diff --git a/src/main/java/dev/jbang/cli/Init.java b/src/main/java/dev/jbang/cli/Init.java
index 8eeb6fdf8..e39f9cf5d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/dev/jbang/cli/Init.java
+++ b/src/main/java/dev/jbang/cli/Init.java
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ public Integer doCall() throws IOException {
 		int reqVersion = buildMixin.javaVersion != null ? JavaUtil.minRequestedVersion(buildMixin.javaVersion)
 				: JavaUtil.getCurrentMajorJavaVersion();
 
+		properties.put("requestedJavaVersion", buildMixin.javaVersion);
 		properties.put("javaVersion", reqVersion);
 		properties.put("compactSourceFiles", reqVersion >= 25);
 		// properties.put("magiccontent", "//no gpt response. make sure you ran with
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-agent.java.qute b/src/main/resources/init-agent.java.qute
index 13065f400..eef342a9a 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-agent.java.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-agent.java.qute
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+{#if requestedJavaVersion}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{/if}
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
 {/for}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-cli.java.qute b/src/main/resources/init-cli.java.qute
index 44d1be323..0f6767475 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-cli.java.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-cli.java.qute
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+{#if requestedJavaVersionr}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{/if}
 //DEPS info.picocli:picocli:4.6.3
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-hello.groovy.qute b/src/main/resources/init-hello.groovy.qute
index ede7d57b3..40ddc3068 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-hello.groovy.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-hello.groovy.qute
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+{#if requestedJavaVersion}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{/if}
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
 {/for}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-hello.java.qute b/src/main/resources/init-hello.java.qute
index f5535e88c..641be27f2 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-hello.java.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-hello.java.qute
@@ -1,19 +1,23 @@
 ///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+{#if requestedJavaVersion}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{#else if compactSourceFiles}
+//JAVA 25+
+{/if}
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
 {/for}
 {#if dependencies.isEmpty()}// //DEPS <dependency1> <dependency2>{/if}
-
 {#if magiccontent}
 {magiccontent}
 {#else}
-import static java.lang.System.*;
-
 {#if compactSourceFiles}
 void main(String... args) {
-    out.println("Hello World");
+    IO.println("Hello World");
 }
 {#else}
+import static java.lang.System.*;
+
 public class {baseName} {
 
     public static void main(String... args) {
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-hello.kt.qute b/src/main/resources/init-hello.kt.qute
index 58122a947..fa7518737 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-hello.kt.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-hello.kt.qute
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
-
+{#if requestedJavaVersion}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{/if}
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
 {/for}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/init-readme.md.qute b/src/main/resources/init-readme.md.qute
index 46d3ee8e6..817a9f75d 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/init-readme.md.qute
+++ b/src/main/resources/init-readme.md.qute
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 Welcome to a basic example on how to do a readme.md file that can be run with JBang:
 
 ```java
+{#if requestedJavaVersion}
+//JAVA {requestedJavaVersion}
+{/if}
 {#for dep in dependencies.orEmpty}
 //DEPS {dep}
 {/for}