Real
Name: Jack Truman JACK TRUMAN
Real
Name: Jack Truman
Identity/Class: Human technology user;
formerly cyborg
Occupation: Independent covert operator;
former S.H.I.E.L.D. Manhunter, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, soldier
Group Membership: Formerly Doyle's L.A. gang, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate), S.H.I.E.L.D. cyborg squad (Clayton Claymore, Edwin Darwin, Eugene Spandell), S.H.I.E.L.D. Stealth Ops Division, U.S. Army
Affiliations: Armbruster,
Black
Mamba (Tanya Sealy), G.W. Bridge, Defenders (Nighthawk/Joaquin
Pennysworth, Kyle
Richmond, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Son
of Satan/Damian Hellstrom, Warlord Krang), Douglock (Warlock),
Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, In-Betweener, Nick Fury Senior, Teen Brigade
(Barnell Bohusk, America Chavez, Angel Salvadore, Ultimate
Nullifier/Mayne), Zzzax;
formerly Mr. Postal
Enemies: Braak'nhud, Chinese mob (L.A. branch), Clown
(Eliot Franklin), Doyle's gang, Dum Dum Dugan LMD, Alfred P. Feiffer,
the Hand, Miguel Mezro, Puff
Adder (Gordon Fraley), S.H.I.E.L.D. Air Cavalry (Blake,
Jackson,
Kelso,
Seagrum,
Larry
Young), Martin
Thraller (Ringmaster/Maynard Tiboldt), Young Masters of Evil
(Egghead, Executioner/Danny DuBois, Radioactive Kid);
(mindless cyborg only) Red Skull (Johann Shmidt)
Known Relatives: Unidentified father, Lillian Trubane (sister), possibly unidentified nephew (see comments)
Aliases: Agent 18, Billy Bailey, Ted Bailey, Colonel Damage, Deep Throat, LOK (Logarythmic Organic Kinetics), Deck Schiffler, Larry Young
Base of Operations: Formerly an unidentified
Men's Hotel, the Bowery, NYC; a flophouse safehouse in Los Angeles
First Appearance: (mentioned as Agent 18) Cable
I#58 (September 1998);
(seen, as Agent 18/Jack Truman) Cable I#59 (October 1998);
(as Deathlok) Uncanny X-Men I#371 (1999)
Powers/Abilities: When Truman was Deathlok, his
cyborg form was heavily armored, superhumanly strong (Class 50), and
armed with a variety of inbuilt weapons, including blasters in mouth and
palms, incendiary and gas devices in his mouth, and missile launchers in
his forearms. He was also equipped with short-range radar, and
telescopic and infrared sight, and could shut down any of his senses at
will. He used spray-on skin to pass for human and internal jammers
ensured x-rays and scanners read him as normal. He did not need to eat,
and could interface with and override other machines through probes in
his fingers.
Truman is a skilled tracker, and an expert in multiple weapons and combat techniques - he is so skilled that even in the body of a six year old he can easily overpower trained agents with his martial arts. He can also use a Tibetan mental technique to swap bodies with others after locking eyes with them. He can read lips and is a skilled computer hacker.
Height: (both original human body and as cyborg)
6'4"; (in Young's stolen body) 6'2"; (in Ted Bailey's body) 6'1" (by
estimation); (in Billy Bailey's body) 3'9" (by estimation)
Weight: (original human body) 200 lbs.; (cyborg) 630 lbs.; (in
Young's stolen body) 170 lbs.; (in
Ted Bailey's body) 160 lbs. (by estimation); (in Billy
Bailey's body) 45 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: (original human body) Blue; (cyborg) variable; (in Young's
stolen body) blue; (in Ted Bailey's
body) blue; (in Billy Bailey's body) blue
Hair: (original human body) Black; (cyborg) none; (in Young's
stolen body) white, formerly black;
(in Ted Bailey's body) blond; (in Billy Bailey's body) brown
History:
(Deathlok III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Jack
Truman's dad wasn't around much while he was growing up, apparently
feeling he had better things to do than to raise Jack and his kid
sister...
(Deathlok III#5 (fb)) - Lillian. They had a swing in their backyard and every day Truman would ask his father to push him, but he never did; by the time Truman was in kindergarten it was rusty. As a child Truman liked to hang around with his friends in the woods and down by the creek, and used stolen wood, hammer and nails to build a rickety clubhouse hidden among the trees. It only survived a couple of months before a storm wrecked it, but nothing could take away the sense of achievement young Truman felt over having made it himself.
(Deathlok III#7 (fb) - BTS) - Lillian was eleven years
younger than Jack, and he was never much of a big brother.
(Deathlok III#1 (fb) - BTS)
- When Jack did talk to his father, it was usually about cars,
something Jack's father was passionate about, from how they were put
together to how they worked. He promised to buy Jack one when the
boy turned sixteen, and an excited Jack realized he actually meant
it. As he got closer to his sixteenth birthday Jack learned how to
drive using friends' cars, all automatic transmissions since he felt
they were easier to drive, as you had both hands free. He told his
father he didn't care what kind of car he got, but just begged him
to get an automatic. After a few months not hearing from him, Jack's
dad showed up with Jack's car, a beat up old stick-shift Honda, a
car he didn't know how to drive; the father's response to his son's
upset was simply "You need to learn." Jack cursed his father and
hated him for this; it was the last Jack ever saw of the man. But he
did learn how to drive stick-shift.
