Lockjaw

Snippets from the upcoming trailer for Inhumans gave us a look at another main character, albeit this one is even weirder than the previous ones: Lockjaw, the Royal Family‘s giant bulldog. In the trailer, we see him teleporting Black Bolt in the middle of a huge street, and later disappearing along with him: that’s his main power, as he surely is a loyal companion to the Inhumans, but also their means of transportation, as he can instantly teleport everywhere in the world. He is one of the most iconic characters from the comic series, and it would have been a pity not to see him in the show… but the fact that he’s here in flesh and bones (and CGI), with this kind of rendering, is pleasantly surprising nevertheless. Let’s take a look at this overgrown puppy.

Lockjaw’s origins are quite a mystery: born in Attilan, he was part of the Inhuman race, an offshoot of humanity genetically engineered by the Krees to obtain superhuman abilities when exposed to the Terrigen Mists; problem is, no species other than humans had been experimented on by the Krees, so for years it was believed that Lockjaw was actually a human being, transformed by Terrigenesis into a giant, teleporting dog. This hypothesis was never proved, and since he was a puppy Lockjaw was a loyal companion to the House of Agon, so there was nobody who ever saw him as a human… but the fact remains that he possessed teleportation powers that didn’t come from Terrigenesis. Anyway, he was trained to be the loyal companion and protector of the Royal Family, and he bonded particularly with Crystal, the youngest (future) princess. When, after years of confinement due to his unstable powers, the future king Black Bolt finally entered public life, Lockjaw was introduced to him as well, and he became just as loyal to him as he was to Crystal, always accompanying him wherever the prince wanted him to. As soon as Black Bolt became king, Lockjaw’s teleportation powers were used to take the new ruler to the Himalayas, where a new home for the Inhumans was found. Years later, the king’s brother Maximus the Mad started a rebellion with the Alpha Primitives, and he created an invincible energy creature, the Trikon, to seize the throne; nobody from the Inhuman family was able to defeat the indestructible creature, and eventually it was Lockjaw who got rid of it by using his teleporting powers to bring the Trikon to the Negative Zone, an alternate dimension born from antimatter instead of positive matter. When he came back, however, Maximus had obtained the crown from Black Bolt, and he had become the new king: as the Royal Family was exiled, Lockjaw followed them on Earth, where his powers were used by Black Bolt, Gorgon and the others in their search for Medusa, lost somewhere on the globe.

Finally, Gorgon tracked Medusa in New York City, in the United States of America, and Lockjaw soon brought there the entire family, waiting for Gorgon to return. Crystal, in the meanwhile, had found a man she liked and she believed to be an Inhuman too, Johnny Storm… when Gorgon came back, however, he recognized him as a member of the Fantastic Four, a group he had fought before, and started another battle. When a minion of Maximus, The Seeker, abducted Triton, Black Bolt ordered Lockjaw to bring them all back to Attilan, something that he did. In the following battle, not only Black Bolt freed Triton, but he also claimed back his crown from the usurper Maximus… who retaliated by creating an impenetrable dimensional barrier around the city. None of the attempts from the Royal Family managed to even crack the barrier, despite Karnak coordinated the efforts… but Lockjaw’s powers allowed them to travel through dimensions as well, so he wasn’t bound by it. Looking for help, Lockjaw teleported himself outside the barrier (apparently, he wasn’t able to take anyone along), searching for a way to help his masters still in Attilan. He traveled the world for a while, until he was found by Johnny Storm, who recognized him (difficult not to), and asked him to teleport him to Attilan, as he wanted to see his beloved Crystal again. Lockjaw, however, couldn’t pass the barrier with “passengers”, and everytime he tried, he brought Johnny and his friend Wyatt Wingfoot to weird dimensions and realities (whether he did it “bouncing” on the barrier or exploring the multiverse in search of a way to destroy it is debatable). He even assisted both Johnny and Wyatt in a battle with the Mad Thinker and the resurrected Human Torch android, later resuming his search… until Johnny finally gave up, and left. Black Bolt managed to destroy the barrier (and half of Attilan) with his voice, so Lockjaw could reunite with his family: this time, he wouldn’t have let them go so easily.

Lockjaw is a good-hearted and tender dog, not particularly intelligent, but fiercely loyal to his masters, especially to Crystal. As an Inhuman dog (or a dog-shaped Inhuman?), he’s far stronger and more durable than any regular dog, he can dig through ferro-concrete with his claws, and his jaws are strong enough to break steel; his main power, however, is his teleporting ability, powerful enough to allow him and whoever he carries as a “passenger” not only everywhere in space, crossing even cosmic distances, but even across dimensions, slipping through the multiverse; his senses are so keen that he can smell anyone even across realities and dimensions, making him the ultimate tracking dog. The most loyal friend and companion the Royal Family will ever have, Lockjaw is also extremely useful as a “living vehicle”… as long as one can stand the outstanding amount of saliva he leaves as a sign of his affection.