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"Son of M" is a Marvel miniseries published in 2006, as part of the "House of M" cross-over event. The "M" stands for mutant, and "House of M" is about Quicksilver's attempts to use the Terrigen mists to reverse the loss of mutant power. It also gives crucial insights into the Quicksilver and Luna question. Lockjaw appears frequently. One contributor to Wikipedia said that issue 4 proves that Lockjaw lacks intelligence. So let us take a closer look. |
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The first page of Son of M issue 4 seems to be damning, final proof that Lockjaw is stupid. The narrator states plainly that Lockjaw has "limited intelligence." Usually the narrator in a comic is the writer, and is considered omniscient. However. Son of M is different. As you can see from these examples, taken from issues before and after the "intelligence" quote, all the narration is by Quicksilver. (Except for words from other characters which are marked with colored borders.) Quicksilver is a character with his own opinions and prejudices. He is not the omniscient writer. |
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So the "limited intelligence" quote is simply Quicksilver's opinion. This explains why the description of Lockjaw is so distorted. We saw in The Thing 4, Lockjaw had recently chosen to make his main home with the Thing. While he is always ready to help those he loves, Lockjaw is tied to nobody except Black Bolt (hence asking Black Bolt's permission to leave). Yet Quicksilver portrays Lockjaw as helplessly torn between two mistresses. Now that we know what Quicksilver thinks, we have new light on his famous statement that Lockjaw's speaking was just a joke. Up until now, we the readers did not know if Quicksilver was just covering up the secret, or if he genuinely believed that Lockjaw was dumb. It now seems clear that Quicksilver genuinely believes it. He cannot accept that Lockjaw humiliated him. "You misbegotten mongrel" Crystal said "take me home now, you misbegotten mongrel, or I swear I will have you neutered!" Does this prove Lockjaw is inferior? Crystal is angry. It seems to her that her faithful companion has betrayed her, is siding with her hated husband, and is putting her daughter in danger. Of course she uses strong language! When a woman feels that a male friend is endangering her children she may call him an animal a pig, a rat, or much worse. She is angry. However, the choice of words is interesting. "Misbegotten" implies that something went wrong when Lockjaw was born. Mongrel implies he comes from more than one genetic line. Remember the theory about Black Bolt and a dog entering the mists together? And as for the neutering reference, most human pets are neutered. Most intelligent beings are not neutered. Lockjaw is not neutered. Angry wives or girlfriends sometimes threaten their husbands with this. We cannot draw many firm conclusions, but this is probably the closest we will get to a definite statement on this part of Lockjaw's life. Other people with limited intelligence On the next page, after Quicksilver says Lockjaw has limited intelligence, we see that Crystal believes that her own daughter has limited intelligence. We then see that Medusa disagrees with Crystal - perhaps bringing into question Crystal's intelligence. Or Medusa's. |
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If we wish to believe, like Quicksilver, that Lockjaw has limited intelligence, then we must also face the fact that children have limited intelligence. And so do adults. So does everyone. We should judge people by what they can do, not by what they can't. Was Luna in danger in Byrne's story? One argument against Lockjaw's talking was that he did not need to speak - the danger to Luna would be enough to stop Quicksilver. In Son of M we learn that the Inhumans agree with Reed - they believe that Luna would indeed be in great danger. |
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Crucially, this would not have been enough to stop Quicksilver. Regardless of their warnings he goes ahead and exposes his daughter anyway. This is extremely important for our view of the key moment when Lockjaw spoke. If Lockjaw did not speak, what persuaded Quicksilver to change his mind over Luna? Quicksilver did change his mind in a dramatic moment. This is the smoking gun that shows that something very dramatic did indeed happen. What are the alternatives? That Quicksilver decided it was OK to have a human daughter? Yet his views on mutants being superior were well known. Did Quicksilver decide not to expose Luna at first because of the danger? If so, did he change his mind in Son of M because he was able to survive them himself? But his own experience was irrelevant. Reed Richards said that the inhuman and mutant genes canceled out in Luna, so she was genetically not like Quicksilver. So Quicksilver's experience with the mists does not imply anything about Luna. The simplest explanation is that Quicksilver always believed the mists would be relatively harmless to Luna (and he is proven right). When she was a baby something (Lockjaw speaking, or what else?) made him change his mind temporarily. But over the years he has convinced himself that this event never happened. So he returns to the initial plan: give Luna some powers! Quicksilver and Karnak are proven wrong: Lockjaw shows judgment In Son of M, Lockjaw plays only a minor role, but as usual he indicates hidden intelligence. First, note that he is skillful and not easily frightened. At one point he decides, of his own initiative, that Luna may be in danger, so he defeats some highly armed US. special forces. Sure, you can say "he was acting like a dog" but judge him by his results. He is more effective than the other humans or Inhumans who just stand around doing nothing. |
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| At an earlier stage, he is told by Luna to keep Crystal away, and is told by Crystal to take her to Luna. He has contradictory instructions. Crystal gets angry, and Lockjaw leaves. What are we to conclude? |
