Jack Atlas

Jack Atlas is Yusei Fudo's rival in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Like Yusei, Jack is one of the Signers with a Mark of the Dragon on his right arm.

Jack is an arrogant man who thinks of his opponents as little more than entertainment for himself and his audience. However, after losing to Yusei, Jack realizes what he's been missing as King and decides on starting his own journey to becoming a real duelist. Upon meeting Carly Carmine, he realizes the error of his ways, and tries to repay Yusei and the others. Jack has little applicable skills outside of dueling and has been consequently fired from several jobs in one day. His high standards drive him to the point where he spends 3000 yen (about $32 US) on a single cup of coffee.

In the English dub, his personality is slightly more malicious: he framed his former friend Rally with the Duel Runner chip, for example.

Design
Jack's character design is by Shuji Maruyama. Jack has violet eyes and spiked blonde hair. His other accessories include a neckband, similar to the one worn by Yugi Muto, a belt buckle and earrings in the shape of the letter A, the first letter of his last name.

Childhood
Jack's parents were killed during the Zero Reverse incident. As a child, Jack was a lone wolf and never played with the other chidren. Later, he met Yusei Fudo and Crow Hogan and became one of their best friends. He was fostered by Martha.

The Enforcers
In their teens, Jack, Yusei and Crow met Kalin Kessler and formed The Enforcers as a way to improve their lives in Satellite, by becoming the best duelists in Satellite. After conquering all of Satellites zones, Kalin changed, taking dueling so seriously he forced a kid into a Duel and proceeded to beat him up, after winning. Unhappy with Kalin's attitude, Jack and Crow left the team. After learning that Kalin is on the run from Sector Security, Yusei approaches Jack to ask him to help.

The reunited gang catch up with Kalin in an abandoned storage building. They tell him he has changed and try to get him to abort the battle with Security. After Yusei refrains Kalin from further attacking a badly beaten Security, Crow and Jack hold Kalin in a room, while Yusei tries to convince Security that he, himself, is the leader, in the hopes Kalin wouldn't be arrested. However Kalin gets arrested, ultimately ending the team.

Later life in Satellite
Yusei and Jack spend much of their time with Nervin, Blitz, Tank and Rally afterwards. Jack comes into possession of the card "Red Dragon Archfiend".

Jack duels and defeats Yusei, afterwhich he tells Yusei that one cannot win a Duel with Monsters, Spell or Trap Cards alone, only with them joined up. He points to his heart as he says all you need to amass yourself victory is right here. At the time, Yusei did not understand what he meant.



Jack eventually fell out with Yusei after a difference in goals. Jack aspired to be a King and spent a lot of his time setting in a throne in an abandoned theater. He spent little time with his friends, although Rally occasionally visited. Jack once saved Rally from a group of bullies, but didn't stick around to converse.

Inside the theater, he met Lazar, who came on behalf of Rex Goodwin. He convinces Jack that his birthmark is special and that he can become a King in New Domino City. In order to do so, he tells Jack to steal Yusei's Duel Runner and "Stardust Dragon" card and escape through a pipeline into the city.

Accepting Lazar's offer, Jack tied Rally up and left him in a boat floating in the sea. He alerted Yusei, who came there on the Duel Runner he had built. Jack forced Yusei to choose between himself and Rally's life in order to get what he was after. After Yusei dove into the water to save Rally, Jack took Yusei's "Stardust Dragon", as well as the Duel Runner. He then made his way into New Domino through the trash pipeline.

Life in New Domino City
At an unspecified time, the Duel Runner Jack took breaks down. In the English version, his new Duel Runner, Phoenix Whirlwind (Wheel of Fortune in the Japanese version) is the old Duel Runner, after a few modifications.

Jack then became the Turbo Dueling Champion and moved into the compound of Rex Goodwin who tries to conceal Jack's origins from the public. As the King of Duelists, he was adored by the New Domino City public and his fame has been marketed, even to the point where both he and his "Red Dragon Archfiend" card have their own action figures. Also, at an unspecified time Jack faced Bolt Tanner in a Turbo Duel and beats him on his first turn.