(Deathlok III#5 (fb)) - By seventeen Truman was already a national track star, Olympic material, leading S.H.I.E.L.D. recruiters to spot him. They elected however to wait and monitor his choices, watching as he sidestepped the chance to pursue an athletics career and instead enlist in the Army as soon as he graduated, taking to a life of discipline like a duck to water. When he began to rapidly rise through the ranks S.H.I.E.L.D. finally stepped in to recruit him. Put through deliberately brutal training, he made it look effortless and qualified for active duty in record time. His first few tours were in the Stealth Ops division, eventually leading his own team before requesting to go solo and becoming the best manhunter in the organization.
(Deathlok III#7 (fb) - BTS) - When Jack was twenty-three
and Lillian twelve she told her brother that she wanted to enlist too,
unhappy at being left alone with their lonely, bitter father. It would
be fourteen years before they saw one another again.
(Deathlok III#1 (fb)) - On a mission to Libya against insurgents armed with nerve gas shells Truman was given the green light from senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Dum Dum Dugan to begin a tactical bombardment.
On another mission Truman faced off against a man with a Russian accent who threatened to cut a hostage's throat, stating her blood would be on Truman's hands; Truman told the hostage-taker he didn't care (see comments).
On another mission Truman battled several ninjas (probably the Hand).
(Deathlok III#2 (fb) - BTS) - While visiting Tibet Truman learned an ancient technique that would allow him to transfer his consciousness into someone else's body, or to swap bodies with them, needing only to lock eyes with his target to do so, but he never thought he'd use this trick.
At some point Truman learned that Nick Fury had the designers of
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying cars encode a password, Wah Hoo, that could
override any and all subsequent activation locks.
(Cable I#59 (fb) - BTS) - Truman became so
covert that he had no official S.H.I.E.L.D. file either under his real
name or as Agent 18.
(Cable I#60 (fb) - BTS) - At some point he
encountered Lawrence Young, a commander in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Air Cavalry,
whose independent attitude struck a chord with Truman but who the
Manhunter also considered to be unnecessarily heavy handed.
(Cable I#59
(fb) - BTS) - On one of his missions he was
informed that agent Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan was intended to
assassinate the U.S. President. Sent to eliminate Dugan first, Truman
discovered his prey was actually a malfunctioning LMD (Life Model
Decoy) android, and slit its throat.
A few years later Truman spent
six months on a stakeout in Tunisia, trying to take down an embassy
bomber. However, just as he finally began to close in on his target,
the man, a manic depressive, committed suicide. Feeling cheated, an
unhappy Truman went to the Republic of the Sudan to unwind, with no
one supposed to know the remote location he had chosen to visit.
(Cable I#58 - BTS) - S.H.I.E.L.D.
decided to capture the mutant Cable, ostensibly because he was
considered a dangerous terrorist, but really because S.H.I.E.L.D.'s
ExTechOp division wanted to examine his techno-organic components for
ways they could be used in ExTechOp's ongoing cybernetics Nemesis
Program. One of those in attendance at the meeting to discuss how this
capture could be achieved, Seth Waters, suggested that Agent 18 would be
best suited for the task, though Clay Quartermain, who was overseeing
the meeting, was disquieted both that Seth knew of Agent 18's existence
(Seth was secretly a triple agent, working for both Hydra and
Leviathan) and that he had mentioned the top secret operative in
front of civilians. Nevertheless, once the meeting concluded, Clay began
the process of assigning the task to Truman.
(Deathlok III#1 (fb) - BTS) - By this point Truman was thirty-seven years old.
(Cable I#59) - Still on vacation in the Sudan, Truman was
out on a drive in the savanna and carelessly let himself get lost in his
own thoughts, only to realize he'd wandered dangerously close to a bull
elephant. It charged him, and though he'd not gone out with the
intention of hunting he was left with no choice but to kill it with a
single well-placed brainshot. Returning to his hotel he was met by Agent
Gerard, who Truman instantly pegged with disdain as a desk agent. Truman
dismissed Gerard as soon as he had handed over the dossier he was
delivering, and Truman read up on Cable, initially thinking his new
target seemed fairly routine until he spotted the note that Cable was a
mutant, something Truman had never captured before. As he read further
he realized his superiors were trying to hype up Cable as a dangerous
terrorist, which Truman saw as them trying to appeal to his morality to
sell him on the hunt, but Truman didn't care about the deception, as he
was hooked by the challenge of taking on a genuinely dangerous quarry.
(Cable I#61 (fb) - BTS) - Truman hoped this capture would
be his greatest challenge, a defining moment in his life.
(Cable I#59) - Truman noticed with
less enthusiasm that he was first to visit former S.H.I.E.L.D Acting
Director G.W. Bridge in Switzerland, a man who Truman didn't rate highly
and had no use for.
