Justin Russo

Justin Russo
File:2d41d9876eee3cbed815c62f54fa7128.jpg
Information
Full name	Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo
Born	July 11, 1990
Nicknames	J-Man, Gizepe (by Max)
Resides	New York City, NY
Occupation	Headmaster at WizTech
Family	Jerry Russo (father) Theresa Russo (mother) Alex Russo (younger sister) Max Russo (younger brother) Hank Russo (paternal grandfather) Rose Russo (paternal grandmother) Megan Russo (paternal aunt) Kelbo Russo (paternal uncle) Magdalena Larkin (maternal grandmother) Janeive Larkin (maternal uncle) William Larkin (maternal uncle) Ernesto Larkin (maternal uncle) Franciso Larkin (Unknown, maternal) Angel Larkin (Unknown, maternal) Rosa Larkin (Unknown, maternal) Unidentified Twins (Unknown, maternal) Frankie Stein (daughter/creation)
Romances	Amy (ex-girlfriend; video game) Juliet Van Heusen (girlfriend) Rosie (ex-girlfriend) London Tipton (former crush) Tutor (former crush) Kari Landsdorf (former crush) Isabella (dated) Millie (former crush) Miranda Hampson (dated) Daphne (ex-girlfriend) Harper Finkle (unofficially dated) Sarah (dated)
Affiliations	Waverly Sub Station Wiz Tech
Production
Last ep	""Who Will Be The Family Wizard" "The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex" (mentioned and picture only)"
Portrayed by	David Henrie

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

―Justin Russo

Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo is the eldest of the Russo kids and is a full wizard, like his younger sister Alex. 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 Wiz Tech.

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 is ongoing.

Early Life

Justin Vincenzo Pepé Russo was born on July 11, 1990 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.

History

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 teenage vampire whose family runs the "Late Night Bite" (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.

Later in the series, Alex tells the world that they are wizards and her and Justin's 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 Wiz Tech.

Personality

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

—Professor Crumbs

Justin is one of the most intelligent and possess vast knowledge, both of magical things, such as spellcraft and magical creatures, but also mathematics, history, robotic and geography. He's capable of built robots, water motors, and mechanisms that simulate a flying carpet. His own knowledge makes him the chosen by his family to solve problems, like found excuses to hide magical affairs to protect magic from exposure.

Justin is labeled by his own family to be kind and generous but also has a vengeful and naive side. He strongly believes in aliens and that the language spoken by the Alien Language Club is actual alien and not make 'em up. 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 for aliens, he actually believed that the transmission was from actual aliens and in Who Will Be The Family Wizard when Justin actually thought he was disqualified from the Wizard competition and kept resenting Alex, but actually turned out to be another one of Crumbs' hidden tests to prove if they can live well without magic, and can sometimes self-centered, as proven when he found out that Alex was back in the competition and won a Wizard of the Year award and expressed his envy towards Alex's win, including when he and the family traveled back in time in the 50's with Harper and left her behind with Justin refusing to go back and get her back and refused to not rescue his best friend, Zeke, from a griffin to focus on the competition and likes to be the center of attention, being sometimes deceived when he's praised.

Abilities

Justin became the first Twelve Ball champion, proving that he is one of the most powerful wizards in the Wizard World.

• Above-average intelligence: In many episodes, it's shown that Justin knows many things, his knowledge includes but isn't limited to, history, science, mathematics, 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 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 on 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, it is something to be impressed by. 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 possibly, because of his monster catcher training. 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 on 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.

Relationships

Family

• Alex, Justin and Max: Trio of Russo

Alex Russo

• Alex and Justin relationship

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

Kari Landsdorf

Justin had a crush on Kari in "The Supernatural" and took Alex's advice of using magic to get on the baseball team because she only dates baseball players. She started to like him, too, after he got on the team and started supporting him. He asks her out and she tells him she only watches films about cats. He finds this too weird and doesn't call her.

Millie

In "New Employee" Justin had a crush on Millie, the new Sub Station employee. Justin asked her to the Tears of Blood concert and she took the tickets. When he went to her apartment he discovered she was going to the concert with her boyfriend whilst he was meant to babysit her cousin.

