Jolt (comics)

Jolt
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Thunderbolts #1
Created by	Kurt Busiek Mark Bagley
In-story information
Alter ego	Hallie Takahama
Team affiliations	Young Allies (Counter-Earth) Thunderbolts
Abilities	Originally: Kinetic powers, energy control, super-human agility, electric shocks Later: Electrical control and discharges while in energy form

Jolt (Helen "Hallie" Takahama) is a fictional character, a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a member of the Thunderbolts and Young Allies. Helen is portrayed by Jade Xu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (both 2021), depicted as a former Black Widow working for Xialing (and later the Ten Rings).

Fictional character biography

Hallie Takahama was born in Ojai, California before moving with her parents to New York City at a young age. A super hero buff, she memorized details about various superhuman battles.

On her 15th birthday, Sentinels controlled by Onslaught destroyed her apartment, killing her parents and friends, and for weeks Hallie hid in the ruins of the city with several children she rescued. ^[1] When Hallie went to seek help after Onslaught's defeat, she and all the children she was protecting were kidnapped by the mercenary group the Rat Pack and experimented on by the Rat Pack's employer, Arnim Zola. The other children died or were horribly mutated, but Hallie became faster, stronger, and gained the ability to throw bio-electric punches. She escaped and attempted to reach the Fantastic Four. ^[2]

Having been isolated between the destruction and the experiments, she had not known that many superheroes, including the Fantastic Four and most of the Avengers, had been whisked to a Pocket Universe created by Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four. The world at large presumed the heroes dead. When Hallie reached Four Freedom Plaza, the Fantastic Four's old headquarters, she encountered the Thunderbolts, a new super team who were in fact the sixth incarnation of Masters of Evil led by Baron Helmut Zemo under the alias of Citizen V and also consisting of Atlas, MACH-V, Meteorite, Songbird, and Techno. ^[3]

She joined the team, ^[4] and eventually convinced most of the now-wavering former villains to become heroes. ^[5] She went on the run with the team. ^[6] before Hawkeye joined. At first she resented Hawkeye because he created civilian identities for Charcoal and Jolt and made them return to school but she later admitted that she respected him for having been where the Thunderbolts were and giving them that same chance to redeem themselves that he had been given. ^[7] Later she would be "killed" by Scourge. ^[8] Revived by Techno, she could now become a being of pure electricity, but the damage from the time she spent "dead" left her crippled in her human form, ^[9] although after much therapy, she fully recovered. ^[10]

After being stranded on Counter-Earth with most of the Thunderbolts, she chose to stay behind to help the devastated planet as one of the Young Allies. ^[11] However, Jolt made a brief return to Earth, in order to help both the Thunderbolts and Avengers to stop the out-of-control Moonstone (who had possessed two moonstones at the time and was losing control when she absorbed the Liberator's energies within her). ^[12]

At the time when Atlas was fighting Baron Helmut Zemo's third incarnation of the Masters of Evil, Jolt showed up to help Atlas fight the Masters of Evil. ^[13]

Relationships with the other Thunderbolts

Hallie was particularly close to her teammates Atlas and Charcoal. Atlas saw her as a surrogate sister who reminded him of his dead sister Lindy. Charcoal took her "death" extremely hard. She was also originally close with Meteorite who was a surrogate mother of sorts to Hallie before she was revealed to be the super villain Moonstone and Jolt came to understand how duplicitous Moonstone really was.

Baron Helmut Zemo hated Jolt from the very beginning realizing fairly quickly that Moonstone was using Jolt's good influence to undermine his control of the Thunderbolts.

Powers and abilities

Originally, Jolt possessed hyperkinetic agility and could move with amazing speed and jump vast distances. Her hyperactive metabolism made her body's natural bioelectric field exceptionally powerful, and she could shock enemies with a touch. Moreover, Techno stated that she could transform any kind of energy into physical strength and speed, and that with an unlimited source of energy she would be able to use her powers with no physical strain whatsoever.

After her "rebirth", Jolt could change from flesh-and-blood into living electricity. In her energy form, she could fly and fire blasts of electrical force. At first, she could only function in her electric form, her human form was so injured that she could barely walk and talk. She has now fully recovered, and her level of power has increased.

Other versions

MC2

Main article: Marvel Comics 2

While not appearing often, Jolt was member of the Avengers before the current team was formed in A-Next #1. ^[14]

Marvel Adventures Iron Man

Main article: Marvel Adventures

Jolt appeared in Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #8, but not as a superheroine. Instead, she was an assassin hired by Justin Hammer. Hammer wanted her to take out both Iron Man and Tony Stark as Hammer was being charged for trying to frame Iron Man and causing a lot of damage to New York City (this took place in Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #4, where Iron Man fought the Spymaster) and Tony Stark was going to testify against Hammer. Jolt appeared in her bio-electric form, but had the same powers as the Marvel-616 Jolt.^{[ volume & issue needed ]}

Marvel Zombies

Main article: Marvel Zombies

Jolt was part of a team of zombified Thunderbolts in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days . She, along with the rest of the team, is seen trying to infect Thor, but they are stopped by Nova, and ultimately killed.^{[ volume & issue needed ]}

In other media

Helen is portrayed by Jade Xu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (both 2021), depicted as a former Black Widow working for Xialing (and later the Ten Rings) in a superhuman fight club, beating up a man imbued with Extremis. ^[15]

References

1. Thunderbolts #1, #4, and #33
2. Thunderbolts #3
3. Thunderbolts #3-4
4. Thunderbolts #4
5. Thunderbolts #11
6. Thunderbolts #15-20
7. Thunderbolts #27, #35
8. Thunderbolts #34-35
9. Thunderbolts #48
10. Thunderbolts #51
11. Thunderbolts #60-75
12. Avengers/Thunderbolts #5-6
13. Thunderbolts vol. 3 #10
14. A-Next #1
15. Bonomolo, Cameron (September 4, 2021). "Marvel's Shang-Chi Clip Reveals a Black Widow Cameo". ComicBook.com . Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2021.