In Switzerland Truman met briefly with
Bridge, who was handling clean up operations at a site Cable had
recently been active, then hopped a flight to the States. On the plane
Truman studied up on his target, soon realizing that his target was not
a terrorist but instead a hero. However, rather than putting Truman off
the hunt, this instead provided him with an idea how to draw Cable out
into the open, since S.H.I.E.L.D. Psi-Division had lost track of Cable
around Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. Since Cable had psionic abilities,
Truman chose to utilize Zzzax, an electrical being that would not only
lure him out but also feed on his psionic powers, and recreated the
electrical monster with an old S.H.I.E.L.D. power core. His ploy worked,
and Cable was not only drawn out but, already struggling against a
techno-organic virus that was sapping his telepathic abilities, was
further weakened shorting out the creature. Barely able to stand, Cable
was confronted by Truman.
(Cable I#60) - Though he could have
simply shot Cable, Truman decided he would prefer to take him on
one-on-one, and so put down his gun and took him on hand-to-hand.
Though a skilled fighter, Cable was already badly weakened, and so
Truman easily won the bout, but the Manhunter held back from finishing
off his opponent, eager to let him catch his breath so their contest
could continue. However, before it could they were interrupted by the
arrival of Lawrence Young's Air Cavalry squad, whose arrival Truman
read as evidence that the suits had already lost faith in him being
able to handle the capture. The distraction enabled Cable to grab
Truman's gun and open fire on the Cavalry's flying cars; the Cavalry
returned fire with missiles that ultimately only provided cover for
Cable's retreat. As the Air Cavalry attempted to track Cable using
their vehicles' sensors, Truman returned to his own car to listen in
on their comms and to rearm himself with heavier weaponry. Surmising
that Cable would use the sewers to evade the Cavalry, Truman
intercepted the mutant as he exited via a manhole and overpowered him
with surprising ease thanks to Cable's virus-weakened state. However,
it didn't feel like a true victory to Truman, and though he wouldn't
normally question orders he was angered by being lied to and by having
the Air Cavalry sent in to "back him up," and so determined to learn
why Cable had really been targeted.
(Cable I#61 (fb) - BTS) -
Truman surmised that the most likely person to have sent in the Air
Cavalry was Clay Quartermain, who refused the Manhunter's requests
to see him, and by accessing classified files Truman learned that
Cable had been moved to the Helicarrier division of ExTechOp, and
his file had then been deleted on the orders of ExTechOp's Doctor
Horatio Belgrade, leading Truman to deduce that Cable being declared
a "terrorist" was merely a smokescreen to justify capturing him for
Belgarde's experiments. Continuing by hacking into Belgrade's
personal logs, Truman learned that ExTechOp wanted to harvest
Cable's techno-organic virus to use in their stalled Nemesis
Program, to create artificially intelligent but fully programmable
robots, and also learned why Cable had been so weak when they
fought. Feeling Quatermain, Belgrade and the others had cheated him
of his defining moment and now foolishly expected him to just accept
this like a junkyard dog, Truman broke into Belgrade's lab and
released Cable so they could have a fair rematch.
(Cable I#62) - Truman left the
lab before Cable was fully revived so that his opponent would have
time to regain his strength, then confronted Cable as he was
attempting to escape the Helicarrier. To Truman's pleasure, Cable
had fully recovered his psionic abilities, making it a much more
challenging bout, but as they fought Cable pointed out that the
Helicarrier's engines had blown up (thanks to Belgrade's
experiments with the techno-organic virus turning several robots
into rampaging renegades), and that they should evacuate before
the ship blew up. Cable insisted neither of them had anything to
prove, but Truman had been overtaken by the need to win their
fight, and ignored Cable's warnings until it was too late;
suddenly the ceiling above him collapsed and he was engulfed in an
inferno of raining metal.
Despite this fire bath, Truman survived, but suffered severe full
body burns. He was transferred to ExTechOp, who had saved other
badly wounded S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the past by turning
them into cyborgs. Despite being trapped unable to move and with
much of his body destroyed, Truman hoped Cable had survived, as he
was looking forward to a rematch.
(Deathlok
III#2 (fb)) - ExTechOp immediately began experimenting on Truman,
putting him through agonizing pain even worse than that caused by
his injuries. Deciding he only had one longshot way out, he
decided to try the Tibetan mindswap technique to bounce his psyche
into low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Ted Bailey, hiding at the
back of the unaware Ted's mind with the intention of breaking his
body out when the chance arose. Presumably because he was sharing
Ted's body rather than having stolen it by shunting Ted's mind
into his vacated body, Truman was largely unaware of his host's
actions, and rode along like a hitchhiker as Ted went home from
work, then inadvertently bounced out of Ted's subconscious into
the back of the mind of Ted's six year old son, first grader Billy
Bailey living on Long Island.
(Uncanny X-Men I#371/X-Men II#91/X-Men '99 Annual) - Meanwhile ExTechOp transplanted Truman's brain and nervous system into their new Logarythmic Organic Kinetics robotic body to create a new Deathlok cyborg, only for it go on the run.
(Deathlok III#1) - At first Billy's mind was in the driver's
seat, with Truman's consciousness sleeping, but flashes of Truman's
memories began to surface as his mind woke up within Billy's brain.