Isabella

In "Beware Wolf" Justin goes on a date with a girl he meets online on WizFace. He starts falling for her but Alex tells him that Isabella is a werewolf and she tells him that she is. Justin says he doesn't care and kisses her, but she says that once you kiss a werewolf you become one. He turns into a werewolf and they run away together but Justin's family find him and give him a potion to reverse the werewolf spell.

Centaur Girl

In "Beware Wolf" it's mentioned that Justin once asked a girl on WizFace to prom but she turned out to be a centaur. He later calls her back and she wishes he would give her a second chance but he finds it too weird.

Daphne

In "Family Game Night" she develops feelings for him and believes he's her boyfriend, tricking him into saying they're dating. Justin tries to break up with Daphne by bringing her to Family Game Night and prompting his family into causing their usual chaos. After a while Daphne has enough and flees, telling Justin not to bring girls home.

Tutor

Tutor was Max's wizard tutor seen in "My Tutor, Tutor." She and Justin dated for a bit up until she has to move on to her next student, in which he later finds out she's an elf, which is why he was so drawn to her, as everybody likes elves. He found it odd that she was good friends with Alex.

London Tipton

Justin met London in the crossover after Justin wins a trip on the S.S. Tipton for an essay he wrote. Justin tries to impress her by pretending to be a doctor, and they go out. When Bailey starts choking, London dumps Justin, still thinking he's a doctor, for not helping her. Justin hypothetically asks her if she would still like him if he was who he really is, which London thinks he is referring to Justin Russo, whom she believes just looks like "Doctor" and she decides to ask out Justin.

Juliet Van Heusen

Justin and Juliet

In Wizards vs. Vampires On Waverly Place, when trying to get information about the Van Heusen's new sandwich shop he meets Juliet whom he discovers is a vampire. They go on a date during Justin's twenty-five-minute break just to see the trailers at the cinema and have a large popcorn. They fall in love but their parents don't accept them because of their rivalry in business. In the end, the Russos and Van Heusen's' accept it reasonably so their children can be happy. Soon enough, Justin gets the job of monster hunting and embarks on a journey with Juliet to capture a mummy. They then get trapped and, to save Juliet from sunlight, he tells her to become a minion to escape while she leaves him behind. He promises he will find her. In "Wizards vs Werewolves" Justin tracks down Juliet, with the help of Mason, Alex's new werewolf boyfriend. After saving her, it is revealed that Mason and Juliet were a couple three hundred years ago. Mason declares his ongoing love for Juliet, causing Alex to break up with him. Later, Mason tries to convince Alex that he truly loves her, not Juliet, with the help of the love necklace which Alex threw away. Justin, Juliet, and Max pursue them and Justin refuses to let Mason near Alex which resulted in Mason fighting Justin to get Alex. Juliet attacks Mason to save Justin and in their fight, Juliet bites Mason and Mason scratches Juliet. This reveals that when a werewolf scratches a vampire, the vampire loses their vampire powers. Juliet reveals her real age of 2,193 years and becomes an old lady, telling Justin that even though he loves her they can't be together, and she crawls away into the forest. In "Moving On" Juliet observes as Justin finally forgets about her. In "Wizards vs. Everything" it's revealed that Gorog took Juliet back to her usual self and uses her to get Justin to work with him and not against him. After Justin, Alex, and Max destroy Gorog, Juliet and Justin reunite. In the finale, Juliet attends the family wizard competition and cheers for Justin to win. Once he emerges first she tells him how proud she is of him.

Harper Finkle

Harper has a big crush on Justin. However, with Baby Cupid's arrow, Max hits Justin accidentally, making him fall in love with Harper to the point where even she found it uncomfortable. Harper and Justin became close in "Justin's New Girlfriend" when Max thinks they are going out. They get stuck in a silent movie, which Alex hates, but in the end, Harper and Justin decide to be friends. Harper is known to be very jealous and threaten any of Justin's girlfriends or any girl he likes, especially Juliet. However, she eventually grows to accept Justin's relationship with Juliet, considering herself as Justin's ex-girlfriend and even begins a relationship with Justin's best friend, Zeke. The two have since been good friends.

