Mad Jack's World of Superheroes & -villains

[Mad Jack]

New (but imho sadly inferior) forum – new topic! 😉

Since I’m (once again) reorganizing my comic universe while bringing it to (virtual) life on it’s very own website (see my signature), I thought it’s time to start over here, too.

And what better way to do that by finally introducing my alter ego: Mad Jack, a different kind of hero!

Intro:

Mad Jack isn’t your run of the mill out and out superhero, but rather a typical guy who uses his extraordinary gifts as he seems fit in the given situation. He sees no problem in taking care of himself by looting the occasional bank vault or money transporter and being heroical at the same time by helping people or saving the world.

Unlike the authorities or the press, he considers himself neither a criminal nor a hero but rather a sort of modern-day Robin Hood who steals from the rich and helps the poor. Okay, he keeps the money of the rich, but nevertheless he actively helps anyone in need.

He can switch between 20 preset abilites at any time, but can use each power only once a day and only for a limited time of 20 minutes until he is set back to his default, non-powered state. After he used one power he has to wait until after midnight before he can use the same ability again, but thankfully some feats (like lifting heavy weights) can be accomplished in different ways and with a variety of powers.

And although some powers’ effects lasts longer then themselves, most of the times the actions he achieves with his abilites usually fade away at the exaxt the moment they lapse. As for instance when he uses the ability of regenerative healing after being fatally wounded, he still stays perfectly healthy after the power wears of and when he uses his tactile telepathy to alter a persons memory it isn’t reversed back to before, but when he creates a gateway between two doors with his teleportation power, the gateway disappears when the ability is used up.

[Mad Jack]

Bank job outfit:

[Mad Jack]

After a heist:

[Mad Jack]

When the day’s work is done:

[Mad Jack]

In his casual gear:

[Mad Jack]

For a better understanding of how Mad Jack’s powers work, here’s how his last “working day” ran:

In need for some cash, he decided to steal the money that has been stored in the vault of a big bank that was notorious for its shady business practices and working only in favor of the one-percenters.

To get to the vault, he used his ability to turn invisible and walked unnoticed past all customers, employees and guards. Once there, he switched to Technology Manipulation and rendered all surveillance cameras and the security system inoperative before he used his Psychometry ability to learn from the dial what the combination to the vault was.

Inside the vault he used super speed to collect all the money in seconds and put it in duffel bags, which he had brought with him. Finally, with his teleportation powers he opened a door to his own apartment through which he threw the bags.

Sadly, at this very moment a guard came in the vault to see what is going on with the surveillance cameras. Using his Tactile Telephaty, Jack grabbed the guards hand, shut down the waking part of his brain, and erased his memory of the last 5 minutes.

But since the change of super powers also had the consequence that the teleportation portal had closed before he was able to walk through it himself, he now needed to think fast in order to escape undetected. Which is no problem when you can increase your own brain’s efficiency through faster neural firing to think faster. In a few seconds he had worked out a new plan.

After quickly switching between Frequency Detection to tap into the police radio with his mind and Enhanced Hearing to check that he was still in the clear, he used the ability of Density Control to cause the atoms of a part of the vaults back wall to shake apart and move his own atoms through after which he landed in an enclosed backyard behind the bank.

Here he swapped his powers again and with his superspeed improved agility he performed a few quick manuevers, bounced off the walls of the buildings surrounding the backyard and flipped onto the roof of the building next to the bank while being only a blur to anyone who might have watched.

While outside the police surrounded the bank, Jack strolled calmly down the stairs of the office building next door, took off his hoodie and rearranged the physiological features of his face whith his shapeshifting ability to take on the appearance of a guy he had seen in one of the cubicle he passed on his way down.

Thus equipped he strolled leisurely past a cop who just blared in his megaphone and prompted the bank robber, whom he still suspected in the bank, to surrender immediately. With a mischievous smile on his lips, Jack disappeared into the crowd.

Unfortunately, the day was not yet over for him. On the way home he witnessed a traffic accident in which a child had been run over by an articulated bus and was now badly injured trapped between the dual wheels of the extremely heavy vehicle.

Without thinking long he slipped over his hood, used his power of Empathy to get rid of the surrounding gawkers by instilling overwhelming fear in them, and promptly switched over to Mass Manipulation to cause the bus to decrease in mass and become lighter so that he could lift him effortlessly.

