Jack Starsmore

Jack Starsmore is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Comics universe. The character makes his first appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula #1.

Fictional character biography

Early History

Jack was born into a lesser house of Clan Akkaba via the Starsmore bloodline. Being in the lesser caste he was treated with disdain and contempt by those placed above him. None however treated him as bad as Hamilton Slade the leader of the cult. Jack was not wealthy nor did he possess the conventional powers ascribed to Clan Akkaba instead he possessed a unique but disregarded mutation.

As a child he learnt his place as servant to the Council and came to accept his station as nothing more than a pawn in a chess game he would never understand. Starsmore was however very loyal to the clan and would often go above and beyond duty to ensure their safety and comfort.

As a man he joined the police force and worked his way up to the rank of Inspector. From his post he kept a watchful eye on anything related to the clan; but more specifically, he cleaned up Hamilton’s many messes. Hamilton reveled in his power and would kill humans for little or no reason, which meant Jack was tasked with containing and covering it up. Being underappreciated by his clan, mistreated by his Leader and considered almost incompetent by his peers, he developed a dependency on opium.

After a while he settled into the routine that had become his life: work, cover things and abuse opium. He was often very depressed and more than a little timid. Yet, despite all this, he remained loyal to Clan Akkaba and even to Hamilton Slade.^[1]

End of Clan Akkaba

Mysteriously Clan members started to turn up dead all over London. Concerned that there was a link between all the killings Hamilton tasked Jack with protecting the clan by removing the clan’s tattoo from each victim before they could be examined by the police. Jack tried his best and was on his way to completing his job when his Opium habit caused him to be late for duty. By the time he arrived the mark had been uncovered and the police officers undeterred by him proceeded to Alexandria house to question Hamilton. In his infinite arrogance Hamilton revealed the history of Clan Akkaba to the officers right before he murdered them. Jack then had to tolerate Hamilton’s mistreatment before he strutted off to deal with whoever was endangering the clan. Jack was the one who informed the Council that Hamilton had ventured off by himself and subsequently went missing for three days.^[1]

The mystery mounted as he realized a clear link between the murderers but found no clue to lead him anywhere. In his depression he went to London’s China Town district where he indulged in a lengthy opium binge. While there he met Van Helsing, the vampire hunter, who convinced him that he had the answers to this string of murders.^[2] Realizing the danger this threat posed to the clan, he broke one of its main rules: he invited Van Helsing to the council meeting. While Apocalypse had seemingly met the vampire hunter before they all left the council members to validate Van Helsing's claims.

When they arrived at the morgue, however, the bodies that were dead just hours before sprang to life and attacked them. Not even his powers and van Helsing’s holy water could put an end to the undead creatures. Apocalypse staked the set of vampires and they returned to warn the clan of the impending doom. They arrived too late, however, as the council room was empty save for Fredrick and Kabar. Kabar was dead but Fredrick still lived. They fought the undead coven now under control of a vampiric Hamilton who was even more arrogant than before, even thinking himself an equal to Apocalypse. When it became apparent that they would be killed, however, they were teleported away by Fredrick.^[2]

Jack then helped van Helsing and the others battle and ultimately destroy all of Clan Akkaba, now turned vampire. They then burned Alexandria house to the ground. It was here that he decided, after speaking with van Helsing, to quit his opium habit. Apocalypse proclaimed to the two remaining members of the clan that the clan would be disbanded from that day forward.^[3] Realizing that Hamilton and Dracula yet lived, they had Fredrick teleport them to Dracula’s home where Apocalypse and the Riders Of The Dark dealt with Dracula and his army while van Helsing and Fredrick dealt with Hamilton. They set the castle on fire in an attempt to kill Hamilton without confronting him directly. They failed, however, and Jack proved no match for Hamilton who showing his sadism decided to turn Jack into a vampire simply to have him suffer the indignity of being at his beck and call for the rest of eternity. Hamilton miscalculated, however, as the brother he had paralysed years before killed him by way of decapitation. Shocked by the fact that Fredrick had saved him, Jack thanked the young Slade.^[4]

As they defeated Dracula and the clan lay in ruin, Jack had achieved what he never thought possible: freedom. With no more clan he was free to do as he pleased, with no job and no responsibility he was at last happy.^[4] He would never again use opium and he would go on to live a happy and prosperous life, handing down the teachings of the clan to his family and insisting that all children be branded with the Akkaba sign. The Lesser would achieve what the fittest of his time never could - he would survive.^[5]

Powers and abilities

Starsmore was a pyrotechnic who could exhale fire from his mouth to achieve various effects. His flame could incinerate on impact or be used concussively. He could also increase or decrease its heat, intensity, and size. He has also shown the ability to absorb fire through his mouth and may have been immune to the effects of heat and being burned. A special note is that his eyes glowed when he was using his power.

Notes and Facts

• Jack Starsmore was the only other member of Clan Akkaba along with Frederick Slade to survive the battle with Dracula.
• He is the ancestor of Jonothan Starsmore formerly Chamber of the X-Men and Generation X. Their powers are similar, although Chamber possess a larger range of abilities. Both their eyes glow when using their powers and both possess furnace like abilities.

Footnotes