Jax Briggs

Major Jackson Briggs, better known as Jax, is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

About Jax
Jax was the first African American character in the Mortal Kombat series and made his debut in the second game. He is portrayed as an archetypical American hero. In the chain of command of the Special Forces, he is Sonya Blade's direct superior, and clearly the catalyzing force of Sonya's impulsiveness. Jax is clear-headed, careful and always keeping a watch on what his men are doing, but 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.

Storyline
Jax made his first chronological appearance in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. The game opened depicting a prison break at Special Forces' detention facility. Jax, driving along a highway, received a transmission from his fellow Special Forces operative Gemini detailing the escape and the escapees: No-Face, Tasia, Jarek and Tremor. She informed him that they had escaped to a warehouse on the town's south side, likely receiving assistance from an outside source. Jax surmised that source to be Kano. He received another transmission form one Lieutenant Sanchez, whose squad had arrived at the warehouse. After the transmission was cut off at the source, Jax arrived at the scene to find the squad destroyed. For this, he swore he would achieve vengeance against Kano. Using prototype bionic implants on his arms in order to enhance his strength, Jax set out to find his enemy.

Infiltrating the warehouse, Jax confronted No-Face and dispatched him. Proceeding into the sewers, he did likewise to Tasia. At this point, Gemini contacted Jax again and informed him that the Black Dragon were using a corporate building as a front for their base of operations. At the building, Jax confronted and defeated Jarek, and his investigation led him to the town of the lost city of Sin Kiang, where he defeated Tremor and discovered a portal to Outworld. Surmising that the portal was linked to Kano's plans of global domination, he entered. The portal led to Outworld, and Jax caught up with Kano, who had acquired an artifact called the Eye of Shitian through which he could acquire great power. After an exchange of words, the two fought, and Jax emerged the victor. He used the Eye's power to bring them both back to Earthrealm and brought Kano into custody, only to have the criminal escape at a later date. At this point, Jax ceased using his bionic implants.

Jax appeared on the stage of the Mortal Kombat tournaments proper when Sonya was abducted by Shang Tsung after the end of the first tournament, as a means to appease Shao Kahn after his failure to win. He travelled into Outworld once more, and became acquainted with the other Earthrealm warriors there. Soon he came to learn of the Emperor's dark plans for Earthrealm, and as soon as he had freed Sonya (and inadvertently Kano), he headed back home to warn his government of the impending danger. He would find himself frustrated, however, as not only did Kano escape back into Outworld, but the government did not believe the major.

Jax began to prepare for war covertly, and once more outfitted his arms with bionic implants. After helping foil Shao Kahn's attempt to permanently claim Earth as his own, Jax became the commanding officer of the Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA). They operated from an underground bunker, and had scouts in various realms, not only exploring and mapping them, but also looking for inter-realm portals that could lead to Earth: these needed to be destroyed. He briefly assisted Raiden in the defeat of Shinnok in Edenia, and it was during these events that both he and Sonya would find the Lin Kuei cyborg Cyrax, malfunctioning and trapped in a desert. Returning with him to their home base, they reversed the automation process, restored his humanity, and gained a new ally. Years later, trouble would occur again, as not only were his agents Kenshi and Cyrax lost in Outworld, but the OIA underground facility was nuked into oblivion by the traitor Hsu Hao. When, soon after, Raiden summoned the Earthrealm warriors to the abandoned island of Shang Tsung and asked them to travel with him to Outworld to bring down the Deadly Alliance, Jax didn't hesitate. He used this trip as a cover to track down Hsu Hao and, once he caught up with the criminal, killed him by tearing out his artificial heart.

Afterward, he was among the group of warriors who made a final stand against the Deadly Alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but was unfortunately killed in the ensuing combat along with the rest of his allies. He, like his friends, was eventually found by Onaga and revived as a mindless drone, used to intimidate the survivors of his group before killing them outright. As of now, his fate remains uncertain, but he will appear in the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

Moves

 * Ground Pound: Jax smashes his metal arms on the ground, shaking the arena. (MK2,MK3,UMK3,MKT,MK4,MK Gold,MK:DA)
 * "Gotcha" Grab: Jax grabs his opponent up and hit him 3 times with punches. (MK2,MK3,UMK3,MKT)
 * Missile: Jax shoots a purple ball. (MK3,UMK3,MKT,MK4,MK Gold)
 * Piston punch: Jax punches his enemy multiple times. (MK:DA)
 * Machine Gun: Jax takes out his machine gun and shoots at the enemy. (MK:DA)
 * MultiSlam: Jax grabs the enemy and slams him/her to the ground can be done multiple times. (MK2,MK3,UMK3,MKT,MK4,MK Gold,)

Fatalities

 * Head Clap: Jax claps his hands violently over his opponent's head, crushing it. (MKII, MKT PSX, MK4)
 * Arm Rip: Jax grabs the arms of his opponent and rips them off their body. (MKII, MK4)
 * Big Foot: Jax grows extremely large and crushes his opponent with his boot. (MK3)
 * Slice 'em up!: Jax's metal arms turn into swords and slices his opponent into pieces. (MK3)
 * Foot Decap: Jax throws his enemies face down on the ground and then jumps high in the air, bringing his 300+ lbs down on the enemy's head, smashing it. (MKDA)

Other finishers

 * Origami – Jax cuts out some paper dolls. (MKII)
 * Jumprope – Jax begins to jump rope. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Lion – Jax turns into a lion and mauls the opponent. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Movie appearances
Jax (misspelled in the closing credits as Jaxx) makes a brief appearance in the first Mortal Kombat movie, in which he advises Sonya not to board Shang Tsung's ship after accompanying her on the raid on Kano's club near the beginning of the movie. He was played by Gregory McKinney.

Former American Gladiators actor Lynn "Red" Williams plays Jax in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He defeats the Centaurian Motaro (played by fellow Gladiators alumnus Deron McBee). His ambiguous relationship with the technological enhancements he uses is explored a bit, but overall he is a tough-talking, African American stock character in the movie.

Trivia

 * His original name was going to be Kurtis Stryker. Midway later recycled that name to create a new character in Mortal Kombat 3.
 * Jax was originally conceived as simply a kickboxer, but the idea was scrapped due to potential similarities to Balrog and Sagat 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.
 * 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 story line 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.