Sarah

In "Moving On" Sarah flirts with Justin but he is still grieving over his loss of Juliet. At the end of the episode, when he finally moves on, Sarah becomes his new love interest as they go on a picnic which Juliet happily observes.

Rosie

In the episode "Everything's Rosie For Justin" Rosie enters Justin's delinquent class as they near a huge test that could get Justin and Alex back into the wizard competition. It is revealed that she is a terrible wizard and Alex gets Justin to kick her out of the class, despite the fact that Justin has a large crush on her and doesn't want to hurt her. Rosie comes back and gains Alex's sympathy; Alex does the copycat spell so that they can pass the test. It backfires when Alex gets the squirrel-frog on her robes and throws them off, causing Rosie to do the same and reveal she is an angel, not a wizard. She then apologizes to everyone, saying that she had only wished to meet Justin and see what he thought of her as a person. They begin a relationship, but instead of influencing him to do good she does the opposite and he becomes a horrible person. Alex finds out that she's an Angel of Darkness, not a Guardian Angel, and Rosie confirms it to Justin. Justin becomes an Angel of Darkness, breaking his wand, so he can be with Rosie but she wants him to leave before he's killed; he wants to stay for her so they can be together forever like she had said. Rosie tells Alex that she has fallen in love with Justin. Justin becomes a wizard again and Rosie becomes a Guardian Angel again. Justin says they can't be together anymore because Rosie has to protect the world.

Key Episodes

Season 1

• First Kiss
• Pop Me and We Both Go Down
• Justin's Little Sister
• Wizard School, Part 1
• Wizard School, Part 2
• The Supernatural

Season 2

• Beware Wolf
• Baby Cupid
• Fairy Tale
• Helping Hand
• Don't Rain on Justin's Parade - Earth
• Family Game Night
• Justin's New Girlfriend
• My Tutor, Tutor
• Wizards vs. Vampires on Waverly Place
• Wizards vs. Vampires: Tasty Bites
• Wizards vs. Vampires: Dream Date
• Wizards & Vampires vs. Zombies

Season 3

• Franken Girl
• Wizards vs. Werewolves
• Monster Hunter
• Night at the Lazerama
• Three Monsters
• Delinquent Justin
• Moving On

Season 4

• Wizards vs. Angels
• Wizard of the Year
• Justin's Back In
• Wizards vs. Everything
• Who Will Be The Family Wizard

Trivia

• Justin was correct when he said that he's going to win the Russo Family Wizard Competition and keep his powers only he passes the role of the family wizard to Alex.
• 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 the worst at the end of each story, having only bested Alex a few times. Sometimes he loses even when no one tries to make him like in "Captain Jim Bob Sherwood." When it comes to romance, the only two times he has ever had a 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.
• He and Alex are the only characters of the principal cast to appear in every episode until Alex vs. Alex.
• He 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.
• Justin is like his father Jerry, Alex is like her aunt Megan, and Max is like his uncle Kelbo in terms of personality although Justin would likely give magical powers to Alex, not Max if he were to marry a mortal.
• In "Disenchanted Evening" Justin states that he is allergic to cinnamon, and in "Graphic Novel" he says he loves pumpkin pie.
• Due to the fact that he believes in aliens, and would give up his wizardry for them, he became a member of the Alien Language League.
• 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, in Justin's Little Sister and the movie respectively, to which both times are caused by Alex in some ways.
• Justin is 5'11 making him the tallest main character on the show.
• It is possible he married Juliet a few years after the finale.
• According to Alex, with the WizTech robe and glasses, he looked like someone (Harry Potter) but she forgot the name of the person.
• Justin spent 8 years without eating pizza because he thought the pizza delivery guy let his old dog, Willy, run away.
• He is allergic to cinnamon and flowers.
• In the original script "The Amazing Harrigons" Justin's name was Jordon and was the fraternal twin brother of Julia (Alex's original character name).
• Justin is 31-32 years old in 2021.