Jax made his debut in Mortal Kombat II. He is portrayed as an archetypical American hero. In the Special Forces' chain of command, he is Sonya Blade's direct superior and the catalyzing force of Sonya's impulsiveness. Jax is clear-headed, careful and always keeping a watch on what his men are doing. 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.
Jax is depicted as a black American man, having dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes. Jax's most striking feature is his impressive muscular upper body build, keeping his torso bare in all but one of his appearances. In his first appearances, he wore karate pants and boots. From Mortal Kombat 3 and onwards, he wears a pair of bionic armor-plating that covers all of his arms.
It is not known whether his arms were replaced or upgraded in the original storyline. However, it is possible that he may have used bionic implants until the events of Deception, where he may have willingly had his own arms removed in favour of mechanical replacements. In the alternate timeline of MK 2011, he was forced to use metallic arms in order to survive, after having his organic arms telekinetically dismembered by Ermac.
Due to his membership in the army, Jax is quite a hardened soldier in the battlefield. He is known to show incredible ferocity while staying focused at the same time. Jax's most prominent attribute is his massive upper body strength. His physique and strength are so powerful that he is able to crush human heads with ease and shake the earth with a single punch. From Mortal Kombat 3 onwards, Jax utilizes cybernetic strength enhancers to further augment his already impressive physical power. These implants also carry portable missiles and a piston-like mechanism to increase the force of his blows. His bionic arms may have made him the most physically powerful man on Earth, if he wasn't already that strong.
Aside from his kombat skills, Jax is also a competent technician and scientist, having been in charge of the portal development technology that the Outworld Investigation Agency uses to move between realms, and also utilized his smarts to restore Cyrax to human form.
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:SM, MK 2011)
The enhanced version is called Assault Wave. Jax fires two waves.
Ground Pound: Jax punches the ground, shaking the arena. In MK 2011, there are close, medium, and far versions of the move. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:DA, MK:SM, MK:A, MKvsDCU, MK 2011)
The enhanced version is called Ground Quake. It increases the damage, affects the complete arena, and sends his opponent skyward.
"Gotcha!" Grab: Jax grabs his opponent and punches him multiple times. In MK 2011, Jax only punches the opponent once and then knocks them away while saying "Oh yeah!". There is also an Air Gotcha Grab for aerial opponents. If it connects, he grabs them by the throat smacking them headfirst to the ground. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM, MKvsDCU, MK 2011)
The enhanced version is called Gotcha Beatdown which punches the opponent multiple times. The enhanced version of Air Gotcha Grab is Air Gotcha Blast.
Dash Punch: Jax moves forward at incredible speed to punch his opponent. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011)
The enhanced version is called Dash Fist. After the punch connects, Jax grabs the opponent, throws them up, grabs them violently by their face, and then slams them down. In a variation, once he throws them up, he will turn around and fall on top of the opponent.
Missile: Jax shoots a missile from his bionic arms. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvsDCU)
Double Missile: Jax shoots two missiles in quick succession. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvsDCU)
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. (MK:DA, MK:A, MKvsDCU)
Back Breaker: 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:SM, 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. (MKvsDCU)
Overhead Smash: Jax jumps into the air and brings his elbow down onto the opponent's head. (MK 2011)
The enhanced version is called Elite Smash. After the elbow connects, Jax grabs the opponent and hits an inverted piledriver.
Multi-Slam: Jax slams his opponent multiple times in succession. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:SM, MK 2011)
X-Ray Move - Briggs Bash: Jax throws his opponent into the air, then brings them down on his knee, breaking the stomach, back and legs, and then brings them to his upper back and shoulder again, dealing damage on the higher end of the opponent's spine, heart, and ribs, causing them damage. (MK 2011)
Free-Fall Super Move: Jax takes out his machine gun, shoots his opponent, then performs his Blinding Light special, the flash powerful enough to ground his opponent. (MKvsDCU)
Knee Breaker: Jax stomps his foe in the kneecap, causing them to scream with pain, stunning them briefly. (MK4)
Hammer Punch: Jax smashes his foe in the head so hard they are left dizzy momentarilly. (MK2)
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, MKvsDCU)
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 MKII, Jax slamming his opponent multiple times and then he slams his opponent for the final time which causes them to explode. (MKII)
Boot Squash: Jax grows extremely large and crushes his opponent with his boot. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
Slice-N-Dice: Jax's metal arms turn into swords and slices his opponent into pieces. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
Head Stomp: Jax throws his enemy on the ground, face up. He 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. (MKvsDCU)
Smash And Grab: This fatality is a combination of both Jax's MKII fatalities. Jax claps his opponent's head off, then rips off the arms of his opponent. (MK 2011)
Three Points!: Jax bashes his opponent three times, burying them into the ground. After a little while, he kicks their head twice. The first one puts the opponent in a daze, and the second one launches the opponent's head off like a football. (MK 2011)
Jax appears briefly in the first Mortal Kombat movie, in which he accompanies Sonya on the raid on Kano's club and unsuccessfully tries to stop her from boarding Shang Tsung's boat near the beginning of the film. He was played by Gregory McKinney.
