LIVING DIAMOND
Real Name: Jack Winters
Identity/Class: Human mutant/mutate (see comments), citizen of the U.S.A.
Occupation: Criminal, former nuclear technician
Group Membership: None;
formerly X-Humed (Black Bishop/Harold Leland, Changeling, Scaleface)
Affiliations: Department H (Colonel Bernardo, Corps Commandos);
formerly Black Talon (Samuel Barone), Coerced alliance with Cyclops (Scott Summers), Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett)
Enemies: Cyclops (Scott Summers), Linda Donaldson, Louise Mason, Mesmero (Vincent), Professor X (Charles Xavier), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Wildlife (Henry McCoy), Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Jack O'Diamonds, "Dead Diamond" called by Black Talon
Base of Operations: Unrevealed burial site;
formerly a shack "miles away" from Washington, D.C.;
formerly a nuclear power plant around West Chester County, New York
First Appearance: X-Men I#39 (December, 1967);
(fully seen) X-Men I#40 (January, 1968)
Powers/Abilities: Jack Winters could telepathically communicate with others and was resistant to psychic attack. He could teleport himself and others miles away, Department H's scientists greatly enhanced his teleportational range. His hands were composed of a flexible diamond-like substance that was virtually indestructible. In addition to possessing superhuman destructive power, he also appeared to be superhumanly strong (Enhanced human).
As the Living Diamond his entire body was composed of the same diamond-like substance, which increased his strength, and made him virtually indestructible, though it did slow him down some and it is believed that he eventually would have been rendered immobile or even died. His diamond form was virtually immune to psychic attack.
Height: 6'
Weight: (Winters) 198 lbs.; (Jack O'Diamonds) 208 lbs.; (Living Diamond) 592 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: (Winters/Jack O'Diamonds) Brown; (Living Diamond) White
History:
(X-Men I#40/2 (fb)) - Jack Winters was a worker at a nuclear power plant. Not making enough money to pay off his gambling debts, he decided to steal some of his boss's radioactive materials and sell them back to him. One of the flasks he was attempting to steal exploded, and Winters escaped without getting caught, after which he spent a couple weeks in a hospital. Several nights later he began to detect brainwaves and he found that his hands had transformed into flexible diamond.
(X-Men I#40/2 (fb) - BTS) - Winters decided that a more powerful dose of radiation would turn his whole body into diamond and possibly increase his psychic powers as well. He plotted to recruit another mutant to help him.
(X-Men I#39/2) - As Scott Summers fled from pursuers after first using his powers in public, he came upon the shack of Jack Winters who sensed his presence and psychically summoned him into the shack as well. When Scott entered, Winters told him that he, too, was a mutant, and that they were born to rule.
(X-Men I#40/2) - Winters explained what mutants were to Summers, after which he sensed approaching police and teleported Summers and then himself somewhere outside West Chester county New York. Winters then shared his origins and told Summers his alias of Jack O'Diamonds. Winters threatened to kill Summers if he refused to assist him in increasing his power, but Professor X--having been tracking Summers with his computer Cyberno--mentally tried to convince Winters to abandon his quest for power. Professor X confronted Winters who ordered Summers to blast him, but Summers refused, not wishing to kill the man. Professor X found that Winters' mental powers protected him from psychic attack, and Winters moved forward to destroy him.
(X-Men I#41/2) - Unable to overcome Xavier's powers completely, Winters could not grab Xavier himself, so he again ordered Summers to blast him, and Summers again refused. Winters then smashed a support girder and hurled it at Xavier, but this caused the roof to cave in, and they fled. His teleportational ability apparently lost in Xavier's attack, Winters led Summers to the plant, and Summers blasted a guard's gun to prevent Winters from hurting the man. Winters then rushed into the plant and exposed himself to the energies of a cyclotron. Professor X arrived outside the plant and subdued the other guards attacking Summers, and Winters continued to increase his power until he burst through the wall of the plant, now a Living Diamond.
(X-Men I#42/2) - Winters confronted Summers and Professor X, ignoring the latter's efforts to convince him to give up so he could help him. Professor X's mental bolts could not penetrate the Living Diamond's body, and Winters prepared to smash Xavier until Summers blasted Winters back. Summers and Professor X fled into the plant and located an Ultrasonic Vibration-Inducer just seconds before Winters smashed the door down. With Xavier's guidance, Summers trained the Vibration-Inducer on Winters, which made it harder for Winters to move. Winters resisted fiercely and his struggle against the vibrations caused his body to explode, leaving nothing behind.
