| Doppelganger | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical Information | |
| Alias: |
Darkness |
| Race: |
Darkling |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Status: |
|
| Character Information | |
| Affiliation: |
Darkness (Creator) |
| Real World Information | |
| First Appearance: | |
- "I like our life. I'm not going to screw up a good thing."
- – The Doppelganger to Jackie. [src]
The Doppelganger is a sentient being created to serve as a substitute vessel for the Darkness after it was exorcised from Jackie by Aram.
Biography[]
Birth[]
The Doppelganger was created when Aram exorcised the Darkness out of Jackie. Being without the host, the Darkness forms a substitute vessel looking exactly like Jackie. He then goes to take some clothes and visits Hope, who believes that its her father visiting her. When Jackie wakes up he sees the Doppelganger before him, stopped by Aram. Aram has put a binding spell on the bunker causing the Doppelganger to be trapped in it during the day. The Doppelganger calms down Jackie, saying that he will cooperate with him and he likes their family therefore he won't screw it up. As for Aram he warns that one day the Darkness will devour his soul.
War with Valko Balakov[]
After his business is attacked by Bulgarian mafia, Jackie meets with the Doppelganger. He asks him to take out the Bulgarians and the Doppelganger complies. The Doppelganger then travels to Greenwich Village and slaughters the mobsters there, including seven female prostitutes. The next morning, Jackie confronts the Doppelganger for killing the seven prostitutes. The Doppelganger doesn't see any problem with what he has done, but decides to change his face the next time he leaves the bunker in order to calm Jackie down.
Later the higher part of Bastet, manages to crawl to the Doppelganger. He picks up the cat and after checking it out, says that something is starting. The next night, the Doppelganger pretends to be Jackie and has sexual intercourse with Jenny. When Jackie comes back home, he fitness the scene, much to his horror.
During the day, Hope sneaks out into the bunker and meets the Doppelganger. The Doppelganger says to Hope to not be upset as there comes a time when children turn against their parents. Sensing that Jackie is coming he tells Hope to go away. Jackie then comes to the bunker and orders the Doppelganger to kill Valko Balakov. As Jackie returns to his bedroom, the Doppelganger pretends to be Jenny and has sexual intercourse with him. After they're done, he leaves the house to kill Balakov.
The Doppelganger watches one of the Balakov's men in the shop. He then follows him in the alleyway and captures him. Fearing for his life, the henchmen quickly tells how many guards are in Balakov's house and where exactly he's located. The Doppelganger then tries to infect the henchmen with the Darkness virus, but instead causes his head to explode. He then changes into the Balakov's henchmen and sneaks into the house.
Inside, he's weakened by Aram's presence. Aram explains to Balakov that the Doppelganger isn't Jackie, but an entity created by the Darkness. Balakov then confronts the Doppelganger, but the latter unleashes the Darkness and summons Darklings to aid him. Balakov in response shoots out tentacles out of his body. The Doppelganger asks what is he and Aram explains that when he was a witch-king, he drew his power from the last traces of the powers that held sway before the Darkness existed. The entities were known as the Ancient Ones and Balakov is one of them. The two then begin to fight.
The Doppelganger facing off against Valko Balakov.
During their fight, the Doppelganger and Balakov fall through ceiling, were they meet Jackie and Aram. Jackie immediately shoots Balakov in the head, knocking him out. Aram then forces the Doppelganger to leave, but not before the latter expressing his frustration over his alliance with Balakov.
Later that day, Hope goes to see a sunrise with the Doppelganger. Although the sun hurts him and it doesn't kill him. The Doppelganger then announces that this means they don't need Jackie any more. The next day, the Doppelganger spends some time with Jenny in their garden. After Jenny goes to her bedroom to sleep, the Doppelganger goes out into the city. He then approaches a homeless man and infects him with the Darkness virus. The Doppelganger then orders the infected to go spread the infection.
The Doppelganger then visits Jackie's team and proceeds to infect all of them except for Wilson. Before he can infect him, the Doppelganger hears Hope calling for him. He then leaves, but says that he will finish with Wilson later. When the Doppelganger comes back home, he finds Jackie, Aram and Hope confronting Balakov in Jenny's bedroom. Suddenly, Jenny awakes and is terrified by the people in the room. Aram calms her down by using hypnosis on her, causing her to relive the best moment in her life. As Jackie is in no fit to fight, Aram orders him to take care of Jenny. Balakov then calms down both the Doppelganger and Hope, saying that it was Jenny who opened the portals to his home and invited him into this world and thus he won't hurt her.
Not believing what Balakov has said, Hope attacks him. The Doppelganger quickly calms her down as he and Aram wants to find out more about this disturbance created by Jenny's existence. Balakov explains that the world was destroyed and Jackie used her daughter to recreate it as she was the codex of this universe. But differently from the old world in this new world Jenny was not only alive, but also the mother of Hope. Bringing her back to life altered the nature of the universe and caused Ancient One portals to open up. Balakov then adds that Hope's real mother was Sara Pezzini. They're then interrupted by Charlotte and Jackie's personal guards who inform the Doppelganger that somebody killed two men from his security team. The Doppelganger says that everything is fine and sends them away.
Back in the bedroom, Balakov announces to make an alliance with the Doppelganger as the Ancient Ones are the Darkness ancestors. The Doppelganger asks Aram if he will too join this alliance, but realizes that he already left the room. Aram then appears behind Jackie and confronts him for what he did to the universe. He reveals that because Jenny is a construct, Hope is now pure Darkness. They're then attacked by Balakov and the Doppelganger. Balakov quickly incapacitates Aram, but the latter manages to teleport away. As they have made alliance, Balakov leaves the Doppelganger to clean up the house and decide what to do with Jackie.
Alliance with Balakov[]
The Doppelganger decides to imprison Jackie in the bunker with the Cathead watching over him. With Jenny and Hope now in his care, the Doppelganger announces that because they created this world in the first place, they can do whatever they want with it.
Later the Doppelganger is informed about Tom Judge and Tilly Grimes having entered Erewhon. He immediately comes back home and proceeds to attack Tom. Tom tries to burn him, but it doesn't work as the Doppelganger doesn't have a faith in anything. Finally the fight is stopped by Jenny who ignores the Doppelganger's objections, screams at him to let Tom and Tilly go. The Doppelganger complies and lets them to leave.
The Doppelganger confronting Tom Judge.
The Doppelganger then visits Jackie in the bunker. Jackie has started to starve and expresses his wish to see Jenny and Hope to the Doppelganger. The Doppelganger says that Hope is fine, although he's not sure what he will do with Jenny. They're then interrupted by the Cathead who reveals that the peacocks that Jackie gave to Jenny have been killed and Hope went into the woods. The Doppelganger goes after her, but is too late and Hope enters a tunnel, which close behind her.
The Doppelganger tries to open the tunnel by force, but fails. He's then approached by a pixie who tells that he can't open the tunnel as it was created only for Hope alone. The pixie continues by telling that the Ancient Ones invited Hope to their realm to test her. Is she succeeds, Hope will return back, but if she fails, the Doppelganger will never see her again. Eventually, Hope returns back from the tunnel, where she is met by the Doppelganger. He asks Hope to tell her everything the Ancient Ones told her, but she's tired and instead goes to the bed.
Returning back to Jackie[]
The next day the Doppelganger senses, that Aram has returned and to take care of Jenny. He then confronts Aram, who reveals to have obtained the Mask of Mana from a Tohunga exorcist in New Zealand. While wearing the mask, the exorcist can contain the demon without being possessed by it and then transfer to a new host. Although the Doppelganger and the Cathead are sceptical, Aram puts on the mask and then terminates his protection against the Darkness. He then invites the Darkness into himself, much to the Doppelgangers objections. As the Darkness takes over Aram, he announces it now belongs to him.
The Doppelganger returning back to Jackie.
With the Darkness in his possession, Aram summons his Darklings. The Darklings surround Jackie and the Doppelganger and prepare to kill them. Aram calls Jackie weak and unworthy of this power. When one of the Darklings tries to lick the Doppelganger, he cuts his tongue off. Realising that without the Doppelganger he's incomplete, Aram tries to absorb him. The Doppelganger pleads Jackie to do something and Jackie tries to convince Aram to let go of the Darkness. He says that the Estacado bloodline is the perfect host for the Darkness as a corrupt man cannot be corrupted.
Jackie then swears that if Aram gives back to him the Darkness, he will stop the Ancient Ones and restore the balance between Darkness and light. Aram's Darklings then try to convince him into keeping the Darkness for himself and take over the world. Remembering how much pain and destruction he brought to the world as the Darkness host, Aram gives it to Jackie. The Doppelganger then assumes his true form as small Darkling and merges with Jackie.
Personality[]
The Doppelganger represent the Darkness side of Jackie. He's cold, sadistic and master of deceit and trickery. Free of human morals, the Doppelganger would kill anyone who stand in his way, even if they were innocent bystanders.
The only positive side, the Doppelganger retains from Jackie is his love for his family. Although even then, the Doppelganger took this to the extreme by corrupting Hope with the Darkness and then imprisoning Jackie in order to replace him and take his family for himself.
Aram also reveals, that although the Doppelganger always posed himself as all powerful being in reality he doubted his power. That's why he decides to side with Balakov, even though he could have easily bested him and took the entire world by himself.
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- "I'm more than your double. I'm the part of you that was the Darkness. There's no limit to what I can do."
- – The Doppelganger to Jackie. [src]
- Darkness: The Doppelganger acts as a substitute vessel for the Darkness and thus has access to all its power.
- Shape-Shifting: The Doppelganger can change his form and gender at will. He transformed into Jenny at one point. He can also imitate clothing. He can also adopt monstrous features such as claws, large fangs, and some Darkness armor.
- Darkling Conjuration: Just like ordinary hosts, the Doppelganger can summon hordes of Darklings, that do everything he wishes.
- Tentacle Conjuration: Doppelganger can create multiple sharp appendages to kill or incapacitate his opponents.
- Voice Mimicry: The Doppelganger can imitate the voices of others. He was able to mimic both Jackie's and Jenny's voices.
- Superhuman Strength: The Doppelganger can easily overpower and eviscerate humans with his bare hands. He could also match empowered Valko Balakov in a fist fight.
- Teleportation: The Doppelganger can travel to any location instantaneously without occupying the space in-between. He achieves this by walking through portals that he can create out of thin air.
- Telepathy: He can hear the telepathic voices of the Darklings and the victims of The Darkness, including those, that were infected with the Darkness virus.
- Conversion: With a single touch, The Doppelganger can turn a person into a Darkness creature bound to his will by infecting him with the Darkness virus.
Weaknesses[]
- Former Darkness Hosts: While Doppelganger was in full control of the Darkness, former hosts could still take, that control from him. With the help of Mask of Mana, Aram was able to absorb the Darkness, taking full control of it and leaving Doppelganger powerless to stop him.
Trivia[]
- Doppelganger is German for "Double Walker" - harbinger of bad luck and personification of death.
- The Doppelganger wears Jackie's old suit, which he would wear when he served as hitman for Frankie Franchetti.
Gallery[]
