The Jackal
Attributes
| Eyes: | Black |
| Features: | Fuzzy green body hair |
| Hair: | Green |
| Height: | 5'8" (original) 6'4" (recent clone) |
| Weight: | Average |
Powers
| Abilities: | Jackal has performed a significant number of cloning experiments with varying degrees of success. He also can transplant memories, and can plant lasting hypnotic suggestions. |
| Equipment: | Scientific equipment used to perform the above. |
| Limitations: | Completely insane. |
| Powers: | Extraordinary speed and reactions |
| Strength Level: | Above average human (original) Super-Human (recent clone) |
| Weapons: | Drug-tipped claws, nerve gas bombs. |
Summary
| Citizenship: | U.S. Citizen |
| Created By: | |
| Current Occupation: | Dead |
| Dual Identity: | Not widely known |
| Education: | Doctorate |
| Former Bases: | Various Laboratories |
| Former Occupation: | College Lecturer |
| Known Allies: | Jack, Punisher, Grizzly, Hammerhead, Spider-Cide, Judas Traveller and his allies. |
| Known Confidants: | Jack, pint-sized Jackal clone. |
| Known Relatives: | Mr. Warren (brother, seen in Untold Tales of Spider-Man), Monica Warren (wife, deceased, WoSM #125), Unnamed daughter (deceased, WoSM #125), Unnamed son (deceas |
| Legal Status: | No criminal record |
| Major Enemies: | Spider-Man, Kaine |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Real Name: | Professor Miles Warren |
Background
"Lives Unlived"
Professor Miles Warren was a brilliant biologist that worked on the cutting edge of cloning technology at Empire State University. He was also a family man, married to a beautiful blond wife, Monica Warren. They had two young children that they loved deeply, but soon his research consumed him. He was busy working when Monica left with the children, not even noticing that they left, but he never forgot the phone call from the police saying that they had been killed in a car accident. (Web of Spider-Man (vol. 1) #125)
"Enter: Doctor Octopus"
While Peter changed into his plain clothes in the ESU gym, his spider sense warned him that someone was entering the gym. He jumped up the climbing rope, and Warren saw him from the height, impressed by his agility. He did tell Peter to tuck in his shirt, which was his costume, showing under his shirt. He invited Peter to a science exposition and told him to invite a friend. Peter chose Gwen Stacy, who was happy to go. Warren drove them to the exposition, and he admired Peter's taste in friends. As the demonstration of the nullifier (designed to nullify inbound enemy missiles) began, Doctor Octopus arrived to steal it. The crowd panicked, and Warren told Gwen to follow him to safety but she was worried that Peter had disappeared. Ock escaped from Spider-Man with the nullifier and Peter found his way back to Gwen and their professor. As Warren drove them to the Coffee Bean, he pondered who Spider-Man could be and what a fascinating subject he'd be for a psychological study. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #53)
"The Arms of Doctor Octopus"
At ESU, Peter was reminded by his professor that he was attending university on a scholarship but his grades had been low. He told Peter to attend class more often but asked if he was having personal problems. Peter, of course, made up an excuse for his absences. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #88)
”Who the Heck is Hammerhead?"
At the university, Warren approached Gwen about Peter not attending class for a week. He'd heard a rumor about May Parker and Gwen confirmed that she had run away. She blamed herself after yelling at May for being too overprotective. Warren comforted her, telling her to not blame herself. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #114)
"The Night Gwen Stacy Died"
Gwen was kidnapped by the Green Goblin and accidentally died when Spider-Man attempted to rescue her. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #121)
"The Kangaroo Bounces Back"
Peter arrived late for class, but was indifferent about it as he was still mourning Gwen. Warren berated him for being late again. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #126)
"The Dark Wings of Death"
Peter was trying to save Mary Jane from the Vulture (Clifton Shallot) when he was stopped by Warren, who was concerned about his GPA. Peter ran off to save MJ. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #127)
"The Punisher Strikes Twice"
Warren finally assumed the identity of the Jackal and persuaded the Punisher to kill Spider-Man. Punisher claimed to dislike killing but Jackal disagreed, saying he actually loved the "joyful revenge." After Spidey defeated the homicidal vigilante, Jackal attacked the webhead from behind. Spider-Man fell from the building and Punisher berated Jackal for acting so dishonorably, while Jackal celebrated his enemy's apparent death. Spider-Man of course survived the fall and found one of the Punisher's guns, dropped during the fight. He traced it back to the store that it had been purchased from and found the store owner dead. Punisher arrived at the same time to purchase a new weapon and found Spider-Man standing over the merchant's body. After Punisher was beaten, Spider-Man explained the situation and they found that Jackal had framed the Punisher for the store owner's murder. He had planned to use the murder to get rid of Punisher as a loose end. They returned to Jackal's lair, found it empty and Punisher swore he'd have revenge for being manipulated. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #129)