Two years later, when Yusei ventures off into New Domino City to take back his "Stardust Dragon" card, he and Jack have a rematch, but it is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious red-colored dragon, later revealed to be the Crimson Dragon. He later learns from Goodwin that he is a "Signer", a savior predicted to prevent the resurrection of a dark god by a Pre-Incan civilization. Although conflicted about maintaining his title even though he technically lost to Yusei, Jack complies with Goodwin's plans in the hope of truly validating his title by finally defeating Yusei in the Fortune Cup and gives "Stardust Dragon" back to Yusei as a sign of competition.

Fortune Cup finals
Yusei faces Jack for the title of King of Turbo Duels, as he has beaten every opponent on the Fortune Cup. Before their Duel commences, Jack recounts the events that happened 2 years ago that lead ultimately to the road of him becoming King. Also, now that he is finally facing Yusei, he tells Goodwin to let Rally and the others go since, there is no further need for them to been held hostage. Before their Turbo Duel starts, Yusei sees them on the screen, and once they're free, Jack says that now there is nothing holding them back. During the duel, Jack refuses to let Yusei win, revealing that in order for him walk to the path of becoming the King, 2 years ago he gave up everything by turning his back on Satellite and on everyone else he knew. Thus, thinking that all of that happened because of the dragon birthmark, he believes now that Yusei has the chance to become King without giving up anything. Jack does not want that to happen.

As he duels against Yusei, once again the Crimson Dragon appears, and takes Jack, Yusei, Luna and Akiza to another dimension, showing them visions. Jack tells Yusei to continue since, it's their duel that is responsible for them being there. He pushes Yusei, thinking that he will finally win. Jack unleashes his devastating combo, however Yusei has already foreseen this, and manages to counter.

Yusei's Stardust Dragon unleashes its final attack destroying Jack's "Red Dragon Archfiend", consuming the last of Jack's Life Points;The duel runner he was on is completely destroyed and Jack crashes into a guard rail. Jack is thrown from his duel runner and is badly injured. Yusei is announced as the new king and Jack is carried out on a stretcher after Jack gives some words of wisdom to Yusei.

Dark Signers
Jack is transferred to Domino Hospital to recover away from the prying eyes of the public.

During the Atlas Rising premiere, Angela Rains reveals the truth to the public that Jack was not born in Tops but in the Satellite.

Carly Carmine sneaks into the hospital, disguised as a nurse in an attempt to interview him. Trudge, now under the Dark Signers' control, suddenly comes and challenged Jack. Jack's arm was broken at the time, so he asked Carly to assist him in the duel and hold his cards. Jack and Carly managed to defeat Trudge, blowing up a portion of the hospital in the process. Before Jack fainted, he asked Carly to get him out without notifying the reporters outside. Carly snuck him out on a gurney as a body with a sheet over it.

Jack woke up in Carly's place after envisioning a meeting with the Dark Signers in a dream. Carly went into Jack's room only to find the man gone. She then followed him to the monorail where he was attempting to get on the train to leave. In the end, Carly convinced him to come to an amusement park with her in the intention of having him relax so she could interview him. She changed her mind however after hearing how hurt he was over losing the title of King to Yusei Fudo. After spending some time with Carly, Jack started to show signs of guilt for betraying his friends and shame for how he let Goodwin use him. Carly suggested that the real Jack Atlas was returning and that the old Jack was the real one defeated by Yusei. She suggested that it was fine for him to become a real King now (in the dub, she sugessted that Jack should say sorry to his friends, mainly Yusei). Jack put on his jacket and agreed with her, after which he vowed to never let himself get used by people again.

Jack responded a call at Carly's apartment from Mina and flies back to Satellite. Here he watched the Duel between Yusei and Kalin. Yusei got impaled in the course of the fight and is taken away by Crow to receive medical attention. Jack demanded the helicopter be landed but Mina tells him that he had nowhere to go without his Duel Runner. Jack was forced to go back to New Domino and wait for the next Dark Signer attack.

After returning to the city, he and Mina told Carly she had best not get involved and Jack broke her camera's memory chip to hide the conflict between the Signers and the Dark Signers. After Jack's Duel Runner was repaired by Goodwin, he told Mina that he would go to Satellite and make his own "road" rather than "Road of the King" he had previously been on.

