	Gallery

Justin Vincenzo Pepe Russo^[2] is one of the main characters and the main deuteragonist in Wizards of Waverly Place and one of the main characters in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. He is the eldest son and child of Theresa and Jerry Russo. He is Alex and Max Russo's older brother. He is Giada Russo's husband. He is Roman and Milo Russo's father. He is the eldest of the Russo kids and became a full wizard, like his younger sister Alex in the series finale. He's one of the most gifted wizarding students of recent times, creating his own spell, being able to use the Russo family wand with amazing success, and being well viewed by adults and professors, both mortal and magical. In the show's finale, Justin keeps his wizard powers, replacing Professor Crumbs as the new Headmaster of WizTech. At 19 years old, Justin became the youngest Headmaster of WizTech in history. Then at some point he was fired from WizTech due to an unicorn incident, causing him to leave being a wizard and magic behind for good until he meets Billie a powerful young wizard-in-training who needs a new Wizard Teacher.

Even though Justin has had many romantic relationships through the run of the show, his most significant relationship is the relationship with Juliet van Heusen, which they ended at some point, due to the fact that at some point he met and married a mortal named Giada Russo. Justin and Giada have two kids together, Roman and Milo Russo. He is portrayed by David Henrie.

Background

Personality

"One of the brightest students of recent times..."

—Professor Crumbs

Justin is very intelligent, smart, hardworking, rule-biding, overly studious, book-smart, responsible, mature, nerdy, geeky, goofy, silly, funny, mechanical, creative, athletic, sensitive, polite, respectful, obedient, caring, obsessive, high-strung, uptight, serious, and protective with a vengeful, gullible, naive, sarcastic, selfish, self-centered, outspoken, stubborn, fun, fun-loving, immature, and mischievous side to him. Justin is viewed by his family to be intelligent, kind, and generous. He strongly believes in aliens and that the language spoken by the Alien Language League is authentic alien language and not malarkey. He's shown to be gullible as seen in Wizards Exposed, when Justin was interrogated by the government, he was manipulated into telling the truth about being a wizard by claiming to him that they found an alien transmission from actual aliens, but due to his obsession with aliens, he actually believed that the transmission was real. In Who Will Be The Family Wizard, when Justin actually thought he was disqualified from the Wizard competition and he began resenting Alex, it actually turned out to be another one of Crumbs' hidden tests to prove if they can live well without magic. He can sometimes be self-centered, as proven when he found out that Alex was back in the competition and that she won a Wizard of the Year award, he expressed his envy towards Alex's win. This is also seen when he and the family traveled back in time to the 1950's with Harper, and Alex got left behind with Justin refusing to go back for her. He even refused to rescue his best friend, Zeke, from a griffin to focus on the competition. He likes to be the center of attention.

Physical Appearance

Justin is a tall and handsome young man and physically taller than his siblings. He has short dark brown hair and green eyes. Justin is of Mexican and Italian-American descent.

Abilities

Justin became the first Twelve Ball champion, proving that he is one of the most powerful wizards in the Wizard World. Although he lost the Family Wizard competition, Justin was allowed to keep his powers and become a full wizard by Professor Crumbs, replacing him as the headmaster of WizTech, further showing just how powerful and talented he is as Justin was trusted to lead a school full of wizards despite his young age. Professor Crumbs states that he made this choice because of Justin's commendable integrity and knowledge. Then Justin gave up his wizard powers as an adult in order to marry Giada Russo.

Above-average intelligence: In many episodes, it's shown that Justin knows many things, his knowledge includes but isn't limited to, history, science, geography, mathematics, robotics, and general knowledge. In "Alex's Brother, Maximan" he builds a working robot out of household items. In Franken Girl, he combines magic and science to build a Frankenstein-like robot. He is the only sibling to be fluent in Spanish, being able to read and translate it as well.
Hand-to-hand combat: As shown in "Wizards vs. Werewolves" he is quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat, being able to hold his own against a werewolf for a short time, and seeing as werewolves are stronger, faster and more agile than humans by an impressive margin, this is quite impressive. Although in an earlier story, Alex laughed at the idea of him getting in a fight, so it's possible he only recently learned how to fight because of his monster hunting. He also holds his own during the gang fight in "Western Show", further demonstrating his combat abilities.
Spells Expert: Justin is an expert on spells, and knows many useful ones for many occasions. However, he isn't as good as Alex at improvisation. He also knows about spell locks.
Magic Expert: Justin knows a lot about magic of all kinds, such as charms, potions, and curses. Magic doesn't come naturally to him though, so he studies extensively to make up for it.
Marksmanship: As shown in "Wizard For A Day" Justin is crack shot.

