Jason Stryker

Jason Stryker is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as the son of William Stryker, and an enemy of the X-Men.

Publication history

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Brent Anderson, he first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #5. He was later re-introduced into the All-New X-Men comics in 2013 starting with Issue 19 and was officially given his name "Jason Stryker" in that version.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Jason was born after his parents, William Stryker and Marcy Stryker, crashed their car in the Nevada desert. William was stationed on a nuclear testing facility when Marcy was pregnant. Alone in the desert, Marcy went into labor and Stryker was forced to deliver the baby Jason. Stryker stabbed the newborn Jason. When Marcy woke from unconsciousness and asked if their baby was okay, Stryker snapped the neck of Jason's mother. His father saw his birth as a sign from God, turning into a religious fanatic that ensures the genocide of all mutants.^[2] However, his father kept him and resorted to A.I.M. to treat Jason's mutant condition.^[3] An adult Jason joins the Purifiers to continue his father's work, and faced the original X-Men brought to the present from the past.^[4]

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel iteration of the character is Reverend William Stryker, Jr., the son of William Stryker, Sr. and the leader of an anti-mutant coalition armed with Sentinel technology that is possibly stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D. He has a Sentinel tech body armor that resembles Ahab from the mainstream Marvel universe and various alternate realities. His wife and son, Kate Stryker and John Stryker, are killed during the "Ultimatum" events, leading to his hatred against mutants. Stryker's forces (that wears Crusader-esque outfits) later attack Juggernaut and Rogue. He is later seen with the advanced Nimrod Model Sentinels.^[5] When he attacks Times Square, executing mutants in public, the X-Men appear and the Shroud kills him by Shroud's phasing arm through his abdomen; it's revealed that he's a mutant with the power of technopathy. His father used medication in order to suppress his abilities, but his powers manifest with his last breath and manipulate a wave of Nimrod Sentinels to kill every mutant on the planet.^[6] It is revealed that Stryker's last act left his brain-patterns imprinted on the Nimrod Sentinels as Master Mold, and continues to be a threat to the X-Men.^[7][8]

In other media

Films

• Michael Reid McKay portrayed Jason Stryker/Jason 143 in X2. This version is a mutant who has the ability to cast illusions as well as heterochromia. Prior to the film's events, he tortured his parents by planting telepathic illusions in their minds until Jason's mother committed suicide by drilling into her own brain. William Stryker sent his son to the Xavier institute in hopes of curing him, which only angered his father more when he was told there was no cure. Stryker then gave his son a lobotomy to make him more docile. As an adult, Jason was bound to a wheelchair and mute, and is used by his own father to make a secretion from his son's brain to inject into other mutants to control. Stryker's control over his son was powerful; all that needed to be done is whisper commands to Jason and the action would follow without question. He uses telepathic illusionary powers to appear as a little girl (played by Keely Purvis) and is strong enough to convince Professor Xavier to use Cerebro back at the mansion. The little girl illusion has Xavier to locate 'all the mutants' around the world via Cerebro. When the X-Men began their assault on Stryker's secret lair at Alkali Lake, Stryker commands Jason to use the illusion to urge Xavier to find and kill all the mutants. However, Mystique (impersonating William Stryker) later commands Jason to change the target to all the humans. Jason was last seen inside the replica Cerebro chamber and was left to drown when the Weapon X underground complex was flooded by Alkali Lake.
• Jason Stryker makes a cameo appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Set years before the first film, he is kept in cryogenic suspension by William Stryker and is driving force behind his father's mutant-related projects that eventually results in Weapon XI.

Video games

• Jason Stryker is featured in X-Men: The Official Game voiced by Steven Blum as an adult and by Grey DeLisle as a child. Jason survived the flooding of the Weapon X underground complex as his psyche now fractured into two halves: a good half who has been appearing to Nightcrawler and an evil half that is controlling Master Mold to kill the X-Men. Jason's good half helps Nightcrawler to disable Master Mold. Nightcrawler attempts to save Jason as Master Mold begins to collapse, but Sabretooth abducts Jason and attempts to make his escape. Wolverine tracks Sabretooth's scent and confronts him while Nightcrawler escapes with Jason. Jason dies thanking Nightcrawler for saving him.

References

External links

• Jason Stryker at Marvel.com