Jason Macendale
Encyclopedia
Jason Philip Macendale, Jr. is a fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
that appears in comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. The character first appears in Machine Man
Machine Man
Machine Man is a fictional character, an android superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. The character was created by Jack Kirby for 2001: A Space Odyssey #8 , a comic written and drawn by Kirby featuring concepts based on the eponymous Stanley Kubrick film and Arthur C. Clarke novel...
#19 (Feb 1981), and was created by writer Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well known for his association with Marvel Comics and in particular for his work with Spider-Man.-Career:...
and artist Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
.
Fictional character biography
Jason Philip Macendale was a former CIA agent who was recruited out of college to become an agent for the organization. Unfortunately, Macendale quickly proved himself to be a liability to the organization, due to his violent nature and amoral personality. This rejection turned Macendale to crime, as his anger at the US government for firing him as a covert agent led to him becoming a mercenary and ultimately a costumed terrorist, as he adopted the costumed alter ego of Jack O'LanternJack O'Lantern (Marvel Comics)
Jack O'Lantern is the name of four fictional supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. Later incarnations of the character were also referred to as Mad Jack.-Jason Macendale:...
.
The character debuted as a villain in the pages of Machine Man
Machine Man
Machine Man is a fictional character, an android superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe. The character was created by Jack Kirby for 2001: A Space Odyssey #8 , a comic written and drawn by Kirby featuring concepts based on the eponymous Stanley Kubrick film and Arthur C. Clarke novel...
volume 1 #19, before becoming a regular nemesis for Spider-Man, meeting him in battle the first time in Spectacular Spider-Man #56. The character became entangled within the story of the mystery of who was Hobgoblin
Hobgoblin (comics)
The Hobgoblin is the alias of several fictional characters that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first and best-known Hobgoblin is Roderick Kingsley. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #238, and was created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Sr...
, having been hired to retrieve the villain's lost battle van.
Wishing to increase his underworld status, Macendale formed an alliance with the villain, who at this time was using brainwashed journalist Ned Leeds
Ned Leeds
Ned Leeds is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe, part of the supporting cast of Spider-Man, first introduced in 1964 in The Amazing Spider-Man #18, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
as a proxy to ensure that no one would know that the villainous Hobgoblin was really fashion designer Roderick Kingsley. The two worked together, but the brainwashing treatments used on Ned Leeds to make him Hobgoblin began to affect the writer's sanity, ultimately leading to him doublecrossing Macendale in order to try and kill Spider-Man when the two were in the middle of a desperate chase across the city to evade arrest by a horde of police officers.
Macendale vowed revenge against Ned Leeds, ultimately arranging for his murder via agents of the super-assassin known only as the Foreigner
Foreigner (comics)
The Foreigner is a fictional comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writer Peter David, and first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #15 The Foreigner is a mercenary and assassin...
. Upon killing Leeds, all known copies of the Hobgoblin's weapons and costumes were handed over to Macendale, who took over the identity in order to steal Ned's "notoriety" within the supervillain community.
Sadly Macendale's scheme was foiled by his own arrogance: not only was he exposed as the new Hobgoblin, but he lost several major battles against Spider-Man. This made Macendale a laughing stock in the supervillain community, who by this point knew of how he gained the costumed identity by way of murder.
His ultimate humiliation came when he attempted to steal the Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
's secret formula for superhuman strength, resulting in a confrontation between himself and Harry Osborn
Harry Osborn
Harry Osborn is a fictional character, a supporting character of Spider-Man in the . In addition to being Peter Parker's best friend, Harry was the second Green Goblin and is the son of Norman Osborn...
, who donned his father's Green Goblin costume to defeat him. Although Harry's reluctance to return to the Goblin identity hampered his performance at first, he was able to trick Macendale by doubling back around a building during a chase and emptying his bag of pumpkin bombs onto his foe. When Osborn pointed out that he would have used the strength-enhancing formula against Macendale if he had access to it, Macendale fled in rage and disgrace.
