**'''''Invulnerability''''': The armor is impervious to physical attack from earthly weapons and concussive trauma. Even the blades of Angelus Warriors break on contact with his armor. Jackie's armor has proven extremely durable, enabling him to take high-powered weapon fire as well as blows from super-powered beings.
**'''''Invulnerability''''': The armor is impervious to physical attack from earthly weapons and concussive trauma. Even the blades of Angelus Warriors break on contact with his armor. Jackie's armor has proven extremely durable, enabling him to take high-powered weapon fire as well as blows from super-powered beings.
**'''''Flight''''': By growing a [[File:Darkness_Flight.jpg|thumb|230px|Jackie's angelic wings in flight. ]]pair of large and powerful feathered or leathery bat-like wings, Jackie can reach any altitude and fly through the air at high speeds.
**'''''Flight''''': By growing a [[File:Darkness_Flight.jpg|thumb|230px|Jackie's angelic wings in flight. ]]pair of large and powerful feathered or leathery bat-like wings, Jackie can reach any altitude and fly through the air at high speeds.
−
**'''''Super Strength''''': Jackie's feats of strength while increased by his armor include bending steel and breaking chains all with his hands, smashing through concrete, ripping reinforced steel doors off their hinges single-handedly, manhandling and dismembering grown men, throwing cars, and tearing off the gun turret of an M1 Abrams. While empowered by the Darkness, and combined with his invulnerability, regenerative abilities and stamina, Jackie has proven a physical match to virtually any single superhuman opponent, such as the likes of Superman, or even a group of opponents such as a pack of werewolves
+
**'''''Super Strength''''': Jackie's feats of strength while increased by his armor include bending steel and breaking chains all with his hands, smashing through concrete, ripping reinforced steel doors off their hinges single-handedly, manhandling and dismembering grown men, throwing cars, and tearing off the gun turret of an M1 Abrams. While empowered by the Darkness, and combined with his invulnerability, regenerative abilities and stamina, Jackie has proven a physical match to virtually any single superhuman opponent, such as the likes of Superman, or even a group of opponents such as a pack of werewolves.
**'''''Shapeshifting''''': Jackie can morph the appearance, shape and mass of the armor to suit his needs. He can grow claws, blades, spikes, or whips. He can change his own appearance as well, allowing him to appear as another person, even a woman. His abilities of shifting are not bound to a human form, he can transform into a giant fire-breathing dragon creature or spawn an enormous pair of powerful feathered or bat-like wings to allow flight.
**'''''Shapeshifting''''': Jackie can morph the appearance, shape and mass of the armor to suit his needs. He can grow claws, blades, spikes, or whips. He can change his own appearance as well, allowing him to appear as another person, even a woman. His abilities of shifting are not bound to a human form, he can transform into a giant fire-breathing dragon creature or spawn an enormous pair of powerful feathered or bat-like wings to allow flight.
*'''''Super Strength''''': Jackie is strong in his own right due to his extensive physical training and fighting prowess, able to lift around 200 lbs. While empowered by the Darkness, his strength increases dramatically, to the point were he can lift roughly 10 tons with ease, although the exact extent of his strength remains vague. In the shadows, Jackie always manages to overpower any human opponent, even those who are otherwise untouchable. According to the Darkness Creature, Jackie has the power to move whole planets, suggesting that his full strength is incalculable and that the strength he has now is just a small amount of his true power.
*'''''Super Strength''''': Jackie is strong in his own right due to his extensive physical training and fighting prowess, able to lift around 200 lbs. While empowered by the Darkness, his strength increases dramatically, to the point were he can lift roughly 10 tons with ease, although the exact extent of his strength remains vague. In the shadows, Jackie always manages to overpower any human opponent, even those who are otherwise untouchable. According to the Darkness Creature, Jackie has the power to move whole planets, suggesting that his full strength is incalculable and that the strength he has now is just a small amount of his true power.