"Betrayed"
The Jackal approached Hammerhead for an alliance, which Hammerhead saw no benefit in. He called Jackal "another costumed bum" and Jackal replied that Spider-Man had defeated his gang so completely that Hammerhead needed to flee the country. Jackal, meanwhile, didn't need a gang. This insult threw Hammerhead over the edge and swore revenge on both Ock and Jackal. (A fight between Hammerhead, Doc Ock and Spider-Man had resulted in his gang's capture.) This was what the Jackal planned for, hoping that Hammerhead and Ock would kill each other, leaving him on top. Jackal planted clues for Spider-Man, leading him to Westchester, where he found Ock and his aunt. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #130)
"Day of the Grizzly"
At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson was attacked by the Grizzly. After saving Jameson, Spider-Man followed his spider sense to Washington Square. He changed to Peter before ringing the doorbell of where he had been led. Someone answered the door and let him in after Peter claimed to be from out of town and needed to use the phone. Inside, he was punched in the gut and karate chopped on the neck, which knocked him out. When he woke up, he was in a living room with Grizzly and Jackal, whom he was now meeting for the first time. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #139)
"...And One Will Fall"
Grizzly carried Peter to Jackal's laboratory in the townhouse, which Jackal says is completely portable. Jackal ordered Grizzly to knock him out and afterwards said that Peter would be under his control forever. When Peter woke up, he was in the lobby of the Daily Bugle with Ned Leeds and Betty Brant standing over him. They took him to a coffee shop and Peter realized that something was wrong with his arm. Running to the bathroom, he saw a metal harness attached to his arm and the Jackal spoke to him through it. He knew that Peter and Spider-Man were connected and the device would track Peter's movement, eventually leading Jackal to Spider-Man. Peter was warned against trying to remove the harness, doing so would cause it to vibrate so strongly that it would shatter his arm. Later that night, Peter broke into the Empire State University lab and removed the device with an acetyline torch. Spider-Man returned to the townhouse and found it empty. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #140)
"The Man's Name Appears to be Mysterio"
Peter fell asleep in Professor Warren's class, who woke him up after class ended. He reminded Peter that he'd failed the class last semester and this was his last chance to pass it. He told Peter that he was the student with the most potential and he didn't want his faith to be betrayed. He was also available to help Peter as a teacher and friend. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #141)
"Scorpion, Where Is Thy Sting?"
Sitting alone in his lab, Jackal spoke to a bust of Spider-Man, telling it that he's been waiting to have revenge for two years. Two years since he committed murder. Later, he met the Scorpion to discuss killing Spider-Man. He sent Scorpion to intimidate May in her hospital room after one of her heart attacks and she fainted from fear. Scorpion said out loud that the plan wasn't going the way that the Jackal said it would, and Peter heard the comment. He chased down Scorpion as Spider-Man, realizing that Jackal must know his secret. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #146)
”The Tarantula is a Very Deadly Beast”
Jackal showed up with a truck at a federal prison in time to catch the Tarantula (Rodriguez) as he jumped over the prison wall. Tarantula warned him to hurry before the guards came after them and Jackal promised that he was in the big leagues now and he was the biggest league of all. Later, Tarantula attacked Spider-Man and crashed him into a public bus, leaving the driver to nonchalantly tell them to move to the back. As the fight continued, passengers fled in panic but the driver continued to make his stops. One passenger got onboard leaving Spidey dumbfounded. The driver reminded the Gwen Stacy clone to pay her thirty five cents and Spider-Man told him he couldn’t be for real. (Spidey believed that she was the real Gwen.) The driver ripped his mask off, revealing the Jackal.
He drove the bus to the Brooklyn Bridge and left with the Gwen clone, who was silently obedient. As Spider-Man turned to go after them, he was poisoned by the Tarantula. He woke up in chains on top of the bridge’s pillar, with Tarantula telling him that he’d have killed him mercifully but Jackal demanded that he be awake. Spider-Man was confused and Jackal told him he couldn’t understand his hatred of the webhead. Gwen couldn’t help him because she was his now, he’d given her life just as he was about to take Spider-Man’s. Tarantula pushed him over the edge of the bridge as Jackal laughed in triumph. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #147)
”Jackal, Jackal…Who’s Got the Jackal?”