Said battle with Harry Osborn came just as the events of the Marvel crossover Inferno
Inferno (Marvel Comics)
Inferno was a Marvel Comics company-wide crossover in 1989 that mainly involved the mutant titles, namely The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Excalibur, and The New Mutants...
began to unfold, as demons invaded New York City. Dejected and humiliated, Macendale foolishly offered to sell his soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
to N'astirh
N'astirh
N'astirh is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics as a demonic inhabitant of Limbo. He first appeared in X-Factor #32 and was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.-Fictional character biography:...
in exchange for the power of a demon. N'astirh refuses the offer, considering Macendale's wretched soul to be worthless to him. However, in return for amusing the demon's twisted sense of humor, N'astirh fused a demon to Macendale anyway, just for making him laugh. Enhanced by the demon's power, Macendale would return to battle Spider-Man once again, nearly killing the web-slinger until he was saved by the intervention of Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...
.
As an independent mercenary and criminal, Macendale would clash with many other heroes, including Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
, Sleepwalker
Sleepwalker (comics)
Sleepwalker is a Marvel Comics character created by Bob Budiansky. He is named after his race, and is the star of a self-titled comic book which ran for 33 issues from June 1991 to February 1994, with one Holiday Special. All but two of the issues were written by Budiansky, with Tom Brevoort and...
, Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
, and Darkhawk
Darkhawk
Darkhawk is a fictional comic book superhero who first appeared in his own self-titled series, Darkhawk #1...
. He would also join two reformed incarnations of the Sinister Six.
Eventually, Macendale's personality was overcome by the insane demon who shared his body, a condition made worse by Macendale's vanity; a side-effect of being bonded with a demon was that the villain's handsome facial features had been twisted into an exact replica of his Hobgoblin mask. To cope with his now inhuman appearance, Macendale began to consider himself an agent of God sent to Earth to kill sinners. This led him into conflict with Ghost Riders Danny Ketch and Johnny Blaze
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
and Spider-Man; during the battle, a blast from Johnny Blaze's "Hellfire Shotgun" destabilized the demon within Macendale, long enough for him to briefly regain his sanity.
During a later four-way fight between Macendale, Spider-Man, Moon Knight
Moon Knight
Moon Knight is a fictional character, a mercenary-turned-superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character exists in the Marvel Universe and was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin...
, and Doctor Strange, the heroes realized that Macendale's insanity was partly caused by despair over losing his handsome face. To try and calm the monsterous man/demon, Doctor Strange agreed to cast an illusion spell upon Macendale that caused Macendale to see his true face in reflections of himself. This helped Macendale enough that he was ultimately able to expel the demon from within himself, with the demon referring to itself as the Demogoblin
Demogoblin
Demogoblin is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared as Demogoblin in Web of Spider-Man #86 , and had previously appeared as an unnamed demon in Spectacular Spider-Man #147....
. As Hobgoblin, Macendale was stiff-armed by Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes...
into joining the 2nd incarnation of the group the Sinister Six, which twice tried to take over the world, failing due to counter measures by Spider-Man, the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
, Ghost Rider, the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
, and many more heroes. In a rare event, Macendale teamed up with Spider-Man to defeat the duo of Demogoblin and Doppelganger
Doppelganger (comics)
The Doppelganger, also called the Spider-Doppelganger, is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. It first appeared in The Infinity War #1.-Fictional character biography:...
.
By this point, Macendale was desperate to regain his standing as a villain and attempted to assassinate Moon Knight and Nick Katzenberg on orders by the Foreigner, only to be stopped by both Moon Knight and Spider-Man. Coincidentally, Spider-Man turned him over to the authorities.
Once more powerless, Macendale would return and obtain the strength formula of Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of Spider-Man appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Kraven's name is Sergei Kravinoff. He also appears as Xraven, with white-grey skin and red eyes, possessing the powers of X-Men. He is the half-brother of Dmitri...
, which enables him to easily defeat his demonic doppelganger, Demogoblin, before Demogoblin ultimately died saving a young child in battle.
Macendale was defeated once more by Spider-Man along with Coldheart
Coldheart
Coldheart is a fictional comic book supervillainess in the Marvel Comics universe. The ice-powered, sword-using female was created by Howard Mackie and Tom Lyle. Unseen for years, she presumably died during the start of Civil War....
, during an attempt to kidnap Jason's long-lost son. However, Macendale's reunion would be an unhappy one as Macendale attempted (unsuccessfully) to use his son as a hostage to avoid going back to jail. He would remain in jail for some time before being freed by Gaunt, sending him into combat against Ben Reilly
Ben Reilly
Benjamin "Ben" Reilly is a fictional character in the . He is a clone of Peter Parker , and is prominent in the "Clone Saga" story arc...
