Hijacker (comics)
Hijacker is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The two Hijackers were gimmick-laden villains who specialized in stealing technology for later resale in criminal auctions.
Publication history
The first Hijacker first appeared in Tales to Astonish #40, and was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. The character subsequently appears in Marvel Two-in-One #24, #96, and Captain America #319, in which he was killed by the Scourge of the Underworld.Fictional character biography
Howard Mitchell
Originally the owner of an armored car company, Howard Mitchell adopts the masked alias of Hijacker to steal the cargo his cars are transporting and thus mend the financial difficulties of his firm. Following a battle with Black Goliath and the Thing, Hijacker returns for vengeance on the Thing after the latter is hospitalized. He uses a tank similar in appearance to his last one, but it is not as durable and Iron Man makes quick work of it.Hijacker attends a meeting with other villains in an attempt to deal with the Scourge of the Underworld, who has been killing many lesser-known villains. He and several of the villains are ambushed and killed by the Scourge, who has infiltrated the meeting.
During the Dark Reign storyline, Hijacker is among the eighteen victims of the Scourge who are resurrected by the Hood as part of a squad assembled to eliminate the Punisher. Hijacker attacks Punisher with his tank, but Punisher takes control of Hijacker's tank and crashes it into a building.
Following the events of Spider-Island, Hijacker attempts an opportunistic bank heist, but is noticed and pursued by Venom. During the chase, he accidentally runs over a mother and her child, causing Venom to lose his temper and bite Hijacker's head off.
Mercenary
The second Hijacker is an unnamed mercenary who took on the mantle when he bought vehicle-upgrading nanites from Overdrive. He works as a hired henchman through Power Broker's Hench App, with his first mission being to help Slug steal Giganto's egg from a S.H.I.E.L.D. cargo ship. Hijacker takes control of the ship, but is stopped by Captain America and Ant-Man.Ant-Man later employs Hijacker's services as part of Ant-Man Security Solutions to combat Darren Cross. Hijacker parts ways with Ant-Man after Ant-Man is arrested and his security company is shut down.
Equipment
The first Hijacker gained his abilities from his heavy body-suit, which provided the power for his weapons. His heavy, brown, reinforced fabric suit provided protection against physical, energy, heat, fire, and cold attacks. When sealed with his odd-looking helmet, Hijacker had his own four-hour oxygen supply and was immune to gases. Hijacker's main weapon was a multifunction gun called a "Vario-Blaster", attached to the belt of his outfit by a cable. With his weapon, Hijacker could fire "nuclear flame", knock-out nerve gas, damaging projectiles, ionic blasts, and an "activator beam" which activated any nearby machinery. Hijacker's "Crime-Tank" was a heavily armored fort on spiked treads. This mobile base was an off-road vehicle, and had electromagnets as weapons. This tank was destroyed by Thing and Black Goliath.The second Hijacker bought special nanites from Overdrive.