with some elements of Ian Fleming's James Bond and of renowned martial arts exponent Bruce Lee, as John Black is a practitioner of the art of Jeet Kune Do. Accordingly, the character has spent a good portion of his tenure on the show as an undercover agent for the International Security Alliance (ISA), the show's fictional secret intelligence service. "Days" introduced audiences to the character, "John Black", as a heavily bandaged amnesiac who was recovering from extensive facial reconstructive surgery (similar to Lee's character in his last film, "Game of Death"). Initially known only as "The Pawn", a mystery man connected with Victor Kiriakis, Stefano DiMera, and Roman Brady, he soon named himself "John Black" after a name he read on a war memorial, and met Dr. Marlena Evans Almost immediately, John and Marlena established a rapport. After a while, Marlena began to wonder about John Black's "true" identity. The pair came to believe that John was really Marlena's husband Roman, who had been presumed dead. They resumed their lives as a happily married couple and parents. John Black, now Roman Brady, rejoined the Salem PD, and due to his sleuthing prowess, received a promotion to Commander. The couple's happiness was fleeting as Marlena was kidnapped by Roman's old enemy Orpheus, and purportedly died.