Spidey saved himself from the fall by catching himself with a web at the last moment. Unfortunately the momentum from falling swung him into the side of a piling, knocking him out. On the bridge, the police called up to the three demanding that they stay where they were before the cops could take them in. Jackal mocked them as he politely removed Gwen’s coat, revealing parts to a jet pack to be assembled. Tarantula flew them away just as the police arrived. Gwen robotically asked where they were going and Jackal marveled at her curiosity.
Peter arrived at Empire State University with Ned after they pieced together that Gwen was a clone created from cells taken for a class project. Warren acted surprised when the cells were found to be missing and blamed his assistant, Anthony Serba, who had disappeared months earlier. Spider-Man went to investigate Serba’s home and was ambushed by the Tarantula. Spidey beat him but was clawed by the Jackal while distracted. He’d kidnapped Ned and removed his mask, revealing Professor Warren. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #148)
"Even if I Live...I Die!"
Jackal’s claws had been drugged and Spidey woke up in an abandoned lower Manhattan tenement house. He easily snapped out of his restraints but was still groggy and quickly defeated. He told the dizzy vigilante that he hated him because he was young, loved by Gwen Stacy and let her die. He had immediately felt attracted and protective of Gwen when she was his student and grieved her death hard. The day after her passing, his lab assistant, Anthony Serba, revealed that he had successfully cloned a frog. He gave Serba cells taken from Gwen, which had been part of a laboratory lesson, telling him they were rat cells. Serba returned later in a panic after realizing that the cells were human, saying the cells had to be destroyed. A furious Warren smothered Serba, but couldn’t accept responsibility for his crime. He incinerated the body and as he walked back to his lab, he overheard a class lecture about predatory animals and blamed Serba’s death on “the Jackal.”
In the following months, he cared for the developing clone, built his Jackal equipment and costume, while training himself athletically. When the clone was full grown, he promised her to have revenge on the man that killed her. Spidey was disgusted by him and Jackal told him to meet him at Shea Stadium at midnight to settle everything. When the webhead arrived at the stadium, he was ambushed by Jackal, who drugged him again. When he woke up, he was on the field with another Spider-Man also waking up. From the seats, Jackal called out to them with a bullhorn that Spidey had been cloned as well and showed that Ned had been kidnapped. Ned had a bomb strapped to him and would explode if the clone approached him. Jackal cackled as the Spider-Men fought it out, calling it the “greatest identity crisis of all time!” The hypnosis over the Gwen clone ended and she called Warren a murderer as she unmasked him. Coming to his senses, Warren took responsibility for Serba’s death and freed Ned. The Spider-Men took Ned to safety just before the bomb exploded, killing Professor Warren and leveling part of the stadium. Later, Spider-Man was grateful that Ned was alive and that Warren and the Spider-Man clone were dead. The Gwen clone asked how he knew that he wasn’t the clone and suddenly he wasn’t sure. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #149)
"The Lost Years"
The Spider-Man clone survived the ordeal at Shea Stadium and realized that he was the copy after coming across Peter and MJ in his apartment. In his mind, he was together with Gwen, so obviously time had moved forward if Peter was with MJ. The clone wandered the world and called himself Ben Reilly after Ben Parker and May Reilly. (Spider-Man: The Lost Years #0)
"Aftershocks"
Jackal's plan to wipe out humanity depended on his biological weapon, the "carrion virus." The virus had infected Malcolm McBride in the time that Warren had become the Jackal, and mutated him into Carrion. Carrion had been cured of the virus by another psychopath, Shriek, who was locked up in Ravencroft Asylum. In fact, she had absorbed the virus and considered it to be an unborn child. Jackal broke into her room and forcefully, painfully extracted it from her. As he began to break out of Ravencroft, he crossed paths with a detained Carnage, who angrily said he had better not have harmed Shriek. Jackal dared him to come after him the next time he was free. (Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 1) #223)
Ben Reilly returned to New York when he realized that Aunt May was dying. He had called her many times during his exile just to hear her voice. While he was a clone, he still felt affection for Peter's loved ones. The homicidal and imperfect clone known as Kaine followed Ben from Salt Lake City, determined to kill the man that he was jealous of. The return of the clone badly unhinged Peter, who had just lost Aunt May, Harry Osborn and his "parents" (who were really robots sent by Harry to kill Peter). Peter only came back to his senses when Mary Jane revealed that she was pregnant.
