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History

A giant dog, with antennae growing out of his head! What have I stumbled onto??! -- Johnny Storm src

Origins

The massive dog known as Lockjaw is the loyal pet of the Royal Family of the Inhumans, an offshoot of humanity that was genetically altered by the Kree centuries ago whose isolation in the hidden city of Attilan resulted in the development of a high technological society with a focus on genetics.[8] He was born from the Inhumans' experimentation on canines,[3] his mother had been brought to Attilan as a puppy and experimented on by the Surgeon Supreme. She was impregnated by her own cloned genetic material and gestated 5 puppies with the purpose of performing terrigenesis in the womb. Lockjaw was successfully mutated, while his siblings were not, and before the Surgeon could remove them from the womb for further experimentation he teleported his siblings to four different locations: Brooklyn, the Savage Land, Wundagore Mountain and Earth-8311 before returning and appearing to be the only baby born. [9] He shares a particular bond with Black Bolt, the most recurring ruler of the Inhumans, and Crystal. He is regularly used as transportation to traverse between time and space.

Exile

The earliest recorded appearance of Lockjaw was a few years prior to what is known as the Modern Age of Heroes. When Black Bolt's insane brother Maximus created the Trikon and unleashed it upon the Inhumans, Lockjaw assisted Black Bolt in stopping the energy creature by using his teleportational powers to banish it to the antimatter universe known as the Negative Zone. However, while Black Bolt was otherwise busy, Maximus used the opportunity to seize the Inhuman throne and force Black Bolt and his cousins Crystal, Gorgon, Triton, and Karnak into exile. Lockjaw accompanied the exiles as they also began searching for Crystal's sister Medusa, who went missing in the battle with the Trikon, and unknown to all wandered off with amnesia.[10]

By the Modern Age, Lockjaw and his owners had tracked Medusa down to New York City. It was here that Lockjaw and the Inhumans first encountered the heroes known as the Fantastic Four.[11] During a battle with the heroes, the Inhumans ordered Lockjaw to return them to Attilan for fear of capture by the Seeker, a minion of Maximus sent to capture them.[12] There Black Bolt retook the Inhuman crown from Maximus with the help of the Fantastic Four.[13] However Maximus had the last laugh when he erected his massive Negative Zone barrier around Attilan trapping all the Inhumans inside.[14]

Wild Goose Chase

Lockjaw wasn't trapped like the others and used his teleportation abilities to leave the Great Refuge. The Human Torch began trying to find a way to pierce the barrier to be reunited with Crystal, with whom he had fallen in love with. The Torch and his friend Wyatt Wingfoot found Lockjaw outside Attilan and hoped the dog could teleport them past the barrier.[15] Instead of complying, Lockjaw instead took the pair on a series of jaunts to a series of bizarre parallel dimensions.[16] Lockjaw later returned Johnny and Wyatt to the Fantastic Four, their search interrupted by a battle with the Mad Thinker and the recently resurrected android Human Torch created in the 1940s. After the Thinker was defeated and the android Torch seemingly destroyed, Lockjaw teleported away, taking Wyatt and Johnny with him. [17] Lockjaw took Johnny and Wyatt through more strange dimensions later.[18] Lockjaw then returned them to New York where Johnny had to go and help his teammates battle their arch-nemesis Doctor Doom.[19]

Crystal's Chaperon

Eventually, Black Bolt managed to free the Inhumans from their trap, but Attilan was decimated in the process. While the city was being rebuilt, Black Bolt and his family went out to explore the outside world.[20] Lockjaw reunited with the House of Agon shortly afterward, and when Crystal sought to seek out the Human Torch, she used Lockjaw to teleport herself to New York City. Lockjaw teleported her into the middle of a football game between State University and Metro College. The State U. team included Wyatt Wingfoot who informed Crystal that Johnny was battling the Sandman at the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters.[21] When that battle ended with the Fantastic Four's leader Mister Fantastic being sucked into the Negative Zone, Crystal used Lockjaw to bring Triton to the Fantastic Four's aid and rescue Richards from the Negative Zone.[22] When Mister Fantastic, the Thing and the Invisible Girl were later attacked by the Kree Sentry #459 in the South Pacific, Lockjaw teleported Johnny to their side.[23] Likewise did he bring the Torch, Thing, and Triton to assist the Inhumans in their battle against the Microverse tyrant known as the Psycho-Man.[24]

Lockjaw later returned to Attilan with Black Bolt, where the ruler of the Inhumans found Aireo, Leonus, Stallior, Timberius, Falcona, and Nebulo guilty of treason. As punishment, Black Bolt had Lockjaw teleport the criminals to another dimension known as the Un-Place. Later Lockjaw encountered the gamma spawned monster known as the Hulk. When the Hulk attacked Lockjaw, the massive dog teleported the Hulk to Un-Place as well. Eventually, the rogue Inhumans and the Hulk were freed by Maximus in another scheme to take over the Inhuman throne. This scheme was later thwarted by Black Bolt.[25]

