Character of the Month

Jax Briggs

Real Name: Jackson Briggs

Age: 28 (as of MK2)

Height: 6’8″

Weight: 350 lbs.

Origin: Earthrealm

Appearances: Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Gold, MK: Special Forces, Mortal Kombat Advance, MK: Deadly Alliance, MK: Deception (cameo), MK: Shaolin Monks, MK: Unchained, MK: Armageddon, MK vs. DC Universe, Mortal Kombat (2011)

Species: Human

Weapons: Spiked Club (MK4), Tonfa (MK:DA, MK:U, MK:A), Submachine Gun (MKvs.DCU, MK 2011), Bionic Arms (Not in MK2)

Fighting Styles: Muay Thai, Judo

Alignment: Good

Special Moves

Energy Wave: Jax throws a wave of sonic energy at his opponent. In the CD versions of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the “Classic” version of Jax can also throw this wave while in the air. (MKII, MKT, MK 2011)

Ground Pound: Jax punches the ground, shaking the arena. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:DA, MK:A, MKvDCU, MK 2011)

“Gotcha!” Grab: Jax grabs his opponent and punches him multiple times. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvDCU, MK 2011)

Dash Punch: Jax moves forward at incredible speed to punch his opponent. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011)

Missile: Jax shoots a missile from his bionic arms. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvDCU)

Double Missile: Jax shoots two missiles in quick succession. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvDCU)

Piston Punch: Jax punches his enemy multiple times. (MK:DA, MK:A)

Machine Gun: Jax takes out his machine gun and shoots at the enemy and says “Oh yeah!”. (MK:DA, MK:A, MKvDCU)

MultiSlam: This move is the only special move to be executed by the character’s grapple. Jax will slam his opponent multiple times.(MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011)

Backbreaker: Jax grabs his opponent in mid-air and slams down to the ground, resulting in the opponent’s back breaking.. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011)

Plasma Ball: Jax fires a purplish projectile from one of his bionic arms. (MK4, MKG)

Blinding Light: Jax contains energy within his hands and then releases a powerful purple flash, blinding his opponent for a short time at a short range.(MKvDCU)

X-Ray Move: Shattering Grab: Jax throws his opponent into the air, then brings them down, breaking the lower end of the opponent’s back first across his knee, and then again on the higher end of the opponent’s spine, causing more damage. (MK 2011)

Fatalities

Head Clap: Jax claps his hands violently over his opponent’s head, crushing it. In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the opponent’s head is flattened in a comical fashion. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MKvDCU)

Arm Rip: Jax grabs the arms of his opponent and rips them off their body. (MKII, MK4, MKG)

Super Quad Slam: In the Game Gear version of MK2, Jax slamming his opponent multiple time and then he slams his opponent for the final time which causes them to explode. (MKII)

Big Foot: Jax grows extremely large and crushes his opponent with his boot. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Slice ‘em up: Jax’s metal arms turn into swords and slices his opponent into pieces. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Foot Decap: Jax throws his enemies face down on the ground and then jumps high in the air, bringing his 300+ lbs down on the enemy’s head, smashing it. (MK:DA, MK:U)

Air Machine Gun: Jax uppercuts the foe and and sprays a volley of bullets into the opponent while they’re still in midair. (MKvDCU)

Smash ‘n’ Grab: Jax claps his opponent’s head off, then rips off the arms of his opponent. (MK 2011)

Field Goal: Jax bashes his opponent into the ground and then kicks their head off like a football. (MK 2011)

Origin

Jax was the first African-American character in the Mortal Kombat series and made his debut in Mortal Kombat II. He is portrayed as an archetypical American hero. In the chain of command of the Special Forces, he is Sonya Blade’s direct superior, and clearly the catalyzing force of Sonya’s impulsiveness. Jax is clear-headed, careful and always keeping a watch on what his men are doing, but when the need arises, he is a beast on the battlefield with the attitude and ferocity of a lion. He unscrupulously makes use of the most advanced technology to improve both himself and his unit. He is responsible for the crime lord Kano’s disfigurement, forcing him to wear a metal plate over a portion of his face.

