Origin
Jenny Takeda was a normal girl with a normal family, normal friends, and a normal life in California. That all changed the day her boyfriend wound up comatose after kissing her. Tests at the hospital confirmed that she was the cause of his coma, and it was then that Norman Osborn, kidnapped her and jump-started her powers against her will. After returning home, her family was exposed to her for so long that they began to fall ill. Even her dog died after prologed exposure and contact with her. Then, thankfully, Hank Pym stepped in and invited her to the Avengers Academy, promising to work on a way to cure her condition, or at least help her regain control of it somehow.
Creation
Hazmat was created by writer Christos Gage and artist Mike McKone and debuted in Avengers Academy.
Character Evolution
Jenny had a pretty priveleged life before developing her condition. She had a credit card, an iPad, and all the toys, along with a boyfriend. She lost it all when she almost killed him with a kiss, rendering him comatose. Norman Osborn lied to her, promising to help her understand and control her abilities, but only succeeded in making her condition worse. Jenny’s current condition continues to shut her off from the rest of the world, as does her angry, standoff-ish personality, a trait that stems from her disillusionment with her inability to interact with others without her containment suit.
Major Story Arcs
Avengers Academy
When Hazmat and the others learn that there going to the Raft, she, Veil, and Mettle go down to Norman Osborn’s cell to make him tell them how to reverse their powers so they can have normal lives again. Hazmat used a hidden EMP power she hid from the rest to cause the blackout. Osborn used his words well, and convinced the three that he could cure them later, though Hazmat very much felt like they blew their opportunity to kill him. The kids were scolded for leaving the rest of the group, but Mettle covered for the rest that it was fate that caused the blackout.
Lately, Reptil has been suspicious of Hazmat, but hasn’t had any solid evidence that she was involved with the Raft incident. Reptil also tried to get Mettle and Hazmat to hook up as a couple, which humorously caused the two to be offended. After coming across the assault videos of Tigra being attacked by the Hood, Hazmat took the initiative and got Veil and Striker to track down the villain and attack him when he was powerless, videotaping the process as well. When they showed the tape to Tigra, she was furious, claiming the three were not Avenger material, and expelled the three from the Academy. The other teachers vetoed her expulsion, and they were allowed back, but Hazmat was to take anger management classes.
During her anger management, Hank Pym invited Leech to be with her for the day, allowing Hazmat to be able to live the day outside of her suit. She went home to see her parents, but was brought to tears when her parents were expecting her to be permanently fixed. On a trip to StaMord, the Cobolt Men attacked, but she was unable to fight back because of Leech’s power drain. When Pym offered Leech to be with her biweekly, Hazmat turned the offer down, saying her lack of powers could get her killed, and that until a permanent cure is found, she will wear the suit and keep fighting.
As an attack by Korvac went underway, all the kids went through an alteration to become adults with their current minds to stop him. Hazmat started to freak out finding out she was still stuck in her suit. She along with Veil’s help defeated Korvac, revealing that she had had the ability to generate anti-matter in her future self. After returning to her normal self, Mettle came in to comfort her. At first she was stubborn, but she then revealed her pent up sadness, and the two cried about being stuck in their current states for the foreseeable future.
During Prom, Hazmat lashed out at Veil for trying to get her together with Butterball, asking why she should be stuck with ugly potential boyfriends. Mettle overhears this, and smashes a statue in the hallway. Hazmat comes out and apologizes, and the two open up with one another, being honest about what they think of the other. Hazmat then proposes that they probably should try dating.
Fear Itself
Later during Fear Itself, Hazmat and Mettle become boyfriend and girlfriend. The when the team returned for fight the villains, Mettle had a talk with Hazmat about their experiences in the battle. He later said he killed some people which bothered him. She then asked Veil to help Mettle since she experienced a similar encounter. As Titania and Absorbing Man terrorize the Infinite Mansion, Hazmat, with Striker and Finesse, start to outsmart them, having her pretend to be switching sides as well as exploding like a nuclear bomb to slow them down. While stuck on the Infinite Mansion, which was slowly growing to crush Chicago, Finesse suggest that they set the building to self destruct. Hazmat choose to stay behind, as Mettle didn’t want her to die alone. Before they confronted the two Worthy, they gave a kiss, and began to fight the two behemoths. Hank Pym busted into the building just in time to save the the two students.