Jackie Estacado (born Jackie Anthony Estacado on October 29, 1981 in New York City, New York) was the most recent 21st century and notably most powerful host of the Darkness. Jackie was a former hit man for the Franchetti mafia into which he was raised and was the protagonist of The Darkness comic series.
Jackie wielded the Darkness for a little over a decade before his final death in the current continuity. During which time he became arguably the most powerful and influential of the Darkness's wielders and was in-turn utilized by the Darkness himself for a variety of significant purposes both in his own evolution as well as in his war with the Angelus and his bid for power in the trinity with the Angelus and the Witchblade. Most notable of which was the conception of Hope Pezzini as well as the destruction of the Necrobi, the Heart of Darkness, and the Sovereign.
Jackie Anthony Estacado was born October 29, 1981 in New York City, New York. He is the son of Danny Estacado and an unnamed prostitute. Shortly after being born, Jackie was enrolled in Saint Gerald's Orphanage. He was enrolled on the same hour of the same day as another orphan, Jenny Romano. Jenny's mother died when she was two months old due to a batch of bad heroin. Jackie developed a sibling-like fondness for Jenny, believing that she was the only good thing in his life. Growing up in Saint Gerald's was brutal for the orphans. The monks would frequently beat and abuse the children in their care.
Acting as Jenny's protector, Jackie would violently attack anyone that laid a hand on her, hospitalizing anyone including the monks when they hurt her. One day Frankie Franchetti, an on-the-rise mob boss came to saint Gerald's to take Jackie away claiming to be his uncle by marriage. Jackie wanted him to take Jenny as well, but Franchetti refused. Jackie promised Jenny to continue looking in on her, a promise that he stayed true to. Growing up under Franchetti's wing, Jackie was able to nurture his darker side. Making his first kill for Frank at the age of 16, Jackie became a hit-man for the Franchetti Family.
Jackie was ruthless, knowing exactly who to hit and how hard to hit them to get the job done. Jackie would live his life in the fast lane, indulging himself with expensive clothes, fast cars, and beautiful women. Despite his lifestyle, Jackie continued to look in on Jenny, acting as her protector until she was old enough to leave. After she left, Jackie provided Jenny with a job as a bartender at a club he frequented and continued to provide her protection and assistance. Over the years Jackie continued to feel for Jenny as a sort of younger sister, completely oblivious to the love an affection she harbored for him.
The Beginning
At midnight on his 21st birthday Jackie's powers first manifested. Jackie was in his bedroom when he began hearing a voice in his head, hinting at his potential and urging him to let the Darkness inside himself out. As the Darkness began to well from within Jackie's body, a heavily armed team burst into Jackie's apartment telling him that they were there to help him by getting him out. Before they could evacuate Jackie a group of six glowing, winged warriors showed up and began battling the others. While blood was being spilled around him, the voice inside Jackie urged him to let it out, telling Jackie that he could create anything that he imagined. As a black aura surrounded Jackie, demon-like creatures poured out from around him and destroyed both groups of unknown assailants. As one of them lay dying he told Jackie that he needed to get to Liberty. As Jackie stood up he was greeted by a rival hit-man that told him his uncle was already hit by the Marchianni family. Jackie used his new found powers to slay his would be killer, and then went off to take out the head of the Marchianni family as well.
The next day Jackie woke up in the dumpster behind the club that Jenny worked at. As Jenny helped Jackie regain his footing the memories of the previous night came flooding back, including one word in particular, "Liberty." Knowing of only one liberty, the Statue of Liberty, Jackie set out to Ellis Island to see if he could figure out what was happening. It was there he met with a magician named Sonatine. Sonatine explained to Jackie that he was the leader of a group called the Brotherhood of the Darkness, a cult that followed the Darkness Power. He explained that the Brotherhood of the Darkness was formed centuries ago by Miguel Estacado, a prior wielder of the Darkness. Miguel envisioned of a world where he ruled using the Darkness power. He formed the Brotherhood out of his followers to rule under him. It was here that Jackie would also learn of the two powers linked to the Darkness, the Witchblade and the Angelus. While the Witchblade was a warriors weapon, the Angelus was the opposite of the Darkness, a power based of light.