Story

Jax made his first chronological appearance in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. The game opened depicting a prison break at the Special Forces’ detention facility. Jax, driving along a highway, received a transmission from his fellow Special Forces operative Gemini detailing the escape and the escapees: No Face, Tasia, Jarek and Tremor. She informed him that they had escaped to a warehouse on the town’s south side, likely receiving assistance from an outside source. Jax surmised that source to be Kano. He received another transmission from one Lieutenant Sanchez, whose squad had arrived at the warehouse. After the transmission was cut off at the source, Jax arrived at the scene to find the squad massacred. For this, he swore he would achieve vengeance against Kano. Using prototype bionic implants on his arms in order to enhance his strength, Jax set out to find his enemy.

Infiltrating the warehouse, Jax confronted No Face and dispatched him. Proceeding into the sewers, he eliminated Tasia. At this point, Jax contacted Gemini who informed him that the Black Dragon were using a corporate building as a front for their base of operations. At the building, Jax confronted and defeated Jarek, and his investigation led him to the town of the lost city of Sin Kiang, where he defeated Tremor and discovered a portal to Outworld which Tremor had guarded. Surmising that the portal was linked to Kano’s plans of global domination, he entered. The portal led to Outworld, and Jax caught up with Kano, who had acquired an artifact called the Eye of Chitian through which he could acquire great power. After an exchange of words, the two fought, and Jax emerged the victor. He used the Eye’s power to bring them both back to Earthrealm and brought Kano into custody, only to have the criminal escape at a later date. At this point, Jax ceased using his bionic implants.

Following the end of the Mortal Kombat tournament in which both the wanted Kano and Jax’s friend Lt. Sonya Blade had entered, Jax first came across the Earthrealm warriors when he found Johnny Cage in the waters close to the Special Forces Agency, and took him in for an interrogation on the whereabouts of Sonya. Cage explained the events that took place on the island although Jax didn’t believe him until he received a video signal from Sonya, whom was temporarily working with Kano to escape Outworld. As an apology to Cage for not believing his story, he visited him at a commercial shoot where he was being attacked. Jax participated in a battle with Kintaro there but the fight was interrupted when the Earthrealm warriors arrived to help. After helping Cage against the intruders, Jax travelled into Outworld once more to compete in the next tournament along with the Earthrealm warriors in hopes of finding Sonya. Jax soon came to learn of the emperor Shao Kahn’s dark plans for Earthrealm. He was successful in freeing Sonya from the clutches of Shao Kahn and arresting Kano once again, though he eluded capture as soon as they had passed through the portal to Earth. Jax warned his government of the impending danger but would find himself frustrated, however, as not only did Kano escape back into Outworld, but the government did not believe the major.

Jax began to prepare for war covertly, and once more outfitted his arms with bionic implants. After helping foil Shao Kahn’s attempt to permanently claim Earth as his own, Jax became the commanding officer of the Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA). They operated from an underground bunker, and had scouts in various realms, not only exploring and mapping them, but also looking for inter-realm portals that could lead to Earth: these needed to be destroyed. He briefly assisted Raiden in the defeat of Shinnok in Edenia, and it was during these events that both he and Sonya would find the Lin Kuei cyborg Cyrax, malfunctioning and trapped in a desert. Returning with him to their home base, they reversed the automation process, restored his humanity, and gained a new ally

Years later, trouble would occur again, as not only were his agents Kenshi and Cyrax lost in Outworld, but the OIA underground facility was nuked into oblivion by the traitor Hsu Hao. When, soon after, Raiden summoned the Earthrealm warriors to the abandoned island of Shang Tsung and asked them to travel with him to Outworld to bring down the Deadly Alliance, Jax didn’t hesitate. He used this trip as a cover to track down Hsu Hao and, once he caught up with the criminal, killed him by tearing out his artificial heart.

Afterward, he was among the group of warriors who made a final stand against the Deadly Alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but was unfortunately killed in the ensuing combat along with the rest of his allies. He, like his friends, was eventually found by Onaga and revived as a mindless drone, used to intimidate the survivors of his group before killing them outright.

In Armageddon, Sonya sends Jax to lead a team of Special Forces to search for survivors after destroying Sektor’s Tekunin Warship, but they later vanish and are captured by the Tekunin. His own cybernetic bio scanners send out mysterious readings before contact is lost, and Sonya fears the possibility of Jax’s death.

In Jax’s Armageddon ending, after absorbing the power of Blaze, the cybernetics in his arms grew and permeated his entire body. He was transformed into a full cyborg. He became aware of a controlling neural chip that had been implanted in his brain by Sektor. Enraged, Jax defeated Sektor and claimed leadership of the cyborg ninja clan, the Tekunin. It is unknown if he will ever return to the Special Forces.

