Get to Know a Hero: Lockjaw (Inhuman Royal Family)

He was your favorite part of the trailer! He’s the pet we all want! The plushy we’re all waiting for Funko to release… ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Lockjaw.

Name: Lockjaw

Aliases: Slobberchops, Sparky

Place of birth: Attilan

Affiliations: Inhuman Royal Family, Fantastic Four, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

Occupations: Companion of the Inhuman Royal Family, Ms. Marvel’s Guardian

Unusual features: Two pronged antennae on his forehead, five feet tall at the shoulder, six foot eight from muzzle to hock

Abilities: Intra- and interdimensional teleportation, spatial distance sense, psionic tracking sense, superhuman strength, powerful claws, superhuman durability

Weaknesses: suffers from canine urges (e.g.: chasing smaller animals), lacks opposable thumbs

Creators: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #45 (December 1965)

Lockjaw’s origin story is, as yet, unrevealed and it’s unclear whether he is an Inhuman canine or a canine-shaped Inhuman (he was an canine-shaped Inhuman, then he was an Inhuman dog. Saladin Ahmed plans to settle the matter in Black Bolt – thanks, GeekDad Anthony for that tidbit). Regardless of the answer, Lockjaw’s abilities, and possibly his shape and size, are likely related to exposure to the Terrigen Mist, as is the case with the majority of the Inhumans. He has historically been loyal to all members of the Royal Family but most attached to Black Bolt and Crystal.

Lockjaw’s first mission was to help Black Bolt stop Maximus’ energy creature when the later attempted his first coup against the throne. Lockjaw willingly went into exile with Black Bolt et al and assisted them in their search for Medusa.

When the rest of the Inhumans were sealed in the Negative Zone by Maximus after Black Bolt retook the throne, Lockjaw was able to travel freely due to his ability to teleport between dimensions. Johnny Storm hoped Lockjaw would help teleport him across the barrier so he could hook back up with Crystal, with whom he had fallen in love, possibly because she was the only Inhuman who didn’t want to murder him, but Lockjaw decided shenanigans were preferable and took the Human Torch on a magical mystery tour of alternate dimensions. After Black Bolt freed the Inhumans from the Negative Zone, Lockjaw accompanied Crystal to New York and helped her reunite with Johnny, after which Lockjaw hung with Crystal and ran the Fantastic Four on various errands.

Upon his return to Attilan, Lockjaw was enlisted by Black Bolt to transport rogue Inhumans to the Un-Place, which sounds really, very horrible. He sent the Hulk there as well after Hulk attacked Lockjaw. He also fought, and defeated, the Silver Surfer when the Surfer was conned into attacking the Inhumans by Maximus in the midst of yet another coup. When Crystal’s time with the Fantastic Four came to end due to the fact she was dying slowly of Earth-pollution poisoning, Lockjaw, intending to take both her and himself back to Attilan, accidentally landed in a post-apocalyptic dimension in which both became meat puppets for the alchemist Diablo. Diablo forced Lockjaw and Crystal to help him take over a small, South American nation (remember, back in the day, everyone was doing it). After that debacle, Lockjaw proved the catalyst for another disaster when he detoured once more on the way to Attilan, resulting in Crystal meeting one Pietro Maximoff, aka: Quicksilver, one of the biggest, most mysoginistic jerks ever to grace comics. And that’s saying something.

Lockjaw accompanied the Royal Family on their trip through the stars after Maximus’ plot to sell them out to the Kree was quashed. Not sure if he ever met Cosmo but, man, I hope so because that would be an even better friendship than the trash panda and the tree.

Thereafter, Lockjaw was an interdimensional taxi service for the Inhuman Royals, Captain Marvel, and Magneto. He was present at many pivotal events in Marvel Comics history including the pardoning of Bruce Banner, Magneto’s big paternity reveal (which has since been undone), and Maximus’ body-swapped-with-Black-Bolt battle with the Avengers.

Lockjaw has also been a source of comfort to, and a guardian for, the Royal Family and other Inhumans in need of such. He seems to have an inherent understanding of what Black Bolt needs without his master having to speak and is often at Crystal’s side when she is ill or injured. When Ms. Marvel first experienced Terrigenesis, he helped guide her in the use of her powers and escorted her to meet with Medusa, who was offering sanctuary to all NuHumans.

Sources:

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Lockjaw_(Earth-616)