JAKAL

Real Name: Jakal

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Z^nrx/Snark) mutate

Occupation: Would-be conqueror

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Awf, Geik

Enemies: Ankar clan (Ankar, Sobak, others), Bhadsha, Destrak clan (Destrak, others), Friday, Power Pack (Energizer/Katie Power, Mass Master/Jack Power, Starstreak/Julie Power, Franklin Richards, Zero-G/Alex Power), Repra, Kofi Whitemane, Yrik Whitemane

Known Relatives: Maraud (mother), Bhadsha (father), Hadj (sister)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Snarkworld

First Appearance: (Seen in a dream, name unrevealed) Fantastic Four I#282 (September, 1985);
    (seen, name unrevealed) Power Pack I#15 (October, 1985);
    (name revealed) Power Pack I#16 (November, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Jakal is a High Snark, with greater intelligence and skills than other Snarks, who are naturally savage and strong already. \

    Jakal has had access to ships (capable of interstellar travel over light years, and with tractor beams that can lock on to targets and track them), weaponry (including energy guns, a scepter that fired energy blasts, and power-transfer machines), and technology (including stasis crystals, mind-probes, and power-blocking neuro-fibers). 

    Jakal is susceptible to freezing temperatures, which can put him in a form of suspended animation. 

    Jakal briefly wielded all of the powers of the Power Pack, including control of gravity, flight, teleportation, and molecular density manipulation, and the ability to fire energy blasts. 

    Jakal's consciousness was temporarily overwritten by the mind of his father Bhadsha, but Jakal was reawakened through scientific means, and he controlled the Snark military for a time.

    Jakal's left hand is badly burned and withered.

Height: 8'2" (by approximation)
Weight: 450 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Red
Hair: None

History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#12 (fb) - BTS) - The Snark (aka Zn'rx), reside on Snarkworld and generally have one Emperor who in turn has several wives, each called a Queen Mother. Each of the wives form their own clan, and each has one child, called a High Snark, who has greater intelligence and skills than the other Snarks. 

    Upon the Emperor's death, the clans of the Queen Mother will go to war until only one of the High Snarks remains. This High Snark will then become the Emperor.

(Power Pack I#17 (fb) - BTS) - One of the wives of Emperor Bhadsha, Queen Mother Maraud hatched Jakal, one of the High Snarks.

(Power Pack I#16 (fb) - BTS) - Jakal was sent to Earth with a power-transfer machine to steal the powers of the Power Pack, four human children who had been granted powers by the Kymellian Aelfyre Whitemane.

(Fantastic Four I#282 - BTS) - Franklin Richards had a precognitive vision of Jakal attacking Earth. Franklin joined with Kofi and Power Pack in the dream to fight back.

(Power Pack I#15) - Above Earth, Jakal shot down Datta, the smartship of the Kymellian Kofi, as he approached Earth (planning to warn Power Pack of the Snarks' plans), after which he reported to the Queen Mother that he was going after Power Pack. Kofi crash-landed on Earth below.

(Power Pack I#16 (fb) - BTS) - Jakal programmed the tractor beam of his ship to track down Kofi, who continually teleported to stay ahead of Jakal.

(Power Pack I#16) - Jakal hunted down the wounded Kofi on Earth and then turned his attack on Power Pack when they arrived to defend Kofi. When Power Pack fled, Jakal programmed his tractor beam to find Power Pack for him. 

    Soon, Jakal intercepted an emergency call that Kofi and the Power Pack were trying to make from the Statue of Liberty. He flew there and ensnared the six in a sweeping ray that trapped them and blocked their powers.

(Power Pack I#17) - Kofi teleported into Jakal's ship and shut down the sweeping ray, but then Jakal knocked Kofi aside. Jakal fired a containment bubble, capturing Alex, but the rest of Power Pack fled. After restraining Alex in neuro-fibers to block his powers, Jakal used a mind-probe on Kofi and discovered he could track the other children through a Kymellian coin kept in Katie's pocket. Setting Datta to track this, Jakal followed it to Power Pack. Jakal began madly pursuing Julie, who flew around below using sharp turns to evade him, and she eventually caused Jakal to destroy his ship by crashing into a wall, while Kofi and Alex freed themselves and teleported out. 