Thank God the soon after arrived firefighters managed to get the kid out just before Jacks seemingly superhuman strength eventually failed, and he himself was crushed by the bus. Severly wounded due to the fact that he couldn’t use his power of Density Control again to make himself invulnerable, he had to resort to his Regenerative Healing ability to heal from his injuries and revert back to a healthy state.

Mentally exhausted by the events of the day and annoyed by the frenzy of flashing cameras around him, he jumped over the railing of a nearby bridge into the river and with the help of his Reactive Environmental Adaption, that provided him with aquatic respiration as soon as he was submerged into the water, he swam underwater until he had left everyone behind.

Finally arrived wet and frozen at home, he warmed himself up again with a strong drink, a cigarette and counting the loot which had already been waiting for him there.

[Mad Jack]

And these are the 20 preset abilities Jack can choose from:

1.) OMNILINGUALISM

The ability to understand and communicate both verbal and non-verbal in any spoken and written language he hadn’t heard or read and never been able to speak before. This includes sign language and lip-reading, computer codes, body language, microexpressions, animal sounds, extincted dialects, illegible words, backwards speech, kids’ secret languages, pig latin, and even gibberish if it is meant to convey a certain thing.

2.) FREQUENCY DETECTION & MANIPULATION

The ability to intercept, receive, send, and patch into electronic, digital, and radio transmission frequencies without any electronic devices exponentially to extensive proportions by picking up informations through the air straight to his brain. As a living wireless hub/computer, he can access the internet with his mind from anywhere on demand, listen in on other peoples cell phone calls, patch into varying radio signals, and find and hit an exact frequency of sounds which he can increase to the point of homicide.

3.) REGENERATIVE HEALING

The ability to rapidly heal from any physical injury, to fight of diseases brought on by bacteria and viruses, to become immune to all existing detrimental contaminants, to recreate lost or damaged tissues, and to even regrow organs and limbs. Since his body reverts to a state of perfect health and his cells return to their optimal state every time he uses this power, he can in theory maintain eternal youth if he use it every day.

4.) SHAPESHIFTING

The ability to rearrange and modify his physiological features such as face, body, skin, and to a limited degree even his size. With this power he can not only alter his physiognomy to disguise himself, but also take on the appearance and build of people he has seen at least once by concealing body-parts like fingers, eyes, etc. The only limitation to this power is that he can’t actually add anything new to his body-shape. So if he wants to impersonate a burlier person for example, he has to shift his flesh outward and simultaneously expand his inner organs to form a big belly.

5.) ENHANCED SENSES

The ability to focus and thus enhance each of his senses extremely, allowing him to see, hear, smell, taste, touch and/or feel more than an average person. With this power he can see with amazing clarity on vast distances and in various spectrum of light, pick up every single sound from a mile away in a busy city, detect specific smells and locate their origin, detect poisons or other problems by taste, and feel vibrations through solid and liquid substances as well as changes in air-pressure.

6.) SPEED AGILITY

The ability to move above supersonic speed and having drastically enhanced reaction speed. Although this power doesn’t allow him to withstand the rigors of high-speed running (such as friction, gravitational decrease, inertia, and being unable to breath), it enables him to perform short superhuman feets of dexterity and agility at speeds that make him a blur to the human eye. He can exercise parkour maneuver like leaps, flips and bounces off walls in high speed, and perceive time as though it were moving very slowly which allows him to react instantaneously to any unexpected situation, block almost any attack, dodge bullets, and catch falling or flying objects in mid-air.

7.) TELEPORTATION

The ability to transfer any subject, object, matter, and energy between any two points on the planet without traversing the physical space between them. He can achieve this effect by creating a connection between two closed doors he knows of, which enables him amongst others to step through one door in Paris end exit another one in New York. He can also replace smaller objects, up to the size of a carton of cigarettes, with any other object of similar mass and size directly which can prove lethal as he can “replace” a person’s vital organs such as the heart with another object such as a ball of clay, but he mostly use this ability to teleport parts of inorganic targets away.

8.) INVISIBILITY

The ability to render himself invisible in the visible spectrum and imperceptible athe the same time to both humans and technology. Using this power, he becomes “non-existent” to people and machines which makes him unable to be physically touched or mentally/telepathically perceived, and simultaneously absolutely undetectable by smell, touch, vision, and hearing as well as x-ray scans, sonars, radio and energy detections, heat sensors or any other technological detection. This allows him to freely act without being noticed, while still being able to interact with his surroundings.