Choosing to be no one's pawn, Jackie used his new powers to leave the island. Knowing that the small fraction of the Darkness that Sonatine wields was no match for the full power of the Darkness, Jackie was allowed to leave. Jackie would go on to do his favorite nighttime activity--pick up a woman at the club. This woman turned out to be one of the Angelus' warriors in mortal form meant to seduce and copulate with Jackie. Angelus planned to allow Jackie to die when he conceived his new child, and then kill the new host of the Darkness, ending the lineage of the Darkness permanently. Sonatine was able to stop Jackie before he made a fatal mistake, and Jackie killed the warrior sent by the Angelus. In order to get Jackie to cooperate, Sonatine had also taken Jenny hostage. With Jenny as leverage, Sonatine convinced Jackie to come with him in order to gain a better understanding of the powers which he possessed. Sonatine took Jackie out into the country during the middle of the day, to a place where Jackie would not have access to his powers. Jackie was enraged at the trickery, but had little time to react as Angelus showed up with several of her warriors.
Angelus had been keeping tabs on Sonatine, and watched him play Jackie right into her hands to a place where he was powerless to stop her from destroying him. Jackie grabbed a gun from one of Sonatine's henchmen and asked whether she was bulletproof. Sonatine replied that her warriors would be unharmed by gunfire, and Angelus herself even more protected, however the warrior closest to her appeared mortal and was most likely her companion or confidant. Jackie fired upon her, clipping her wings and bringing her down. With a knife at the fallen angel's throat Jackie and Sonatine were able to get back into the limo with their new hostage and make a hasty retreat for Liberty. Not wanting to see her most beautiful creation harmed, Angelus allowed them to escape for fear of any harm coming to her lover. Now that Sonatine had the leverage he needed to remain protected from Angelus, Jackie convinced him to give him twenty-four hours to set his affairs in order and afterward he would do whatever they wanted in order to create their new world. Sonatine reluctantly agreed, allowing Jackie to go. First Jackie sought out the Eastwoods, a pair of hit-men who had been revealed to have made the attempt on Uncle Frankie. He tortured information out of the Eastwoods before killing them, and then killed Vinnie an member of Frank's crew who was responsible for setting up the hit. After Vinnie was killed Frank came out of the coma he had slipped into.
Knowing for the first time in his life that what Frank had told him about his parents was a lie, Jackie asked his Uncle who his father really was. For the first time Frank came clean explaining that he was not actually related to Jackie by marriage. He said that Jackie's father, Danny, was well known in the criminal underworld. He explained to Jackie that Danny's particular brand of ruthlessness and pension for leaving his hits more than simply dead. It was for this reason that Frank had not done business with Danny. It was after Danny's death that on his balcony that Frank was approached by a strange man that Jackie realized fit Sonatine's description. Sonatine explained to Frank that Danny had a son located at the orphanage, and that if Sonatine were to bring Jackie into their crew he would mean big things for Frank. Frank would not see Sonatine again, however Jackie's involvement pushed Frank into a position of importance.
Meanwhile Angelus, insane with rage, sent all of her warriors out over the city to destroy Jackie and reclaim her love, who had just escaped her prison on Liberty. She contacted Angelus mentally, and attempted to head to shore. Receiving a call from Sonatine Jackie was able to head her off at the docks. Seeing Jackie she turned around and attempted to fly away but her wings were too wet. She plummeted into the water and was drawn into the propeller of a nearby boat, killing her. Angelus arrived to find her love dead, and Jackie standing on the docks. She battled Jackie, but was pushed back and retreated, swearing threats on Jackie's life. His rant gave Jackie an idea, and Jackie created a sentient creature from the Darkness he called Darkus, and told Wenders that the foul-mouthed imp would take up residence in the darkness of his pants. There Darkus would remain safe from the light, and through a connection to Jackie would reveal exactly what Wenders would do and say. He warned Wenders if he didn't follow Jackie's instructions precisely that he would know, and he would have Darkus take a bite. When Jackie was finished it was twilight. Angelus was perched on the top of a building and Jackie approached her from the shadows. When she tried to attack Jackie revealed that he was not actually there, but was only learning to control his power better creating a construct of himself with which to talk to her. He invited her to finally end the war between Darkness and light at the foot of the Statue of Liberty.
