MAD JACK
Real Name: Maguire Beck
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Professional criminal
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Conundrum,
Mysterio (Quentin Beck), Mysterio (Daniel Berkhart, aka Mad Jack), Norman
Osborn
Enemies: Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Jack
O'Lantern, J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson, Betsy Schneider,
Joe Smith, Spider-Man/Prodigy (Peter Parker)
Known Relatives: Vincent "Vinnie" Beck (father, deceased), Quentin Beck (Mysterio, cousin), Elmore Beck (uncle, deceased), Henrietta Beck (aunt, deceased)
Aliases: Jack O'Lantern, Terry Beck
Place of Birth: Moreno
Valley, California
Base of Operations: A hideout in New York City
First Appearance: (Behind the scenes) Spectacular Spider-Man II#243 (February, 1997); (full) Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#1 (January, 2001)
Powers/Abilities: Maguire Beck is a skilled
computer programmer (specializing in holograms and virtual reality),
illusionist, hypnotist, roboticist, and chemist. As Mad Jack, she wore
an armored costume that was padded to make her appear masculine. She
employed a power-sapping chemical she called "joy juice" and entrapped
her victims in sensory-deprivation "happy tanks" full of hallucinogens.
When more tangible illusions were needed, she employed a number of
sophisticated robots. Prior to adopting the Mad Jack identity, she
controlled a robotic black cat, which could attack enemies with its
sharp claws and teeth, activate hypnotic suggestions with its purr, and
could apparently nullify Spider-Man's spider-sense.
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 129 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
History:
(Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#3 (fb) ) - As a child, Maguire
Beck idolized her older cousin, special effects master Quentin Beck. She
was elated when Quentin went to Hollywood to make movies, and was even more
proud of him when he became the villainous illusionist Mysterio.
(Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#3 (fb)/All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Mad Jack profile) - Eventually, Quentin trained Maguire, his former cellmate and replacement Mysterio Daniel Berkhart, and the enigmatic Conundrum in the ways of illusion. Maguire, who had become a computer expert, helped enhance Quentin's Mysterio technology.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#257 (fb) ) - At some point in
the past, Maguire and Berkhart frequented Maguire's, an Irish pub in
lower Manhattan.
(Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#3 (fb)/All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Mad Jack profile) - Maguire struck up a partnership with Berkhart; together, they designed the criminal identity of Jack O'Lantern, alias Mad Jack, using the original costume design of the late Jason Macendale. Berkhart wore the costume in the field, while Maguire assisted and communicated with him via a remotely-operated robotic black cat. They entered the service of Norman Osborn, assisting him in his plot to take over the Daily Bugle.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#243 - BTS) - Maguire assisted Berkhart when he attacked John Jameson as a way of getting to his father, Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#245 - BTS) - Berkhart and the cat spooked Mary Jane Watson, appearing momentarily at her window.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#246 - BTS) - Berkhart and the cat attacked J. Jonah Jameson in the Daily Bugle's elevator.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#247 - BTS) - Berkhart and the cat lurked outside the window of Jameson's hospital room; when Spider-Man found them, the cat attacked him, allowing Jack to ambush him. The cat then snuck into the hospital, where it activated a hypnotic suggestion in John Jameson with its purr to kill the elder Jameson. Its mission complete, it departed with Jack.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#257 - BTS) - Berkhart and the cat stole the Hand of Mumthazi, a priceless artifact from the nation of Sufind, from the Metropolitan Museum, as part of another Osborn plot. They later met Conundrum, who had kidnapped the Sufindian ambassador's daughter, in the long-abandoned Maguire's pub, and offered to trade the Hand (which Conundrum coveted) for the girl. The cat detected the hero Prodigy (actually Spider-Man in disguise), and warned Jack and Conundrum with a hiss.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#258 - BTS) - As Prodigy gained the upper hand on Jack and Conundrum, the cat attacked him, pulling off his fake nose with its claws. Later, the cat was present for Jack's faked death at the hands of Osborn's security detail.
(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Mad Jack profile) - After Quentin Beck's seeming death at his own hands after a failed attempt to drive Daredevil insane, Berkhart took over his Mysterio identity, and gave Maguire the now-vacant Mad Jack identity.
(Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#1) - Maguire and Berkhart teamed up in their new identities to take down everyone who had ever sinned against Quentin Beck; Maguire had become mentally unstable, however, and came to believe that Berkhart was Quentin. Nevertheless, they entrapped J. Jonah Jameson in a fake "Hell", then attacked Quentin's old girlfriend Betsy Schneider (who had exploited her past relationship with Beck) and her husband Joe Smith with a swarm of killer action figures, capturing them as well. She then took on Spider-Man and Daredevil, drawing them together with a fake Spider-Man, then took them down with a flock of hallucinogen-spewing mechanical bats. She watched the chaos from her lair, having animated conversations with the silent Berkhart.
(Spider-Man:
The Mysterio Manifesto#2) - Maguire placed Spider-Man, Daredevil, and
Smith in happy tanks, and watched gleefully as they experienced vivid
hallucinations, while tormenting Jameson and Betsy with robotic copies of
Berkhart and Quentin, respectively. They soon rebelled against the
unreality of their fantasy worlds, however, and burst out of the tanks.
Amused, Maguire pitted them against robotic versions of their greatest
foes.
(Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#3) - Maguire watched as the heroes struggled against their mechanical foes, but soon saw that the "joy juice" she'd used to dampen their powers had, in fact, reactivated Smith's long-dormant abilities. He defeated the robots, much to Maguire's dismay. With the heroes distracted, Maguire snatched Betsy, showed her that "Beck" and "Berkhart" were robots, and told her Mad Jack's true history and identity - save for the fact that she replaced herself with the male "Terry Beck". When Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Smith burst in, she retreated, hiding behind a computer panel while a giant illusory Mad Jack menaced the heroes. Spider-Man and Daredevil soon sensed the deception, however, and they quickly rooted her out. As they led her away, she told them how much fun she'd had, and suggested they do it again - but with a better ending next time. Meanwhile, Berkhart, accompanied by Maguire the cat, walked away unseen, laughing...
(Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do#6 (fb) ) - An associate of the Kingpin acquired Quentin's Mysterio costume and paraphernalia from Maguire; the Kingpin sold it to vengeance-seeking mutant Francis Klum.
(Venom II#4 (fb) ) - A new Jack O'Lantern, an agent of the Crime-Master (Bennett Brant), claimed to have killed the previous Jack O'Lanterns, presumably including Maguire.
Comments: Maguire the cat created by J. M. DeMatteis, Luke Ross, and John Stanisci. Maguire Beck created by Tom DeFalco, Lee Weeks, and Bob McLeod.
So I think it's safe to say that the whole Mad Jack thing didn't quite turn out the way DeMatteis planned it. DeMatteis strongly implies that Jack is an old associate of J. Jonah Jameson's, and possibly a rival for the affections of his then-wife, Marla Madison. Of course, the whole plot went out the window when Marvel rebooted the Spider-books and DeMatteis left Spectacular, leaving the Spider-books in the hands of Howard Mackie, who evidently had no interest in resolving the plots of other writers - or, uh, his own, leading to the unresolved plot of Mysterio seemingly coming back from the dead, which I guess prompted Marvel to commission The Mysterio Manifesto, which kind of wrapped both the Mysterio and Mad Jack plot up, with cleanup work later done in the Handbooks to clear everything up. I'd love to know what DeMatteis' original plans were, and it's a shame they'll probably never see the light of day. Still, DeFalco and the Handbook writers made an admirable go of making something coherent out of it, and I wouldn't object at all if Maguire turned up again some day...
...of course, she might not turn up at all if the new
Jack's claim of killing all his predecessors is true, but he's a nutjob,
and Maguire could easily have faked her own death, so we'll see...
Interestingly, the cat is not present when a seemingly-introspective Mad Jack visits the Jameson's apartment, then burns Norman Osborn's money. I'm not sure what (if anything) DeMatteis intended, but via retcon, it does imply that maybe Berkhart wasn't telling Maguire everything about their mission.
Quentin Beck has since turned up alive, claiming that he'd faked his death all along. Either he didn't tell his cousin, or she was so crazy by that time that it didn't register.
Oh, and what's with Maguire's bar? Did Maguire Beck own
it? Did they just go there because it had the same name she did?
On Earth-982, an older Maguire Beck returned to menace
Spider-Girl (Mayday Parker) - that story also depicted a previous
encounter Spider-Man and Arana had with Mad Jack, but presumably that
happened in the past of Earth-982, not Earth-616. That story also
mistakenly depicts Maguire as Beck's niece, not his cousin, even though
as far as we know Quentin Beck was an only child.
In the S.H.I.E.L.D. Operations Database backup in Secret War#1 (2004) Maguire Beck was mistakenly listed as an alias of Jason Macendale, a previous Jack O'Lantern. The backup was filled with mistakes (ie. Kravenoff instead of Kravinoff), so it was just another mistake. Who wrote it? Bendis was listed as writer for the main story, but I am not sure he wrote the backup as well. Within the Marvel Universe it could be considered bad info on SHIELD's behalf.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Minor Irritant.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Maguire Beck, alias Mad Jack, should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe HC#7, Mad Jack profile
main image (main image with Maguire headshot)
Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#3, p21, pan2 (Maguire Beck)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#247, cover (Maguire the cat)
Appearances:
Spectacular Spider-Man II#243 (February, 1997) - J. M. DeMatteis
(writer), Luke Ross (pencils), John Stanisci (inks), Ralph Macchio
(editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#245 (April, 1997) - J.
M. DeMatteis (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), John Stanisci (inks), Ralph
Macchio (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#246 (May, 1997) - J. M.
DeMatteis (plot), Glenn Greenberg (script), Luke Ross (pencils), Dan
Green & Al Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#247 (June, 1997) - J. M.
DeMatteis (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), Dan Green & Al Milgrom
(inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#257 (May, 1998) - J. M.
DeMatteis (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), Dan Green & Al Milgrom
(inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#258
(June, 1998) - Glenn Greenberg (writer), Luke Ross (pencils), Al Milgrom
(inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto#1-3
(January-March, 2001) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Bob
McLeod (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do#6
(March, 2006) - Kevin Smith (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel
Dodson (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Venom II#4 (August, 2011) -
Rick Remender (writer), Tony Moore (pencils), Crimelab! Studios (inks),
Stephen Wacker (editor)
Last updated: 10/28/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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