Jennifer Kale

Jennifer Kale
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Fear #11 (Dec 1972)
Created by Steve Gerber
Rich Buckler
In-story information
Alter ego Jennifer Kale
Team affiliations Midnight Sons
Legion of Night
Witches
The Command
Partnerships Dakimh the Enchanter
Man-Thing
Korrek
Howard the Duck
Notable aliases Witch Woman

Jennifer Kale is a fictional character, a sorceress appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Gerber and Rich Buckler in 1972, she was originally a supporting character in Man-Thing comic books. Since her creation she has appeared in a number of other comic books of the Marvel Comics shared continuity.

Publication history

Jennifer Kale was created by Steve Gerber and Rich Buckler and debuted in Adventure into Fear #11 (December 1972). In the Marvel Comics continuity she is a sorceress that has worked with other magic-based characters, primarily Man-Thing and Doctor Strange and is also the cousin of Marvel Comics characters Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch. She is a founding member of the team called the Legion of Night.

The character was originally based on one of Gerber's friends, Jennifer Meyer.[1]

Fictional character biography

Jennifer was born into the Kale family of sorcerers in the Florida Everglades. Attuned to mystical forces since birth, she began studying her family's history of magic. Jennifer became an apprentice of Dakimh the Enchanter and the two of them acted as allies of the Man-Thing, a creature that protected a Nexus of All Realities centered in the Everglades.

Jennifer has been advised by her grandfather Joshua (even after his death), who had been a mystical Cult leader when alive. His spirit continued this after she left her training with Dakimh and attempted to live a normal life as a college student. Regardless of her efforts at normalcy for many years she has been drawn into numerous magical conflicts. Examples include her kidnapping by Baron Mordo,[2] discovering a familial connection to the Ghost Rider[3] and an adventure assisting the mutant team known X-Force.[4] among others.

Jennifer Kale as drawn by Mike Deodato for the Witches series.

Witches

The demon Marduk Kurios, one of many to use the alias "Satan", duped Jennifer's brother Andrew into touching the Tome of Zhered-Na. Hereby they unleashed the curse of the Hellphyr which threatened to destroy all magical beings on Earth. Jennifer was recruited by Doctor Strange, alongside some other magical heroes to oppose this plot. During the battle, Jennifer was forced to slay her Hellphyr-possessed brother. After the battle, Jennifer refused to surrender her familial Tome to Doctor Strange, who had lied to her about his true intentions of possessing the Tome for himself. Instead Jennifer decided to remain with fellow magicians Topaz and Satana. Together, they formed the group known as the Witches, hoping to keep the world safe from mystical threats and stop would-be thieves from stealing her family book.[5]

Marvel Zombies 3

Kale appears with Wundarr the Aquarian and Siege as a member of Florida's Fifty State Initiative team, "The Command", which is sent to Citrusville (home of Man-Thing) to investigate strange sightings. There they are attacked by zombies who have been transported from the Marvel Zombies universe to Earth-616. They are then attacked by zombie Deadpool, who uses throwing knives to sever the tendons in her arm to prevent her from casting spells. Wundarr throws Deadpool into the blades of a nearby skiff and Kale activates them, reducing most of Deadpool's body to a bloody pulp. Siege, who has been turned into a zombie, attacks Kale and breaks her ankle before his cybernetic parts take over and shoot his head off. She is later shown quarantined at A.R.M.O.R. headquarters, apparently shellshocked.[6] She sits in her room, paralyzed with fear, as zombies began to infect the A.R.M.O.R. personnel and take over the base.[7]

The Initiative

Jennifer is later shown defending Florida during the Skrull invasion, her body and mind sufficiently healed for her to engage magic in combat against a Skrull in Florida.[8]

Marvel Zombies 4

Jennifer appears as part of the new Midnight Sons team, killing zombie Men-Fish and fighting their leader, Piranha. Dormammu comes and offers her his power when she is in grave peril, leaving her to make a decision with no time to spare.[9] Desperate after seeing Jack Russell apparently infected with the zombie virus, she calls on Dormammu and accepts his offer.[10] Jennifer then battled Daimon Hellstrom, who helps free her from Dormammu's control, and she confines the zombie virus inside the Zombie (Simon Garth) with the Black Talon's help.[11]