Later, when Crystal was offered a position in the Fantastic Four to replace the pregnant Invisible Girl, Lockjaw teleported the Fantastic Four to Attilan to get permission from Black Bolt. However, by this time Maximus had succeeded in conquering Attilan and imprisoned his foes.[26] But the Fantastic Four and the Inhuman royal family managed to break free and defeat Maximus once again.[27] Lockjaw later clashed with the cosmic being known as the Silver Surfer when he was tricked into attacking Attilan by Maximus. Regardless of his superior powers, the Surfer was driven away from the Inhumans' hidden domain. [28] Lockjaw was later dispatched to collect Crystal and return her to the Great Refuge.[29] There she had learned that someone had stolen the Helix of Randac.[30] Lockjaw later returned Crystal to the Baxter Building where she discovered that Doctor Doom was responsible for the theft, and he believed he had killed the rest of the Fantastic Four; a boast that later proved false.[31] Lockjaw later brought Johnny and Crystal to a battle in New York between the Doom-enthralled Sub-Mariner and the combined forces of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers.[32] Eventually the Fantastic Four defeated Doom.[33]

Later, Lockjaw teleported Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, and Karnak to the Baxter Building when they were led to believe that the Fantastic Four were launching missiles at Attilan. However, the battle quickly ended when Triton reported that Maximus was responsible.[34] Eventually the various forms of pollution from the outside world were becoming lethal to Crystal, and so she needed to return home and was seemingly teleported there by Lockjaw.[35] However, Lockjaw erred and instead teleported them to an apocalyptic future where the alchemist known as Diablo was trapped. He took control of both Crystal and Lockjaw and forced them to return with him to the present. There he had Crystal pose as the Ahau goddess Ixchel and took over the nation of Tierra Verde.[36] Lockjaw was forced to battle the Fantastic Four when they interfered with Diablo's plans. During the fight, Lockjaw briefly teleported the Thing to Earth-A, a parallel world where Reed Richards became the Thing. Lockjaw returned the Thing to his native reality, and ultimately the group defeated Diablo and freed his slaves, whereas Lockjaw then teleported Crystal away again. [37] On their way home Lockjaw made yet another detour: this time to Australia where Crystal rescued the "mutant" known as Quicksilver who was injured in a battle with the mutant hunting robots known as the Sentinels. Lockjaw transported them back to Attilan where Crystal nursed Quicksilver back to health and they fell in love.[38]

Later, when Maximus unleashed his Omega android on the Inhumans, Lockjaw transported both Quicksilver and the Human Torch to Crystal when she was captured by the android. [39] Later the Inhumans and Fantastic Four were able to deactivate the massive android. [40] Afterwards the Thing borrowed Lockjaw to travel to Earth-A again to investigate if that world's Reed Richards was responsible for Thing sightings in his native reality. [41] Learning that interdimensional businessman Albert DeVoor was trying to incite a war between the Thing's home dimension, Earth-A and the Fifth Dimension, he had Lockjaw return him home. [42] There both Things stopped a war between three different dimensions. [43][44][45]

War of the Three Galaxies

When the Inhumans were being targeted by the Kree to use as cannon fodder in their War of the Three Galaxies, they sought out the aid of the Fantastic Four. Lockjaw teleported the royal family to New York, only for them to be attacked by the Kree warrior known as Shatterstar. [46] Following their victory, Lockjaw followed his masters home where they found that Maximus had conquered Attilan in their absence. [47] Maximus intended to give over half the Inhuman population to the Kree in exchange for the right to rule over the rest. As such he forced the royal family, Lockjaw and their Kree ally Falzon to surrender. Eventually, most of the royal family broke free and began liberating their people, but not before the still shackled Black Bolt gave into despair and screamed. [48] Black Bolt and his family later liberated Attilan, but the hidden land was in ruins. [49] Black Bolt then decreed that the royal family were to head into the stars to find a new home where the Inhumans could be safe from the Kree. Lockjaw accompanied them on this journey. They were shot down over the planet Stent, a world covered a massive bog of pink dust. While the Inhumans went to explore and subsequently got involved in the petty squabbles of the Stenth race, Lockjaw remained aboard the ship to protect the elderly Falzon. [50] Later Black Bolt and Medusa recovered Lockjaw and Falzon from the ship. They then joined forces with the anarchist known as Warkon and launched an assault on the Stanth's totalitarian leader Flarn [51]. Lockjaw later accompanied the Inhumans on a flight to a Kree controlled space station where they battled Mon-Tog and learned that the Kree were creating sleeper agents to commit acts of sabotage on Earth. The royal family then returned to Earth. [52]