After the Arcadia Movement headquarters were damaged by a Dark Signer attack, Jack evaded the flaming geoglyphs as they form. He made his way to the building, unaware that Carly is the dark Signer responsible. After the Duel, he came across Luna, Leo, Yanagi and Tanner leaving the building. They told Jack that Akiza was inside and may need help. Jack entered the building to look for her and found Carly's broken glasses inside. He found Akiza unconscious and took her out of the building, unable to find Carly in time. Jack immediately took Akiza to the hospital to get help for her, thinking Carly had been sacrificed to the Earthbound Immortal.

Akiza was in a comatose state and is visited by her parents Hideo and Setsuko. Jack told them that Yusei may be able to help her, which he does in the end. He also says that the Signers still have a lot to learn about each other, and the only way they met each other was through Yusei.

Jack, along with the others Signers, were invited by Rex Goodwin to his house to learn more about the Signers and Dark Signers. He was told that the Signers are drawn together and guided by faith. After learning about the Dark Signer's powers, Jack believed Carly to be among their victims, who were sacrificed when the two Earthbound Immortals were summoned.

Seeing how much Yusei was afraid of Kalin and that he has lost confidence after his last encounter, Jack punched Yusei in the hopes that a fight would cause Yusei to regain his determination. Yusei thanked Jack and accepted that they must fight the Dark Signers to protect people. Hearing this Jack remembered that he must protect Carly.

After the Dark Signers unleash the Black fog on Satellite, Jack along with the other Signers, Leo and Mina are flown by a helicopter piloted by Trudge to Satellite. In Satellite they meet up with Martha, who is happy to see Jack back after many years. The reunion is cut close as Yusei finds out that Rally, Crow and the others have disappeared. Mina became greatly upset over Jack's feeling for Carly after seeing him with her glasses while he is saying that he is fighting for people.

During supper, Roman appeared in order to duel. Jack wanted to duel him but is stopped by Yusei, who tells him that its too dangerous to Duel a Dark Signer here. Following Yusei's instructions, Jack took Martha and the kids to safer place. Shun, Micchan and Taka snuck away to watch the Duel and to help Yusei however they could. As Roman summoned his Earthbound Immortal, Jack quickly appeared and rescued John and Mitch from being sacrificed.

After Yusei's match against Roman Goodwin conclude, Jack, Akiza, Luna along with Leo are there, as the rest of the Dark Signers show themselves. After Jack realized Carly is one of them, he chased after her and asked why is she one of them. Carly responded, "If you want to know the answer, come to see me".

The Signers split up to face their respective opponents at the four control units for the Original Enerdy Reactor. Jack took his Duel Runner to the Hummingbird tower, where Carly showed herself on her own Duel Runner.

During their Duel continues Carly used the card "Prophecy of a Future King" causing Jack see an alternate future in which he lost his duel against Carly and died. Carly kissed him, reviving him as a Dark Signer and together they defeat the Signers. They turn the world into a Hell, which they rule as King and Queen. During the course of the vision, Carly's glasses slipped from Jack's coat, causing him to remember Carly as she normally was and to snap out of his previous vision.

Jack told Carly that wasn't the fate she truly wanted and activated his trap card while showing her her glasses. It allowed Carly the choice between recovering her own life points or damaging Jack for half the attack power of her Fortune Lady Earth. Carly turned to accept the choice of inflicting damage on him when she hesitated and, in the end, turned down a chance to win the Duel in favor of saving Jack. However, her Earthbound Immortal, Aslla piscu possessed her and forces her to continue the Duel. She managed to summon her Earthbound Immortal after this possession. Following this summon, Jack began to focuse hard on trying to save Carly. This causes the 5 Marks of the Dragon to leave the other four Signers and appear on Jack's back, allowing him to Summon "Majestic Red Dragon".

Jack attempted to end the Duel in a Draw, deciding that if he had to cause Carly's death that it would be acceptable if he died along with her. However, Carly's normal self managed to take control and activated a trap card that forced her to lose.

She and Jack embrace before she turned to dust, Carly finally confessing her love to him.

Jack proceeded to activate the control unit.