He had instructed Wenders to inform Sonatine that they would all meet that morning too, and that Jenny was to be present, but did not inform either of his intention to invite Angelus. The following morning Jackie met with the Brotherhood of the Darkness at the foot of Liberty. Sonatine believed Jackie to be completely powerless in the morning light, but Jackie informed him that he brought company as Angelus arrived. Angelus also believed Jackie to be at a disadvantage, and both groups were taken by surprise as Wenders apologetically hurled a smoke grenade at Jackie and Angelus giving Jackie enough cover from the daylight to pull Angelus into the darkness of the Brotherhood's lair below liberty. Here Angelus spent all of her remaining power trying to destroy Jackie. Jackie knew his power wouldn't be able to match Angelus' power and experience, but as his power was rooted in darkness and the Angelus power was rooted in light he assumed that without contact with the light for a long enough period Angelus' power would fade. Losing energy, Angelus rotted away before Jackie's feet. A bird of flame rose out of the ashes and flew out of the island into the city, possibly to its new host. Sonatine had escaped, but Jackie was safe for now, and he had Jenny.
The next morning Jackie had to watch as Jenny boarded a train headed away from the city. She knew that she could never be with Jackie in the way she truly desired, and that with his new power he would be lost to her in a world she did not want to be a part of. Jackie could only stand and watch as what he perceived as the only good thing in his life departed.
Physical Appearance
Jackie stands at roughly six feet.
As ruler of Sierra Munoz, Jackie addresses his subjects in black business attire.
He has chiseled features which he keeps constantly pedicured, with shoulder-length black hair, angular cheekbones, and brown eyes. He is thin, but highly muscular, and practices rigid physical training exercises and balanced meals to maintain his build, stamina, and strength. He fits the description of tall, dark, and handsome.
In his early years with the mob, Jackie had a taste for white Armani business suits. After inheriting the Darkness, Jackie has since begun wearing black business suits. His civilian wardrobes vary, but can include blue-jeans, black leather jackets, white t-shirts or sleeveless shirts, and a brown or black overcoat.
Darkness Armor
Like all hosts of the
Jackie's Darkness armor.
Darkness, when he summons his power, his flesh morphs, changes, and hardens into a mystical armor of otherworldly design. The armor seems to heighten and refine his already-considerable musculature to a small degree, further increasing his physical strength and stature. Jackie's personal armor changes all except his forehead, ears, and hair. As explained by Aram, the design and appearance of the armor is a symbolic reflection of Jackie's character.
Common elements of Jackie's armor include a mouthless silver "mask" which covers his entire lower face and which also cover his eyes, replacing them with glowing yellow slits. He is also endowed with razor-sharp claws at the end of his fingers capable of piercing steel with ease. Jackie's "boots" and kneecaps are also silver or grey, though they can become pure black with only the kneecaps being silver. His "gloves", which cover all the way up to his elbows, are always silver and are usually wreathed with spikes and small golden-yellow or green spheres.
Personality
Jackie never had an easy life, not in the orphanage but neither in the life outside of it. Jackie is a very violent and sexual man who, up until gaining the powers of the Darkness, lived life on the wrong side of the law. Losing his virginity at 14,
Jackie spends the night with a random woman he met at a bar.
he developed an addiction to sex and pornography. He would seduce and engage in intercourse with virtually any attractive woman he met, including actresses, models, his uncle's mistresses, and prostitutes. Despite his violent nature and temper, Jackie is always a gentleman when dealing with most women.
