Jack

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Jack Hanma; commonly called Jack 33 34
Alias(es)	“The man who abandoned tomorrow” 33
Species/Race	Human; later undergoes Astartes augmentation and integrates multiple gene-seeds 33 177
Gender	Male 33
Affiliation	Zuo Ci’s general store; agrees to join Batman’s proposed Justice League 34 182
Occupation/Role	Store employee, bodyguard, hired muscle, and underground fighter 34 48 106
Family	Yujiro Hanma — father; Baki Hanma — younger brother 33
Residence	Rented basement in Gotham’s East End 35
Status	Alive; recovering and adapting to an unstable augmented body 177 182
First Appearance	Chapter 33, “Welcome, Jack Hanma” 33

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Pre-augmentation physique	33	Arrives in Gotham at 2.43 meters tall and 201 kilograms. His handshake nearly crushes Zuo Ci’s protective armor.
Super Strongman Supplement RED — single-pill boost	34	One pill temporarily enlarges his muscular body by at least a third and increases cardiovascular activity and hormone production. He crushes a grip tester rated for 500 kilograms using two fingers.
Improved Bane Venom exposure	54	Bane injects several syringes into Jack’s thigh. The drug increases Jack’s strength without immediately incapacitating him, allowing him to continue fighting.
Recovery from mass pill consumption	71	Survives taking all of Zuo Ci’s strength-serum pills at once, despite catastrophic bodily damage. Bathing in Spring restores both his new wounds and an older injury.
Improved personal drug formula	89	Uses Bane’s notes and raw materials to improve his daily drugs. Gains greater physical ability and control, but experiences constant severe pain.
Further drug-induced enlargement	134	During the fight with Solomon Grundy, his swollen body exceeds 2.60 meters in height. He resorts to drinking a one-liter bottle of specially formulated drugs.
Multi-gene-seed Astartes augmentation	177	Endures all augmentation operations in one course with Zuo Ci’s healing support and successfully integrates every gene-seed. A month later, he stands nearly four meters tall; conflicting gene-seed instincts cause extreme pain and instability. His former strength-enhancing drugs no longer work.

Background / History

Jack was born in prison to a mother described as a criminal, but an elderly priest took him in rather than leaving him to grow up there. As an adult, he partnered with a doctor. Before coming to Gotham, he supported himself through underground fighting and work as hired muscle 34 52.

His pursuit of strength involved deliberate overtraining, enormous stimulant doses, and bone-lengthening surgery. After losing to Izou Motobe, he intensified his training and searched for another way to improve. When the Novelty Goods System offered recruitment in exchange for fulfilling his wish to become stronger, he accepted immediately 33.

Zuo Ci selected Jack as a powerful recruit whose wish was comparatively manageable. Their first handshake became an impromptu strength test, with Jack applying enough pressure to nearly destroy Zuo Ci’s armor 33.

Employment and Living Arrangements

• Regular duties: Operates the register, takes out trash, and removes disruptive customers by throwing them into a designated dumpster 34.
• Additional duties: Occasionally works as Zuo Ci’s bodyguard and muscle, with extra payment for special assignments 34.
• Schedule: Eight-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with little expected overtime 34.
• Compensation: $1,200 per week, a $200 monthly bonus, and free everyday store goods provided he does not waste them 34.
• Starting advance: Receives $10,000 to help him settle in Gotham 34.
• Housing: Rents a spacious East End basement for $300 a month, disregarding its bullet holes, lingering blood smell, and history of a deadly shootout 35.
• Financial pressure: His drug ingredients and preparation equipment are so expensive that a month’s wages would cover only about three days, prompting him to seek underground fights 35.

Appearance

• Initial build: An exceptionally muscular giant measuring 2.43 meters tall and weighing 201 kilograms 33.
• Face: His chilling smile unsettles Zuo Ci; before fighting Bane, his face is described as almost disfigured 34 54.
• Drug-induced changes: Strength pills and later formulations visibly swell his body beyond its normal dimensions 34 134.
• Post-augmentation build: Stands nearly four meters tall after Astartes surgery 177.