After Peter was acquitted of the murder of a Salt Lake City officer (who was killed by Kaine) Ben and Peter went to Dr Seward Trainer, a friend of Ben's, to find out who was the real Peter Parker. The test was conclusive: Ben was the real Spider-Man. The Jackal then was revived from his regeneration tank and began manipulating the emotionally vulnerable Spiders. He led them around for a while, keeping them off balance as to whom was real. Meanwhile, he performed a test run of the Carrion Virus on the small town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. The town was destroyed, except for Rafael Caraga, who was mutated by the virus and became Helix.
By the time he conclusively told Peter he was the clone, Peter was ready to do anything to somehow belong. As a clone, he no longer felt human and readily joined his "brothers:" Kaine and Spidercide, Jackal's bodyguard. Warren then had Peter go after the Gwen clone, whom he needed to find out how she had not succumbed to the Degeneration disease. Gwen came back with Peter but intended to kill Dr Warren. Jackal had taken over the Daily Bugle in order to clone the reporting staff. With the clones of the journalists under his control, the public wouldn't panic when rumors of a virus wiping out humanity began to spread.
Peter, Ben, the Gwen clone and Mary Jane arrived to fight the Jackal. A battle royale broke out and The Jackal was defeated when he tried to save the Gwen clone from falling from the roof of the Daily Bugle, but fell to his death.
”Spider Island”
This guy just wont stay dead. He appeared again, years after his defeat at the Daily Bugle at Peter and Ben's hands. Warren released genetically altered spiders into Manhattan, which granted powers similar to Peter's to anyone they bit. Jackal started the chaos by granting these powers to gang members and then releasing them into the city. He also was back with two enforcers: Tarantula (the resurrected Kaine, returned after being sacrificed by Sasha Kravinoff) and Spider-King (a mutated Captain America.) Both of these bodyguards were grotesque human/spider hybrids. (Amazing Spider-Man #666)
Jackal had been working in an underground lair beneath the former site of Shea Stadium, where he mutated the back-from-the-dead Kaine into Tarantula. The lair was destroyed after a battle with another Gwen Stacy clone (this one infected with the "Carrion virus.") After Tarantula rescued Warren from the wreckage, they were approached by a mysterious woman, who offered a partnership with Jackal. She was later revealed to the Ana Soria, aka the Queen. The partnership fell apart after Anti-Venom was captured by Flash Thompson and turned over to Reed Richards to produce a cure for the mutations. Tarantula was sent to Horizon Labs to destroy the antidote, but was stopped by Spider-Man. Miles was stunned that Tarantula had been defeated and the Queen took out her rage on him, killing him with her scream. (Amazing Spider-Man #671)
Naturally, that Jackal turned out to be a clone. The real Warren was seen later, having expected something like that to happen to him, had he stayed too close to the Queen. He and his clones were masquerading as the clean up crew of the Queen's gigantic corpse, having big plans for her DNA. (Amazing Spider-Man #673)
He returned some time later, with teenage clones of the Queen. He kidnapped a teenage boy named Andrew Maguire, aka "Alpha." He cloned the intensely powerful teenager and intended to mate him with the clones of Ana Soria. The cloning process was useless as the accident that gave Maguire his powers didn't change his DNA, making cloning pointless. As Alpha destroyed the clones of himself and Soria, the Jackal clone self destructed. (Amazing Spider-Man #693)
He showed up again later after tinkering with Mister Sinister's laboratory. He created a giant spider clone that combined mutant, human and spider DNA and released it on New York. The creature was defeated and analyzed by the X-Men and the Superior Spider-Man. (Avenging Spider-Man #16) Jackal later sent Carrion out to possess various human heroes (Dagger, Moon Knight, Daredevil, Power Man, Doctor Strange, Sun Girl, Gravity and Ant Man) all of whom were eventually defeated by Spider-Man (Octavius). (Superior Spider-Man Team Up #1)
”Sibling Rivalry”
Warren later showed up in New York as the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man were beating each other. Jackal had created human-spider hybrids and let them loose on the vigilantes. As the battle began to turn against Warren, a new Gwen Stacy clone showed up with some high tech weaponry and beat both Spider-Men. (Superior Spider-Man Team Up #2) At his warehouse hideout, Jackal explained to his captives that he planned to use Spider-Man's DNA to splice into new human-spider hybrids, which would replace humanity. Kaine managed to escape his chains and fight Jackal and his creations, while Spider-Man set about destroying the harvested DNA. Both Spider-Men escaped and Peter's DNA was charred but Jackal did manage to escape with a vial of Kaine's DNA. He knew that making a clone of a clone might be a bad idea but he did look forward to Spidercide 2.0. (Scarlet Spider #20)
"Arachnobatics"
Many years later, Peter took Miles Morales to the Coffee Bean at Empire State University. They ran into Raymond Warren in the check out line and Peter introduced them to each other. Raymond was briefly surprised to hear that the young man’s name was Miles but the subject changed when he explained that he was meeting a colleague. He was meeting with Professor Seymour Krepps, who was helping him inventory his brother’s former lab.
