JINX
Real Name: William Hastings (see comments)
Identity/Class: Human magic user
Occupation: Opponent of the forces of the Darkhold
Group Membership: None; former member of the Darkhold Redeemers (Sam Buchanan, Louise Hastings, Victoria Montesi, Modred the Mystic)
Affiliations: Ward of Vittorio Montesi;
former apprentice to Modred the Mystic;
former ally of the Blood and the Midnight Sons (Blade/Eric Brooks, John Blaze, Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, Frank Drake, Ghost Rider/Dan Ketch/Noble Kale, Morbius, Vengeance/Michael Badilino)
Enemies: Chthon, the Dwarf, the agents of Chthon (specifically Monstrosity, Spider-X and Troids), Darkholders (Randolph DeGuzman, others), the Fallen, Flash (and an unidentified gang member), Lilith and the Lilin (Bad Timing, Blackout, Bloodthirst (possessing Michael Morbius), Doc, Fang, Meatmarket, Nakota, Outcast, Parasite (possessing Martine Bancroft), Pilgrim, Spitfire, others), Paralyzer (Randall Darby), Zarathos, Zzzax
Known Relatives: Caprice Hastings (mother, deceased), Louise Hastings (maternal grandmother, deceased)
Aliases: "Evil Eye"
Base of Operations: currently unknown, possibly the Vatican, Italy; formerly Louise Hastings' mansion, New Hope, Pennsylvania; formerly Los Angeles, California
First Appearance: (Mentioned) Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#8 (May, 1993); (seen) Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#9 (June, 1993)
Powers/Abilities: Jinx has great natural magical potential, although at present he has only limited ability to access and control these powers. He has demonstrated minor illusion casting, conjuring, and chemical reactions. He could tap into the magic of a page of the Darkhold for greater feats, without immediately risking his own soul. He could serve as a channel to magnify the magical abilities of others if he wished. On one occasion he projected a beam of mystic force from his right eye.
Jinx has basic street-fighting skills. He has a large black birthmark over his right eye.
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Brown (left), blue (right)
Hair: Black
History:
Jinx is the grandson of Louise
Hastings, an expert in the occult and a mystic of limited power.
It is likely that her experiences in the mystic affected her
lineage, although her daughter, Caprice, never demonstrated any
mystical abilities. Jinx, however, proved able to access magic to
perform small feats without any sort of training.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#8 - BTS) - Jinx's mother was killed in a struggle over one of the Darkhold pages on a plane. Her last wish was for Louise to take care of her grandson, who was going through a tough time.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#9 (fb) - BTS) - Jinx lived with his mother in Los Angeles.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#9) - Jinx ran into trouble once again with local gang member Flash and one of his guys. Jinx saw something he was not supposed to see and Flash decided to finally cut out Jinx's evil eye. Jinx kicked an old rotten beam and escaped them temporarily when the ceiling collapsed. He was soon cornered again in an alley, but unwittingly used his nascent mystic powers to make the two gang members believe that he was holding a gun. They ran away and Jinx returned home. When he saw that the lights were on he was afraid that he would get in trouble with his mother because it was so late, but instead of her he found his grandmother Louise waiting for him with Victoria Montesi and Sam Buchanan. Louise told him that his mother was dead.
Jinx attended his mother's funeral with his grandmother, her friends and many others. The service was held by Vittorio Montesi. After the funeral Victoria tried to talk to Jinx about his mother's death and told him that her last thoughts were about him. A little bit later Jinx saw his grandmother with a Darkhold page that could resurrect his mother, but she didn't want to use it. Jinx took the page and even though he couldn't remember the words to activate it, his powers bound him to the page for a moment. Louise saved him when he was nearly drawn into the page, but he was temporarily paralyzed. While he was paralyzed Sam Buchanan and his Interpol team caught his grandmother and Victoria Montesi. Jinx vowed to rescue them.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#10 (fb)) - Jinx hung on to the floor of the van to make it to the factory Sam's superior used as a base.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#10) - Jinx hid in a locker until the Darkholders were gone, then knocked out a guard with a needle Buchanan had used against Vicki and then freed Victoria Montesi, whom he had a crush on, but they ran into more Interpol operatives when he tried to get her to safety. They found a Darkhold page on Jinx and informed their boss DeGuzman, who plotted to reassemble all Darkhold pages and was sure that it was the Demogorge page he sought (it wasn't). Jinx accessed the energy of a page of the Darkhold to disperse a group of guards with a slime monster. DeGuzman sent Buchanan after Jinx and Montesi. Victoria dragged Jinx to Louise's cell where Victoria used the indestructible Darkhold page to short-circuit the laser grid while Jinx was still recuperating only to get caught in the resulting explosion. Sam Buchanan caught up to his former teammates, but was convinced by Victoria to help them. Buchanan helped Jinx, Victoria and Louise to get to DeGuzman and stop the priority alert that could've handed all Darkhold pages to the Darkholders. Afterward they escaped the base in a helicopter.