Personality

Jack places becoming stronger above comfort, health, and even survival. He deliberately trains past the point of bodily damage and accepts severe drug side effects. After augmentation, he refuses an offer to neutralize his pain entirely because he considers enduring hardship part of becoming a fighter 33 73 177.

His recklessness does not make him unintelligent. He initially tests an unfamiliar strength pill with a single dose rather than consuming several, recognizes abnormal stimulant use in another fighter, and proposes an undercover operation when the group’s investigation stalls 34 48 80.

He is blunt, easily bored by weak opponents, and largely indifferent to intimidation or flirtation. However, he becomes more conversational as he settles into Gotham, worries about Zuo Ci’s safety, and protects Killer Croc when a Talon threatens him 35 48 73 89 151.

Jack can accept defeat without resentment. Following the misunderstanding with Mark Grayson, he treats the incident as another loss rather than holding a grudge. His defeat by Batman instead becomes a reason to respect him and seek a rematch 109 152.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Strength and Durability

Jack possesses extraordinary strength before receiving any Gotham-based enhancements 33 34.

• Had already exceeded 500 kilograms of grip strength and killed polar bears barehanded before testing Zuo Ci’s pill 34.
• Overwhelms ordinary underground fighters, frequently ending matches in one hit 48.
• Withstands Bane’s unboosted punch with little effect and severely injures him even after Venom enhancement 54.
• Has toughened the soles of his feet enough to walk over nails without being pierced 52.
• Survives massive pill overdosing, although the resulting injuries require magical healing 71.
• Limit: His strength does not prevent self-inflicted training injuries or catastrophic damage against stronger opponents such as Mark Grayson 73 107 109.

Martial Arts and Body Control

Despite preferring direct violence, Jack is a skilled martial artist familiar with multiple schools 65.

• Redirects Solomon Grundy’s straight-line charge with a small sideways force rather than meeting it head-on 65.
• Performs weighted one-finger handstand push-ups and lands silently despite his enormous size 89.
• Demonstrates effective stealth while entering Gotham Prison with Batman and Zuo Ci 52.
• Uses a pebble to knock a Talon’s claws away before intervening at close range 151.
• Limit: Batman defeats him in an exhibition match within ten minutes after Jack permits unrestricted equipment use 152.

Drug Formulation and Recognition

Jack’s enhancement regimen includes both extensive drug use and preparation of his own formulations 35 89.

• Recognizes Luke’s altered condition as consistent with a high-purity stimulant, then notices that his behavior exceeds ordinary drug-induced aggression 48 49.
• Improves his daily drugs using materials and research recovered from Bane’s bases 89.
• Achieves strength that Diana considers greater than that of most Amazon warriors through self-formulated potions 135.
• Costs: Chronic pain, dangerous bodily strain, and potentially devastating overdose injuries 71 89.
• Post-augmentation limit: His old strength drugs cease to affect him, and Zuo Ci orders him to avoid drugs while his new body stabilizes 177.

Biting and Improvised Combat

• Bites through a Talon’s claws, rendering its close-range weapons ineffective 151.
• Swings the captured Talon like a nunchaku, recalling a technique associated with his father 151.
• Leaves the immortal operative alive but reduced to a severely battered mass 152.

Astartes Augmentation

Jack completes a multi-gene-seed augmentation process that would ordinarily require a much longer series of operations 177.

• Survives the combined procedures through extreme willpower and Zuo Ci’s repeated healing 177.
• Passes his final Betcher’s gland test, during which steel rebar melts away 177.
• Instability: Residual instincts within the gene-seeds clash in an internal “seed rebellion,” causing pain severe enough to make him lose consciousness 177.
• Uses a pain-adjustment dial set to 50 so he can function without removing the pain completely 177.
• Must reduce training and focus on adapting to his altered body 177.