In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Jax appears as the playable character in Chapter 3. He infiltrates the U.N. Orbital Space Station and defeats several of the strongest D.C. heroes, including Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman. His rival is Lex Luthor, who he fights twice. In his ending, Jax had sustained serious injuries on his body. To save his life, he had himself roboticized, at the cost of his humanity.

Non-Game Appearances

Jax appears briefly in the first Mortal Kombat movie, in which he accompanies Sonya on the raid on Kano’s club and tries to stop her from boarding Shang Tsung’s ship near the beginning of the movie. He was played by Gregory McKinney.

Former American Gladiators actor Lynn “Red” Williams plays Jax in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He fights Cyrax and later defeats the Centaurian Motaro (played by fellow Gladiators alumnus Deron McBee). His relationship with the technological enhancements he uses is explored to a small degree.

Michael Jai White plays Jax in Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. White will reprise his role as Jax in a mini Mortal Kombat web series.In this, he informs top assasin Hanzo Hasashi about serial killers in an underground tournament led by Shang Tsung. He tries to convince Hasashi to join the tournament. White will reprise his role as Jax in Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Jax appear in the animated TV series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, he was among the leading characters voiced by Dorian Harewood. He was always in a good mood and always ready to go into battle whenever Outworlders invade. In the episode Acid Tongue, he loses his confidence when Komodai spits acid on his cybernetic strength enhancers, and he uses his chi to fight Komodai at some ruins to rescue Sonya. Another episode, Abandoned, had him leaving the team only to be captured by Shao Kahn’s forces in an attempt to get information on the location of the MK headquarters (this episode also establishes that Sonya most likely has strong feelings for Jax).

Tidbits

His original name was going to be Kurtis Stryker. Midway later recycled that name to create a new character in Mortal Kombat 3.
In his MK Vs DCU ending, Jax sustained severe injuries after the World Merge Crisis, so to save his life he augmented more of his body with cybernetics, becoming the Earthrealm version of DC’s Cyborg.
Jax was originally conceived as simply a kickboxer, but the idea was scrapped due to potential similarities to Balrog ,Sagat and especially DeeJay from the Street Fighter series. Then he was given a yellow martial arts gi and big metal hands that clanged upon impact. However, the outfit concealed much of the impressive physique of actor/bodybuilder John Parrish, so he simply went shirtless with long black tights.
Jax’s body can be seen in the introduction of Mortal Kombat Deception, located on the top of the stairs leading to the Soulnado chamber.
In MK Armageddon’s opening scene Jax is hit by Shao Kahn’s Hammer, probably hitting the back of Jax’s arm because you can hear a metal-to-metal like sound.
Game footage was actually shot with Jax wearing the yellow costume. Parrish accidentally split the pants during filming.
Before Sonya existed, Jax was originally conceived as a character and possessed her scenario for the first Mortal Kombat. However, since there were no female characters in the original roster at the time, Sonya was created and she inherited his story line of pursuing Kano and entrapment on Shang Tsung’s island.
In the MKII comic book, he challenged Kintaro in battle.
Interestingly in Unchained, Havik still throws up pieces of meat despite Jax’s arms being mechanical.
According to early production shots of Special Forces, Jax’s code name is “Cobra.”
Hakim Alston, who portrayed Jax in Mortal Kombat: The Live Tour (1996), played an Outworld warrior who was defeated by Liu Kang (Robin Shou) in the original MK movie a year earlier. He also co-starred alongside MK game actor Ho Sung Pak in the syndicated television series WMAC Masters.
In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, knocking Jax off of the Sky Temple will make him yell, “Oh my god! This is not happeing to me!”
Jax’s fighting stance from Mortal Kombat 3 is similar to that of male human ninjas (minus Reptile, Rain, and unmasked Sub-Zero) from their UMK3/MKT incarnation. It also comes from the Shaolin Fist fighting style.
He is one of only two characters to have his own official game (Mortal Kombat: Special Forces), the other being the original Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat Mythologies: SubZero).
He assists the player (as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao) during the boss fight with Kano in Shaolin Monks. After Kano is killed, he and Sonya decide to leave Outworld and gives the player a health upgrade to aid in defeating Shao Kahn.
It is stated in the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance that it was Jax who caused the injury that led to Kano wearing his metal face plate before the events of the series.