(Midnight Sons Unlimted#2/2) - Jinx attended Louise Hastings' birthday party when Victoria Montesi had a vision about the Troids. He accompanied the other Redeemers when they investigated Lt. Frank West after he utilized the Troid spell of the Darkhold. Jinx filmed West writhing in agony on the ground while the Troid queen and her eggs grew inside him.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#11) - An ally of the Darkhold Redeemers, Blade, was temporarily corrupted by a page of the Darkhold, becoming an incarnation of the Demogorge as Switchblade. Victoria felt the page being used and Jinx joined the Darkhold Redeemers in New York City. Switchblade attacked, but because Ghost Rider was shielded by his friend Frank Drake, he decided to just go after Jinx. Modred temporarily took down Switchblade and teleported Jinx back to New Hope to prevent him from being injured in the battle against the Demogorge.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#12) - After Louise Hastings used a Darkhold spell to not only stop Switchblade, but also bring back those he had killed, she locked herself in her room in New Hope. Jinx didn't understand what was going on until Buchanan explained it to him. Jinx hoped Victoria could talk to his grandmother to get her out of her room, but she was not around either.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#13 (fb)) - Jinx watched Buchanan train in the basement against a spring gun and got nearly shot by it if he had not inadvertently used his powers to divert two bullets.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#13) - Jinx and Buchanan welcomed Vicki back home after she had been missing for two days and finally made it clear that she was not into guys when they were both crushing on her again. Jinx reacted in the most prejudiced way possible, which even made his grandmother mad. Louise left to do some research in Rome to find the gateway that was powering the Darkhold pages, while Buchanan left to investigate the attacks in all the places the their team had previously been by a being the local papers called the Monstrosity.
(Midnight Sons Unlimted#3/1) - Jinx and Victoria were alone in their home in New Hope, Pennsylvania when Victoria felt that someone had used a Darkhold page in New York City where they soon went.
(Midnight Sons Unlimted#3/3) - Jinx and Victoria arrived in New York City at Grand Central Station. Some guy robbed Victoria's handbag and Jinx went after him and ran into Spider-X, who got angry at Jinx when he slashed him with a broken bottle after letting the scared robber get away. Victoria asked Jinx not to kill the monster because it could be Spider-Man, so Jinx aimed above Spider-X with a mystic blast from his eye to bury the monster beneath a broken wall. It didn't work and they ended up webbed up by Spider-X, but Ghost Rider and Blaze saved them. The four went after Spider-X, who was already in the process of killing another bad guy, and Jinx hit him with another blast from eye, sending him through a glass window.
(Midnight Sons Unlimted#3/4) - Jinx joined Victoria, Ghost Rider, Blaze, the Nightstalkers, Morbius and Spider-Man to stop Spider-X, Zzzax and the Paralyzer.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#13) - Jinx was listening to music when the Monstrosity attacked him, but Buchanan had returned in time to save him. They were unaware that Victoria Montesi had accessed a page of the Darkhold to gain healing powers. This resulted in the summoning of the creature Monstrosity, which was drawn to follow Victoria and slaughter those it encountered. Jinx attempted to engage the Monstrosity, but was stabbed in the chest by it. He was mortally wounded, but Victoria appeared to save him.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#14) - Victoria used her magic to heal Jinx instantly.
After that Jinx began training as an apprentice to Modred, much to the consternation of Sam Buchanan, who was the first to find out when he wanted to check on Jinx in his room. Modred started with meditation, but Jinx was impatient and wanted to learn powerful spells. Modred convinced him that he needed to start slow and promised that his lessons would continue as soon as he returned.
Some time later Jinx took a call from Johnny Blaze, who wanted to talk to Louise Hastings about Lilith.
(Nightstalkers#14) - Jinx arrived with the other Darkhold Redeemers at Cypress Hills Cemetery for a meeting with the other Midnight Sons. They watched Blaze and Ghost Rider claim that they had killed Lilith, while the Nightstalkers wouldn't believe them. When a mist from the Shadowside began to spread from the cemetery, Jinx joined a team consisting of his grandmother, Blade, Morbius, Modred and Drake to investigate the mist to see if it could be stopped. Modred's magic protected Jinx from the mist. Morbius abandoned his team shortly after they entered the mist and were watched by Lilith, who was still alive.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#15) - A horde of Lilin led by Bad Timing attacked Jinx, Modred, Drake and Blade on Brooklyn Bridge. Blade attacked Modred, which nearly cost Jinx his life when the Lilin Spitfire went after him. Modred killed Spitfire and saved Jinx. Morbius returned and brought the team to an abandoned warehouse, which was a safe haven according to him. They were followed by Lilin because Morbius was already working for them because he was under control of the Lilin Bloodthirst. Modred continued Jinx's training at the warehouse, but Jinx was still impatient and wanted to learn more powerful spells. Modred and Jinx later found Blade on the ground because Lilith, Zarathos and some Lilin had invaded the warehouse. Pilgrim counteracted Modred's teleportation spell. Modred and Jinx then merged their powers against the Lilin until Drake arrived and mistakenly blamed Modred for Louise's murder. Jinx turned on Modred and the attack caused a feedback that knocked both of them out.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#16) - After Morbius (controlled by Bloodthirst) infiltrated and Martine Bancroft (controlled by Parasite) shattered the barrier around the Sanctum Sanctorum, Pilgrim teleported Lilith, Zarathos, several Lilin and their prisoners Blade, Drake, Jinx and Modred into the Sanctum Sanctorum. Morbius regained control over his body with the help of Doctor Strange, and helped free Jinx and the other prisoners by attacking the Lilin that was holding them.
