William Hastings is a tough kid with innate magical potential. He joins his grandmother, an expert in the occult, and her group of Darkhold Redeemers to keep the demonic entities from the Darkhold spellbook at bay.
Innate Mystic Potential
Will Hastings is the youngest known member of a lineage whose members are frequently born with innate mystic potential. Neither Will’s mother Caprice nor his maternal grandmother, Professor Louise Hastings, were born with such power. While Will himself was, not even Prof. Hastings, whose occult research was partially motivated by knowledge of her family’s history, was initially aware of it. Will was also born with a birthmark over his right eye, possibly a mark of his power. Presumably, Will’s father died or abandoned the family while Will was still quite young since he uses his mother’s original surname of “Hastings.” As a child, Will, nicknamed “Jinx,” develops close ties to Louise, although she remains estranged from Caprice.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jinx grows up as a borderline delinquent, unconsciously using his magic to get himself into and out of trouble. At 14, his mother works as a flight attendant, and while on the job, she encounters her mother Louise and her Darkhold Redeemers associates, Victoria Montesi and Sam Buchanan, who attempt to contain demonic power unleashed by pages from the Darkhold.
During the flight, a passenger’s use of a Darkhold page unleashed evil forces that killed Caprice. Louise becomes Jinx’s guardian and, after he learns about the Darkhold’s power from one of its pages, she rescues him from the forces he unwittingly unleashes while attempting to resurrect Caprice.
Mystical Energy Projection
Unlike most humans, who can only perform magic after extensive training, Jinx was born with innate magical potential that enabled him to cast minor spells, such as creating the illusion of a gun, while unaware he was doing so. Even without training, he could trigger the inherent magic in a Darkhold page without endangering his soul as most other users would. After brief tutelage by Modred the Mystic, Jinx could project mystic energy from his right eye, perform minor chemical alterations, and act as a channel and magnifier for the mystic energy of others.
Jinx possesses basic street-fighting skills and is an above-average athlete; he once wielded a baseball bat in combat.
Monstrous Enemies
Jinx faces the demons summoned from the Darkhold, such as the Monstrosity—a creature that stabs Jinx in the chest, but his teammate Victoria healed him with magic.
Redeemer Allies
After Jinx’s mother dies, Jinx comes under the care of his grandmother, Louise. He joins her Darkhold Redeemers team, protectors of humanity against the ancient tome and spellbook, the Darkhold. The spells contained within are capable of summoning monstrous creatures, and the Redeemers track these pages down to fight back the demonic beings brought forth.
When Modred the Mystic allies with the Redeemers, he immediately senses Jinx’s magical potential, and if cultivated, could someday rival his own. During a battle, Modred mystically sends him away from the danger, and later trains him as an apprentice. When Jinx comes to believe Modred responsible for killing his grandmother, he turns the mystic’s power against him, but the truth comes out that a controlled Morbius, the Living Vampire was actually responsible for her death.
An Apprentice’s Account
Meanwhile, Buchanan received orders from his Interpol superior DeGuzman, secretly a Darkholder, to ambush and abduct Louise and Victoria, which he did, leaving Jinx behind[4]. When Buchanan brought his captives to a Darkholder base, Jinx followed by stowing away beneath his van, then freed Victoria, who freed Louise. Jinx distracted the guards by again activating the Darkhold page. Realizing the truth, Buchanan turned on DeGuzman and escaped with the others.
After meeting Modred the Mystic during the attack on the Redeemers and other mystic heroes, collectively known as the Midnight Sons, by Eric Brooks, AKA Blade, in his mutated form of Switchblade, Jinx became Modred’s apprentice[7]. His talent quickly grew enough for him to help Victoria and other heroes fight the Darkhold-mutated Spider-X. When the Lilin, acting under the orders of their demon-mother Lilith and her consort Zarathos, were unleashed on New York during the Siege of Darkness, Jinx acted as a living conduit to magnify Modred’s already impressive mystic blasts. When a Lilin-controlled Morbius killed Louise, Jinx briefly believed Modred guilty of her death and turned on him, but he and the other Midnight Sons soon learned the truth and continued their war against their foes.
Jinx accompanied the Midnight Sons to South America to fight the Fallen, Zarathos’ worshippers from the mystic Blood race. Still, Modred, believing the final battle against Zarathos and Lilith’s forces too dangerous for a novice, sent Jinx to Vatican City and supervision by Vittorio Montesi, Victoria’s estranged father. Shortly afterward, the Midnight Sons finally defeated Zarathos and Lilith, and Modred briefly took a new apprentice, Wildpride; Jinx’s current activities are unrevealed, but it seems unlikely he was willing to remain in Montesi’s custody for long.