During his time with the Franchetti mob, Jackie was trained to be a merciless killer and to show loyalty and respect to his superiors. His first hit was messy due to him hesitating, however, under the mob's tutelage, he became a remorseless assassin. Jackie is highly intelligent. His life before 21 consisted of being Frankie "Kill the Children Too" Franchetti's top hit-man. Because of this he is a skilled fighter, is experienced with a variety of weapons, and is an expert marksman. Jackie's upbringing by the mob was hand selected by Sonatine of the Brotherhood of the Darkness to make him an ideal weapon for wielding the Darkness power.
After inheriting the Darkness, Jackie's life soon fell into ruin. While tragedy is the burden of those who bear the Darkness, Jackie has fared better than any host who has come before him. He has defied the Darkness even at his weakest moments. He has developed more control over his carnal nature than any who have come before him. Jackie's charisma, ambivalent attitude and desire to maintain control over his own life set him apart from his forefathers cursed by the Darkness.[1]
Despite his many deficiencies in character, Jackie follows a strict code of morals and holds family in high regard. He can't be considered a hero but isn't really a villain either, he’s more of an anti-hero who’s in it for his own personal gains or for any cause he deems worthy.
Powers & Abilities
Jackie wields the immense powers of the Darkness. His abilities remained dormant for the first twenty years of his life until they awakened on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. His powers have continually been described as god-like, making him a demigod.
Immortality: In a possible future, Jackie
Modern Jackie (bottom) and Future Jackie (top).
is seen as living well over 200 years and still maintaining the health and build of a strong young man, albeit with long white hair, cured and wrinkled pale skin, and milky white eyes.
Darkness Armor: Jackie's signature ability, and weapon, is his Darkness armor.
Invulnerability: The armor is impervious to physical attack from earthly weapons and concussive trauma. Even the blades of Angelus Warriors break on contact with his armor. Jackie's armor has proven extremely durable, enabling him to take high-powered weapon fire as well as blows from super-powered beings.
Flight: By growing a
Jackie's angelic wings in flight.
pair of large and powerful feathered or leathery bat-like wings, Jackie can reach any altitude and fly through the air at high speeds.
Super Strength: Jackie's feats of strength while increased by his armor include bending steel and breaking chains all with his hands, smashing through concrete, ripping reinforced steel doors off their hinges single-handedly, manhandling and dismembering grown men, throwing cars, and tearing off the gun turret of an M1 Abrams. While empowered by the Darkness, and combined with his invulnerability, regenerative abilities and stamina, Jackie has proven a physical match to virtually any single superhuman opponent, such as the likes of Superman, or even a group of opponents such as a pack of werewolves.
Shapeshifting: Jackie can morph the appearance, shape and mass of the armor to suit his needs. He can grow claws, blades, spikes, or whips. He can change his own appearance as well, allowing him to appear as another person, even a woman. His abilities of shifting are not bound to a human form, he can transform into a giant fire-breathing dragon creature or spawn an enormous pair of powerful feathered or bat-like wings to allow flight.
Super Strength: Jackie is strong in his own right due to his extensive physical training and fighting prowess, able to lift around 200 lbs. While empowered by the Darkness, his strength increases dramatically, to the point were he can lift roughly 10 tons with ease, although the exact extent of his strength remains vague. In the shadows, Jackie always manages to overpower any human opponent, even those who are otherwise untouchable. According to the Darkness Creature, Jackie has the power to move whole planets, suggesting that his full strength is incalculable and that the strength he has now is just a small amount of his true power.
Super Speed: While empowered, Jackie can move with incredible celerity, to the extent of appearing to teleport by moving too fast for the eye to follow. For example, Jackie's in the line of sights of a Sniper rifle and within moments, he has disappeared and re-appeared behind the sniper himself. His reflexes and reaction time are similarly heightened, allowing him to easily sidestep high-power speeding bullets.
Super Agility: Jackie's body is versatile, able to perform feats of flexibility and dexterity beyond any human.