Playing wargames with his Colonel Damage figures triggered a memory of
Truman's mission to Libya, and momentarily recalling facing off against
a hostage taker disrupted Billy's dinner. His fitful dreams were of
battling ninjas and being charged by rogue elephants and Billy woke
screaming for his mother to comfort him. The next day during recess
Truman's instincts took over as Billy played Colonel Damage versus the
Nazi terrorists with his friends, and "Billy" left a half dozen of his
classmates sprawled around the ground crying in pain after he attacked
them. It was Billy, sitting in headmaster's Alfred P. Feiffer's office,
who listened in shame as Feiffer chastised him for his uncharacteristic
violence, desperately wanting to go home to his mother, but then Truman
imagined how easy it would be to simply kill the man by ramming his desk
nameplate into his brain, and it was the Manhunter who dismissively
stalked off, casually stating he needed to "hit the head." Staring at
his reflection in the bathroom Billy's memories fought with Truman's for
supremacy; Billy managed to utter one final desperate plea for his
mother's help before Truman took over, finally recalling who he was,
though not yet how he had become trapped within a six year old's body
nor what had happened to his own body.
(Deathlok III#2) - Having spent several
days trying to reconcile conflicting memories before Truman's mind
became conscious, Truman spent the next several hours trying to piece
together what had happened to him. He recalled fighting Cable and then
getting burned, before finally remembering transferring his mind to
Ted Bailey; though he had no clear recollection of returning to Ted's
home nor of the subsequent transfer to Billy, he was able to
extrapolate that this is what had happened from his current
predicament. Using Ted's computer he hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D.
mainframe and learned that what was left of his body had been
implanted into the Deathlok cyborg and was now AWOL and running amuck
in Las Vegas. Worse, S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent Larry Young's Air Cavalry
in, and Truman realized he needed to figure a way to get there while
there still was a Vegas. After faking his way through family
breakfast, Truman snuck a ride in the trunk of Ted's car to get inside
the front company where he worked, and from thence to the building's
motor pool, full of flying cars. Though he was spotted by two guards,
they hesitated upon seeing he was just a kid, and he quickly
overpowered them with his martial arts. Though the cars were voice
print activated and his child voice wasn't on record, Truman used Nick
Fury's secret activation code to bypass the security measures and made
a noisy exit smashing through the roof of the building.
(Deathlok III#3) - As he neared Las Vegas
Truman could feel a strange pull tickling at the back of his brain.
Listening to radio chatter Truman learned that Zero Company, a team
specializing in massacres, had been sent in to stop the cyborg, and
realized this would be his only chance to reclaim his body and life.
As he buzzed by a car carrying two of the Air Cavalry, Kelso and
Seagrum, some of Billy's immaturity took over momentarily, and he
taunted them over the radio, prompting them to give chase and
disable his engines with some choice shots. Undeterred, Truman
climbed out onto the exterior of his plummeting vehicle, confidently
jumped across to the Air Cav one, yanked open the driver's door and
threw Seagrum out. Taking the controls he told a shocked Kelso he
had a two choices of how to exit, and despite this threat coming
from a small child, the attitude behind it prompted Kelso to jump
rather than be thrown.
Truman finally
reached the cyborg after a drunken Larry Young had taken down most
of Zero Company, causing a lull in the combat. The cyborg's arm guns
deployed, and Truman realized he couldn't rely on just his six year
old body's reflexes to win the coming confrontation. Setting the car
down, he opened the driver's door, but exited from the underside of
the vehicle as the robot raked the driver's area with gunfire just
as he'd anticipated. He fired a couple of shots to knock the cyborg
off balance, but then noticed the smell of gas coming from a broken
main, meaning he couldn't risk another shot. Dropping his guns he
locked eyes with the approaching cyborg and transferred his mind
back into what was left of his original body. As the main exploded
the Truman cyborg carried Billy's now unconscious body to safety,
and found the newly arrived Nick Fury; seeing the cyborg gently
carrying the child, Fury realized its rampaging had ceased, and
though he lacked the capacity to speak, Truman signaled that his
mind was in control by tapping out in Morse code on his metal chest
that he was reporting for duty. He was swiftly removed to a secure
facility for containment while Fury decided what to do with him.
(Deathlok
III#4 - BTS) - Still comatose, Billy was sent to a hospital to be
watched over by his worried parents, with S.H.I.E.L.D. picking up
all the medical expenses. Meanwhile Deathlok had sustained
repairable structural damage and was secured aboard a Helicarrier
in ExTechOp custody, awaiting Fury's decision on whether to let
ExTechOp's scientists rebuild and upgrade him, or let Truman die
in peace. Ultimately Fury elected to restore the cyborg.
(Deathlok
III#5) - As the scientists worked on repairing his body,
Truman's mind hallucinated, with a small winged elephant-headed
humanoid replaying some of his memories. As his body was rebuilt
layer by layer so too was his mind, with illusions taunting him,
testing his sanity, but his consciousness refusing to concede
defeat. The final part of the physical process was adding a
layer of artificial epidermis so his robotic form could pass for
human. Completed, he stepped free of the repair chamber, ready
to be deployed.