9.) EMPATHY

The ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of people, animals and other creatures by increasing, decreasing, causing or otherwise channeling their feelings and moods. This way he can amongst others induce powerful feelings of tranquility in people, but also increase their anger and aggression into blind range, cause paranoia, and instill overwhelming dread, fear, horror, and terror in others to the point of becoming catatonic. He often uses this power to intimidate the shit out of people who annoy him – sometimes literally!

10.) TACTILE TELEPATHY

The ability to manipulate the thoughts, memories and body control of people, animals and other creatures when making physical contact with them. With this power he can shut down various parts of the brain of others, absorb and alter or outright destroy their memories, and put certain thoughts into their minds which makes them obliged to believe or do whatever he tells them. This way he can for example walk up to a drug dealer, touch his hand, and say “Hey, you really should consume all of your merchandise at once.” which would be answered by “Sure thing!” and result in the pusher dying of a drug overdose.

11.) TACTILE TELEKINESIS

The ability to move objects and subjects with his mind when making physical contact with them. Mimicking the power of enhanced strenght, this allows him above all to push anything as hard and fast as he wants by just touching it – which can come especially in handy when an asshole parks illegally in a handicapped spot and his car has to be removed/crushed. But this power also enables him to grasp an object firmly in place in order to keep it from moving, to alter an object’s directional course, and to pull or lift heavy objects with ease.

12.) SUPER-INTELLIGENCE

The ability to increase his intelligence above genius level by enhancing his brain’s efficiency through faster neural firing and building new neural pathways instantly. Albeit he can only think faster as long as this power is active, he keeps the new arisen pathways and with that also any knowledge and skills he learned and momorized before the ability to do so faded. So when he watched a surgeon perform a heart surgery while having this power, he could later still replicate it perfectly on his own. This way he picked up many science, mechanical, computer and electronics, and even weapons-handling skills.

13.) PRACTICAL PSYCHOMETRY

The ability to temporarily understand the potential and functional operations of an object he touches and how it all connects together, instinctively know how to handle it in the most efficient way, and immmediatelly learn what the object “knows”. As for example, with this ability he can touch a floor and know exactly how many people are around the corner, learn the combination to a vault from its dial, understand how the complicated mechanism of a clockwork works, touch a wall in a room to find out all that had transpired in it and who had been in it, or simply know which piece in a game of Jenga can be removed safely.

14.) DENSITY CONTROL

The ability to manipulate the density and solidity of any matter or part of an object by causing its atoms to shake apart or moving closer together. With this power he is able to phase through solid objects like walls by making his own atoms move between the atoms of the wall, to harden his skin and other body-parts to become virtually invulnerable and immune to physical damage, and to become intangible to let bullets pass his body without harm.

15.) MASS MANIPULATION

The ability to manipulate the Higgs Field in order to dictate how mass is applied to the particles which interact with it. Essentially he is able to increase or decrease the mass of an object, along with its weight, at will while retaining its physical proportions. This allows amongst others the illusion of strength which is created by causing an object to decrease in mass and become lighter so that it can be lifted or pushed away effortlessly. Also, by reducing his own mass, he can negate many of the effects of gravity on his body to move easier through various environments and eliminate the planetary gravitational pull which allows him to levitate/fly.

16.) TECHNOLOGY MANIPULATION

The ability to manipulate mechanics, machines, technology, and technological constructs, such as computers, robots, and hardware. He can cause everything vaguely mechanical as well as any technological devices to optionally fail and disintegrate into their component parts or work better and more efficient by simply touching them. This allows him not only to let a security system go on the fritz or cause a jammed printer or photocopier to start working again, but also to literally raise broken machines, vehicles and sundry other technology as a kind of technological undead. Pretty useful when you quickly need a fast getaway car and all you have is a an old jalopy.

17.) KINETIC ENERGY CONVERSION

The ability to absorb and convert kinetic energy, the energy created by movement. When using this power, he can absorb the kinetic energy of every blow struck against him, convert it into plasma and promptly release it in the form of an explosion without being harmed himself. He can use these explosions in powerful and destructive ways, in example to blow up an object he hits with his fist, as well as both offensively or defensively in physical combat. When he gets punched, his attacker is immediately blown backwards struck by the explosion he causes, and when he himself hits people, they are knocked off their feet by the released explosive energy backing up his punch.