West Coast
Hazmat, along with the other four kids went to the West Coast Manor for the new semester. Initially afraid that she and the others would be replaced by the new students, because of the fact that they were still somewhat unstable and that Norman Osborn was responsible (not to mention how she, Veil, and Mettle tried to kill him on the Raft), she manages to get them worked up, and a fight ensues between the teachers and the “first year” students. Later, desperate to be with Mettle, Jennifer tries to have sex with him before they get sent away. However, before they can follow through with her intentions, she realizes she can’t because she is too afraid, after the last time she tried to have sex with her now ex-boyfriend, who wound up in a coma after a simple kiss. The kids later find out they are staying, much to both Hazmat and Mettle’s relief.
When Hazmat brings Mettle to talk to X-23 about killing, the Reptil, who is possessed by his future self, comments that X-23 could steal Mettle from her, thus putting a wedge in Hazmat’s and Mettle’s relationship. Hazmat and Mettle continued their relationship for the entirety of the series, eventually consummating it in the final issue.
Avengers Arena
Along with 15 other teenage heroes, including her friends Mettle, X-23, Reptil and Juston Seyfert, Hazmat was kidnapped by Arcade and placed in an arena in which they will be forced to fight to the death until only one remains. To show the heroes that he was serious, Arcade moves to kill Hazmat. To save her, Mettle steps forward, allowing himself to be killed to save the girl he loves. Devastated by his loss, Hazmat was completely oblivious to Red Raven‘s escape attempt which resulted in her snapping her neck on an invisible barrier which acts as a ceiling on Murderworld. When Death Locket, another of the kidnapped teens, attempted to approach her and say she was sorry for her loss, Hazmat reacted with anger. Slipping into a trance, Death Locket attacked Hazmat with a flamethrower. Hazmat returned fire with her radiation blasts, causing Death Locket to flee into the snow. Hazmat also assumed a leadership role amongst her fellow Avengers Academy teammates.
After one of the night attacks caused Juston and his Sentinel Mark IV to disappear, Hazmat reluctantly agreed to an alliance with Runaways Nico Minoru and Chase Stein, motivated primarily by a food tree created by Nico. However, after a burst of flames left Reptil injured and near death, the alliance imploded with blame being placed on Chase, who had been with Reptil only moments beforehand. Believing him to be trying to kill her and her friends, Hazmat opened fire on Chase but was blocked by Nico. In a last vindictive act, Hazmat killed the Nico’s tree before allowing the two to leave unharmed.
When Arcade announced the supply cache, Hazmat and X-23 attempted to ferry Reptil there in order to claim the medical supplies to treat his wounds. Along the way Reptil regained consciousness and revealed to the two that it was actually Death Locket who was responsible for his burns, not Chase. Further tragedy struck the trio when Hazmat accidently triggered a mine that bathed them in Trigger Scent, causing X-23 to fly into a rage and attack Hazmat and Reptil. Fortunately, Reptil was able to transform into a pterodactyl and carried Hazmat to Safe Zone 3, where he then collapsed.
While the game continued to play out and claim the lives of Kid Briton, Juston, and Nico, Hazmat and Reptil stayed safe and forgotten in their safe zone until Day 25, when Nico’s escape portal dumped contestants Nara, Anachronism, Cammi, Bloodstone, and X-23 right into their midst. Despite some initial tension, Hazmat and Reptil ultimately accepted them and did not attack. Noticing some unusual quirks in Hazmat’s character, X-23 asked what had happened to her that caused her to be so overwhelmingly happy and make jokes such as “Shark Steak Dance Party.” Reptil then revealed that Arcade had broken her. Killing Mettle, losing Juston and X-23, and, finally, waiting for two weeks with nobody other than a grievously injured Reptil for something bad to happen to her had caused her to give up and accept that she was going to die.