(Deathlok
III#6) - Truman soon discovered that his flesh epidermis began
flaking off after being exposed to the elements, requiring it
to be regularly reapplied via spray cans. He was assigned a
mission by Mr. Postal, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent part of or
associated with ExTechOp, instructed to lead a team of three
fellow cyborgs (Darwin, Spandell and Claymore, results of
other aborted cybernetic programs) to the small Central
American island of El Corazon De la Muerte ("the Heart of
Death") and overthrow its dictator Miguel Mezro. Meeting with
local rebels shortly after being dropped onto the island, the
cyborgs were lead through the jungle towards the capital, but
en route Truman spotted a high tech lab that wasn't on the
map. Before he could decide whether to deviate from their
mission goals to investigate the group began taking fire,
killing most of the rebels, and an approaching tank took out
Darwin before Truman destroyed it. Regrouping, Truman elected
to change the mission parameters and investigate the lab,
suspicious that it had more to do with the real reason they
were there than taking down a petty dictator. Hover-drones,
suspiciously advanced tech for a third world nation, killed
the last rebel before the cyborgs could eliminate them, but
the three remaining cyborgs made it into the building, clearly
highly advanced, expensive and brand new, and witnessed Mezro
ranting to some of his men that they would reap the rewards
now that they controlled the facility. Truman gunned down the
soldiers, but left Mezro alive to answer questions; however
the dictator instead summoned a giant robot guard and fled. It
crushed Spandell and broke Claymore literally in two, but
Truman decapitated it with a punch. Wanting answers, Truman
elected not to immediately pursue Mezro, instead interfacing
with the lab's computer to confirm his suspicions - the lab
was ExTechOps, established on the remote island to hide its
illegal experiments, but Mezro had broken whatever agreement
he'd made with ExTechOp and taken over the lab himself,
prompting ExTechOp to send in the expandable cyborgs without
Fury's knowledge to eliminate the dictator. With a self
destruct sequence triggered Truman carried the dying Claymore
to safety and called for exfiltration; Claymore passed away
before it arrived. Returning to S.H.I.E.L.D., Truman provided
a minimal debriefing and then walked out, ignoring Postal's
protests.
(Deathlok III#7) - Truman went to
visit his sister, now an actress living in Los Angeles with
the stage name Trubane, partially to reconnect but also
because S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know she was connected to him
since his personnel files had been deleted years earlier
when he went covert. Understandably it took her a moment to
recognize him, but she let him in and left him in her
apartment while she went to an audition. While she was out
he extracted a tracking device from his leg, and took a
message from a surfer dude who identified himself as
Lillian's "steady" that he couldn't take Lillian's friend
out that night like he'd promised her. Upon hearing this
when she returned an annoyed Lillian demanded Truman be the
plus one for her friend, fashion model Tanya Sealy, while
she attended a charity dinner. However, while there Truman
realized his human mask was breaking down, something he
confirmed with a trip to the washroom to check his face in
the mirrors. Never the type to slip out the back door when
things went wrong, he decided to return to Sealy and make
the best of things, only to find her being harassed by her
ex, "Puffy." When Puffy threatened to get physical with
Truman the cyborg gut punched him, but an enraged Puffy got
back up, now visibly larger, and Truman realized he was
facing a superhuman foe. Puffy exhaled an acidic gas over
Truman, but this merely destroyed the remainder of his fake
skin, and a brawl ensued that spilled out of the venue into
the street until Tanya stepped in to chastise both of them
for ruining her evening. She explained to Truman that she
used to be Black Mamba of the Serpent Society, and Puffy -
Puff Adder - was just an overly clingy ex. Coping well with
the revelation that her date wasn't human thanks to her own
background, Tanya thanked him for his chivalry and gave him
her card. Truman returned to Lillian's apartment and told
her everything; she took his cyborg nature surprisingly
well, but told him that he was still selfish and
self-involved, and that she wasn't there just for him to run
to when he wanted to hide from his life. Telling him it was
too little too late and they were both better off as
orphans, she threw him out, leaving him believing she hated
him; however, after he left a clearly upset Lillian threw a
photo against the wall, smashing it (see comments).
(Deathlok III#8) -
Truman headed to Nasty Joe's Bar in Los Angeles, a hangout
for retired agents, where he was approached by Dum Dum
Dugan, who informed him that Nick Fury had gone missing.
This information prompted him to return to S.H.I.E.L.D.
for repairs and then head out to track down the missing
director, first setting up in a safehouse hidden in an
apparently abandoned flophouse, and then after discovering
Fury seemed to be running in criminal circles to
Armbruster, an agent undercover in the L.A. crime scene,
seeking a way into that world. Armbruster informed him
that this would be difficult, as a new player, Doyle, had
recently begun making waves, and so everyone in the
underworld was nervous and wary. Nevertheless, Armbruster
facilitated Truman, now using the alias of Milwaukee
criminal Deck Shiffler, to get him an intro to Doyle. Upon
seeing Doyle however, Truman was shocked to see that the
new underworld supremo was Fury himself!