Summers felt guilty about causing Winters' death, but Xavier told him that Winters would have soon died without treatment anyway and that they had acted both in self-defense as well as to try to save Winters.
(X-Men Legends II#1 (fb)) - In reality Winters managed to teleport away at the last moment leaving Xavier and Summers to believe they'd destroyed him. By sheer chance, at that moment, an early incarnation of the Canadian Department H was experimenting with a mutant-detecting device that inadvertently collected Winters' scattered atoms. The devise successfully put Winters back together, shocking the scientists working on the experimental mutant-detecting device.
(X-Men Legends II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Having been rescued by their scientists, Winters was coerced into working for Department H who even managed to greatly expand his teleportational range
(X-Men Legends II#1 (fb) - BTS) - After Wolverine failed his mission to capture the Hulk for Department H, Colonel Bernardo planned to have him capture two "extra-normals" (mutants) in the United States who'd escaped imprisonment by the Secret Empire. To accompany him, Bernardo assigned Jack O'Diamonds as Wolverine's mission partner. As such Winters was brought in and briefed while being detained by the Corps Commandos.
(X-Men Legends II#1 - BTS) - Winters and Wolverine were unaware the two "extra-normals" they were sent to capture were Mesmero and Wildlife, in reality Hank McCoy who'd fallen under Mesmero's hypnotic control. Having escaped the Secret Empire, Mesmero planned to steal the working model of the Electron-Gyro, having learned the one Captain America stole was just a prototype.
(X-Men Legends II#1) - When Colonel Bernardo informed Wolverine of his new mission, the ever so subtle Jack Winters made a grand entrance by tearing a hole in the wall. After the necessary introductions were made, Winters used his expanded teleportation abilities to teleport himself and Wolverine to the Brand Corporation on Long Island. Fed up with Department H, Wolverine explained he was done with all the "secret squirrel" stuff but when he tried leaving Winters stopped the mutant, believing he needed the mission to succeed to get in Department H's good graces. As such Wolverine and Winters went head to head, Wolverine stabbed the diamond mutant with his adamantium claws but was shocked to learn Winters could heal his diamond body. Just then Winters' mutant-tracking belt began to beep as their targets had come in reach, curious to find out who they were sent to capture, Wolverine decided to follow Winters. The duo, however, was then faced by not two, but seven mutants. In reality these were illusions of Angel, Iceman, Havok, Polaris, Mastermind, Unus and Blob created by Mesmero.
(X-Men Legends II#2) - Unaware they were facing fake illusions created by Mesmero, Winters and Wolverine attacked the mutants only to pass right through them, causing the duo to bump into each other, rendering them unconscious. Wildlife then tied the duo together with a metal coil after which he and Mesmero prepared to leave with the Electron-Gyro. However before leaving, Mesmero tried to kill the unconscious duo with a laser gun only to be stopped by Wildlife who fought Mesmero's hypnotic control. The laser shot caused Wolverine to regain his senses after which he as Winters easily escaped and attacked the mutants. Just then a third party entered the foil, Linda Donaldson, Hank McCoy's love interest and secret agent of the Secret Empire.
Linda attempted to flee with the device on a forklift but Jack O'Diamonds caught the forklift and smashed it. Winters decided to simply murder Linda to clear up loose ends but McCoy jumped in the way to shield her. As he did so, Linda recognized his voice as that of Hank McCoy after which she made another attempt to take it from Winters. Winters easily swatted her aside and again tried to kill her but this time, Wolverine stabbed him in the back. Determined to finally stop Winters, Wolverine used his adamantium claws to shatter his body, seemingly killing him. Wolverine then decided to leave McCoy behind while taking Mesmero with him back to Department H where he told Colonel Bernardo that Winters had gone awol.
(Sensational She-Hulk#34) - The Black Talon (Samuel Barone) managed to use his voodoo mind control to force the She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) to collect a selected number of bodies for him, making sure she placed them in specific burial slots outside his shack several miles from Washington D.C.. Barone, observed by his accomplice Garth, then used his zuvembie powers to resurrect Jack Winters as a zuvembie, along with several other heroes and villains loosely associated with the X-Men. The Black Talon dubbed his team of X-Men related zombies the X-Humed moments before She-Hulk regained control of her mind again.