History

Early Life

Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo was born sometime in late October right before Halloween in 1991 to Theresa and Jerry Russo. He's the oldest of the three Russo children. Justin grew up with a younger sister Alex and a younger brother Max.

Wizards of Waverly Place

Justin is of Italian & Mexican descent, he's Alex's and Max's brother, and the oldest of the three Russo siblings. He is very smart, and is often considered a nerd. He is in numerous clubs and has learned over 5000 spells. He continues his wizard studies in a Monster Hunting course. For his knowledge in wizardry, he takes after his father Jerry, who originally won the Wizard Family Competition against Kelbo and Megan. Unlike Alex, he is an overachiever when it comes to school. He is fairly athletic, and very respectful to his parents and other adults. Justin is responsible, sensible, kindhearted and hardworking, but can be a little sarcastic to Alex and Max. He revealed to Alex that he is jealous of her because he felt she is blessed with magic skills that he can't live up to, and it's reinforced when he refers to Alex as "daddy's little princess" (a unique, and often favoring, bond between a father and daughter). This is what drives him to be a better wizard. Alex consoles him by stating that he is her rock and foundation, and that she is actually jealous of his academic achievements, even though she openly admits to not caring about school. He has a long-term relationship with Juliet Van Heusen, a teenaged-looking vampire whose family runs the "Late Night Bite" (the local competition for the Waverly Sub Station), which prompted a feud between the Russos and the Van Heusens. At first, their love is a forbidden romance, which Alex points out by referencing William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but then they eventually start dating openly. Justin reveals to Alex that Juliet is his true love, after he felt heartbroken about being unable to see her due to the feuding families. Justin gets heartbroken again when Juliet was forced to break up with him due to her getting scratched by Mason the werewolf, as she stated that when that happens a vampire's appearance will revert to their true age, which in Juliet's case is over 2,000 years old.

Later in the series, Alex tells the world that they are wizards and her and Justin's training levels move down, so he makes a class with students who got kicked out of WizTech, and later falls in love with an angel named Rosie.

At first, it seems that Justin won the Wizard Competition after being the first to cross the finish line, and he was about to be granted his full powers, when he says that he can't accept it because he didn't really win; Alex would have won if she hadn't come to back to help him, and he says that she deserves to be the Russo family wizard. Because of his honesty, Professor Crumbs allows both Justin and Alex to keep their powers and for Justin to take over as Headmaster of WizTech.

Leaving the Wizard World behind

Sometime after the Russo Family Wizard Competition, Justin Russo becomes the youngest Headmaster of WizTech in history at only 19 years old after Professor Crumbs finally retires. Then one day Justin's co-worker Alistair Goodspeed causes the Unicorn incident to get him fired as Headmaster of WizTech so he can take over by hexing his wand which causes Justin to do the spell wrong failing to protect the students. Then Alistair Goodspeed saves the day while Justin gets fired as Headmaster of WizTech. Then due to the incident Justin decides to walk away from magic by leaving the Wizard World behind for good.

Adult Life

At some point Justin Russo met a mortal named Giada and they fell in love with each other. At some point Justin married Giada. Then at some point, Justin and Giada’s first child, Roman Russo was born. Then later on Justin and Giada's second child and son Milo Russo was born. At some point Justin became the vice principal of Greenwald Middle School where his son Roman Russo attends. Justin is keeping his wizard past a secret from his wife and kids, although they find out after the arrival of Billie, a young wizard who Alex brings to Justin in the hopes of getting him out of retirement in order to train her to control her magic.

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

Justin Russo is now married to Giada Russo and has 2 sons, Roman & Milo Russo, and is living a normal human life without magic. Justin’s life changes once his sister Alex brings a young wizard named Billie to him in need of training. Billie moves in with the family and Justin must embrace his wizard past to teach Billie and ensure the future of the Wizard World. Justin is the vice principal of Greenwald Middle School where Roman, Billie, and their best friend Winter attend, although he later on becomes the principal.

Season One

TBA

Relationships

Family

Jerry Russo (father)

Theresa Russo (mother)

Alex, Justin and Max: Trio of Russo

Alex Russo (younger sister)

Alex and Justin relationship

The relationship between Alex and Justin is possibly one of the closest relationships in the series. Alex and Justin are really close siblings, closer than his relationship with Max. Alex always confides in Justin and when she has a problem, she turns to him to help her undo a spell that went wrong, or even for general advice. Justin has also shown to be quite caring and overprotective of Alex, such as in Wizards vs. Werewolves where he both emotionally and physically protects his sister from Mason.

Max Russo (younger brother)

Justin often gets roped into his brother's hairbrained schemes, and has to deal with the aftermath. He can get frustrated, annoyed, and confused by his brother's complete lack of forethought and intelligence. He does, however, sometimes enjoy helping Max play pranks on their sister Alex. A significant amount of the brothers' dialogue is them arguing about ideas, Max's antics, or Justin's "nerdiness." The two generally get along well as siblings though.