(Deathlok III#9) - Truman hid his surprise
for the duration of the meeting and returned to his safehouse trying
to figure out if Fury was undercover or had gone insane. Attending
another meeting, he was surprised when Fury/Doyle picked him out of
the crowd as muscle for an upcoming job; getting a close look into
Fury's eyes, Truman realized that Fury wasn't acting. That night
Truman took part in a cargo hijacking at Long Beach harbor, but seeing
some of Doyle's thugs about to beat an innocent driver to death he
stepped in, deliberately drawing Doyle's ire with taunts intended to
prod Fury's memories. Blows were exchanged, and when Truman knocked
Doyle down the gang turned their guns towards him; deciding to drop
the pretense, Truman powered up, burning the skin off his face, but
even this didn't restore Fury's memories. Before Doyle could shoot
him, the Chinese mob, rivals to Doyle's gang, attacked, catching
Doyle's men off guard and gunning them down. Unperturbed, Doyle
returned fire, but Truman tackled him into a building out of the line
of fire and sprayed him in the face with an airborne neural agent, a
last choice method to try and trigger Fury's memories. It worked, and
Fury recalled who he was, though not who had rendered him amnesiac.
The pair headed off to return to S.H.I.E.L.D., but before they had
gone more than a few paces they were confronted by a new attacker, the
Clown, who had been hired to eliminate Doyle.
(Deathlok III#10) - Truman returned fire as Fury ducked for cover, then while Fury drew the Clown's attention Truman slipped through a building to get behind Clown, used radar to locate the assassin, and caught him off guard by smashing through a wall to reach him. Reacting quickly Clown threw flash powder into Truman's face, expecting to incapacitate him, but this instead merely burned off the flesh covering. Thinking his opponent a robot (and having had a recent bad experience with several mechanical foes), Clown elected to withdraw, leaping up to a nearby rooftop. From that vantage he overheard Truman using Fury's name and mentioning S.H.I.E.L.D. and Clown realized his target was not who he'd been lead to believe and decided to abandon the contract. However, while Fury departed, Truman stayed to continue hunting Clown, only to have the assassin ram him with a fuel tanker. Though it exploded, Truman emerged from the flames unharmed apart from having his clothes and remaining fake skin burned away, but by this time the Clown had escaped.
(Deathlok III#10 (fb) - BTS) - Fury used
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology to prompt his memories, and recalled that
he had been hypnotized by Presidential candidate Martin Thraller,
secretly the former Ringmaster of the Circus of Crime. In a diner
Clown caught one of Thraller's speeches, and also recognized his
former colleague, who Clown blamed for a recent incarceration.
(Deathlok
III#11) - Now beginning to suffer from headaches as his mind
began to reject his cyborg body, Truman met with Fury and Dugan to
discuss the Thraller problem. Given how easily Thraller could
hypnotize most people and not wanting to cause a national
nightmare by publicly reveal Thraller's true identity, they
decided to have Truman stage a fake assassination of Thraller live
on air, then use an LMD to fake Thraller's death while actually
taking him into custody. Later Truman suffered nightmares of his flying
elephant friend, Truman concluded he had to find a way out of his
mechanical body before he lost his soul and his sanity.
At Thraller's rally Truman mingled with the crowds, waiting for his moment, but before he could strike the Clown attacked, also after Thraller. Trying to salvage things and prevent the wildly firing Clown from massacring innocents Truman intervened, and the pair fought as the civilians stampeded and Secret Service evacuated Thraller. Clown fled after his target when Truman began using his eye lasers, and Truman lost him in the crowd. Catching up with Thraller, Clown shot him then fled as Fury and his men arrived, unaware he had actually helped them achieve their objective. As he escaped into the sewers he found Truman waiting for him, but instead of attacking him Truman congratulated him for being a formidable opponent and admitted that though they had come to blows they'd actually both been there for the same reasons, though he also added that if he wasn't currently wrestling with his own sanity he would probably have killed Clown just for closure. Telling Clown he would let him live, Truman let the assassin go.
Truman then located Larry Young, now suspended from S.H.I.E.L.D.
and drowning his sorrows at Nasty Joe's bar. Telling Young he had
never liked him, Truman used his Tibetan mindswap technique again
and swapped bodies with Young, then walked away before Young's
mind, now trapped within the cyborg, could process what had just
happened.
(Vengeance#1 (fb) - BTS) - More because of the abuse its original owner had put it through than because of actual advanced age, Young's body aged poorly, and Truman found himself balding with his remaining hair rapidly going white.
(Vengeance#1 (fb)) - While hiding out in a
cheap "Men's Hotel" in the Bowery, Truman watched a news report on a
protest that had turned into a riot, and watched as the reporter tried
to interview new S.H.I.E.L.D. head Steve Rogers for his opinion on the
event. Deciding that the authorities were all useless, he decided to
get up off the bench and do something about it.
(Vengeance#4 (fb) - BTS) - Truman felt that
he couldn't just go quietly into that good night, and that a lot was
happening in the world that tended to get overlooked and could do with
being dealt with.
(Vengeance#2 (fb) - BTS) - Acting as a Deep
Throat, Truman began funneling classified S.H.I.E.L.D. files out of
ancillary data streams and various cloud networks to the proactive
young heroes making up the latest iteration of the
Teen Brigade, directing them to handle problems he felt needed
resolved.