(Sensational She-Hulk#35) - She-Hulk faced the X-Humed and injured her hand when she punched the diamond-like Living Diamond while Black Talon suggested "Dead Diamond" would be a better fit for the zuvembie. After further struggle the Black Talon fled with his X-Humed, but the Changeling alerted police they passed by taking the form of Elvis Presley, and She-Hulk followed the reports to locate them. She caused the Black Talon's hearse to wreck and she captured the Black Talon.
(Sensational She-Hulk#35 - BTS) - She-Hulk managed to arrest Black Talon. In order to stop Jack Winters and the other zuvembies from causing any more trouble, She-Hulk was forced to bury them with salt in their mouths and their lips sewn shut.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth, and John Verpoorten.
Winters never had any powers until he was exposed to the radiation that turned his hands into diamond, after which he gained telepathy as well. Doesn't really fit the standard definition of mutant, but I guess his mental powers could have been dormant and just surfaced during the stress of his radiation exposure.
The events of X-Men Legends occur between Incredible Hulk I#181/182 and Giant-Size X-Men I#1.
Jack Winters is the only "member" of the X-Humed who hasn't been resurrected to date, although with Krakoa's resurrection protocols this could only be a matter of time.
Jack O'Diamonds/Living Diamond received a Handbook profile in the Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook (February, 2006) and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC#6 (February, 2009).
Jack Winters, a latent telepathic mutant, after deliberate exposure to nuclear energy became a humanoid with an indestructible, crystalline body. But, in light of the ret-conned origins of Man-Wolf, Ulysses Bloodstone, the Basilisk, and--most importantly--the Blue Diamond of WWII, I have to wonder. Could Winters' reactor have been powered by one of those alien power gems from the "Tree of Life?"
--Carycomic
X-Men Legends II#1&2 update by MarvellousLuke.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Living Diamond has no known connections to
images:
X-Men Legends II#1, p12, pan1 (main image)
X-Men I#40, p19, pan2 (origin)
X-Men I#40, p20, pan6 (as the Living Diamond)
X-Men Legends II#1, p13, pan2&3 (seemingly destroyed by Xavier and rescued by Department H)
X-Men Legends II#2, p16, pan3&4 (death)
She-Hulk II#35, p4, pan2 (part of the X-Humed)
Appearances:
X-Men I#39 (December, 1967) - Roy Thomas (writer), Werner Roth (penciler), John Verpoorten (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
X-Men I#40 (January, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Werner Roth (penciler), John Verpoorten (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
X-Men I#41 (February, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Werner Roth (penciler), John Verpoorten (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
X-Men I#42 (March, 1968) - Roy Thomas (writer), Werner Roth (penciler), John Verpoorten (inker), and Stan Lee (editor)
She-Hulk II#34 (December, 1991) - John Byrne (writer, penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Renee Witterstaetter (editor)
She-Hulk II#35 (January, 1992) - John Byrne (writer, penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Renee Witterstaetter (editor)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook (February, 2006) - Jeff Christiansen, Michael Hoskin, Sean McQuaid, Al Sjoerdsma, Ronald Byrd, Mark O'English, Stuart Vandal, Mike Fichera, Barry Reese, Eric J. Moreels, Anthony Flamini (writers), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald, Michael Short (editors)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC#6 (February, 2009) - Al Sjoerdsma, Chad Anderson, Chris Biggs, David Wiltfong, Eric J. Moreels, Gabriel Shechter, Jacob Rougemont, Jeff Christiansen, Jeph York, Madison Carter, Mark O'English, Markus Ettinger, Michael Hoskin, Michel Gariepy, Mike Fichera, Peter Sanderson, Rich Green, Ronald Byrd, Sean McQuaid, Stuart Vandal (writers)
X-Men Legends II#1 (August, 2022) - Roy Thomas (writer), Dave Wachter (artist), Mark Basso (editor)
X-Men Legends II#2 (November, 2022) - Roy Thomas (writer), Dave Wachter (artist), Mark Basso (editor)
First Posted: 11/12/2005
Last updated: 04/29/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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