Friends

Zeke Beakerman (best friend)

Love Interests

Giada Russo (wife)

"Giada, love I know all this Wizard stuff can be a lot but, I promise you nothing is going to change."

―Justin to Giada.

Justin first met Giada at some point after the Unicorn Incident that got him fired from his job as headmaster Then at some point both Justin and Giada fell in love with each other. Then at some point Justin gave up his powers so he can marry Giada because wizards can’t married non-wizards. Then at some point Justin married Giada. Then at some point Justin and Giada's first son Roman Russo was born. Then at some point Justin and Giada's second son Milo Russo was born. For many years Justin never told Giada the truth about his Wizard past that he comes from a family of Wizards on his father's side of the family.

In Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, Justin and Giada have been happily married for over a decade. Justin and Giada live in Staten Island, New York with their two sons Roman and Milo Russo where they live a magic-free life until Billie shows up. In Everything is Not What it Seems, on the morning of Justin's 34th birthday, Giada says "Happy Birthday J-Man" to Justin.

Quotes

Wizards of Waverly Place

Season 1

"But you don't drag me down. I don't want you to lose your powers. Every time you mess up, I have to think of a way to fix it. You make me a better wizard."

Season 2

"You know what I figured out? I fall in love fast. But you know what's different about this time? When I'm not with her... ...my heart hurts."

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

Season 1

"I am, okay? I like my quiet, predictable, no surprises life."

Appearances

Wizards of Waverly Place

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Movies

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (mentioned)