When the royal family returned to Earth, Lockjaw was present during their battle against the Pursuer, utilizing his teleportation abilities to assist the Inhumans in escaping the authorities. [53] Lockjaw was later left to guard Falzon in a rented room, but Lockjaw later teleported away to join the Inhumans in a battle against the Hulk. [54] Later the Inhumans sought out the Kree renegade known as Captain Marvel to finally put an end to the War of the Three Galaxies. Lockjaw later teleported Black Bolt and Captain Marvel to the Watcher's citadel on the moon where they could use a device to transport themselves to the Kree galaxy where they put an end to the conflict. [55] Lockjaw was later present when the Inhumans battled Spider-Man over a medication that could cure their injured friend Falzon. [56] When the Inhumans finally returned home to Attilan, they found out that a rogue Inhuman known as Thraxon had taken over the Hidden Land and allied himself with the ancient menace known as the Sphinx. Black Bolt and the others were captured, but Lockjaw managed to teleport Crystal to safety. She then enlisted the aid of the Fantastic Four to save her people. [57]

To the Moon

When Attilan was being plagued by a series of airquakes, Lockjaw teleported Black Bolt to New York to search for the Fantastic Four and a solution to the problem.[58] Eventually, even Attilan was not safe from the pollutants of the outside world. When Crystal fell ill, Lockjaw remained by her side.[59] With the help of the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans were later able to relocate their home to the pollution-free atmosphere on the Blue Area of the Moon.[60] Lockjaw later teleported Black Bolt to Earth so he could help the mutant singer known as Dazzler defeat the Absorbing Man.[61] Lockjaw also teleported the Fantastic Four to the moon so they could participate in the celebration of the Inhumans' new home on the moon. Unknown to all at this time, Maximus used his mental powers to swap bodies with Black Bolt.[62] Lockjaw was one of the many super-humans gathered by the Grandmaster and Death in their so-called Contest of Champions.[63] However, Lockjaw was not chosen to participate and when the competition ended he was returned home along with the other super-humans involved.[64] Later, when the Hulk briefly regained the mind of his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, and was pardoned for his history of violent attacks, a massive celebration was thrown. Lockjaw was among the Inhumans at the celebration.[65] He was also present when Magneto came to Attilan to confront Quicksilver and his sister the Scarlet Witch over the "truth" that he was allegedly their father.[66] Eventually, the United Nations became aware of the Inhumans living on the moon and dispatched the Avengers to go there and ensure that the Inhumans were of no threat to the Earth. Maximus used this as his opportunity to put his final plans in motion. Lockjaw was present when the Avengers arrived and Maximus began launching meteors at the Earth hoping to wipe out all life on the planet. He then used his position as "Black Bolt" to order the rest of the royal family to attack the Avengers. When the She-Hulk began attacking "Black Bolt" directly, Maximus blew his cover by speaking aloud. Medusa and the other Inhumans then forced Maximus to reverse the body swap, restoring Black Bolt to his rightful body.[67]

Thing's Pet

Having always been particularly fond of Ben Grimm, Lockjaw elected to stay with him. Ben, fondly recounting that he "always wanted a dog", accepted. However, during the Civil War, he didn't go with Ben to France.

Son of M

With the majority of the mutants on Earth having been rendered powerless, Quicksilver decided to steal the Inhumans' mutagenic Terrigen Mists and repower willing mutants. Lockjaw was convinced to help him on the mission. Traveling with Quicksilver's daughter Luna, they traversed the Earth. The other Inhumans followed.

Ms. Marvel's Pet

Lockjaw was sent by Medusa to keep an eye on recent Inhuman Ms. Marvel, and helped her in her battle against the clone of Thomas Edison known as the Inventor.[68]

Inhumans vs. X-Men

Lockjaw was taking a nap when he was knocked out by Fantomex.[69]





Death of Inhumans

When the Kree Empire began ordering all surviving Inhumans to join it or perish, Lockjaw accompanied the Inhuman Royal Family to a secret meeting place where they supposed to meet with the rest of the Universal Inhumans to discuss the situation. However, the leaders of the Universal Inhumans and their attendants were found dead, and a bomb was left behind as a trap. Lockjaw was able to teleport the Royal Family to safety but wasn't able to save Triton. When Lockjaw was within teleportation range, he traveled to the Inhuman city of New Arctilan on the Earth's Moon to retrieve Maximus. However, the city was under attack by the Kree Empire, which was led by Vox, a new breed of Kree Inhuman. Lockjaw rescued Maximus before Vox could kill him, but Vox quickly recovered and seemingly killed both Lockjaw and Maximus.[70]