(Vengeance#1 - BTS) - Truman directed the
Brigade to a secret holding facility near Broom Lake, Nevada which was
posing as a decommissioned military base. Ms America Chavez
investigated, and liberated the In-Betweener, who had been
incarcerated there.
(Vengeance#2 - BTS) - Kyle Richmond's
Defenders became aware of the leaks Truman had facilitated, and began
investigating, hoping to locate the person behind them.
(Vengeance#3) - Returning to the Hotel late at night
Truman noted immediately the abnormal absence of other residents and
realized someone was waiting to confront him. Sensing his opponent above
him, Truman glanced up to the room's rafters and spotted a winged
costumed man (Nighthawk/Joaquin Pennysworth) roosting there. Calling him
Agent Young, Nighthawk offered to let him come peacefully, but Truman
decided otherwise, insisting he should be called Larry instead and
taking up a fighting stance. The pair fought, but though Truman was more
skilled, his opponent wasn't far behind and had the advantage of being
younger and in much better shape than Truman's stolen body. After
Nighthawk finally pinned Truman down, Kyle Richmond showed himself, and
shocked Truman by revealing that they knew who he really was, then asked
him if he wanted a drink.
(Vengeance#4) - The trio went to bar (with
Pennysworth switching to civilian clothes), and the two Defenders
asked why Truman was stealing and leaking files. Truman explained his
reasons, as well as how he had ended up in Young's body and that due
the Deathlok body had apparently broken down thanks to Young's
alcoholic mind and lack of proper maintenance. Deciding that they were
all on the same side Richmond proposed a toast to cleaning up the mess
of the world, a dirty job but one that someone had to do.
(Vengeance#5) - Later, back
at the Men's Hotel, Truman packed his things, informing some of the
other residents who expressed concern at his forthcoming departure
that he had somewhere to go and a plan to follow. He headed over to
the Teen Brigade's base, revealed himself to be their Deep Throat,
and informed them that Latveria would need them as the Young Masters
of Evil were planning an assault on the country and to assassinate
its ruler, Kristoff Vernard.
(Vengeance#6)
- Truman alerted the Defenders to this threat too, then
accompanied the Teen Brigade to Latveria, finding it easy to sneak
into the country as Kristoff was throwing a national celebration.
When the Young Masters launched their assault Truman and his
allies went into action; spotting the Radioactive Kid about to
slaughter several innocent civilians, Truman ran the murderous
youth over with a truck. The Defenders also arrived to help, but
suddenly a portal opened in the sky, unleashing a demonic horde,
the Braak'nhud; however, this Biblical turn of events merely
excited Truman, who felt unexpected twists like this only served
to make life more interesting. Fighting alongside the heroes,
Truman waa impressed by how well the youths were handling this
apocalypse and by the Defenders' "old school" prowess. Despite
their best efforts though, the demonic hordes kept on coming,
threatening to overwhelm the heroes by sheer numbers, until the
Brigade's Ultimate Nullifier figured out how to unleash the full
power of the In-Betweener, who then absorbed the demons into
himself. With the battle over, Truman accompanied the two groups
of heroes on their jet back to the U.S.A., glad to have proven to
himself he could still pick the right people for the job.
Comments: Created by Joe Casey, Jose Ladronn and Juan Vlasco.
When Billy Bailey sees the memory of Truman
facing off against the (Russian?) hostage taker, he reacts with a
visceral "No!" to Truman responding that he doesn't care if the hostage
is murdered; whether this was Billy's reaction or it means Truman was
lying and did care about the hostage's fate is unclear.
The photo shown at the end of Deathlok III#7
is confusing. It shows two young people, the elder, possibly adult one,
looking slightly feminine and the younger, a child, appearing male,
posing with Spider-Man. This probably can't be Jack and Lillian as kids
since Jack was the elder by eleven years, and here the older looking one
looks like a woman; additionally, Jack is too old to be a child when
Spider-Man is around. Yet the picture clearly has relevance to Lillian
just after she's ranted about family. Is the woman a younger Lillian?
And if so, perhaps the boy is her son, a nephew Jack is unaware of
because he's been out her life so long? And if that's also the case,
then what's happened to the lad? Clearly a seed for a storyline that
never got followed up on thanks to the book's cancellation.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Jack Truman, Deathlok, has no known connections to:
Deathlok cyborg (minus either Truman or
Young's minds)
(Deathlok
III#2 (fb)) - Jack Truman
escaped the agony of ExTechOp experimenting on his badly burned
body by transferring his consciousness into the subconscious of
S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Ted Bailey, from where it subsequently
transferred to Ted's son Billy.
While Truman's mind was in the bodies of Ted and then Billy Bailey, leaving his human remains without a consciousness...
(Uncanny X-Men I#371) - On board the Helicarrier
scientists examined the captured Machine Man's body, harvesting
technology from it for their Logarythmic Organic Kinetics body, and
discussed removing Truman's brain and nervous system from his body, kept
alive at the moment by a life-support pod, to transplant into their new
cyborg, on the orders of Project Manager Major Remington Sole. Shortly
after they had done so Fury returned from being off the Helicarrier and
was enraged to learn of this unethical medical procedure.