    Jakal emerged from the wreckage and hit Katie with an energy blast, and then Alex shrank down and tried to crush Jakal with a dense gravity hit, but Jakal was resistant and knocked the boy aside. Katie knocked a wall down on Jakal, who soon freed himself and grabbed Franklin, but Julie saved him. Katie then hit Jakal with an extra large energy blast, overloading his personal forcefield and knocking him out. They wrapped Jakal up in his own neuro-fiber to keep him contained, and then the Power Pack's ship Friday dropped him in the Arctic, where the deep cold would put him in a deep hibernation mode.

(Power Pack I#23 (fb) - BTS) - Jakal was placed on a frozen ship. Maraud immediately began looking for him.

(Power Pack I#23) - Power Pack were apprehended by a group of Snarks (including Geik, Awf, and Hadj, the sister of Jakal), who forced the heroes to take them to Jakal in the Arctic. They retrieved Jakal's prone form, which was still wrapped in neuro-fibers, and placed him on a table where they thawed him out. Jakal screamed out in pain from the burns in his skin, but he then saw the Power Pack kids and Kofi captured in crystal chambers and he began punching the chambers. When the Snarks told him it was his duty to preserve the heroes so their powers could be stolen, Jakal yelled that he believed his mother had sent him to Earth after them in a plot against him, and he ranted that she was insane. 

    Recognizing that Jakal was in medical danger, the Snarks placed him in stasis, then hyper-jumped home, worrying that he would die unless they rushed there. On Snarkworld, Jakal visited the hospital before he was taken to his mother, furious that she hadn't visited him, and she told him of her plans to transfer the Power Pack's powers to her. They considered transferring the healing powers of the captive Kymellian Yrik to Jakal, but he lashed out at Power Pack in a rage and ended up freeing them from their containment crystals. In the ensuing battle, Jakal was enraged when Katie stole the energy from his gun, and he grabbed her with the intent to kill, inspiring Katie to discharge an energy blast that fried the flesh off of Jakal's hand. After Katie and Alex escaped, Maraud ordered Yrik's powers be transferred to Hadj, who then used her new skills to heal Jakal from all of his injuries.

(Power Pack I#24) - Jakal raged at how his hand remained unhealed, and they soon heard word that Queen Jenteel's forces were closing in, so Maraud prepared to transfer the powers of the other Power Pack members into Jakal quickly.

(Power Pack I#25) - Jakal emerged with the powers of Katie, Alex, and Jack Power, and he celebrated his new abilities. Jakal immediately attacked the three captive children, but Maraud ordered him to stop, reminding him they needed to use the children to get Katie Power back. 

    Maraud and Jakal presented their captives to the emperor, Bhadsha, just as they got word that Kofi had retrieved the ship Friday. When Hadj, betraying Maraud, made a play to cure the emperor of his ailments, she dropped dead, proving that Kymellian power sources could not transfer over without resulting in casualty. The emperor accused Maraud and Jakal of betrayal, so Maraud ordered Jakal to kill the emperor, which would cause a new Snark war for power to begin. Jakal attacked his ruler, but the powerless members of Power Pack tried to intervene to avoid the war. Kofi teleported Bhadsha away to protect him, but Maraud publicly claimed the emperor was dead anyway to initiate the war. 

    Jakal moved to kill Power Pack finally, but young Katie attacked, and Jakal ignored his mother's counsel to let her live so he could take her power. Jakal grabbed Katie and rushed away, determined to kill her. Maraud cornered Jakal, ordering him to take Katie's powers, and Jakal accused her of wanting to manipulate him. Maraud struck her son and ordered him to do what was best for their people. Jakal then took the fourth set of powers, after which he cried out in pain and madness as it overwhelmed him, smashing the power transfer machine. 