Dark Reign

Because Strange had abused his position as Sorcerer Supreme, he had to seek out a successor, searching all over Earth in hopes of finding one. As he tells to Wiccan (who lacked knowledge of both Kale and the Man-Thing), he managed to track down Jennifer, though for some reason he had great difficulty in doing so, but determined that she was not the one, despite his belief that she would have been suitable due to her high ability.[12]

Heroic Age

Jennifer tried to stop the Thunderbolts from using Man-Thing as their transportation, recalling him to the swamp to fight off an invasion from the Nexus of All Realities. Eventually, she realized that Man-Thing was willingly working with the Thunderbolts, and that she would simply need to alert him any time someone broke through.[13]

Jennifer is apparently killed by Victoria Hand who is at the time possessed by Daniel Drumm.[14] Drumm wanted to eliminate all users of dark magic before enacting his revenge on Doctor Strange and the New Avengers.[15]

Jennifer uses dark magic to return to life, but at the cost of having no skin on the right side of her face. Her resurrection is kept mostly secret from the world, but Maria Hill recruits her to support Elektra against Bullseye and the Hand.[16]

Kale was found on Weirdworld, during an incident that destroyed the normal flow of time. She had a romance with Deadpool that lasted for years. Deadpool threw this away to kill a target that was hiding on Weirdworld.[17]

Powers and abilities

Though initially only a novice in the mystic arts of the Marvel Universe, Jennifer Kale held tremendous potential for wielding magic and has since honed it through many years of intensive training and tutelage. Though her training was based upon the brand of magic wielded by Zhered-Na, she has since been tutored by other sorcerers and she is also self-taught to a degree. As of now, Kale can fire magical bolts, form shields, open dimensional portals, mesmerize people, affect the memories of others, teleport herself and others, and cast numerous spells for a variety of effects.

The Tome of Zhered-Na is named after the antediluvian sorceress who foretold the end of Atlantis, and the Tome allegedly possessed all the mysticism known to man and demonkind at the time of its creation. For speaking this truth, Zhered-Na was banished and set adrift upon the sea. While she floated, her god, Valka, whispered secrets to her about the world and the world of the future. After many weeks she landed at Thuria and founded the Cult of Zhered-Na. She lived and taught there until she was slain by the demon D'Spayre. Atlantis met its fate that same day. Two spirits rescued the wisdom of Zhered-Na and decades later gave it to Illyana Kale, the descendant of a cult member. Kale was inspired then to write the Tome. Certain deities felt that too many secrets were contained inside the Book, so they placed the demon Hellphyr inside its pages to ward away unwelcome users. When the Book was recently opened and Hellphyr was released, Illyana's descendant Jennifer Kale joined with fellow witches Topaz and Satana to stop the demon and save the Tome. The Tome of Zhered-Na is currently with Jennifer Kale. Though presumably less powerful than the Darkhold or the Book of the Vishanti, it is nonetheless powerful enough to strike awe into the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange and was sealed so only a member of the Kale lineage could access it, and only then assisted by a representative of divinity and a representative of the Underworld.

Sexuality

Jennifer had a boyfriend named Bernard Drabble during her time in the Legion of Night, was shown with a boyfriend named Jaxon (surname unrevealed),[18] and was shown romancing a boy named Chris in Over the Edge #2. In Ghost Rider volume 2, her cousin Danny Ketch has a vision of a life where their family never was involved in magic. In this scenario he envisions Jennifer as having a girlfriend of three years named Marie.[19] Later during her encounter with Satana, the latter suggests that Jennifer is not interested in boys and makes a snide comment about Jennifer staring at her chest.[20]

Jennifer was recognized as bisexual in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Mystic Arcana - The Book of Marvel Magic (2007) in the entry for Witches. In Marvel Zombies 4, Jennifer Kale quotes Topaz as having called her "girlfriend" in an ironic sense.[21]