Advanced Accelerated Healing: Jackie boasts versatile regenerative abilities. His body regenerates even the most severe of lost and damaged tissue in a matter of seconds. He has recovered from severe burns, getting impaled through his torso, and broken bones. When Jackie rose from Hell, his body completely reconstructed itself using only his lower jaw bone and raw material from the remains of the mobsters that died in the warehouse explosion. This power also makes him impervious to disease.
LimitedPrecognition: Jackie has, on occasion, seen how, when and where a person will die. He developed this ability after he returned from Hell.
Teleportation: Jackie can travel anywhere within the shadows.
Telepathy: Jackie can communicate telepathically with his Darklings and other living Darkness constructs.
Witch Vanquishing: With a kiss, Jackie can vanquish even witches by overwhelming them with his depraved memories.
Healing Touch: Jackie can use the Darkness to heal the wounds of others.
Soul Absorption: Jackie can absorb vast numbers of souls into his body. He can also expel them at will.
Self-Sustenance: The Darkness has begun to seep into and take over Jackie's biological functions in an effort to make him less dependent, increase his stamina, and make him a more efficient vessel. Jackie has commented that it is hard for him to keep food down, as he has begun to loose the need to eat.
Supernatural Immunity: The Darkness acts as an "immune system" against any malevolent supernatural affliction that enters Jackie's body. This power first appeared when Jackie was infected simultaneously with the combined powers of all four of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Darkness Tentacle Summoning: Jackie can summon tentacles from the shadows and control them.
Darkling Summoning: Jackie can summon countless legions of Darklings from the shadows to do his bidding.
Shadow Manipulation: The Darkness is shadow and can create and mold it to his will. The Darkness describes shadows as "merely the imprint our presence leaves on this plane."
Creation: The Darkness is able to create anything he desires, ranging from physical constructs to sentient beings.
Weaknesses
High-level Light: High levels of light reduce Jackie's constructs to nothing and render him powerless.
Copulation: If Jackie conceives a child, he will die.
Sundagger: The Sundagger can kill him.
Spear of Destiny: It is implied that the Spear of Destiny can slay him.
Relationships
Sexual Escapades
Extremely libidinous, Jackie had sexual trysts with a variety of women.
Unnamed Female Officer: Jackie lost his virginity at age 14 to a female police officer on the table of the interrogation room.
Unnamed Twins: Jackie had a one-night-stand with two brunette twins. They were possibly prostitutes, as Jackie was about to pay them for their service, though they happily declined.
Frankie Franchetti
Frankie was Jackie's adoptive father, but he presented himself to the boy as his uncle. Frankie took the boy in as his own under the belief that having the boy in his "family" would allow him to rise within the mob hierarchy.
Appolonia Franchetti
The daughter of Frankie Franchetti, Appolonia is Jackie's adoptive sister and adoptive cousin. Their initial relationship was highly antagonistic.
Jenny Romano
Jackie's first and closest friend.
The Angelus
A primordial being who is the source of all radiance and order, the Angelus is the equal and opposite of the Darkness. In the beginning of the series, the Angelus was Jackie's sworn enemy. Since the moment of his birth, the Angelus has kept watch over Jackie, detailing every aspect of his life, waiting for him to come of age and manifest the Darkness, allowing her the opportunity to strike.
Sonatine
It was Sonatine who talked Frankie into adopting the young Jackie. In this way, Sonatine was indirectly responsible for Jackie's upbringing. Sonatine presented himself as Jackie's ally. However, he later reveals his plans to use Jackie to create a world were he and the Brotherhood will live as gods.
Aram
Aram is a witch and was also a host of the Darkness over 10,000 years ago. Jackie first met Aram in Africa.
The Sovereign
The Sovereign presented himself as Jackie's jailer in the underworld. He explained Jackie's situation at that time; that he was dead and his soul was in Hell while his body roamed the Earth, kept animate by the powers of the Darkness. In exchange for reuniting Jackie's body with his soul, and subsequently the powers of the Darkness, the Sovereign assigned Jackie various assassination targets, all of whom were either demons or damned humans who had made a deal with the Sovereign to remain on Earth, but who had not held up their end of the deal.
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