(X-Men II#91) - Sole showed off the Deathlok cyborg
(running using Machine Man's personality-wiped computer to control it in
the absence of Truman's mind) as it gunned down targets on a firing
range.
(X-Men'99 Annual) - Using the captured Douglock and his
techno-organic virus to control people, the Red Skull seized control of
the Helicarrier, The Skull examined the inert cyborg, interested only in
the unit it contained that was designed to interface the human brain
with a regulating computer, as he hoped to modify it to create an
irreversible mind control device. However, while he was occupied with
his plans, Douglock sought to thwart his captor's plans, and spotted a
loophole in the constraint commands he had been issued - he could make
no direct action against the Skull, nor call in outside help, nor make
independent use of the agents he was holding in thrall, but none of
those precluded activating Deathlok or Machine Man. While Machine Man
teamed up with the X-Men, who had infiltrated the Helicarrier seeking to
rescue their captured friend, Deathlok received instructions from
Douglock to assassinate him in order to free everyone else. Limited to
using non-lethal force on any other targets, Deathlok overpowered some
controlled agents and prepared to shoot Douglock when the X-Men
Shadowcat arrived and placed herself between them, delaying him long
enough for Fury and the X-Men to break the Skull's control mechanism.
Freed from the Skull's control he in turn released Deathlok. The cyborg
escaped the Helicarrier and began wandering aimlessly.
(Deathlok III#1) - The cyborg began running down the Las
Vegas strip and was detected by S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites. Larry Young's
Air Cavalry unit was sent in, but despite strict orders to only observe
from a distance Young recklessly buzzed the cyborg, triggering its
defensive programs, then used the excuse that it had attacked him to
justify opening fire. The cyborg then downed one of the Air Cavalry
craft and hijacked a second one, throwing out its pilot, Kelso.
(Deathlok III#2) - The cyborg's stolen
vehicle was eventually shot down, but the cyborg bailed out in time.
With the Air Cavalry having lost track of it, the cyborg stopped being
fighting and returned to wandering.
(Deathlok III#3) -
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Zero Company arrived and attacked the cyborg,
resuming the battle, and despite their superior numbers and heavy
weapons Zero Company found itself outmatched. Truman arrive soon
after in a stolen flying car, still in Billy Bailey's body, and
switched his mind back into the cyborg, regaining control of it.
images: (without ads)
Vengeance#5, p4, pan3 (main - Truman's current body, the aged Larry
Young)
Deathlok III#5, p9, pan6, recolored for OHOTMU entry (headshot of Jack
Truman, original body)
Cable I#59, p23, pan1 (original body, in S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform as Agent
18)
Deathlok III#2, p3, pan7 (in Ted Bailey's body)
Deathlok III#1, p16, pan4 (in Billy Bailey's body)
Deathlok III#3, p20, pan1 (in cyborg body, carrying Billy Bailey)
Deathlok III#6, p16, pan2 (Deathlok, with artificial epidermis in place)
Deathlok III#11, p24, pan1 (Truman in
Young's newly stolen body)
Deathlok III#3 cover (Deathlok body without fake human skin)
Appearances:
Cable I#59-62 (October-December 1998) - Joe Casey
(writer), Jose Ladronn (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Mark Powers
(editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#371 (August 1999) - Alan Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh
(script), Jimmy Cheung (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Mark Powers
(editor)
X-Men II#91 (August 1999) - Alan
Davis (plot), Terry Kavanagh (script), Andrew Robinson (pencils), Dan
Panosian (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
X-Men '99 Annual (August 1999) - Alan Davis (story), Terry Kavanagh (script),
Rick Leonardi (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Deathlok III#1-3 (September-November 1999) - Joe Casey (writer),
Leonardo Manco (art), Ruben Diaz (editor)
Deathlok III#4 (November 1999) - Joe Casey (writer), Eric Canete
(pencils), Armando Durruthy and Rick Perrota (inks), Ruben Diaz (editor)
Deathlok III#5
(December 1999) - Joe Casey (writer), Leonardo Manco (art), Ruben
Diaz (editor)
Deathlok III#6 (January 2000) - Joe Casey (writer),
Matt Smith (pencils), Richard Case (inks), Ruben Diaz (editor)
Deathlok III#7 (February
2000) - Joe Casey (writer), Eric Canete (pencils), Rick Perrota (inks),
Ruben Diaz (editor)
Deathlok
III#8-9 (March-April 2000) - Joe Casey (writer),
Leonardo Manco (art), Ruben
Diaz (editor)
Deathlok III#10 (May 2000) - Joe Casey (writer), John
Buscema (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Deathlok III#11 (June 2000)
- Joe Casey (writer), Leonardo Manco (pencils, inks), Bill Sienkiewicz
(inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Vengeance#1
(September 2011) - Joe Casey (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Tom
Brennan (editor)
Vengeance#3-6 (November 2011-February 2012) - Joe
Casey (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Tom Brennan (editor)
First Posted: 08/31/2024
- well, it was still the 31st August in the Howland and Baker Islands!
Last updated: 08/31/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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