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 explores the deep friendship and care between Sonya and Jax.
Former American Gladiators actor Lynn "Red" Williams plays Jax in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He is recruited by Sonya to join the Earthrealm warriors in their stand against Shao Kahn's forces. 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. In this short film, he informs top assassin Hanzo Hasashi about serial killers in an underground tournament led by Shang Tsung. He tries to convince Hasashi to join the tournament.
White reprises his role as Jax in Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Jax leads a police squad along with Kurtis Stryker in an assault on the warehouse of Kano and the Black Dragon clan, to rescue Sonya, who is being held captive by Kano. As the squad fights against Kano's thugs, Jax confronts Kano himself and engages him in kombat. Kano uses his torturing of Sonya to taunt Jax during their fight, and a furious Jax gains the upper hand and brutally beats Kano, managing to punch him with enough force to sever his right eye. One of Kano's thugs throws a grenade towards Jax and he is severely wounded. He does survive, however, but at the cost of his arms.
"Cybernetic strength enhancers. Takes what you got, and quadruples the muscle capacity."
"Wish I had these babies back in high-school."
"Shao what?"
"Damn, you barbecued his ass."
"Use my imagination? You keep talkin' to me like that, Sonya, and I'm gonna split, alright? Look, you drag me out the base with some lunatic killers after us. Put me in a spinning ball, take me halfway around the world. If I'm gonna die today, at least tell me why."
"I don't know how much longer I can take all this whacked-out junk, but you do look good in mud."
"Major Jackson Briggs. You got an incredible set of legs...for kickin', I mean."
"Who does this dude think he is? Moses parting the Red Sea?"
"Man, you got one dysfunctional family, you know that?"
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.The sketch of the character Curtis Stryker before being Jax by John Tobias
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 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 storyline of pursuing Kano and entrapment on Shang Tsung's island.
In the MKII comic book, he challenged Kintaro in battle.
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 happening to me!"
Michael Jai White, who plays Jax In MK: Legacy, was originally cast to play Jax in Mortal Kombat Annihilation, but had already began shooting Spawn instead.
Jax's fighting stance from Mortal Kombat 3 is similar to that of the 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 assists the player (as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao) during the boss fight with Kano in Mortal Kombat: 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.
In the original timeline, Jax wore bionic implants over his real arms by choice to increase his strength while on missions, and later willingly had his own arms removed from his body in favour of mechanical arms permanently. In the alternate timeline of MK 2011, he was forced to use cybernetic replacements after Ermac telekinetically tore both his real arms from his body.
Jax appeared in an advertisement for Chrome Bling.
In MK 2011, Jax can be seen smoking at the Wu Shi Academy, when he is talking to Raiden.
In the track "MK3 Audio Tour" (4:11) from Mortal Kombat Musik: MK3 & MK4 Arcade Videogame Original Soundtrack, it seems like Jax had an unused fatality (in the track, Jax hits the opponent, then the latter bounce many times before exploding), although he is simply performing the Bell Tower Stage Fatality.
In a MK 2011 trailer, Jax uses his Missile move, but it is not present in the game.
Also, Jax has his Submachine Gun in the game, but does not use it.
In MK 2011, performing a Fatality that involves skinning on Jax's will show muscles in his arms.
When Rain's X-Ray move is performed on Jax, bones can be seen in his arms. However, this is most likely a gameplay mechanic.
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