Jackal (Marvel Comics)
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The Jackal (Dr. Miles Warren) is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an enemy of Spider-Man.
An Empire State University biology professor, Warren became infatuated with student Gwen Stacy. After Stacy died, he became a demented geneticist and genetically enhanced his own body, combining his own DNA with that of a jackal. He also cloned Gwen Stacy and Spider-Man, leading to the “Clone Saga” years later.
He first appeared as Miles Warren in Amazing Spider-Man #31 and as the Jackal in Amazing Spider-Man #129. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko but writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru are responsible for his Jackal persona and appearance.
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[edit] Character History
[edit] Origin
Prof. Miles Warren was once a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University. At some point, he studied genetics under the tutelage of the High Evolutionary, but was expelled from the Evolutionary's headquarters when he proved to be unstable. He received further training and equipment from Maelstrom. Warren fell in love with one of his students, Gwen Stacy, who was the girlfriend of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). After Gwen was killed by the original Green Goblin, Warren turned his attention towards methods of cloning, inspired by the creation of a full-grown frog to attempt to clone humans. When he killed his lab partner Anthony Serba (who had discovered the truth) Warren became completely insane, developing the personality of the Jackal as he tried to convince himself that someone else had killed his assistant, rather than he himself.
In his first appearance as the Jackal, he attempted to manipulate the Punisher into killing Spider-Man (this was the popular anti-hero's first appearance), but when the Punisher learned of the Jackal's deception, he turned against Warren.
The Jackal - with the aid of a Scrier, working for the Green Goblin - subsequently worked to create clones of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. However, his first apparently successful attempt quickly began to show signs of degeneration. It was much later revealed that this clone managed to escape before Warren could kill him, and would come to be known as the serial killer called Kaine. Warren then refined the process, and although several more failures resulted, he eventually successfully created clones of Gwen, then Peter, who did not suffer from the tell-tale degeneration. The Parker clone and the Jackal were both apparently killed in battle with Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October, 1975).
Gwen’s clone was later (1988) captured by the High Evolutionary, who had once been Miles Warren’s teacher. He told Spider-Man that she was, in fact, not a clone, but a normal woman named Joyce Delaney whom Warren had altered with a genetic virus. One of his followers, Daydreamer of the Young Gods, restored her memories. Later events, however, suggested that the High Evolutionary had lied and Joyce Delaney never existed.
[edit] Clone saga
Almost twenty (real time) years later, it was revealed that the clone of Peter had survived the explosion and went into hiding. In addition, Prof. Warren had made a clone of himself before he died, who went into hibernation for several years. However, in the intervening years another clone of Miles Warren ("Warren Miles") appeared, and actually married the Gwen Stacy clone. The Jackal's research was also used to create the several incarnations of the villain Carrion, one of whom was thought to be a failed clone of the Jackal. He also used his experiments to mutate his own DNA and give himself attributes of an actual Jackal; prior to these events, the Jackal's physical abilities had merely been the result of training rather than any superhuman powers.
The Peter Parker clone, unaware that the Jackal lived, took the name Ben Reilly, and went into exile. Years later, he returned to New York City, allied himself with Spider-Man, and became the Scarlet Spider. The Jackal returned at this point (Amazing Spider-Man #399, March, 1995) and convinced both Parker and Reilly that Reilly was the real Peter Parker and that the other man was the clone, and created a number of other Peter Parker clones who came into conflict with Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, and Kaine. Ultimately, the Jackal, in the process of attempting to kill and replace millions of people with clones he could control, was killed falling off a tall building while trying to save the Gwen clone, who was saved by Spider-Man (Maximum Clonage Omega, July, 1995).
Shortly after, Parker retired to spend more time with his pregnant wife, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and Ben Reilly briefly replaced him as Spider-Man, until he died at the hands of the Green Goblin, finally revealing in the process that Parker was and always had been the original Spider-Man (Peter Parker, Spider-Man #75, June, 1996).
In the 2005 limited series Daredevil Vs. Punisher, The Jackal returned once again. This version of the Jackal is a fourth clone of Miles Warren, even further genetically altered to a point where his body is always cold (causing him to wear a thick fur coat even in the hottest weather) and he now needs to suck blood to survive. He became a crimelord and allied himself with Hammerhead, but the two of them eventually went to jail.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Jackal had been mutagenically enhanced by combining the genetic material of an actual jackal with his own. As a result he had enhanced strength; he could lift somewhere in the range of 900 pounds to 2 tons. His agility and speed were similarly augmented. Jackal also had razor sharp claws and teeth. Even prior to this, he was capable of holding his own against Spider-Man in a fight, although in these cases he always began with the element of surprise on his side.
The Jackal was a genius in the fields of genetics and biochemistry and a pioneer in the field of cloning. His knowledge of cloning was at least a century ahead of what is known to conventional science. The Jackal was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. When he gained his enhanced abilities he was able to defeat Spider-Man in more than one physical confrontation.
[edit] Ultimate Marvel
Miles Warren was Harry Osborn's hypnotherapist that helped him repress memories about his father, The Green Goblin. Later in the Deadpool story arc of Ultimate Spider-Man, he was revealed to be dating Aunt May.
[edit] In other media
Miles Warren appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, played by Jonathan Harris. He didn't turn into the Jackal. Instead, he is a scientist. In the series, Warren is the one who creates cloning, but the government banned his experiments. Warren's clones keep dissolving into vapour, because of their DNA. He creates the clone of Hydro-Man and Mary Jane Watson. In the end of the episode, the clones vapourized, and Warren was able to get Spider-Man's DNA so that he would get a chance to make a clone with the DNA.