With some convincing from Cammi and Bloodstone, Reptil confronted Hazmat over her behaviour, claiming that Mettle wouldn’t have wanted her to give up which caused Hazmat to deal with her situation and acknowledge both her current situation and Mettle’s death. Realizing that Reptil was right, Hazmat rejoined the others and made her way back to Murderworld proper to help the group search for the missing Nico.
Once back on the mainland things to a turn for the worse because, one morning, Hazmat saw Mettle and charged off after him, with X-23 following her. When she finally caught up with him, it was revealed not to be Mettle, but rather a robot which then proceeded to douse her with more trigger scent. A second attack from an enraged Laura seriously wounded Hazmat and left her near death while the Mettle-bot sunk into the ground. X-23 would later appear with blood covered claws to confront Nara, Anachronism, Cammi, and Bloodstone when Arcade flooded the island with trigger scent, apparently distracted by the other teenagers and leaving her alive.
Hazmat would later be seen fleeing into the woods leaking radiation fleeing from Laura again. This time, however, it was Aiden who interrupted the attack. Aiden blamed Laura for the death of Nara and swung his axe into her chest, thereby knocking her off of Hazmat. Even while wounded, Hazmat tried to get the others to stop fighting, but was mostly immobile because of her injuries. The injuries to her and her suit caused her radiation to leak and build up, looking like she was going to detonate and kill everyone in Murder World. Luckily for the group, Reptil charged at her, transformed into a prehistoric crocodile, scooped her up in his mouth, and carried her into the water where she detonated safely.
When Death Locket ended the deathmatch by killing Apex, after Arcade had escaped, Hazmat emerged from the water without her containment suit and not emitting her usual radiation. She and the other survivors agreed not to tell any of the adults what had happened to them or who was responsible. Jenny was latter seen hugging Hank Pym in another biohazard suit when he and some of the other adult heroes arrived.
Avengers Undercover
Three months after she and the others escaped from Murderworld, Jenny has seemingly left Avengers Academy and is now travelling by herself. Whilst stopped at a burger shop, she overhears three obnoxious teenagers talking about the footage from Murderworld, which Arcade had leaked online. One of the teens claims that Hazmat was the worst of the kidnapped kids, due to her aggressive actions against Nico Minoru and Chase Stein, her inability to defend herself against X-23, and her mental breakdown due to her role in Mettle‘s death. Unable to stand back any longer, Hazmat interrupts his ranting and melts their table with her powers, demonstrating that she now has complete control over them. She walks away without sparing a backwards glance to the frightened teens.
Later on, Jenny, Nico, Chase, and Death Locket arrive at Bloodstone Manor, home of the late Ulysses Bloodstone and home of Cullen Bloodstone. Cammi and Anachronism are already there, whereupon Aiden reveals that Cullen has become obsessed with killing Arcade, filling one of the manor’s rooms with pictures of Arcade’s associates and safe houses. Aiden eventually reveals why he called them there, and plays a video Cullen recorded of himself removing his Bloodstone Ring, allowing the Glartrox to take control, and throwing himself down into Bagalia, home of Baron Helmut Zemo‘s Masters of Evil. Jenny, Aiden, Cammi, Nico, Chase, and Rebecca all agree to infiltrate Bagalia and rescue him.
As the group descends into Bagalia they are spotted by several teenage villains, including Excavator, Black Knight, Mako, Melter, Morg, Egghead, Mudbug, Coat of Arms, Snot, and Executioner (DuBois), leading to a fight between the two groups. When Rebecca claims not to know how to fight, Hazmat, while blasting Coat of Arms, tells her to blast away with her gun arm which ends the fight and allows the teens to locate Cullen at Arcade’s bar, The Hole.
