The Jackal is an alias used by two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually depicted as enemies of the superhero Spider-Man. The original and best known version, Miles Warren, was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965) as a professor at the fictional Empire State University. Later storylines established him as also being a scientist researching genetics and biochemistry, and revealed an unhealthy romantic obsession he had developed for Gwen Stacy. Driven mad with jealousy and grief after Gwen's death, he creates the Jackal alter ego to seek revenge on Spider-Man, whom he holds responsible. To this end, he trains himself in martial arts and builds a green suit and gauntlets with claw-like razors. Although the Jackal initially did not possess any superpowers, he later gained enhanced strength, speed, and agility by mixing his genes with those of an actual jackal.
The Jackal was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), but his alter ego was not revealed until The Amazing Spider-Man #148 (September 1975). Originally one of Spider-Man's less popular rogues, the character rose to prominence after becoming one of the first in the Marvel Universe to master cloning technology and creating various clones of Spider-Man, like Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, as well as of other characters, including himself and the chimera Spider-Girl. His experiments went on to play a major role in several popular Spider-Man storylines, such as the "Clone Saga" (1994–1996), "Spider-Island" (2011), and "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" (2016–2017), the latter of which established Ben Reilly as the second Jackal.
In Spider-Gwen, during the titular character's foray into Earth-616, the Miles Warren version of the Jackal attempts to capture her to explicitly sexually assault her, after previously only subtextually expressing this desire towards her main continuity counterpart and her clones.
Debuting during the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent adversaries and has been featured in several media adaptations outside of comics. Various merchandise based on the character has also been produced, including action figures and trading cards.
Publication history The Jackal first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), and was created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru. In The Amazing Spider-Man #148 (September 1975), the character's identity was revealed to be Professor Miles Warren, who had first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965),Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 31: "This monumental issue saw the first appearances of Peter's upcoming love interest Gwen Stacy, prospective best friend, Harry Osborn, and even the future super villain known as the Jackal." and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. Prior to his reintroduction as the Jackal, his appearances were essentially limited to the occasional cameo in which he acts as simple background to Spider-Man's civilian life as a college student.
When named at all in these early appearances, the character is called only "Professor Warren". A "Mister Warren" had previously appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (January 1964), but he is a high school science teacher rather than a college professor, and is physically very distinct from Miles Warren. Despite this, Conway has said it was always his interpretation that "Mister Warren", "Professor Warren", and Professor Miles Warren/Jackal were the same character.
The Jackal was featured in the 1990s "Clone Saga" story arc, the 2011 storyline "Spider-Island", and the 2016–2017 storyline "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy". All of these story arcs involve cloning, which the character became most famously associated with.
Fictional character biography Miles Warren is a professor of biology at Empire State University (ESU), where he meets Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965) During his tenure there, Warren becomes secretly infatuated with the much younger Gwen to the point of obsession and jealousy of Parker. After Gwen is murdered by the Green Goblin, Warren swears vengeance on Spider-Man, since it was reported that it was Spider-Man who had killed Gwen.The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975) Gwen's death drives Warren into depression, despair, and insanity as a mad geneticist who eventually turns into the Jackal. Miles is also the brother of science teacher Raymond Warren of Midtown High School.Untold Tales of Spider-Man #25 (July 1997)
Early career Warren works as an assistant of the High Evolutionary at Mount Wundagore after earning his Ph.D. in biochemistry. He assists the High Evolutionary in experiments that involve turning animals into humanoid forms and vice versa. There is conflict between Warren and the High Evolutionary because Warren succeeds in creating humanoid animals called New Men, whereas the High Evolutionary is not able to. Eventually, Warren evolves a jackal that exhibits a Jekyll and Hyde personality. When the test subject escapes, the High Evolutionary banishes Warren from Wundagore. Warren continues his research and eventually settles down with Monica. Warren and Monica's two children are killed by the Man-Jackal, who was envious of his creator.Scarlet Spider Unlimited one-shot (November 1995)
The Jackal's origin The day after Gwen's death, Warren's lab assistant Anthony Serba reveals that he successfully cloned a frog using their research technology. Warren gives Serba tissue samples of Gwen and Peter, telling Serba that they come from rat cells. Serba later confronts Warren, stating that the clones are human and must be destroyed immediately. Panicking, Warren attempts to cover Serba's mouth to shut him up, accidentally suffocating Serba. Unable to accept responsibility for his actions, Warren develops the Jackal persona to carry the weight of his misdeeds. He further develops his alter ego by fashioning a green suit and gauntlets with sharp, claw-like razors on each finger, and by training himself athletically. During this time, he also continues to experiment with cloning humans. Kaine is the first successful clone of Peter despite suffering from a slow cloning degeneration and having regenerative abilities to repeatedly elude death.Spider-Island: Deadly Foes one-shot (October 2011)
Jackal's hatred for Spider-Man manifests in his belief that Spider-Man is solely responsible for allowing Gwen, whom he loved, to die at the Goblin's hands. He starts harassing Spider-Man, setting him up against other adversaries. Out of his numerous attempts to create clones of Peter, only one is a perfect copy of the original. He also creates two clones of himself, one a direct copy and the other a modified clone harboring the Carrion virus. Jackal helps the Tarantula escape prison, and the two become partners.The Amazing Spider-Man #147 (August 1975) Jackal captures Spider-Man, but lets him go after proving that Spider-Man is no match for Jackal in a fair fight. He then lures his nemesis to Shea Stadium and manipulates into battling his perfect clone of Peter by binding Ned Leeds to a bomb that only the original Spider-Man can disarm. But when a clone of Gwen tears off Jackal's mask and confronts him on his crimes, Warren accepts responsibility for his actions. He attempts to correct his wrongdoings by freeing Leeds, only to be caught in the bomb's explosion.
