Jackal

Somewhere, a zoologist is crying. Sharp claws, pointed ears, and super speed turn Miles Warren into the supervillain known as Jackal. Technically a lot of exercise, a green costume, and some genetic tinkering turn Miles Warren into the supervillain known as the Jackal, but you do you, back-of-box text. We'll just be over here bringing the other cheek to the half-assed job you've done of explaining the character. Professor Miles Warren taught at Empire State University when Peter Paker and Gwen Stacy went there. Like a total perv, he started crushing on Gwen, and when she died, he set about cloning her. When his assistant realized what he was doing, Warren killed him; then overhearing another professor refer to a jackal as a "cowardly predator," Warren took that as his supranym. His true legacy (other than being the first guy to hire The Punisher) is the creation of Ben Reilly, which means he's ultimately responsible for '90s Marvel publishing The Clone Saga - now that's villainy! Jackal was designed by Ross Andru, who apparently not only had never seen a jackal, he'd never had one described to him, either - you could ask six blind Indians to describe an elephant and come up with a better representation than this. A better representation of a jackal, even. This, with its asparagus pallor and giant smile, looks like the Green Goblin with bat-ears. In a truly shocking turn of events, the entirety of this figure is a new mold. Now, normally that wouldn't be too surprising - both Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-UK in this same series were unexpectedly new molds - but Jackal's body is less primed than his fellows to become another blank slate in Hasbro's toolbox, thanks to the fact that the entire thing is covered with sculpted fur. The arms, the legs, the chest, even the clawed hands and feet... they all have the texture of fur rather than skin ("they're furry" being about the only thing Professor Warren got right about jackals). There are even big tufts of it on his elbows, calves and chest. Who could they possibly reuse this mold to make? Vermin? A new version of Werewolf by Night? It's too skinny to be Beast. The limbs are thin, long, and muscular, and the upper torso is broad. Jackal is wearing little blue shorts, which is a feature he picked up around the time of "Spider-Island" - originally they were green, to match the rest of his suit. As mentioned, the figure is mostly an asparagus green, though the claws are more of a laurel. Where the fur is thickest on his body, he gets a brownish airbrushing. Although the eyes and teeth are crisp, the pink interior of his ears does not extend all the way to the edges. Jackal has swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a swivel waist, hinged torso, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, a hinged neck and a balljointed head. Considering that last one, it's a shame Hasbro didn't include an alternate Miles Warren head, since one of his favorite things seemed to be pulling off his mask like a Scooby-Doo villain. The plastic used for the elbows and knees is surprisingly soft. It's not droopy, even in the heat, but it's not as solid as we're used to from Hasbro. Jackal has no accessories, just the leg of the Series 5 Build-A-Figure, Sandman. Nothing exotic about it, just a leg in brown pants and a black shoe. For a while there, The Jackal was sort of "the" Spider-Man villain. It was after Norman Osborn had died, but before Hobgoblin and then Venom came along, so there really wasn't a lot of competition. Still, he's got a totally ridiculous design that should have been done away with ages ago (the recent "Clone Conspiracy" storyline introduced a much cooler look, with a dapper suit and an Anubis mask, that made much more sense with the name than this green thing does), but he's never had his own action figure before, and Hasbro didn't skimp on this one. -- 06/19/17

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