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Karnak concludes that Lockjaw was scared by Crystal. Scared? Yet he is ready to attack armed aggressors. Lockjaw does not get scared easily. Perhaps he was disturbed because Crystal is a loved one? This is a sign of emotional sensitivity and not fear. If a human is insulted by a loved one, and the loved one is in a rage, the wise thing is to give them space. Lockjaw acts like a sensitive human. And let us return to Quicksilver's claim that Lockjaw could not handle conflicting commands. Plainly Quicksilver is wrong. Lockjaw was told by Luna to not bring Crystal, and he obeys perfectly. Faced with contradictory commands he chooses which one to obey, just as a human would. Lockjaw acts smarter than the people - again Later in the story, Luna is growing addicted to inhaling the Terrigen mists. And Quicksilver, who travels with them, values them very highly. As they teleport away, Quicksilver cries in desperation for the canister containing the mists. And Luna, like any addict needing a fix, lashes out at Lockjaw. |
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Years earlier, Lockjaw showed that he can teleport extremely quickly when he wants to - he once even caught Quicksilver (before Quicksilver lost his speed). So why didn't Lockjaw bring the Terrigen canister? Even those who say that Lockjaw is stupid will concede that he perfectly understands commands, and that he wishes to please his "owner." So according to the "dumb Lockjaw" theory, he should have brought the canister as requested. Yet he did not. It seems that Lockjaw understood the drug-like dangers of the mists, so he took the initiative to save the people from themselves. Once again the "dog" acts smarter than the "people." Lockjaw saves the world again By the end of the story we see that the Terrigen mists have great and often painful effects on people. We also see that Quicksilver plays an important part in giving power back to former mutants. And we see that his vision of the future shows great carnage and destruction. The smartest minds on the planet, the best informed and most powerful beings, including the Inhumans, the American military, and Reed Richards, all agree that the use of the Terrigen mists should be restricted. Yet they don't know how to stop Quicksilver. Of all these smart and powerful people, only one person could ensure that Quicksilver lost control of the mists at just the right time (when the military were there - any other time and Quicksilver could just have time jumped and got them back again.) Lockjaw did exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. As usual. If the mists are as dangerous as the smart people think, then Lockjaw has saved the world, again, when nobody else could. And how could Lockjaw save the world when others could not? How did he gain the complete trust of Quicksilver despite being a loyal servant of Quicksilver's enemies? By acting like a dumb dog. A dumb dog who manages to save the world every time he goes for a walk, and the people around him don't even realize the significance of what he has done. Lockjaw is like the ultimate spy, and surely the smartest "dumb dog" in the universe. Objections: When Lockjaw kept the mists from Quicksilver, they fell into the hands of General Lazer of the US army. Is Lazer just as dangerous as Quicksilver? Perhaps. Perhaps much more dangerous. But while Quicksilver wanted to use the mists as quickly as possible, Lazer has no immediate plans. Lockjaw did the best that anyone could in the circumstances - he bought time. He saved the world temporarily. That is all any hero can do - the world is never saved forever, it is only given more time before the next danger comes along. What more could Lockjaw have done? Broke cover, gone solo, taken the mist canister to the moon and left Quicksilver and Luna alone? That would have alerted the authorities to his abilities and destroyed his chances to do good in the future. As it stands, Lockjaw did better than anyone else. Nobody else was as effective in the crisis. Reed Richards, the smartest man on earth, could not solve the problem. Black Bolt, the king of the Inhumans, only managed to start a war. The highly trained elite soldiers just fell down underneath Lockjaw. The rest of the Inhumans and humans just stood around getting frustrated. Judging by results, Lockjaw was the smartest one there. |
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Can Lockjaw speak? Finally, this is what David Hine, the writer of Son of M said about Lockjaw talking: "Marvel's official stance is 'Yes, he's a dog dammit!' and I've gone along with that in my treatment of the character in the Son of M series, but unofficially, as a reader and a fan, I still have niggling doubts. ... "It was argued that The Inhumans would never treat a member of their family as a glorified pet. [...but] it is not inconsistent for The Inhumans to show disrespect for an Inhuman who's Terrigenesis goes wrong. In The Inhumans series Sonic Youth, written by Paul Jenkins, the Inhuman, Woz, comes out of Terrigenesis with the appearance of an Alpha primitive, the sub species that slaves away underground to maintain the machinery that keeps the Inhuman city of Attilan going. The Inhumans had no scruples about banishing Woz to the Underworld to live with the Alphas. Later it was discovered that, despite his appearance, Woz still had Inhuman attributes and was reinstated in Inhuman society. But his treatment is proof that The Inhumans can be, for want of a better expression, brutally inhuman. In a sense the result of Terrigenesis is seen as a judgment on the worthiness of those who undergo it. It is quite possible that even if Lockjaw was in fact a member of the Inhuman Royal Family, they would lose respect for him if the process of Terrigenesis turned him into a dumb animal." |
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