. In exchange for doing Gaunt's bidding, the scientist turned Macendale into a cyborg, complete with removal of one of Macendale's eyes with a new high-tech cyborgnetic eye. He failed however and was once again arrested.
It was at this point, that a tired and annoyed Jason Macendale went on trial for his vast laundry list of crimes. Found guilty of a laundry list of crimes, including acts caused by both the Roderick and Leeds Hobgoblin, a disgusted Macendale responded to his conviction by revealing that Ned Leeds "was" Hobgoblin. This caused Roderick Kingsley
Hobgoblin (comics)
The Hobgoblin is the alias of several fictional characters that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first and best-known Hobgoblin is Roderick Kingsley. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #238, and was created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Sr...
, fearful that Ned Leeds being outed as Hobgoblin would expose him being the brainwashed pawn of the real Hobgoblin (Kingsley), to break into the prison holding Macendale and to execute him. Firing a blast of pure energy from one of his gloved gauntlets, Kingsley mocked Macendale's failures as a villain before atomizing him.
Powers and abilities
Macendale originally possessed no superhuman powers, but used similar paraphernalia to the Hobgoblin and Green Goblin; in both his Jack O'Lantern and Hobgoblin persona he used a glider and pumpkin bombs. Though Macendale never acquired the strength enhancing formula of the Green Goblin he did eventually acquire temporary super powers.Macendale first acquired superhuman abilities in a deal with N'astirh
N'astirh
N'astirh is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics as a demonic inhabitant of Limbo. He first appeared in X-Factor #32 and was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.-Fictional character biography:...
in which a minor demon was grafted to him. These were the greatest abilities Macendale ever acquired, but they were temporary. This deal granted him super strength, speed, and agility (all though are below the level of Spider-Man), as well as hellfire powers enabling him to create a transport of flame at will. He quickly lost control of the demon causing him to go insane. The human and demon later split into two beings, resulting in the loss of those powers for Macendale.
Eventually, Macendale managed to acquire the performance enhancing formula of Kraven the Hunter instead, which enhanced his strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes, and agility to superhuman levels (less than Kraven due to having a weaker baseline athletic physique). As he was still no match for Spider-Man, Macendale later had his body augmented cybernetically, giving him greater superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, durability, and stamina.
Personality, skills, and training
Macendale had extensive military training in hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, espionage, and knowledge of conventional weaponry. He often used conventional military weapons. When he adopted the Hobgoblin persona he was able to make improvements to the maneuverability to the goblin glider, by utilizing skills he gained from his masters degrees in both mechanical engineering and physics.Macendale was a sociopath and a sadist, which led to his dishonorable discharge from the military.
Television
- Jason Philip Macendale appears as the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated SeriesSpider-Man (1994 TV series)Spider-Man, also known as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, is an American animated series starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man. The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998. The producer/story editor was John Semper, Jr. and production company was Marvel Films...
, voiced by Mark HamillMark HamillMark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
.
Video games
- The NESNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
game Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister SixSpider-Man: Return of the Sinister SixSpider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six is a video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Bits Studios software and published by LJN in 1992. Versions of the game were also released for the Sega Master System and Game Gear by the Flying Edge division of Acclaim...
had the third line-up of the Sinister SixSinister SixThe Sinister Six are a group of supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe, drawn from Spider-Man's rogues gallery. The original incarnation of the group was organized by Doctor Octopus, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 ....
, which included Macendale.
Toys
- The demonic version of Macendale appears in the Spider-Man ClassicsSpider-Man ClassicsSpider-Man Classics is a line produced by Toy Biz focusing on Spider-Man and his allies and enemies. The line has over 15 series, with dozens of Spider-Man incarnations and many of his famous enemies. Series One came out in 2001...
line. This was reworked for the Sinister Six Marvel LegendsMarvel LegendsMarvel Legends is an action figure line based on the characters of Marvel Comics, initially produced by Toy Biz, then by Hasbro. This line is in the scale, with spin-off lines in the , , and scale.-History:...
set and then repainted for the Demogoblin figure.
External links
- Jack O'Lantern (Jason Macendale) at SpiderFan.org
- Hobgoblin IV (Jason Macendale) at SpiderFan.org
- Jason Macendale Jr. (Earth-616) at the Marvel Comics Database Project
- Hobgoblin (Jason Macendale) at the Marvel Universe Character Bios