Clone Saga
During the "Clone Saga", it is revealed that Peter's clone had survived the explosion and gone into hiding under the alias of Ben Reilly. The Jackal who died at Shea Stadium was also a clone. Nearly five years later, another clone of Jackal would marry Gwen's original clone, and the two would live under the assumed names Warren Miles and Gwen Miles.Web of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995) This clone of Warren eventually dies of the degeneration that afflicts most of Jackal's clones. The real Jackal resurfaces, where his experiments mutate his own DNA and give him an actual jackal's attributes.The Amazing Spider-Man #394 (October 1994)
When Ben Reilly returns years later to New York City as the Scarlet Spider and allies with Spider-Man, Jackal also returns to unleash his clone armyThe Amazing Spider-Man #399 (March 1995) and convinced both Peter and Ben that the latter was the original Spider-Man, and the former was the clone. Jackal creates clones of Peter who come into conflict with Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, and Kaine.Spider-Man #60 (July 1995) Jackal also created diminutive clones of Spider-Man called Jacks that are similar to his creation Jack. Jackal, in the process of attempting to kill and replace millions of people with clones that he can control, falls off a tall building while trying to save Gwen's clone and dies. This would later be revealed to be a clone of Jackal.Maximum Clonage Omega (July 1995)
Spider-Island Jackal returns in the "Spider-Island" storyline, being further genetically altered to the point where he frequently displays animalistic tendencies. His body is always cold, requiring him to wear a thick coat even in hot weather. He is now a crime lord calling himself "The Professor", and allies himself with Hammerhead, but the two eventually go to jail. Jackal returns in the "Infestation" back-up feature of The Amazing Spider-Man, unleashing genetically engineered bedbugs to pass on Spider-like abilities to thousands of citizens in Manhattan.The Amazing Spider-Man #659-660 (June - July 2011) He achieves this through the aid of human clones of himself, and funding from Adriana Soria.The Amazing Spider-Man #668 (October 2011) The virus gives New York's citizens spider-powers and becomes airborne to infect the world and create a new race of Homo-Arachnus as part of his co-conspirator's plan to overtake the Great Web of Life.The Amazing Spider-Man #663 (August 2011) After Mister Fantastic creates a clone for the virus using Anti-Venom's antibodies, Jackal assures Soria that no cure is possible. Soria kills Jackal, who is revealed to be a clone.The Amazing Spider-Man #670 (November 2011)The Amazing Spider-Man #673 (January 2012)
It is later revealed that Jackal has been monitoring Peter's accidental creation of Alpha, and has set his sights on Spider-Man's new protégé. Jackal resurfaces accompanied by clones of Spider-Queen and is bent on harvesting Alpha's powers for himself. His plans fail as the Alpha energy cannot be cloned, resulting in powerless, near-mindless copies of Alpha. All of Alpha's clones are destroyed when the original Alpha breaks free.The Amazing Spider-Man #692-693 (October - November 2012)
Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy Ben Reilly's remains are collected by Jackal, who resurrects him through a new cloning process. However, Jackal finds that Ben's body is still unstable and has him killed and resurrected 26 more times. The ordeal of repeated death caused Ben to become mentally unbalanced and morally ambiguous, due to the trauma and very soul being damaged from being removed and replaced over and over.Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #7 (November 2017) Ben eventually breaks free and knocks out Jackal. After improving Jackal's formula, Ben makes clones of Jackal and convinces the original Jackal that he is a clone. Ben assumes the Jackal name during the "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" storyline, where he resurrects many of Spider-Man's friends and enemies.The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #22 (February 2017)
When Spider-Man activates the Webware to stabilize the remaining clones, the clones of Jackal die. The original Jackal realizes that he has been tricked into believing that he was a clone and vows revenge on Ben.The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #24 (April 2017)
Spectacular Spider-Men