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

Season 1

Key Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Trivia

Justin had his first kiss with Miranda Hampson when he was 16 years old.^[3]
He is allergic to cinnamon and flowers.
- In "Disenchanted Evening" Justin states that he is allergic to cinnamon. So, he has to have his own pie at Thanksgiving, which Theresa calls this "the bland pie." in "Graphic Novel" he says he loves pumpkin pie, which more often than not contains cinnamon.
Justin's self proclaimed nickname is "J-Man" that he claims a bunch of people called him.
Justin spent 8 years without eating pizza because he thought the pizza delivery guy let his old dog, Willy, run away when it turns out it was Alex Russo who accidentally let his dog Willy out when she was 5 years old.^[4]
Justin collects Action Figures that Alex Russo likes to referred to as "Dolls" as a joke.
In Season 1, it was revealed that Justin is the only one in his family that still likes taking a bath over taking a shower.
Justin is a fan of the band Tears of Blood.
Perhaps in terms of his bad luck, Justin's the only child in the Russo trio to be forgotten by his parents, Theresa and Jerry, twice. Once in Justin's Little Sister and then in the movie respectively, to which both times are caused by Alex in some ways.
In the episode "Alex Tells the World" Justin and Alex were demoted to level 1 in their family wizard's competition; Justin was at level 5 before this. To regain his lost points, he begins to tutor Wiz-Tech's delinquent wizards in "Alex Gives Up."
It should be noted that Justin is quite unlucky; he normally ends up being the worst off at the end of each story, having only bested Alex a few times. Sometimes, he loses even when no one tries to make him lose (e.g., Captain Jim Bob Sherwood). When it comes to romance, the only times he has ever found true love, he has been forced to part with them, although he was reunited with Juliet in "Wizards vs. Everything."
His favorite color is green.
Justin is one of two Wizards of Waverly Place Main Characters of the principal cast to appear in every episode until he was absent in the TV Movie The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex.
- Justin is the only main character from Wizards of Waverly Place to also be main character in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
Both and Alex are the only two of the Russo trio to keep their powers, Alex becoming the family wizard and Justin becoming a full wizard due to becoming the new Headmaster of WizTech in the series finale.
Justin is like his father Jerry Russo, Alex is like her aunt Megan, and Max is like his uncle Kelbo in terms of personality.
- Justin married a mortal named Giada just like how his father Jerry Russo married his mortal mother Theresa Russo.
- Also both Justin and Jerry gave up the title of family wizard to a sibling who needed magic way more than them. Jerry gave up his powers to marry his mother Theresa, a mortal because wizards can’t marry non-magical beings and gave his powers to his younger brother Kelbo, who was the youngest in the family because he needed magic more than him and their sister and lacks anything non-magical, meaning his life would be miserable without it. While, Justin gave the title of family wizard to Alex, who was the middle child, instead of giving it to Max, who was the youngest because Alex would have won, but went back to rescue him after he got stuck in a tree root and afterwards, Justin then passed her when crossing the finish line and also because she needed magic in order to be with her boyfriend Mason, a werewolf, as she would not be able to be with him as a mortal.
Justin is very similar to his son Roman Russo, both are smart, likes and performs well in school, are the oldest in their family, and both are like their father in many ways.
Justin is similar to Harper Finkle, both are smart and obedient students, love silent film, often tells Alex what’s right and what’s wrong, and both don’t like when Alex uses magic irresponsibly.
Justin is similar to Warren Nichols. Both are loyal wizards who together tried to protect the family Wizard Competition from Stevie and Alex, who were planning to abolish it. Also, both are oldest sibling and both win their family wizard competitions, but Justin gave the title of the family wizard to Alex.
Justin Russo is similar to Jake Madden from the Disney channel original series Villains of Valley View.
Justin Russo is similar to Cody Martin from the Disney channel The Suite Life Franchise, both are intelligent, smart, sensitive, studious, hardworking, and responsible, and both have a rebellious and mischievous sibling who often picks on and makes fun of them, but they each have each other’s backs no matter.
became a member of the Alien Language League.
Justin is 5'11, making him the tallest main character on the show.
Justin falls in love so easily.
According to Alex, with the WizTech robe and glasses, he looked like someone (Harry Potter), but she forgot the name of the person.
In the original script "The Amazing O'Malley's" Justin's name was Jordan and was the twin of Julia (Alex's original character name).
Justin is named after series creator Todd J. Greenwald's middle name.
Justin was correct when he said that he will win the Russo Family Wizard Competition, and keep his powers, but passed the role of the family wizard to Alex.
Justin has been in relationships with 5 different species throughout the series. Justin dated a few humans, a part Werewolf named Isabella, a part Elf named Tutor Hatchback, a Vampire named Juliet van Heusen, an Angel named Rosie before he ended up marrying a human named Giada.
As an adult Justin gave up his powers at some point. According to David Henrie in a interview said "Giving up his powers may or may not have been against his will."^[5]
Justin went to an unknown University where he got a degree of Master of Science in Education.^[6]
After giving up his powers as an adult for many years Justin never told his wife Giada Russo and his kids Roman and Milo Russo about how the Russo Family's secret is a family of Wizards until Billie comes into his life.
Justin is the best Wizard Teacher that Alex Russo has ever known.^[7]
Justin is the youngest Headmaster at WizTech in history.^[7]
Justin got fired from WizTech due to some mysterious incident that cause him to lead the Wizard World behind. After he got fired from WizTech, he never picked up a wand again until Billie comes into his life until he met Billie.^[7]
- In Potions Eleven, it was revealed that Justin was framed for the Unicorn Incident by Alistair Goodspeed who hexed his wand which caused Justin to fail to protect the school. For many years Justin blamed himself when in reality Alistair Goodspeed was the reason why Justin got fired in the first place.
In Something Wizard This Way Comes, it was revealed that Justin's birthday is sometime right before Halloween in late October.
After Justin got fired from WizTech, he stopped talking to his dad Jerry Russo about Wizard stuff because he was done with it.
Justin was suppose to get his wisdom teeth taking out when he was younger but kept putting it off. Then when Billie try to do a spell to take his wisdom teeth out she accidentally took his wisdom out too.^[8]
The Wizard World Ministry of Education recognize Justin to be a Professor of Magic.
In Potions Eleven, it was revealed that he has unpublished memoirs.
The Wizard World refers to Justin as "Alex Russo's Brother" which makes him angry.

Gallery

Justin Russo/Gallery

References

↑ Something Wizard This Way Comes: Billie says "Pretty sure you thought wizards weren't real until about a week ago, so.." to Roman on Halloween which means the events of Everything is Not What it Seems took place in late October right before Halloween on Justin's 34th birthday.
↑ Helping Hand
↑ First Kiss
↑ Curb Your Dragon
↑ David Henrie Teases Selena Gomez Reunion on Wizards Revival Series | Us Weekly
↑ https://youtu.be/o3PzIMHXrXQ?si=1noKH7d0EiFzZ2w3
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Everything is Not What it Seems
↑ You Can't Handle the Tooth!

[1] Something Wizard This Way Comes: Billie says "Pretty sure you thought wizards weren't real until about a week ago, so.." to Roman on Halloween which means the events of Everything is Not What it Seems took place in late October right before Halloween on Justin's 34th birthday.

[2] Helping Hand

[3] First Kiss

[4] Curb Your Dragon

[5] David Henrie Teases Selena Gomez Reunion on Wizards Revival Series | Us Weekly

[6] ttps://youtu.be/o3PzIMHXrXQ?si=1noKH7d0EiFzZ2w3

[:0-7] 7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 Everything is Not What it Seems

[8] You Can't Handle the Tooth!

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