(Marvel Comics Presents I#144/2) - Jinx and Modred once again merged their powers against Zarathos, who fled with Lilith. Modred teleported away with Jinx as well because there was no reason to stay after their main enemies were gone even though Jinx wanted to stay to help their allies.
(Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#16) - Modred teleported Jinx, Victoria and Buchanan to the jungles of Central America to find Truthsayer of the Blood and protect her from the Fallen. They encountered Metarchus, posing as a local, who sent them to the right direction. Jinx eventually found Truthsayer's home, but Truthsayer had no interest to help them. Metarchus attacked Modred and Jinx watched the fight from the sidelines. Truthsayer was slain during the battle by Modred, but his allies were unaware it was him because Metarchus was posing as him at the same time. Metarchus escaped and Modred teleported his team back to Los Angeles.
Jinx and his allies visited Louise's grave, but Jinx had nothing to say. Modred decided to give Jinx into the care of Vittorio Montesi for Jinx's own safety. Modred asked Jinx to continue to practice his spells and then teleported Jinx to Vittorio even though Jinx didn't want to.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report) - Tony Stark listed Jinx's status as undetermined.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Crypt of Shadows III#1/3 (fb) - BTS) - Jinx' magical skills improved and he cast the Troid spell to avenge the death of his grandmother at the hands of Morbius. He knew the spell would make Morbius suffer.
(Crypt of Shadows III#1/3) - Jinx followed Morbius and revoked the spell when Victoria Montesi, who went looking for Morbius after she had a vision Troids, nearly became the victim of the Troid-controlled Morbius. Victoria, who was surprised that Jinx could even cast the spell when the Darkhold was gone, asked Morbius not to kill Jinx and left the scene with Jinx.
Comments: Created by Chris Cooper and Rurik Tyler.
Jinx is the type of character that should be sought out and trained by Dr. Strange or another sorcerer. I really can't see him sticking around for any length of time under Vittorio Montesi.
Jinx had the hots for Victoria Montesi. He was initially prejudiced against her after learning her sexual orientation, but he eventually overcame this.
Regarding Jinx named William Hastings, sharing his grandmother Louise's surname. I don't recall Jinx's surname ever being given in the comics, meaning it's a handbook addition that he's got the same surname. But Louise was married at least eight times, and Jinx's mother originated from marriage number three. We don't know if Hastings is her maiden name, or one of the various husband's surnames. Even assuming the former, it's then possible her daughter kept her father's surname, especially as she was estranged from her mother, and then there's the matter of the surname of Jinx's unseen father. What I'm trying to say is that it seems a bit of a leap to assume Jinx and Louise definitely shared the same surname.
--Loki
Jinx has an entry in Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic.
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond.
Clarifications: Jinx has no connection to:
Jinx's mother, Caprice Hastings, has no connection to:
images:
Crypt of Shadows III#1/3, p7, pan1 (main)
Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#13, p6, pan3 (head shot)
OHOTMU HC#6, Jinx profile (main, based on Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#15, p20, pan3)
Appearances:
Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#9-11 (June-August, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik Tyler
(pencils), Bob Downs (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#2 (July, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Dan
Lawlis (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#12 (September, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik Tyler
(pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#3 (October, 1993) - Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Chapter 1: Mort Todd (writer), Mike Witherby (pencils), Tom Smith (inks)
Chapter 3: Mort Todd (writer), Ken Meyer Jr. (artist)
Chapter 4: Mort Todd (writer), Dougie Braithwaite & Vince
Giarrano (pencils), Cam Smith & Vince Giarrano (inks)
Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#13-15 (October-December, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik
Tyler (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins#16 (January, 1994) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik Tyler
(pencils), Bob Downs & Malcolm Jones III (inks), Hildy Mesnik
(editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report (2007)
Crypt of Shadows III#1/3 (December, 2022) - Chris Cooper (writer), Ibrahim Moustafa (artist), Sarah Brunstad (editor)
First Posted: 09/30/2001(?)
Last updated: 10/28/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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