Jack O'Lantern is an alias used by several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Jason Macendale first appeared as Jack O'Lantern in Machine Man #19 (February 1981).
The Steve Levins incarnation of Jack O'Lantern first appeared in Captain America #396 (January 1992).
The Daniel Berkhart incarnation of Jack O'Lantern (a.k.a. Mad Jack) first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #241 (December 1996).
The Maguire Beck incarnation of Jack O'Lantern (a.k.a. Mad Jack) first appeared in Spider-Man and Mysterio #1 (January 2001).
The Secret War incarnation of Jack O'Lantern first appeared in Secret War #1 (April 2004).
The Levins brother incarnation of Jack O'Lantern first appeared in Dark Reign: Made Men #1 (November 2009).
The Crime-Master's protégé incarnation of Jack O'Lantern first appeared in Venom #1 (May 2011).
The Jack O'Lantern imposter who encountered Venom first appeared in Venom #37 (September 2013).
The Owen Ward incarnation of Jack O'Lantern first appeared in Venom #1 (July 2018).
The Daniel Drumm incarnation of Jack O'Lantern, set on Earth-98091, first appeared in Supernaturals #1 (December 1998).
Fictional character biography Jason Macendale
Jason Macendale is a mercenary who was recruited out of college and trained by the CIA and various para-military organizations. Considered a liability due to his violent nature and amoral personality, this rejection turned Macendale to a career mercenary and ultimately a costumed terrorist. He adopts the Jack O'Lantern alter ego, initially battling Machine Man before becoming an enemy of Spider-Man.
Steven Mark Levins
The second version of Jack O'Lantern was introduced as an enemy of Captain America and Spider-Man.
Several years after his introduction, Jack O'Lantern was renamed "Mad Jack" and was heavily featured in the pages of The Spectacular Spider-Man during the late 1990s. Mad Jack was ultimately revealed to be the duo of Daniel Berkhart (formerly known as Mysterio) and Maguire Beck (Mysterio's cousin). It was not until the one-shot New Avengers Most Wanted (a character compendium) that the second iteration was confirmed as a separate entity: Steven Mark Levins.
Jack O'Lantern is a professional criminal who frequently works with Blackwing. With Blackwing, he joins the Skeleton Crew, the Red Skull's operatives.Captain America #398 (March 1992)
Levins is recruited to serve as part of the Thunderbolts hero-hunting squad during the "Civil War" storyline. While pursuing Spider-Man through the Manhattan sewers alongside the Jester, Levins is killed by the Punisher.Civil War #5 (November 2006) However, Levins is later reanimated and possessed by a fragment of Lucifer's soul. He now exhibits the ability to detach, levitate, and detonate his head, among other powers. However, the Ghost Rider exorcises Levins by ripping his heart from his chest, setting it aflame, and putting it back in his chest, causing it to explode inside.Ghost Rider (vol. 6) #8 (April 2007)
During the "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" storyline, Levins is resurrected by Jackal. He gets into a fight with the other clones, which is broken up by Prowler.Prowler (vol. 2) #1 (December 2016)
Daniel Berkhart
Former Mysterio, Daniel Berkhart, is approached by Norman Osborn, who provides him a version of the Jack O'Lantern costume, under the "Mad Jack" alias. Under Osborn's orders, Berkhart kidnaps John Jameson and gives him mind-altering chemicals to turn him into the Man-Wolf again. Jameson is sent to attack his father J. Jonah Jameson to manipulate him into accepting Osborn's scheme to buy the Daily Bugle.The Spectacular Spider-Man #241-248 (December 1996 - August 1997)
Maguire Beck
After Berkhart's working relationship with Osborn ends when the Green Goblin participates in a magical ritual that renders him completely insane, Berkhart was then approached by Maguire Beck, the cousin of Quentin Beck (the original Mysterio). Maguire convinces Berkhart to re-assume the Mysterio identity following her cousin's suicide and the "Mad Jack" costumed identity is retired. When Berkhart and Beck seek to eliminate Spider-Man, Daredevil, J. Jonah Jameson and several other mutual enemies, the two revive the "Mad Jack" persona, utilizing robotic duplicates to serve as proxies. In the end, Maguire is caught and exposed though due to her usage of Berkhart androids, but Daredevil and Spider-Man were left unsure as to whether or not Berkhart was truly involved.Spider-Man: Mysterio Manifesto #3 (March 2001)
Brother of Steven Levins
Another version of Jack O'Lantern is introduced during the "Dark Reign" storyline. He is an unnamed man who claimed to be Steve Levins' brother. Jack O'Lantern is later caught by the police after killing the 15-year-old daughter of his neighbor and drinking his victim's blood as part of his plot to avenge Steve. This man was shown to be able to transform into a Jack O'Lantern-headed villain using the powers of a mystical demon. He is later released by a lawyer sent by Norman Osborn, who claims that Jack O'Lantern is a material witness to a national security case. The lawyer drives away with Jack O'Lantern as Osborn plans to gain his services.Dark Reign: Made Men #1 (April 2009)
Crime-Master's Jack O'Lantern
A new version of Jack O'Lantern appears working for the third Crime-Master.Venom (vol. 2) #2 (June 2011) As a child, Jack O'Lantern disobeyed his parents and mistreated animals. While trick-or-treating, he came across the Crime-Master, who took him under his wing and trained him to be an assassin. It was with this training that the boy killed his parents.Venom (vol. 2) #9 (January 2012)