Once inside, the group learns that Cullen isn’t being kept there against his will, his staying is voluntary. This revelation causes some tension between Aiden and Cullen, causing Jenny to pull Aiden aside. Whilst dancing, she explains to him that Cullen is angry about his attempted murder following Nara‘s death, and equates their positions due to both having lost the love of their lives in Murderworld. She urges him to fit in with the villains before he gets himself killed and tells him they’ll stay and try to get Cullen out.
The teens then spend the next four hours dancing and partying at The Hole before Cammi pulls them outside and tells them they’re leaving. Cullen appears abruptly, alongside his mentor Hellstorm, and more established Masters of Evil Constrictor and Madame Masque. Daimon then teleports the group to an undisclosed location, transforming their clothes so that they’ll be able to fit in with their surroundings. The group finds themselves at a party being held by none other than Arcade, who appears moments after their arrival.
When she saw Arcade, Jenny began flashing back to her traumatic experiences in Murderworld and went into a state of catatonic shock. She was nearly killed several times, but was saved last minute by Aiden, who dragged her to safety with the other kids. Whilst the others argued about what they were going to do, Jenny just sat there impassively. When the group split up to shut down Arcade’s powers, Cammi, Aiden, and Chase stayed behind to protect Jenny. When Arcade stumbles across them, he quickly begins thrashing them, before turning to the still catatonic Hazmat. He claims to empathize with her about how they are both empty following the latest incarnation of Murderworld and launches into a monologue about whether getting the fame he wanted from their torture was worth it, while levitating the other kids. At that moment, Death Locket used her Deathlok nanotech to hack into Arcade’s system and shut it down, thereby de-powering him. The other kids proceed to beat Arcade up, but eventually stop, at which point Jenny is no longer in shock. She then gestures at him with a finger gun and blasts him with radiation, killing him and referencing what he said to the late Mettle on the first day the kids spent in Murderworld.
Powers
Jenny can produce radiation and other toxic substances from her body. All of her body’s tissues and fluids are toxic including her sweat, saliva and even breath. She is also completely immune to the toxic substances she can generate, and has even demonstrated the ability to absorb the hazardous substances she generates, though it is unknown if she can absorb other toxins and forms of radiation that she has not created. She later emits an EMP that the instructors at the Academy have no idea she is capable of producing. This could likely be explained in that, for robots, cyborgs, and electronics in general, an Electo-Magnetic Pulse is quite possibly the most toxic, harmful thing they are vulnerable to, if the only thing.
During Fear Itself, Hazmat displays an explosive power, where she explodes like a nuclear bomb and absorbs all of the radiation being released in a single move. It is possible that Jennifer possesses the ability to incite explosive reactions by generating the proper toxic elements required to create a nuclear bomb, or any other form of explosive. Whether this means that she is gaining more control over her abilities of if she did this unconsciously is unknown at this time.
In the wake of the student’s battle with Korvac, it was reviealed that, at some point in the future, Jennifer has gained enough control over her powers to the point where she is able to generate and emit a concentrated burst of anti-matter energy potent enough to defeat Korvac.
Following the events of Avengers Arena, Jenny now has complete control over her powers. She no longer has to wear her containment suit around others.
Personality
Hazmat is very bitter about her condition, and her dim outlook on her situation and that of the others affected by Norman Osborn’s monstrous experiments leads to her being bitingly sarcastic at times. She tends to be the quickest to snap at others and most likely to downplay the instructors. She seems to bond most with Veil and Mettle, since both of them are at risk of either dying or remaining in an inhuman state for the rest of their natural life because of Norman Osborn’s extensive tests to push their powers to their limits. She appears to be a “tsundere” however, which is a Japanese literary term/character trope that refers a person who is initially cold but is very loving and gentle once they warm up to someone. Recently, Jennifer has entered into a relationship with Mettle, who’s iridium metal body allows him to touch her and be around her without suffering any ill-effects from her abilities. For now, its seems as though their relationship is a platonic one, but whether or not that is subject to change in the future is unknown.
Other Media
Games
Marvel: War of Heroes
Hazmat appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:
- [Radioactive] Hazmat
Lego Marvel’s Avengers
Hazmat is a playable character in the game.