Battalion (Wildstorm)

Battalion (Jackson King) is a fictional comic book superhero in the series, Stormwatch.

Fictional character biography

Pre-Stormwatch

Jackson King was the son of Isaiah King, a former member of Team One. Isaiah King was exposed to the radiation of a special comet that passed close to Earth. Many who were exposed to this comet became superhuman and were known as "Comet Enhanciles" or "Seedlings". Isaiah and his team were on a satellite the moment the comet passed and therefore were closer to it and became stronger than any other comet-enhanciles. Isaiah's children, Jackson and Malcolm inherited his powers. The process slowly drove Isaiah and his team mad though and he took the name Despot with his team becoming the WarGuard. They were captured and Jackson spent most of his adult life trying to prove he was not like his father.

Stormwatch

Jackson became part of the U.N. superhuman crisis team, Stormwatch Prime, operating from Skywatch, an orbital base and overseen by the Weatherman Henry Bendix. Jackson, under the codename Battalion, was one of the first recruits together with Nautika, Sunburst, and Flashpoint, all Comet-enhanciles like himself. They were trained by Backlash. Battalion and Backlash were the only ones to escape a failed mission during the Gulf War, thinking the others had died (in fact they had been captured). Battalion then gathered Stormwatch One to replace Stormwatch Prime.

Jackson became romantically involved with Stormwatch-member, Christine Trelane, codenamed Synergy. Trelane had the very rare ability to activate the usually dormant powers of comet-enhanciles and increase the powers of superhumans. She was therefore of great value to Stormwatch. Another Stormwatch-member was Malcolm King, Jackson's younger brother who often had arguments with his older brother. Because of her value and the limited use of her power on a battlefield, Christine soon replaced Bendix as the Weatherman of Stormwatch. The cybernetic implants in her head, that were required as a Weatherman, did put a bit of a strain on her relationship with Jackson.

During one of Stormwatch's missions, Jackson King was thought to be killed by the WildC.A.T.S.-member Maul. In fact Maul was an imposter, sent to start a conflict between Stormwatch and the WildC.A.T.S. Jackson, who had earlier been given a glimpse into the near future, had gone into hiding, where he trained himself in more skilled uses of his powers so he could face his father. He returned when Despot and his WarGuard escaped and defeated most of the Stormwatch team. Using his newly honed skills, Jackson saved his team.

After Despot's defeat, Henry Bendix returned as Weatherman and Christine was restored to normal. Bendix reorganised Stormwatch into different teams and Jackson was demoted from being the team's leader to trainer. Jackson didn't like this new position, but Bendix argued that Jackson's romantic involvement with Trelane would be a liability in the field. Shortly afterwards, Bendix went insane and King took his place as Weatherman. During the Change or Die storyline, Jackson was almost killed by Changer Blind, who threw a poisoned dart at his back, giving Jackson a scar. He kept this position until a few months later a group of Aliens infiltrated Skywatch and killed most of Stormwatch. Stormwatch member Winter flew Skywatch into the Sun, destroying the base and killing the Aliens. Only Jackson, Trelane and Flint survived.

The Monarchy

The members of Stormwatch Black, a secret group of Stormwatch operatives, not based on Skywatch, went on to form The Authority. King and Trelane operated as the U.N. liaisons for the Authority for a while, but Jackson strongly disagreed with the Authority's methods and thought that he was treated like an errand boy. Jackson was contacted by the Weaver, powerful creatures who oversee the Bleed. They gave Trelane and him information on a danger that was threatening them all. To stop this danger Jackson and Trelane put together their own group, the Monarchy.

Stormwatch: PHD

Following on from the Worldstorm relaunch of the Wildstorm Universe, Jackson reappeared in a new title named after the new incarnation of Stormwatch containing characters with no superpowers: Stormwatch: Post Human Division, which he helped form and supervises. Following World's End Jackson is seen leading a reformed Stormwatch: PHD which does contain superpowered members. In Stormwatch: P.H.D. #5, it is hinted that the events of The Monarchy were a drug-induced hallucination from King, caused by the Doctor of the Authority.^[1]

Jackson leads Stormwatch against the Authority after a Henry Bendix storage facility is uncovered. Neither group trusts the other to maintain safe control over what might be inside. Jackson brings back his old armor in order to fight Authority more efficiently.^[2]

Powers/Abilities

Battalion has strong psychokinetic powers similar to his father. He is able to move objects with the power of his mind, fire bursts of raw energy and form protective shields coupled with the ability to influence the cognition of other psyches ranging from mind control to illusion casting, thought reading, ability dilation and possibly precognition. When his powers were manifest Jackson subconsciously suppressed their full potential out of fear they would drive him insane much like they did Isiah. While a member of Stormwatch Prime and Stormwatch One, he could only lift small objects and relied on his special costume called a Cyber-Trans suite to increase his powers, at least by a marginal degree. He could also feed his abilities into his guns to increase their destructive force, but this was usually a desperation move; as the raw energy release was often uncontrollable and required time for him to build up charge for use again. In preparation of fighting Despot and his WarGuard, Jackson's control over his powers increased dramatically and he wore a more advanced suit which became less bulky and even more advanced. When he became part of the Monarchy, he apparently no longer needed his booster uniform to amplify his abilities. In a delusional fever dream, an echo of his father Despot described king as an Nth level psychic; possibly inferring him to be as powerful as his deceased paternal figure. When reality was reset during the Worldstorm event, Jackson's powers were reduced to their diminished state once more. Needing to rely on his cybertrans suit to amplify his abilities again, this changed after recovering from a laser blast to his frontal lobe during his P.H.D days. During the World's End event while still wearing the trans suitit faced further modification, to the point he stopped using the guns now able to use his powers more directly with greater power than before.

See also

• United Nations in popular culture

References

1. ↑ Gage, Christos (w), Smith, Matthew (a). "Talking With The King" Stormwatch: P.H.D. 5 (May 2007), Wildstorm
2. ↑ "Authority Prime"

External links

• World of Black Heroes: Battalion Biography
• Battalion at internationalhero.co.uk