After Akiza's Duel with Misty, the sun sets before the final unit can be activated and the Condor geoglyph appears on the sky. The King of the Underworld appears from the original Enerdy reactor, and is moves towards the City. The Crimson Dragon transports Jack and his companions to Goodwin's island residence. Jack notices the Stairway to the Dragon Star has smashed through a building. Goodwin stands at the top of the stairway, where he reveals he has become a Dark Signer and becomes a Signer by attaching Roman's arm to himself. Goodwin prepares to sacrifice a Signer through a Turbo Duel ritual to welcome the Ruler of the Underworld. Jack, Yusei and Crow face Goodwin in a 3-on-1 Duel. During the duel, Goodwin forces Jack not to work with Yusei, and become a true King. Jack remembering Carly, refuses, and his life points lowered to 1. Soon after, he crashes and is unable to duel any further. After Yusei defeated Goodwin, he gets saved by Majestic Star Dragon.

World Riding Grand Prix
Half a year has past since the Dark Signer incident. Jack is currently working with Yusei and Crow in developing a new duel runner engine, though during a test the engine overloads and explodes. Afterward, he later assists Yusei and Crow in tracking down Ghost. After Yusei defeats Ghost, they find out he is a robot and Yusei believes a new threat is approaching.

Jack has apparently been seeing Carly in secret during the past six months at a cafe, indicating that their relationship is developing. However, Crow yells at him for slacking off and demands that he gets money for new parts. Jack attempts to find honest work, but he is fired from every job he attempts, due to his ego and his obsession of himself being a Signer. After one such failure, he and Carly learn about a money trader named Garome who rips people off by making them sign some false documents. Jack then challenges Garome to a duel for those contracts, putting up his Red Dragon Archfiend and Wheel of Fortune as antes. Jack ultimately wins, however he still can't find a job.

On the day of Akiza's final exam, Crow and Jack help Yusei modify and improve her Duel Runner so she can Turbo Duel and obtain her license. Like the rest, he is present during her first official Turbo duel, in which she is able to defeat Trudge. But the duel was almost interrupted by a trap plotted by some guys that despised Akiza. However, Jack finds out and beats them up for their cruel actions.

One day, Carly informs Jack of Duel Runner thieves. With his pride of a Turbo Duelist, he decides to try and capture the thieves, but when one pulls a laser gun on him, one of the thieves suddenly tries to stop him and takes the shot instead. As Jack stops to check on the fallen man, Trudge appears and informs him that this man was actually an undercover agent named Kazama. Feeling guilty, Jack borrows Kazama's Archfiend Chaos King and hunts down the thieves, getting beaten up numerous times before he follows them to their hideout. Once he arrived, he and the ringleader engage in a ground duel to the death. Jack seems to be on the verge of losing, but then summons the agent's Synchro monster and wins the duel. When Trudge and his officers arrived, Jack had already beaten up all the gang members and had them piled up. Later, Jack returns the Synchro card back to the recovered agent, then they shake hands and Jack vows to duel him someday.

Jack begins to try and develop applicable skills, an example being making a table and chairs out of leftover parts one morning, but still ultimately failing when Crow sits down and the chair breaks apart from under him. After Leo and Luna's loss to Lucciano, Jack and Crow discuss the changes that have recently taken place. The two grow concerned for Yusei, and they decide to go find him and figure out what's troubling him once and for all.

When they meet with Yusei, he reveals his unease around Ghost, and tells them that he suspects that Yliaster is behind everything, as Roman had told him that it was a man from Yliaster who set him down the path of becoming a Dark Signer. Furthermore, they are using the WRGP for some mysterious plan, if Sherry was to be believed. The three decide to work towards mastering Dark Glass's Accel Synchro as a means to effectively combat the new Yliaster plot and to protect the city. When Yusei takes in an amnesiac named Bruno, Jack is distrusting and very hostile towards him, since he had modified his Duel Runner to greater heights.

When Jack suddenly gets arrested by Sector Security, the word of him being a suspect gets around. Trudge shows Yusei, Bruno, and Crow a security clip of Jack purposely destroying Duel Runners during duels. They all assume that it was Jack, because of the Wheel of Fortune, and the exact same deck. When Jack escapes Security, he sets out to find the culprit. He later confronts the Imposter, a duplicate of Jack calling himself "The King". When Jack faces the mystery duelist, he ends up defeated by his own monster, Red Dragon Archfiend and seemingly falls into the sea.

