JUPITER LANDING VEHICLE

Classification: Terrestrial technology

Creator: Stark International (SI)

User/Possessors: Earl, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Madame Masque (Whitney Frost), Mike Trudeau

Aliases: JLV

First Appearance: Captain Marvel I#50 (May, 1977)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: This mechanical juggernaut was an exploration vehicle built to take on the hostile surface of the planet Jupiter; its treads allowed it to negotiate any type of terrain. Controlled by a single operator in the domed cockpit, the JLV was equipped with two magna-grip claw arms, a laser borer, and a sonic disruptor unit that fired a beam designed to blast through mountains. The cockpit of the vehicle could be ejected as an escape pod into a miniature hovercraft. It was able to withstand Jupiter's immense gravity.

History:
(Iron Man: The Legend#1 (fb) ) - Stark International designed the massive Jupiter Landing Vehicle for the US space program with enormous power that was able to withstand Jupiter's immense gravity.

(Iron Man I#116 (fb) – BTS) – The JLV was developed by Stark International on a multi-million dollar contract for NASA. At some point, Tony Stark told his then-lover Whitney Frost about the project.

(Captain Marvel I#50) - Tony Stark took the vehicle for a test drive while garbed as Iron Man, when the Super-Adaptoid entered the training area. Not recognizing him at first, Iron Man was afraid that an innocent had wandered into the test range, but the Super-Adaptoid lifted the vehicle up with both hands then ripped it in half. He subsequently hurled half of the vehicle at Stark's scientists, but Iron Man caught the wreckage in time to save them.

(Iron Man I#116) – When Madame Masque betrayed Stark’s trust, she activated the rebuilt JLV and sent it against Iron Man. Climbing into the cockpit, she took control of the vehicle, seized him with one of the magna-grips, and fired the laser borer at him. But Iron Man broke free and hurled a piece of wreckage at the JLV, causing it to crash into a wall. Iron Man pulled Madame Masque from the cockpit, but with no operator at the controls, the JLV began to run amok. As it headed towards a group of SI security guards, Iron Man was forced to overturn the vehicle.

(Iron Man I#142 (fb) - BTS) – Following its destruction, the JLV was rebuilt by a team of SI technicians that included Scott Lang.

(Iron Man I#142) – While touring his plant, Stark stopped by the hanger-like annex where the JLV’s reconstruction was being completed. Lang assured Stark that the JLV would be ready for its final tests scheduled the next day. After climbing into the cockpit to check on thework, Stark congratulated Lang and his team for a job well done. Lang jokingly requested for Stark to keep Iron Man away from the JLV (“I’d hate to have to put this sucker back together again!” ), but Stark told him that it would be shipped straight to NASA right after the test run.

  After Stark left, Mike Trudeau entered the hanger -- Trudeau (head of SI’s communications division, but secretly working as a sleeper agent for Jonas Hale of Roxxon) knocked Lang out and commandeered the JLV to destroy SI’s analytical lab complex.

  Responding to an emergency alarm, Stark returned in his armor to face Trudeau in the JLV. Trudeau trapped Iron Man in the magna-grips and used the sonic disruptor on him, but it proved useless against the refractory coating of Iron Man’s armor. Punching the JLV from its treads and into a wall, Iron Man was once again forced to destroy the vehicle to end its rampage.

(Iron Man I#145) – A projected image of the JLV was seen as part of the SI exhibit at the 24th Annual Conclave of Electronics Engineers and Innovators held at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, Texas -- this exhibit was later destroyed by the Raiders.

(Iron Man: Bad Blood#3) - Many years later, Stark donated the JLV to the Seattle Aerospace Center to serve as a musuem piece. However, an Stark employee named Earl who was preparing the device for display had been secretly hired by Justin Hammer to steal the Negative Energy Condenser which was also on display. Earl activated the JLV in order to steal the device, blasted a hole through the building's ceiling then launched himself away in the JLV's escape pod. However, Stark switched to his Iron Man identity and smashed the escape pod from the sky with a single punch. The escape pod crashed into the body of the JLV, wrecking it. Earl was rendered comatose in the crash.

Comments: Created by Scott Edelman, Al Milgrom and Terry Austin.

Thanks to AvatarWarlord72 for adding the Iron Man: The Legend appearance.

The JLV was referred to as an LSM in its first appearance (Life Support Module).

Profile by John Kaminski with Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Jupiter Landing Vehicle/JLV has no known connections to:

• Moon Tractor, another Stark-built space vehicle @ Avengers I#2
• or anything else with a similar names

images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#116, p13, pan5 (front view)
Iron Man I#142, p10, pan4 (side view)