    The kids kept Jakal distracted with guns and handheld weapons until they were able to pull their powers back from him, though the power sets were sent to different hosts than were originally contained. Ashamed of Jakal's performance in the battle, Maraud shot him, determined to kill him before the kids could. As Jakal lay dying, he heard Bhadsha dying as well, from poison administered by Maraud. Determined to thwart his mother's plans for succession to the throne, Jakal offered his own body to Bhadsha's soul to transfer into; knowing his own mind was broken, he assumed that Yrik (who had his powers back) could heal his body so Bhadsha could live in it. Later, the transfer took place, and Bhadsha proclaimed that Maraud was a traitor and Jakal was a public hero.








(Power Pack II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Maraud continued her plotting, using scientific methods to submerge the consciousness of Bhadsha beneath that of Jakal's. While she waited for Jakal's will to reassert itself, she began uniting the Snark clans behind her, though the Destrak and Ankar clans (the latter with High Snark Sobak) refused to fall in line. Soon, Jakal became aware of his new form.

(Power Pack II#1) - Jakal revealed his nature to Yrik, the Kymellian ambassador, when he visited, and he then had Yrik arrested. He yelled at Maraud to keep the clans in line and plan revenge on Power Pack, while he focused on the rogue tribes of Snarks. Jakal had his ships open fire on the Destrak, and he soon got word that they'd been defeated, and that the High Snark Rungar was killed, though Queen Mother Destrak had escaped. Jakal returned to brag to Yrik that the Destrak were destroyed and Power Pack would be next.

(Power Pack II#2) - A pack of Snark assassins attacked Power Pack on Earth, sent by Jakal, but the heroic kids fought back, and the assassins fled. Jakal revealed his control of Bhadsha to the Queen Mothers, including Ankar, and he announced his intent to declare war across the galaxy.

(Power Pack II#3) - Jakal's forces arrived on Earth to destroy Power Pack and their allies, but they were defeated. Jakal and Maraud screamed at each other over the remaining threats of Destrak, Ankar, and Sobak. When Power Pack, Sobak, and Kofi teleported in to confront Jakal, he had his army ready for them.

(Power Pack II#4) - Jakal's forces opened fire on the Ankar tribe and Power Pack at the same time, and Power Pack and their allies were seemingly vaporized. Jakal then heard that Yrik had been freed from his cell, and he confronted his mother, warning her to know her place. Repra approached Jakal, seeking to share concern over how he was ruling, and Maraud yelled at Repra, inspiring Jakal to savagely attack her, nearly beating Maraud to death. 

     Power Pack, Kofi, and Sobak attacked, and Jakal fired an energy blast at them with his scepter, but they were unharmed. Destrak attacked as well, claiming Jakal was unfit to rule, but her son Rungar had been killed, so she had no claim. Power Pack proposed that the Destrak and Ankar clans rule together, with Sobak on the throne, and Jakal lashed out, but Power Pack easily waylaid him. Jakal was imprisoned, and Destrak, Ankar, and Repra agreed to rule the Snarks together in a triumverate.

Comments: Created by Louise Simonson, June Brigman and Bob Wiacek.

    This profile was completed 2/19/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jakal has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#12, p19, pan1 (Jakal, main)
Power Pack I#17, p15, pan4 (face)
Power Pack I#23, p8, pan1 (before transformation)
Power Pack I#24, p5, pan4 (blackened hand)
Power Pack I#25, p2, pan4 (with Power Pack's powers)
Power Pack II#1, p5, pan2 (as king)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#282 (September, 1985) - John Byrne (writer/penciler), Jerry Ordway (inker), Michael Carlin (editor)
Power Pack I#15-17 (October-December, 1985) - Louise Simonson (writer), June Brigman (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Power Pack I#23-24 (June-July, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), John Bogdanove (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Power Pack I#25 (August, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), John Bogdanove (penciler), Bob Wiacek, Mark McKenna, Tom Morgan, Jose Marzan (inkers), Carl Potts (editor)
Power Pack II#1-4 (August-October 2000) - Shon Bury (writer), Colleen Doran (penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Mike Marts (editor)

First Posted: 09/09/2021
Last updated: 09/07/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters