Articles: The Lockjaw Controversy

Is Lockjaw a dog or a severely mutated Inhuman? This question has been bothering Marvel fans for some time now and a couple of obscure issues have made things clearer and more confusing simultaneously. Hopefully, I can alleviate that here.

Lockjaw, since his introduction, had been considered a dog. A large dog with unique teleportation abilities, but a dog nonetheless. But then John Byrne set some things in motion that caused a number of problems. Quicksilver and Crystal give birth to their daughter Luna. (Fantastic Four #240) As shown in the following panel, Reed discovers that their unique genetic makeups result in their child being completely human.

Some time later (Thing #3) Quicksilver tries to subject Luna to the Terrigen Mists as is customary for all Inhuman children. Crystal protests, but it is Lockjaw's intervention that prevents Quicksilver from acting. Lockjaw speaks and requests that Luna is not subjected to the Mists because her mutation may be as abhorrent as his own...

The story, written by John Byrne and drawn by Ron Wilson, is very heart-warming but it causes several problems. If Lockjaw is indeed an Inhuman as he says here, that means that the Inhuman Royal Family are willing to subject their peer (and relative!) to his inhumane treatment based on his appearance alone. The direct implication is that this supposedly socially superior race is even worse than humans. A race whose foundations are built on genetic diversity subjecting one of their own royalty in such a manner portrays them as an incredible heartless and calous group indeed.

Another problem is that Luna is, as stated above, human. If Reed's analysis is correct, that would mean that exposing her to the Terrigen Mists would only kill her, as it only mutates Inhumans and, to a lesser extent, Kree. Luna's death should have been more than enough of a threat to halt Quicksilver's actions, but no one mentioned that her humanity could have easily killed her in the Mists.

Peter David, with some suggestions from Kurt Busiek, found the situation unpleasant and felt that he needed to rectify it as best as he could. In the pages of X-Factor #71, we find a retcon to bring Lockjaw back to his dog status...

Although the idea of Lockjaw's voice being a joke played by Karnak and Gorgon is by far not the best solution, it seems a better one than causing an upheaval in how Inhuman society works. If Lockjaw is to be treated like a dog, then he should be a dog.

It has obviously caused a great deal of confusion over the past few years, but the final analysis, like it or not, is that Lockjaw is simply a dog. Anything more would be uncivilized to be sure.