In reality, Maximus and Lockjaw were simply teleported to an unknown location where they were converted into brainwashed agents of the Kree. Maximus was later killed during a confrontation with his family.[71] During the Inhuman Royal Family's final assault on the Kree, Lockjaw was pitted against them along with a brainwashed Crystal. Lockjaw and Crystal were eventually freed from the Kree's control when Black Bolt used his powerful voice to destroy the equipment that was controlling them.[72]



Powers and Abilities

Powers

Intra/Inter-Dimensional Teleportation: Lockjaw's major power is the ability to teleport himself and up to about one ton of additional mass (including up to a dozen people, if their combined weight does not exceed that limit), across space and even to other dimensions. In order for Lockjaw to teleport another person or object with him, the person or object must stand within a radius of about 14 feet from Lockjaw's body, and preferably be in contact with him. Lockjaw is capable of teleporting himself as little as 10 feet or as far as 240,000 miles (the distance from the Earth to the Moon at its apogee) from his original spot. It is not yet known whether he can teleport himself farther than that. The process of teleportation appears to be psionic in nature and is accompanied by a visible discharge of energy from his antenna. The precise method by which his brain taps the associated psionic energies and harnesses them for use is not known. Lockjaw requires no recovery time after utilizing his teleportation power.[73]

Spatial Distance Sense: The means by which Lockjaw can determine distances and spatial relationships between points of departure and arrival, including interdimensional ones, is as yet unknown. Presumably, it is associated with or augmented by the use of psionic energies.[74]

Psionic/Interdimensional Tracking Sense: Lockjaw also possesses a sense of smell so keen that he can track or locate a scent across dimensional space. Since odors cannot physically travel across dimensions, this ability of Lockjaw's appears to be at least in part an extrasensory (psionic) one, the precise nature of which is as yet unknown.[75] He was stated to be able to teleport by tracking the mental energies of his target.[76]

Superhuman Strength: Due to his great size, Lockjaw's jaw is extremely strong. He was stated to be "super strong"[77] and can also carry 3,600 pounds on his back.[citation needed]

Claws: Lockjaw's claws can dig through solid Ferro-Concrete.[citation needed]

Superhuman Durability: Lockjaw is much more durable than a human, or even "basically indestructible".[77]

Strength level

Lockjaw possesses great physical strength simply from size alone. Due to his canine physiology, he is limited to what he can pick up by its shape, that is, whether he can hold it with his mouth. His mouth, however, is unusually large, as is his head, which is about 40 inches from flews to dome. His jaw strength is such that he once clamped onto the Thing's hand and the Thing was apparently unable to free it. Lockjaw possesses sufficient strength to support 3,600 pounds on his back and still be able to walk, as well as the power and physical toughness to dig through ferro-concrete with his paws.

Weaknesses

Canine Urges: Lockjaw often suffers from canine urges. These often take the form of the desire to chase animals.

Limited Manipulative Abilities: Being a canine, Lockjaw can only pick up or otherwise manipulate what he can fit his jaw on.



Paraphernalia





Transportation

His teleportation abilities are capable of reaching not only other locations within his home universe, but also other realities, dimensions, and timelines across the Multiverse.[9]



Notes

In Thing #3, writer John Byrne had Lockjaw himself reveal he possesses the ability to talk, as well as the fact that he's an Inhuman whose appearance was deformed to that of a dog due to exposure to Terrigen Mists. Apparently, many people at Marvel hated the idea, and said revelation was retconned in X-Factor #71, when Quicksilver disclosed to Multiple Man that the instance of the revelation was a prank meant for The Thing carried out by Karnak and Gorgon, who used the dog's antenna as a high-powered transmitter to make it seem as if he talked. [78] According to X-Factor writer Peter David, this explanation for the retcon was meant to be absurd so it could be ambiguous whether Quicksilver was telling the truth or lying to Multiple Man. Fans who disliked Byrne's revelation could embrace the retcon, and those who liked it could look for reasons that Quicksilver was, in fact, lying to Madrox. David himself presented a theory to disprove his own reaction, arguing that if in Thing #3 it was revealed that Lockjaw's status was the Inhumans' darkest secret, Quicksilver could've come up with the prank explanation to throw Multiple Man off the track. The flashback from Black Bolt #5 confirmed Lockjaw's origin as a dog, altered at birth due to Inhumans' experiments.

#3, writer John Byrne had Lockjaw himself reveal he possesses the ability to talk, as well as the fact that he's an Inhuman whose appearance was deformed to that of a dog due to exposure to Terrigen Mists. Apparently, many people at Marvel hated the idea, and said revelation was retconned in #71, when Quicksilver disclosed to Multiple Man that the instance of the revelation was a prank meant for The Thing carried out by Karnak and Gorgon, who used the dog's antenna as a high-powered transmitter to make it seem as if he talked.

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