18.) POISON GENERATION

The ability to generate, create, emit or otherwise produce any type of toxin, acid, venom, poison, drug, gas, etc. that injures the health or destroys life when absorbed into the system or act highly corrosive on both objects and subjects. He can excrete amongst others an acid that burns a big hole in even the strongest materials, lethal venoms of various animals, fatal toxins produced by vegetal organisms, and disease-causing bacterial secretions. This power is especially usefull if he wants to get rid of handcuffs (he simply dissolves them), but if he says “Bite me!”, better don’t take it literally…

19.) TEMPORAL SAFE STATE

The ability to shift his own temporal phase and displace himself in a repeating time loop for the duration the power is active. While out of phase, he can accelerate, slow down, and even rewind time in his loop in order to try out various possible actions to achieve a certain result over and over again without being effected by the consequences of said actions if he messes up royally and things go horribly. When the ability eventually fades away, he is returned to the exact moment he entered the safe state like nothing ever happened but equipped with the knowledge what will happen and how to handle an upcoming situation appropriately to minimize mistakes and achieve the desired outcome in the most efficient way. After using this ability, he is often perceived by people having a form of precognition, but it really helps him when he needs to let off steam by doing something completely nuts or deranged without suffering the consequences.

20.) REACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTION

The ability to adapt to any environment by instantly developing physical abilities to deal with threats to his body. This power allows him to tolerate wide range of temperatures and levels of moisture, any amount/quality of sustenance, breathable medium, etc. with little or no discomfort and to both unconsciously and reactively enhance his body in multiple ways to survive any life-threatening situation. So, for example, if he is submerged in water he receives functioning gills, if he is exposed to flames his skin becomes fireproof, if is in the dark for a few seconds he gains night vision, and if he is in space he is able to withstand the vacuum and to survive without oxygen. Albeit this power is almost limitless, it is also completely out of his control and thus does not always yield the effect he desires.

[Mad Jack]

Maybe the last one was a bit too much information at once, so I’m gonna keep it shorter with the next one…

 HISTORY:

Larry Cameron, aka “Capekiller”, was once a high decorated cop in Los Angeles’ special weapons and tactics team (S.W.A.T.). But after being severely wounded in the course of a fight between metahumans that leveled an entire cityblock in downtown L.A., he had to quit the force due to his disability.

Resentful towards the metahumans who he blamed for his hardship, Larry grow more and more hatred and eventually became convinced that the metas were a “atrocity in the eyes of god”. After months of training to get back in shape and engineering a cybernetic armor to overcome his physical impairments, he finally started his mission to rid the world of all metas.

One of his first victims was a young heroine called “Alley Cat” who had only low level metahuman abilites (enhanced feral senses), which in turn enraged the rest of the metahuman community. He is know one of the most hated criminals in the U.S.A. and constantly on the run…

POWERS:

Larry has no superpowers and if so, he had to kill himself. He is an expert marksman of every type of firearm and is skilled in sharpshooting and knife throwing as well. Due to his training as a S.W.A.T. member, he also received extensive knowledge in EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol), in-depth training in close combat, and the ability to make quick decisions under stress.

Armed solely with conventional weapons and motivated by a fanatical hatred for metahumans, Larry is as susceptible to physical injury and disease as any other normal human, often having to rely on his cybernetic body armor and more on strategy than strength when up against a superpowered opponent.

 

(click picture to see it in full size)

[Mad Jack]

Santa Swap gift for Linea24: A new interpretation of MASS INDECISION!

(click picture to see it in full size.)

Name: Too many to count.
Aliases: Mass Indecision
Age: Unknown
Alignment: Random
Associations: THE ALMIGHTY HELIX!!!

Powers:

Mass Indecision has the ability to distribute his own mass however he likes. This doesn’t mean that he can make himself heavier or lighter, but rather that he is able to decide how his weight of 75 kilograms (165 lbs) is distributed. For example: By shifting his complete mass into his fist, he can smash through thick steel and by shifting it into a single finger, he can pull/hold himself up with it. He can also optimize his every movement to be as efficient as possible – who thus can often seem pointless and random to outside viewers. Unfortunately for everyone, the other day he received instructions from “The Helix” how to concentrate all his mass into one single point and make a (very small) black hole …

History:

Mass Indecision used to be one of the best superheroes, but when he accidentally shifted all his mass into his brain he went totally nuts. Since then he hears voices in his head which he thinks come from random objects such as a rock that he always carries around with him. He believes the rock to be possessed by a powerful, almost omnipotent entity from another dimension, called “The Helix”, that chose him as mankinds savior. But it’s hard to convince people that you are the second messiah when you run around muttering random, pointless things like “praise the helix”, “anarchy, not democracy”, “a a a b down a a b a start9”, etc. and throwing rocks into people’s faces while shouting “WORSHIP THE ALMIGHTY HELIX!!!”. He still acts as a superhero, alas his bad habit to throw his “helix rock” at friend and foe alike makes teaming up with him a gamble and a half.