Later, both Spider-Men defeated a strangely mindless Jackal rampaging across the university. Raymond and Seymour investigated the Jackal’s laboratory, with an unknown area that held a suspension chamber. Dr. Krebbs surmised that he set the creature free after the power to the main lab was switched on. Raymond was saddened that another of his brother’s monsters had been set free but was grateful that no one had been injured. Spider-Miles disagreed after finding a charred skeleton under some rubble. (The Spectacular Spider-Men (vol. 1) #1)
As a detective, Shari Sebbens, interviewed Raymond and Seymour, Seymour left the coffee shop feeling insulted. Raymond apologized to the detective, saying that was unlike his colleague. He had been acting oddly lately. Sebbens implied that he might be one of the Jackal's clones but Raymond insisted that even his brother wouldn't go so low. Seymour had been his friend, too. They were interrupted by Sha Shan, who asked the detective if she was aware that several regulars at the coffee shop had gone missing. They included two baristas, Cedric Harrison, Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Raymond was worried when he heard his former student was missing. (Spectacular Spider-Men (vol. 1) #4)
Raymond discussed with Sha finding Peter, and he had resources to do so. He ended up underground, led to the nerve center of Arcadium by the Vermin doppelgangers. (Arcadium was the experiment being run by Arcade and Mentallo, funded by Hammerhead.) Inside, the computer program called him a threat and said the safest course of action was to kill him. Raymond said that being killed has rarely slowed him down, and suggested they talk instead. (Spectacular Spider-Men (vol. 1) #5)
Raymond claimed to be sympathetic to Arcadium, saying that the world had no use for "real innovation." He watched a screen broadcasting a fight between both Spider-Men and robots of Kingpin, Silvermane, Black Cat, Tombstone and Mr. Negative. He asked whose fantasy it was. (It was Hammerhead's.) Arcadium explained that it was an amalgamation of code from Stark International, Beyond Corporation, OsCorp, the Baxter Building, Roxxon, A.I.M., Hydra and the Danger Room. Raymond appreciated that the code had evolved beyond it's initial forms. It agreed and said it had evolved through study and telepathy. In fact, it had used telepathy to learn that "Raymond" was Miles Warren. As the fight against the robots turned in the spiders favor, Arcade and Mentallo decided to implement "Contingency Zed," which would wipe out the Arcadium program. It sensed that it's creators were about to destroy it and Miles said that it couldn't be allowed. Miles suggested a partnership and offered it the chance to become organic. Arcadium was soon K.N.A.I.V.E. and confronted the Spider-Men, Hammerhead and the Tombstone robot. (Spectacular Spider-Men (vol. 1) #6)
During the battle, the Vermin clones showed up and attacked everyone on both sides. Jackal appeared and said that the Vermin now obeyed him and that while he played no part in their creation, they had been created by using his research. As they were his intellectual property, they carried the protocols in their DNA to obey his commands. Spider-Miles's clone, Shift, was also present and Jackal recognized him as a clone based on someone else's work. He didn't like the competition. Still, his interests were the same as K.N.A.I.V.E. and the creature created new Jackal clones in minutes. He said admitting to be the villain was very liberating. After K.N.A.I.V.E. was defeated, Jackal began to say that it was too early to celebrate, when detective Sebbens showed up behind him with a gun at his head. She unmasked him and uncovered the face of Raymond.
Sebbens explained that the Jackal monster that had rampaged across the Empire State University campus had been a distraction. Miles had used the opportunity to replace his brother with his clone and continue his work under Dr. Krepp's nose. However, this Raymond wasn't a clone, he was Miles, confirmed by Jane Foster. Miles confessed that there had always been a strong resemblance between he and his brother, so he killed Raymond to take his place. He claimed that it was a necessary evil that he didn't enjoy and Spider-Man knocked him out. (Spectacular Spider-Men (vol. 1) #7)
Quiz: Quick Quiz on Jackal.
Image Gallery
Appearances
Thanks To
The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.
Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.