Both versions of Jackpot had tragic lives, with their mutual bad endings arguably being even worse than Spider-Man’s notoriously bad luck.
Spider-Man has faced, fought against and fought alongside a variety of heroes, villains and monsters throughout the years, with his supporting cast and Rogues Gallery being one of the best within comic books. One of his more unknown and underrated supporting cast members, however, is the relatively forgotten Jackpot.
Homaging one of Peter Parker’s closest relationships, the Jackpot role was taken by two women during the character’s prominence. Sadly, both versions of Jackpot had fairly tragic lives, with their mutual bad endings arguably being even worse than Spider-Man’s notoriously bad luck. Here’s how two unfortunate women in the Marvel Universe did anything but hit the jackpot.
Sara Ehret
The original version of Jackpot debuted in Spider-Man: Swing Shift #1, and was created by longtime Spider-Man scribe Dan Slott and iconic artist Phil Jimenez. Her secret identity was Sara Ehret, a scientist who worked for smaller company within Oscorp. After being exposed to an experimental isotope, the pregnant Ehret went into a coma. After awakening from the coma and giving birth, she soon discovered that she had superhuman strength.
Due to her red hair, tendency to call people “Tiger” and the name Jackpot itself, Peter initially believed that the new super-heroine was Mary Jane Watson. She served as a superhero briefly under the fallout of the Civil War storyline, but eventually gave up the identity to live a civilian life. This involved her selling her superhero ID card to Alana Jobson, a fan who became her successor as Jackpot.
Alana Jobson
Alana, also created by Slott and Jimenez, swore up and down to many that knew her in the superhero community that she was in fact the original Jackpot. In actuality, she was in love with Sara Ehret and had yet to come to terms with her own sexuality. Likewise, she emulated Sara’s powers by experimental drugs which actually made her more powerful than her predecessor. She ends up getting in over her head when she takes on the villain Menace, who kidnaps a councilwoman during her tirade. This results in the councilwoman’s accidental death, which Menace, Spider-Man and even Jackpot herself blame on Jackpot.
She would bounce back from the incident and remain a successful superhero until a fateful encounter with the villain Blindside. Exposure to his blindness serum robs Alana of her eyesight, though Spider-Man is able to give her an antidote. Unfortunately, this antidote had an adverse effect when combined with Alana’s drugs and killed her not long afterward.
When Spider-Man tries to investigate his former ally’s death, he discovers that the woman who died was not the original Jackpot. He blames Sara Ehret for what he saw as her shirking her responsibilities as a hero, especially since it led to Alana’s death. Though she did it mainly because she felt guilty, Sara became Jackpot again, coming into conflict with Boomeranger and a new version of the Rose.
The Rose and Boomerang tracked her down after learning her secret identity, and used the opportunity to kill the woman’s husband in front of her and her daughter. Though she would defeat the villain afterward, Sara and her daughter were shaken to their core from the incident. Needing to get away and shake off her compromised identity, she took the name Alana Jobson in honor of her successor.
The horrible fate of these two women just goes to show the less than triumphant circumstances that can befall those who choose to become heroes. This is made even more blatant given that Sara’s husband would likely still be alive if Spider-Man hadn’t guilt tripped her into becoming Jackpot again. Though she’s since gone into creative limbo, the resurrection of the Rose that outed Alana as Jackpot means that the redheaded heroine could soon come back herself.