One of his jobs brings him into conflict with the government operative Venom. During this conflict, Venom throws a live grenade into Jack O'Lantern's mouthpiece, dislocating his jaw and forcing him to retreat.Venom (vol. 2) #1 (May 2011) Later, Crime-Master is able to use contacts to discover Venom's true identity Flash Thompson, and has Jack O'Lantern kidnap Betty Brant (Flash's girlfriend) in exchange for Venom letting Crime-Master get a shipment of Antarctic vibranium. When Venom leaves to rescue Betty, he is distracted by Spider-Man's appearance, which drives the Venom symbiote into an uncontrollable rage. Eventually Betty is rescued at the last second by Spider-Man, with Venom then trying to recapture Crime-Master. However, Venom is attacked by Jack O'Lantern who proclaims Flash as his first real nemesis, and desiring revenge for the disfiguring grenade explosion.Venom (vol. 2) #3-4 (July - August 2011) Jack O'Lantern is a member of the Crime-Master's Savage Six.Venom (vol. 2) #12 (March 2012)
During the "AXIS" storyline, Jack O'Lantern appears as a member of Magneto's group during the fight against Red Onslaught.Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #2 (December 2014) His moral compass is inverted with all of those in Genosha when a spell meant to affect only the Red Skull affects everyone on the island.Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #3 (December 2014) Jack O'Lantern joins the now-inverted villains to prevent the inverted X-Men from detonating a gene bomb which would have killed everyone on Earth who was not a mutant.Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #6 (January 2015) When a reinversion spell is cast, Jack O'Lantern is evil once again.Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #9 (February 2015)
Jack O'Lantern is hospitalized following a battle with Deadpool and undergoes extensive therapy and plastic surgery to restore his face.Deadpool: Assassin #4 (September 2018) Jack O'Lantern is released to civilian life, but becomes bored almost immediately and returns to supervillainy. After following Deadpool to Wakanda, Jack O'Lantern battles both Deadpool and Black Panther until Deadpool kills him.Black Panther vs. Deadpool #2-3 (January - February 2019)
Owen Ward
A petty criminal named Owen Ward stumbles upon the Jack O'Lantern equipment and becomes a supervillain and an arms dealer. He supplies weapons to criminals from Norman Osborn's armory, which attracts the attention of Venom and the police. The Venom symbiote goes berserk and rips out his left eye.Venom (vol. 4) #1 (July 2018)
During the "War of the Realms" storyline, Jack O'Lantern finds one of Malekith the Accursed's War Witches, having teleported into his apartment following a fight with a Dreamstone-enhanced Eddie Brock. Seeing as they have a mutual enemy in Venom, the War Witch conjures another Dreamstone and gives it to Jack O'Lantern.Venom (vol. 4) #13 (June 2019)
Imposters An unnamed man posed as Jason Macendale, using both his civilian name and his Jack O'Lantern alias during Secret War.Secret War #1 (April 2004)
Powers and abilities Jason Macendale originally possessed no superhuman powers, but used similar paraphernalia to the Hobgoblin and the Green Goblin; both his Jack O'Lantern and Hobgoblin personas used a rocket-powered glider, pumpkin bombs, and gauntlet blasters. During the time in which a demon was grafted to him, he had superhuman strength, speed, and agility, as well as hellfire powers enabling him to create weapons and gliders at will. It is implied that his demonic abilities allowed him to create organic fibers strong enough to bind a normal person.Spider-Man #6 (January 1991) After acquiring Kraven the Hunter's formula, Macendale had enhanced his strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes, and agility to superhuman levels, thanks to anomalies in his blood left over when he and Demogoblin were one, but this formula's effects seemed to have later wore off. His later cybernetically enhanced body thanks to Mendel Stromm further increased his strength, speed, reflexes, durability, and stamina. 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 Goblin glider's maneuverability by utilizing skills he gained from his master's degrees in both mechanical engineering and physics. Macendale was also a sociopath and a sadist, which led to his dishonorable discharge from the military.
Steven Levins modeled his Jack O'Lantern costume and equipment after those created by his predecessor. Levins wore a complete body armor made of metal-mesh covered in multi-segmented Kevlar panels, incorporating a rigid, articulated shell which can resist a 7-pound bazooka anti-tank warhead. He wore a bulletproof helmet with an internal three hour, compressed air supply. The helmet is equipped with a telescopic infrared image-intensifier for seeing in the dark and 360 degree scanning device for seeing all around himself. The base of the helmet is equipped with a fine network of pinholes which maintain a low temperature, low density flame ("stage-fire") that rings the helmet at all times. The air supply cools the helmet's interior. The helmet is padded to protect his head from injury. Levins is armed with wrist-blasters which can deliver an electrical shock within a range of . He also used various types of grenades, including anesthetic, lachrymatory (tear gas), hallucinogenic, and regurgitant gas grenades, smoke grenades, and concussion grenades. The grenades are shaped like spheres or pumpkins. He can fire small grenades from wrist devices. He can also release "ghost-grabbers" which are thick, semi-transparent films which adhere to a victim. Levins rides atop a one-man hovercraft with an electric motor powered by a high density lithium rechargeable battery.