Other versions

Earth-89112

The final remaining among Earth's mystics and superheroes that were not turned into demons after the loss of Inferno convene at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Jennifer Kale is among the mystics, along with Doctor Strange, Dakimh, Daimon Hellstrom, Dr. Druid, Margali Szardos, Shaman, and Baron Mordo. She-Hulk interrupts their mystic circle, and S'ym's demon horde, led by the demonically possessed Incredible Hulk and Wolverine, immediately burst in. The Hulk smashes Jennifer's skull and crushes She-Hulk's neck, while Wolverine slashes to death Dr. Druid, The Captain, and Spider-Man, and the other mystics, apart from Strange and Mordo, are destroyed in friendly (and suicidal) fire from Thor.[22]

Earth-973

Jennifer Kale, back with long hair and a prominent ring on her right nostril, is picked up hitchhiking by Daniel Ketch, a tool of Mephisto, and is murdered and dumped in Fresh Kills Landfill.[23]

Marvel MAX

In Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's 2008 Marvel MAX retelling of Man-Thing's origin (which is supposed to be Roderick Krupp's interpretation of the story — Krupp is considered highly untrustworthy by Ulysses Bloodstone[24]), Jennifer Kale is 22 years old, and 10-year-old Andrew Kale's legal guardian (they were much closer in age in the original material). She works as an exotic dancer as the Witch Woman, which also doubles for her witch's-garb when she is actually casting spells.[25] She helps to save some amateur documentarians from mutates created in the Super Soldier Experiments, but not from Ellen Brandt leading forces of A.I.M., although she is able to protect herself and Andy from A.I.M. using a magic chalk circle.

Weirdworld

During the Secret Wars storyline, a variation of Jennifer Kale resides on the Battleworld domain of Weirdworld where she is the Queen of the Man-Things that reside in the Forest of the Man-Things. After a brief conversation with the two warriors, the Swamp Queen forced Arkon and Skull the Slayer to face their fears in order to survive it and become her allies against le Fay. However, only Skull the Slayer accepted the offer to become her ally while Arkon continued to look for his kingdom of Polemachus.[26] Arkon eventually joined up with the Swamp Queen's forces which now include a resurrected Crystar, Warbow, an army of Eyemazons, an army of Hawksqutaches, an army of Man-Wolves, and an army of Savage Elves. Both the Swamp Queen's forces and the forces of Morgan le Fay fought each other. When Battleworld fell apart, neither side was victorious and Weirdworld appeared on Earth-616 in the Bermuda Triangle.[27]

In other media

Video games

References

  1. ↑ "stevegerblog". April 3, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  2. ↑ Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #41
  3. ↑ Devil's Reign (1997 Marvel, Top Cow) (Jan. 1997)
  4. ↑ X-Force #85 (Jan. 1999)
  5. ↑ Witches
  6. ↑ Marvel Zombies 3 #1
  7. ↑ Marvel Zombies 3 #3
  8. ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #19
  9. ↑ Marvel Zombies 4 #1-2
  10. ↑ Marvel Zombies 4 #3
  11. ↑ Marvel Zombies 4 #4
  12. ↑ New Avengers #51
  13. ↑ Thunderbolts Vol. 1 #154 (2006)
  14. ↑ New Avengers v2 #31
  15. ↑ New Avengers v2 #34
  16. ↑ Elektra Vol.3 #9 (2015)
  17. ↑ Deadpool Volume 5 #4 (2018)
  18. ↑ Fear #13, 18; Man-Thing vol. 2 #4
  19. ↑ Ghost Rider #92
  20. ↑ Witches #2
  21. ↑ Marvel Zombies 4 #2
  22. ↑ What If (vol. 2) #6 (Mid-November, 1989)
  23. ↑ What If (vol. 2) #95 (March 1997)
  24. ↑ Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters
  25. ↑ Dead of Night: Man-Thing #2
  26. ↑ Weirdworld #4
  27. ↑ Weirdworld #5
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