[Mad Jack]

Santa Swap gift for CantDraw: A new Red Bat villain

THE (BORNEO) BATEATER

Powers:

Bateater possesses certain unusual physical powers derived from his snake-like physiology. All of the bones in his body, including his skull, are malleable and his muscle tissue is exceedingly resilient, making his body very flexible and pliant. His flexibility enables him to slither into and out of very tight and small places and to wrap himself about a victim’s body in order to exert his full superhuman strength. He is capable of generating up to 125 pounds of pressure per square inch, which is enough force to crush both steel pipes up to 6 inches thick and normal human beings. Furthermore his jaws, which have the strength to deform soft iron, can dislocate far enough to fit a human head and his fangs produce a fast-acting poison that is of sufficient strength to be able to kill even superhuman victims.

[Mad Jack]

Santa Swap gift for Keric: A character named ORION.

(click picture to see it in full size.)

Name: Orion Kinivos
Aliases: Orion
Age: 28 (-1064)
Alignment: Good
Associations: None

History:

Born in 3078 on an artificial planetoid orbiting the red giant star Betelgeuse, Orion (named after his birth star system) was a lawkeeper and hunter who protected the colonists from earth and other worlds against the many dangerous and terrifying adventive beasts that roamed the savage jungles of Nova Chios.

But when he fell in love with Merope, the daughter of the colony’s chancellor Owen Pion, he was accused of rape by her father. As punishment he was blinded and banished from his homeworld. Seeking help and a cure for his blindness he traveled to Neos Olympia, home to the EOS Corporation – a multinational conglomerate that operates human colonies outside earth’s solar system for the purposes of commercial research and mining, often without regard for the lives of anyone involved in their endless pursuit of profits.

Here he was subjected by lead scientist Arja Temis to an experimental cybergenetic procedure involving nano technologies that enhanced his complete biological make-up beyond that of any known living being. Equipped with his new powers, Orion was then charged with leading a troop of Colonial Marines to explore a new detected planet in the Alpha Centauri star system.

Arriving on said alien planet, he found a tribe of sapient humanoids with a primeval and yet emotionally far advanced civilization living in harmony with nature, and soon learned the true secret mission of his unit: The conquest of the planet for predatory exploitation – even if it means the eradication of the native inhabitants.

Sympathizing with the natives, Orion revealed his change of allegiance when he attempted to sabotage his crews ship and weapons, but when trying to absorb the blast of an exploding annihilator bomb in the final battle for the planet, his energy absorbing abilites were overloaded and his body seemed to implode.

When Orion awoke, he found himself thrown centuries back in time to earth. Trying to settle into an irritating and both technologically and socially awful primitive environment, he now tries to prevent the rising of the EOS Corporation which has its roots in the beginning of the 21st century …

Powers:

The cybergenetic procedure of EOS changed Orion’s entire physiology down to the genetic and cellular structure and provided him among other things with a supreme physical and mental condition far beyond that of a normal human being. He is faster, stronger, more intelligent and overall superior to both humans and metahumans and has the ability to absorb virtually any type of energy and channel that energy to achieve various effects such as increasing his already enhanced physiology; generating light, heat, force, electricity and other forms of energy; gaining the capability of interstellar flight at sub-light speed; solidifying energy into force-fields; producing blasts from his hands as well as his eyes; obtaining the capability to siphon his opponents’ powers, making them temporarily unable to use them; and many more.

[Wolf Master]

Loving the yellow lines on orion, yellow on black always looks good.And overall loving his costume, good work.

[Mad Jack]

@ Wolf Master: Thanks! 😀

 

ASSASSIN BUG

(click picture to see it in full size – powers and profile will follow on my website)

[Dive]

Wow! I am loving that shading. 😀

[Mad Jack]

Thanks! I know I’ll never reach the same level as guys like ams, CantDraw, Zyp, etc. when it comes to shading/highlighting, but I give it my best shot… 😉

 

SPIDER WASP

(click picture to see it in full size – powers and profile will follow on my website)

[Author]

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