Handsome Jack

Handsome Jack is the main antagonist in Borderlands 2. He has taken over the Hyperion corporation, declared himself Dictator of Pandora, and stolen all of the credit for finding the Vault, going so far as to claim responsibility for killing The Destroyer. The new team in Borderlands 2 is tasked with killing Jack and restoring (relative) peace to Pandora.

Jack has a geo-stationary moon base (in the shape of an 'H') in the Lagrage point between Pandora and Pandora's geo-stationary moon. It acts as an homage to his ego as well as a supply base from which he can send supplies and troops down to Pandora. The satellite also has a lens that allows Jack to keep an eye on the players at all times.

Aside from the orbital mortar cannon capable of bombarding cities, Jack can fire robots and crates down to the surface of Pandora to reinforce his defensive and offensive units. Objects launched from the moon base will damage anything they land on.

Details


Handsome Jack was once a Hyperion programmer who was referred to as John, his birth name, by his supervisors. Despite preferring the nickname "Jack," he was most likely called "John" out of a lack of respect from his superiors. His wife disappeared for unknown reasons, though an ECHO communique from him mentions that Angel had something to do with it. However, in consideration of his severe mental and emotional instabilities, as well as often shifting blame and guilt onto others, this may have been a lie. Her "disappearance" had a profound effect on him though, as he strangled an employee for bringing her up. He began focusing most of his time and energy on gaining control of The Warrior hidden underneath Pandora's Vault, killing and manipulating his way to Hyperion presidency.

He used his daughter, Angel, as a Siren catalyst to gain, among other things, constant surveillance of Pandora and control of the ECHOnet system. Jack needed Eridium to keep her Siren powers at max yield, and it is implied that Jack's primary reason for the invasion of Pandora after the opening of The Vault was the abundance of this material appearing in the ground. He ordered the Hyperion military to forcefully take control of Pandora some time after the Claptrap Robolution.

In-between the events of Borderlands and Borderlands 2, the Hyperion corporation dismantled all but one of the Claptrap units, annexed Fyrestone, and engaged in battle with the citizens of New Haven. Jack, with the help of Wilhelm, killed Helena Pierce and turned the city of New Haven into a warzone, overrunning Roland, Lilith and Mordecai, while Sheriff handled Brick.

Handsome Jack sought to lure out Vault Hunters to his sphere of influence by displaying a need for them, then leaving them for dead in the Tundra Express. He constantly communicates with the player through the ECHOnet, taunting them, threatening them, and otherwise manipulating them. His building of Opportunity and the drilling into Pandora's core is no secret to the citizens of Sanctuary, but he still keeps a leaderly facade when addressing the citizens of Hyperion-settled villages.

Following Angel's death, he makes his first physical appearance and kills Roland. Lilith attempts to attack him, but is captured to replace his recently-deceased daughter as a catalyst to charge the Vault key. He rescinds the bounty on the Vault Hunters, vowing to exact vengeance himself for Angel's death.

His final appearance is at the Vault of the Warrior, and is fought as one of the two final bosses. After being defeated by the Vault Hunters, Jack takes the already-charged Vault Key and uses it to summon and control the Warrior. The Vault Hunters defeat it as well, thus ruining his plans for domination over Pandora. Jack angrily chastises them for stopping him from bringing his vision of order to the lawless planet, and is executed by either the Vault Hunters or Lilith.

Strategy
Throughout the fight Jack will use a number of abilities:


 * At the beginning of the fight, Handsome Jack will turn invisible and summon a few decoys of himself. These decoys have very low health, and can usually be killed with only a few shots from almost any weapon. Killing the decoys should force Jack to reveal himself, however he will do this anyway if you take too long to kill the decoys.
 * It is recommended that you use an elemental weapon against Jack, such as a burning weapon . The reason being that if the element is in effect, the element will still be visible when Jack attempts to disappear.
 * He will place down a turret which will automatically aim and fire at the you. The turret is fairly powerful, but he doesn't summon it very often.
 * Jack will continuously summon Loaders to assist him - mostly GUN Loaders, BUL Loaders and EXP Loaders. You should try to keep one or two of these alive at all times just in case you need a second wind.
 * He will summon a Surveyor bot which will shield Jack, as well as reflect any bullets fired at him back at you. When he does this, simply kill the Surveyor to remove the shield.
 * Jack will place down a mine. These mines have a small blast radius however, so you should have enough time to get away from them before they explode.
 * In addition, Jack himself has 2 weapon attacks: one where he fires a laser from each hand, and another where he fires mortar-like balls of electricity. Both of these attacks deal relatively low damage and are fairly easy to avoid. In addition, Jack stands completely still and will not use any other abilities while using either of these attacks, so take this opportunity to deal massive damage to him.

Once Jack's health gets low enough, a cutscene will show Jack activating the Vault Key.

Quotes

 * This is Handsome Jack, thanking you, loyal test subject for helping bring Pandora into the future. The experiments you'll be put through will help us uncover new uses for Eridium, new cures for medicine and- Seriously? Why are you having me read this crap? This is freaking hilarious. They know we're gonna mutate the hell out of 'em, why lie to- (Wildlife Exploitation Reserve pre-recorded message)
 * Ol' balloon tits is still holdin' a grudge against me, huh? I mean, don't get me wrong, I get it - once you've eaten prime rib for free, it's hard to go back to suckin' down hamburgers for cash. If you know what I'm talking about. Do you know what I'm talking about? (pause) Dicks. I'm talkin' about dicks. (During Hell Hath No Fury)
 * Great! Say this to 'em: Don't be alarmed. I need you to stay calm and don't let on that anyone is talking to you. Start making your way off the bus. (ECHO log found during Get to Know Jack, repeated by Angel in the beginning of Borderlands)

Trivia

 * 1348620070076.jpg appears to have heterochromia, but his left (incorrectly coloured) eye is actually a part of his mask.
 * His girlfriend is the Sheriff of Lynchwood.
 * He has a diamond pony called "Butt Stallion" (Jack clarifies to the Players that it is in fact a living horse with "diamond" skin).
 * Destroyed Mad Moxxi's Underdome after he thought she was cheating on him.
 * Jack's real face can be seen after defeating both him and The Warrior.
 * In some sense of irony, the vault symbol being on his face is similar to the how bandit Psychos have vault symbols on their masks.
 * In the 5th Echo recording of the mission "Get to know Jack" Mr. Tassider says "I know that beneath the ridiculous mask you are still a hideous, pathetic little nobody". This implies that Jack had his mask and scar before he completely took over the company and the events of the first Borderlands.