Union Jack (Joseph Chapman)

John Freeman pitched a follow-up to Knights of Pendragon called Armageddon Knights in late 1993, but never received a response; the story, which featured Chapman, would have wrapped up loose-ends from the preceding series.^[2]

2000s publications

Chapman appears as a supporting character in Ben Raab and Charlie Adlard's X-Men: Hellfire Club #3 (March 2000); in the story he rescues a reporter from assassins.

Chapman also appears as a supporting character in Chuck Austen and Scott Kolins' Avengers #82-84 (July–August 2004); the story sees the re-formation of the Invaders. Austen along with Allan Jacobsen and C. P. Smith concluded this story in New Invaders #0 (August 2004), which launched a new ongoing series featuring Chapman as a regular character. During this run Jacobson and Smith featured him in a number of volumes, including, #1-3 (October–December 2004), which sees him in conflict with U.S. Agent over doubts about his membership and reveals him to be romantically involved with Lady Jacqueline, #4-5 (January–February 2005), which sees him once again battle the vampiric Baroness Blood and overcome initial animosity from his predecessor's lover, Roger Aubrey; and #7-9 (April–June 2005), which sees the dissolution of the team following the death of the original Human Torch.

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting featured Chapman and Lady Jacqueline in Captain America (vol. 5) #18-21 (July–October 2006); in the story Captain America recruits the two heroes, who are no longer dating, to battle old enemy the Red Skull in London.

Chapman stars in yet another self-titled mini-series in late 2006, spun off from his appearance in Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America, written by Christos Gage^[3] with pencils and inks by Mike Perkins^[4] and Andrew Hennesy, respectively.

The character would then make brief appearances alongside Spitfire in

Union Jack is a member of the British super team

He would also assist Lady Jacqueline and Namorita in rescuing Namor from neo-Nazis, defeating Master Man and Warrior Woman in the process.^[8]

Knights of Pendragon

Chapman would later become possessed by the Pendragon spirit and healed of his injuries. He appeared at

Later, while making a public appearance at Stark's Questworld, Chapman had no choice but to battle malfunctioning robots^[15] where he received a new armor^[16] which would later evolve into a new stronger mystical armour.^[17] Life as a Pendragon didn't get any easier as he fought Magpie,^[18] tried to stop the Cape Wrath Breeder Reactor from overloading^[19] and traveled to Arakne where he met and fought with Spider-Man and the Warheads.^[20]

When the villainous company Mys-Tech revived his enemy Baron Blood, Chapman infiltrated the company and once again destroyed his foe,^[21] inadvertently starting the Mys-Tech wars.^[22][23]

Shortly after the defeat of Mys-Tech, Chapman, alongside the Pendragons fought

After the Pendragons disbanded, Chapman carries on protecting Britain. However, he failed to prevent Baroness Blood from using the Holy Grail to become immune to sunlight,[26] and lost his friend Kenneth Falsworth (the true heir to the Union Jack mantle) from vampirism and death.^[27] He was also seen protecting civilians from unnatural winds.^[28]

Chapman also protected reporter and ally of

Joey shares a relationship with

At the request of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chapman would help his good friend Captain America in searching the London Underground for the Red Skull's agents.^[37] Chapman, Rogers, Spitfire, and Sharon Carter worked together to prevent neo-Nazis and the Red Skull from devastating London.^[38]

Moving on from his vampire hunting days, he leads a makeshift team of heroes - including Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Sabra and the third Arabian Knight - to defeat a group of super-powered terrorists intent on blowing up London^[26]

When Captain America was shot and apparently killed, a notably upset Union Jack spoke a eulogy at his memorial.^[39]

MI:13

Chapman appeared in Captain Britain and MI: 13, as explained by writer Paul Cornell, "One of the great things about this title is that, because all British superheroes are de facto part of MI-13, we can visit disparate parts of the Marvel UK scene without it being a big deal. Joe (not 'Joey', who's called Joey? Okay, kangaroos in Aussie, but apart from that...) is going to want to check in with [his former girlfriend Spitfire] soon. Because they parted amicably, and that's still fine with him. Right?".^[40] However, Chapman did not leave MI5 to become part of the permanent team, although he is seen working along Spitfire (who is in MI:13) to clear out a nest of "Sons of the Serpent".^[41][42]

Invaders Now

Union Jack is a member of the Invaders team brought together by a mysterious force. He is the only member of the team who didn't serve in

During the Ends of the Earth storyline, Joseph is among the heroes that Spider-Man enlists to attack on the facilities that Doctor Octopus had constructed.^[44] Joseph enters one of the facilities and fights a bunch of Octobots.^[45]

Captain America: Steve Rogers

Joseph later appears in Scotland helping Captain America defeat the Cult of the Darkhold, who were summoned by a monstrous creature that was accidentally freed by a Scottish fracking operation.^[46]

Powers and abilities

Like those who held the title of Union Jack before him, Joseph Chapman is an athlete in peak physical condition. He carries on the Union Jack tradition by using a Webley .455 revolver (though often uses other pistols depending on the mission he is completing) and a silver dagger which he uses for supernatural foes. His costume is also bullet-resistant.

For a time, Chapman was possessed by the spirit of the Pendragon (in this case, Sir Lancelot), enhancing his strength, speed, and endurance, and providing him with superhuman sensory acuity, as well as giving him the ability to sense the presence of agents of the Bane and to recognize them as such despite disguises, and access to knowledge of past incarnations of the Pendragon.^{[volume & issue needed]} He also wore a suit of magical/cybernetic exoskeleton armor composed of unknown materials that increased his strength to superhuman levels. He carried a 6' striking staff of unknown materials. Chapman could also ride Beryl, a computerized motorcycle-like vehicle equipped with extensive information databanks, recording memory files, radiation detectors, tracking sensors, automated navigation system, medical analysis instruments, remote guidance system, and the capacity for inter-dimensional travel. All of this equipment was provided by the Green Chapel, of the dimension of Avalon.

Since being possessed by the Pendragon, he has retained a portion of the powers it endowed him, to low superhuman levels.

Collected editions

Joseph Chapman's major appearances have been collected in a number of trade paperbacks:

• ISBN 0-7851-2693-7
  )
• Union Jack (written by
  ISBN 0-7851-0934-X
  )
• ISBN 0-7851-1449-1
  )
• Captain America: Red Menace Volume 2 (written by
  ISBN 0-7851-2225-7
  )
• Union Jack: London Falling (written by
  ISBN 0-7851-2181-1
  )
• The Union: The Britannia Project (Trade Paperback)(written by
  ISBN 978-1-302-92441-6