It is revealed that the imposter was a Riding Roid as a part of the Infinity Trio's (namely Jose's) plan to use the Signers for their nefarious scheme involving a "circuit" of some kind. Jack Atlas did not die but is actually captured and hidden in a cave while being shown what the impostor is doing, this time wreaking havoc on the highway. He is also under the careful watch of the trio by the use of a machine. Eventually, seeing his friends (Yusei, Crow, and Kazama) getting injured trying to figure out who was the so called 'King', Jack's willpower caused the machine to break, freeing Jack from his mind prison. He then escapes from the cave he was hidden in and chases after the Imposter. Jack intercepts the imposter before he is about to hurt Yusei and then challenges the imposter to a duel. During the duel the imposter constantly taunts him, telling him that he is now weaker than his former self. Jack summons his Red Dragon Archfiend quickly with Trust Guardian but gets pushed into a corner very early in the game as the Imposter summons his Red Dragon Archfiend and boosts its attack. When it seems Jack is winning, the imposter unleashes his ultimate weapon: the summoning of 3 Red Dragon Archfiends (they are colored blue, purple and yellow). The 3 dragons nearly wipe out Jack's life points but he is saved by his Red Dragon Archfiend, which was protected by Trust Guardian. Jack then makes his final move and summons Majestic Red Dragon and gains the attack points of the imposter's Red Dragon Archfiend before attacking and defeating him. The attack destroys the Imposter Jack Atlas and all of his cards.

Voice and Mannerisms
In the English dub, Jack has an Australian accent. Words like 'little' 'better' and 'settle', he says like "lit'l", "bet'r" and "set'l". He makes puns on biking, and similar to Kaiba, he is a cold hearted guy, and in a way an anti-hero. He's a tad arrogant, showing little respect to other duelists, especially the one he defeats. His arrogance tends to make him underestimate his opponents which tend to lead to defeat or at least a disadvantage towards him. He doesn't really respect all that everyone has done to help him until sometime after the Fortune Cup after he has a conversation with Carly Carmine. He also tends to be manipulative to the point of even using his friends to get what he wants. During his duels he states that he enjoys entertaining the crowd and as such is often very theatrical with his duels along with saying "Let's kick this duel into overdrive" in the beginning of his professional duels and saying "Who's the Master of Faster" when he wins a duel. Besides "Master of Faster" he has a lot of other nicknames like "King of the Cards" or "The King". However, Jack later on realizes his errors, and stops plotting against Yusei. During his duel with Goodwin, he states that he gives up becoming King and is fighting for Carly and the rest of his friends. After Goodwin's defeat, he works with Yusei and Crow, and helps people in need, but he is still grouchy and arrogant.

Manga biography


In the manga, Jack works with Rex Goodwin. In this version, he seems much more malicious compared to his attitude in the anime, and doesn't seem to even know Yusei. He is sent to Satellite, before Goodwin begins plans for the D1 Grand Prix.

In Satellite, Jack finds Yusei and attacks him with "Heavenly King Black Highlander". He congratulates Yusei on dodging the attack and challenges him to a Duel. Yusei declines in favor of helping Sect, but Jack continues to attack him with "Black Highlander", but Yusei defends with "Junk Blader". Seeing that they were already dueling in some form, they decide to have a proper Duel.

When Sect falls from Yusei's Duel Runner, Yusei abandons his Duel Runner to save him, but Jack continues. Yusei and Sect fall into a body of water, as Jack wins the Duel. Afterwards, he finds "Synchro Deflector", on Yusei's Duel Runner, which he could have used to prevent himself losing the Duel. Jack smiles and chucks the card away, leaving Yusei and Sect in the water.

Deck

 * Main article: Jack Atlas' Decks

Jack plays a Burn/Beatdown Deck that focuses on inflicting damage to his opponent either through battle or effect damage, while summoning his ace "Red Dragon Archfiend". His deck is an opposite of Yusei's, as Yusei prefers defensive play, while Jack punishes his opponents for defensive play, probably to show their rivalry. Most of his monsters inflict piercing damage like "Mad Archfiend" and "Twin-Sword Marauder", while his traps inflict most of the effect damage, but also aid in summoning. His Ground Deck, which is a Dragon Deck, focuses on the same strategy, but with the use of "Strong Wind Dragon", and "Exploder Dragonwing" in addition to "Red Dragon Archfiend". He also uses "Majestic Red Dragon" against Carly and the Imposter Jack Atlas. Jack has two Decks, one for Turbo Duels, and a one for normal Duels.