Equipment / Items

• Super Strongman Supplement RED: Red pills derived from the Giant Heart; provide temporary strength at the cost of enormous bodily strain. Zuo Ci warns him to take only one at a time and reserve them for emergencies 33.
• Personal enhancement drugs: Expensive preparations later improved through Bane’s chemical research 35 89.
• Training weights: Uses hundred-kilogram dumbbells and full-body weights during routine exercise 73 89.
• Person-Finding Needle: Given to him for the Talon hunt; points toward the person being sought 152.
• Pain-adjustment dial: Supplied after augmentation to make his ongoing pain manageable 177.

Relationships

• Zuo Ci — Employer, enhancement provider, and healer. Jack is his first employee and a trusted subordinate who knows sensitive information about the shop’s operations. Zuo Ci repeatedly treats his injuries and eventually oversees his augmentation 34 89 109 151 177.
• Yujiro Hanma — Father. Jack recalls one of his techniques when using a Talon as an improvised weapon 33 151.
• Baki Hanma — Younger brother 33.
• Batman / Bruce Wayne — Ally and desired opponent. An unexpected exhibition-match defeat greatly increases Jack’s respect for him; Jack later accepts his invitation to join the Justice League 152 182.
• Killer Croc / Waylon — Friend and sparring partner. They exercise and play cards together, and Jack rescues him from a Talon’s steel-wire trap 92 150 151.
• Bane — Opponent and source of enhancement research. Jack initially hopes for a satisfying strength contest, then uses Bane’s recovered notes to improve his drugs 52 54 89.
• Poison Ivy — Adversary who targets him to obtain information about Zuo Ci. Her attempt fails when his strength overwhelms her plant-based attacks 35 36.
• Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot — Fellow subordinate of Zuo Ci who hires Jack to defend his businesses against gang attacks 106 107.
• Mark Grayson / Invincible — Accidental opponent. Jack accepts Mark’s apology after their confrontation is revealed to be a misunderstanding 107 109.
• Black Essence — Fellow employee who tends to Jack during his post-augmentation testing and celebrates his successful results 177.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruitment and First Days in Gotham

• Arrives through the system’s recruitment feature, receives strength pills, and joins Zuo Ci’s store 33 34.
• Secures inexpensive housing and defeats Poison Ivy after she approaches him as an apparently easy target 35 36.

Bane’s Experiments and Gotham’s Crisis

• His underground match against Luke exposes abnormal drug-induced violence and brings him into Batman’s investigation 48 49.
• Joins the search for Bane, then defeats him in the sewers despite Venom enhancement and an attempted drug-based counterattack 52 54.
• Destroys ten experimental hideouts before encountering Solomon Grundy 64.
• Survives catastrophic pill overuse and is restored by Zuo Ci’s healing spell 71.

Anti-Batman Conspiracy

• Suggests infiltrating the mysterious villain organization, leading to the Riddler’s undercover assignment 79 80.
• Later learns about Zuo Ci’s fraudulent Nth Metal supply scheme and voices concern over exposing a possible magical weakness 89.

Penguin’s Shop Defense and Invincible

• Accepts paid work against attackers threatening Penguin’s businesses 106 107.
• Mistakes Mark Grayson’s intervention for an attack and suffers devastating injuries from his own full-force strike. Zuo Ci heals him, and the misunderstanding is resolved 107 109.

Court of Owls and Augmentation

• During Gotham’s later catastrophe, protects Killer Croc from a Talon and accepts the assignment to track down other operatives 150 151 152.
• Receives the augmentation opportunity after Zuo Ci obtains gene-seeds and Space Marine creation technology from the Emperor 175 177.
• Successfully completes the procedures but must manage their destabilizing side effects before accepting a place in Batman’s proposed Justice League 177 182.

Notable Quotes

“Enough little tricks. Come on, fight me!” 65

“If we can't investigate them, why not just send someone undercover? Didn't someone on our side get a business card anyway?” 80

Trivia

• Jack Hanma is distinct from Jack, the Falcone thug who attempts to rob Zuo Ci in the opening chapter and later becomes homeless 1 25 33.
• His original training regimen is described as “thirty hours a day,” emphasizing how deliberately he pushes beyond ordinary bodily limits 33.
• He keeps exercising during conversations and even while playing cards with Killer Croc 73 80 150.