Steven Levins (Earth-616)

This incarnation of Jack O'Lantern was a member of the loosely-knit band of Red Skull minions called the Skeleton Crew. He was also a partner of Blackwing prior to joining the Skull's group. He also worked as an enforcer of the gangster The Golem and in this capacity, fought the villain The Hood when he interfered in Golem's machinations.^{[citation needed]}

Levins resurfaced just before the Stamford incident that sparked the superhuman civil war. He was hired by the terrorist organization R.A.I.D. and, along with Jackhammer and Shockwave, was ordered to flood the Thames Tunnel, but their plans were single-handedly foiled by Union Jack's intervention.^[7] All the villains were arrested and Jack O'Lantern was most likely deported back to U.S.A. and then recruited into the Thunderbolts hero-hunting squad.

While pursuing Spider-Man through the Manhattan sewers alongside the Jester,^[8] Jack O'Lantern was shot through the head and killed by the Punisher;^[2] however, he later reappeared, possessed by a fragment of Lucifer's soul, and exhibited the ability to detach, levitate, and explode his head, among other powers. The Ghost Rider was able to eventually exorcise him by ripping his heart from his chest, setting it aflame, and putting it back in his chest, causing it to explode inside.^[9]

Under unspecified circumstances, the Jackal obtained the corpse of Steven Levins and cloned him at New U Technologies as Jackal did with other Spider-Man villains.^[10] But the body was flawed by design, Levins and the others were forced to take a pill to not only keep the body from decaying but to be under the Jackal's control.^[5]^[6]

All of the Jackal's clones, including Levins, began to decay when their creator started to broadcast globally a frequency that accelerated the cellular degeneration. He, long with Green Goblin and Hobgoblin chased Spider-Man, who was being aided by one of their own in Gwen Stacy. But Levins and the others would be stopped by Gwen, she had directed Spider-Man to the Jackal's lab and stayed behind and confronted them. Levins appear to have died with the others when Gwen set off a Pumpkin Bombs, killing herself along with them.^[11]

Jack O'Lantern later appeared aboard the Queen Kathleen, a gambling ship owned by Tombstone. He came into conflict with Deadpool when he stole twenty million dollars from the ship.^[12]

When working as a mercenary for the Foreigner, Jack O'Lantern franchised his identity into a group of Jack O'Lanterns. Unbeknownst to him, the four additional Jacks were sleeper agents working for the Finisher.^[13] The Jack O'Lanterns assisted the Foreigner when Spider-Man and Teresa Parker attempted to disrupt a deal between him and the Chameleon.^[14] They were lated deployed to help the Foreigner's new partner, Chance, steal a web-shooter off Spider-Man for a bet.^[15]

After Chance pressured one of his indebted patrons, college student and inventor Jamie Tolentino, into stealing a device called the Catalyst to power his own invention, a future-predicting artifact named the Clairvoyant,^[16] the Jack O'Lanterns revealed themselves as double agents and attempted to steal both devices on behalf of the Finisher.^[17] Levins helped contain the Jacks' rampage, fighting his namesakes.^[13]

Attributes

Power Grid^[18]

Powers

Demonic Transformation: Steve Levins can transform to Jack O'Lantern any time at night or if he's really angry.^{[citation needed]}

Superhuman Strength: As the Jack O'Lantern, Steve Levins is superhumanly strong and capable of lifting about 5 tons.^{[citation needed]}

Superhuman Stamina: The mystical energy that empowers Jack O'Lantern prevents his muscles from producing fatigue toxins during physical activities, granting him limitless superhuman stamina.^{[citation needed]}

Superhuman Durability: Jack O'Lantern's body is highly resistant to physical injury. He is capable of withstanding great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, powerful energy blasts, high caliber bullets, and falls from great heights without sustaining injury.^{[citation needed]}

Fire Manipulation: Jack O'Lantern possesses the ability to generate and project fire at will.^{[citation needed]}

Penance Scream: Once eye contact is made with somebody when Jack O'Lantern screams, the person he is looking at chokes to death.^{[citation needed]}

Weaknesses

Overexposure to light and being in a church.^{[citation needed]}

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Jack O'Lantern's Suit

Weapons

Pumpkin Bombs and wristbands that can shoot out sleep gas.^{[citation needed]}

Transportation

Jack O'Lantern's Platform

Notes

His identity was first revealed in New Avengers Most Wanted, a character compendium, where his name was noted to be Steven Mark Levins. Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #8 confirmed the Levins identity for the first time in universe.
All transportation and weapons once belonged to the original Jack O'Lantern, the second Hobgoblin, before he died.^{[citation needed]}

Links and References

References

[Civil_War_Battle_Damage_Report_Vol_1_1-1] Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1

[Punisher_War_Journal_Vol_2_1-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) #1

[Ghost_Rider_Vol_6_8-3] Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #8

[Ghost_Rider_Vol_6_11-4] Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #11

[Clone_Conspiracy_Vol_1_2-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Clone Conspiracy #2

[Clone_Conspiracy_Vol_1_4-6] 6.0 ^6.1 Clone Conspiracy #4

[Union_Jack_Vol_2_2-7] Union Jack (Vol. 2) #2

[Civil_War_Vol_1_5-8] Civil War #5

[Ghost_Rider_Vol_6_8-11-9] Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #8–11

[Prowler_Vol_2_1-10] Prowler (Vol. 2) #1

[Clone_Conspiracy_Vol_1_5-11] Clone Conspiracy #5

[Despicable_Deadpool_Vol_1_297-12] Despicable Deadpool #297

[Giant-Size_Amazing_Spider-Man_Chameleon_Conspiracy_Vol_1_1-13] 13.0 ^13.1 Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy #1

[Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_5_32-14] Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #32

[Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_5_40-15] Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #40

[Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_5_68-16] Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #68

[Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_5_69-17] Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #69

[18] Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5

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