Jack Power
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Jack Power is a fictional character in Marvel Comics' universe. He first appeared in Power Pack #1 and was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman.
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[edit] Character history
Jack Power was a founding member of the superhero team Power Pack. The second youngest of the four Power siblings, he was 8 years old when he was given his powers by Alfrye Whitemane, a dying Kymellian noble. He continued to operate with Power Pack through their entire history.
Jack aged from 8 to 9 in the original series; in the 2000 mini-series, he was 12 and in the 2005 mini-series comics, he is currently 11. Considering Julie Power, his older sister of two years, is now about 16, Jack may now be considered 14.
[edit] Powers and paraphernalia
- Jack's first power was control of density. Initially, he was only able to turn himself into a cloudy, gaseous form. After a few issues, though, he learned how to make himself small and dense. Jack's major defenses were his ability to "go cloudy" and escape from people who were physically attacking him, and the "Jack Hammer," in which he dropped onto his enemies in his super-dense form. Later, as revealed within the Power Pack Holiday Special and the 2000 mini-series, Jack can create the molecular density force field (first created by his sister Julie, during her time as Molecula).
- After Power Pack #25, Jack gained his brother Alex's gravity powers. He could de-gravitize himself and anything he touched, float and increase gravitational force. Jack modified his power by developing the "Super-G" punch, in which he used a super-gravitized fist to hit his adversaries. With this tactic, Jack was able to knock out Arclight during the Mutant Massacre.
- In Power Pack #52, Jack gained the energy powers previously held by Katie and Alex. This allowed him to disintegrate matter and convert it into stored energy, as well as absorb existing energy directed against him; he could then project this stored energy as explosive spheres (referred to as "power balls").
In both the 2000 and 2005 mini-series, he appeared as Mass Master, having regained his original powers in the events of the Holiday Special.
Along with his siblings, Jack possessed Kymellian healing powers. Usually, he was required to work with his siblings to generate and use this ability; however, he occasionally accessed it on his own.
With his siblings, Jack owned a Kymellian smartship, Friday. The ship acted as an unofficial team advisor and accompanied the Pack on several missions.
Jack wore a costume of unstable molecules created by Friday. The costume existed in an extradimensional space known as "Elsewhere" and could be summoned with voice commands. In the 2000 mini-series (and a back-up story in the Holiday Special), this outfit included a mask; in the original series, it did not.
[edit] Role in Power Pack
Brash and ornery, Jack was the "wild child" of the Power siblings. He frequently insulted and argued with both his teammates and his adversaries. In Power Pack #52, it was noted that Queen Maraud, Power Pack's archenemy, feared him more than the other children because she thought he would be the most likely to take advantage of the lethal nature of his powers.
However, his bold nature also made him a key fighter for the team. He possessed a tremendous amount of loyalty and courage, and usually kept a cool head even during stressful situations. During Power Pack #14, for instance, Jack jumped into the East River to help his sister Katie escape from an ocean liner. In another memorable moment within Power Pack #25, Jack taunted the Snark Jakal who was about to kill him with "Can't even kill someone until Mommy tells you to?!"
Jack was perhaps the most innovative member of the Pack in terms of developing new power variations. When he received new powers, he was able to figure them out quickly and invent new uses for them. He was significantly better at controlling his gravity powers than Alex.
In the 2000 mini-series, Jack retained his bold personality, but also showed a kinder, gentler side; opting to leave the team to care for his mother.
[edit] Bibliography
- Power Pack #1-62 (1984-1990)
- Power Pack Holiday Special (1992)
- Power Pack Mini-series #1-4 (2000)
- Power Pack: Shelter from the Storm Graphic novel (1989)
- Power Pack and Spider-Man Special issue (1986)
- Excalibur #29
- Marvel Superheroes Summer Special
- Marvel Universe; #10
- Secret Wars II #6
- Strange Tales #12-14
- Thor #357, #363
- X-Men 195
- X-Men Classic 99
[edit] See also
- Alex Power- Zero-G
- Julie Power - Lightspeed
- Katie Power - Energizer