Jennifer Walters

PHASE 1

Jennifer Walters
Portrayed by Adrianne Palicki
Codename:	n/a
Affiliations:	n/a
Birthdate:	January 21, 1985
Journal:	x_shehulk
Player:	Available for Applications

An old friend of Warren's from law school, Jennifer is a mutant lawyer struggling to establish her career.

Details

Character Journal: x_shehulk

Real Name: Jennifer Walters

Codename: n/a

Aliases: None

First Appearance: October 6, 2011

Date of Birth: January 21, 1985

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA

Citizenship: American

Relatives: William Morris Walters (father, deceased), Elaine (nee Banner) Walters (mother, deceased), Bruce Banner (cousin), Brian Banner (uncle), Rebecca Banner (aunt)

Education: Law degree from UCLA

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Criminal Defense Lawyer

Team Affiliation: affiliated with X-Factor Investigations through professional partnership.

Biography

Jennifer had a fairly average start to her life. Born to William Morris and Elaine Walters in California, she enjoyed a typical life. While her dad climbed the ladder in the LA police force, Elaine stayed home for the first few years to raise Jennifer before going to work in the force as well, though as a secretary in the records department which allowed her more flexible hours than another job did.

They were close with Elaine's brother and wife and Jennifer was close to her cousin, Bruce. Shy and a bit awkward, she didn't have a huge range of friends but did surprise her parents by joining the girls softball team after enjoying baseball games with her dad. It gave her a wider social circle to pull from, though she only called one or two of them close friends.

Jennifer was a good, straight A student, though she wasn't all too sure of what she wanted to do when she got to college. She'd even been talking about maybe doing a gap year and working a little bit before heading off to college, with hopefully an idea of what she wanted to do in her mind.

Everything changed, however, at the start of her summer before her senior year of high school when Jennifer went with her parents to pick up a visiting Bruce at the local airport. Her dad lost control of the car when he went to avoid another accident and both of her parents were immediately killed upon impact. Jennifer survived only because her latent mutant powers manifested and she was able to break out and staggered away from the car before it exploded.

She was 17 years old and her entire life was suddenly changed. Her beloved parents were dead and her powers weren't simply strength and invincibility. She'd physically changed, as well, shooting up in height and muscles but, even more, turning a vivid, unmistakable green. Jennifer went into an emotional tailspin.

Thankfully for her, her aunt, uncle and cousin stepped in. Jennifer was immediately moved in with them - she had another year to go in high school and her aunt and uncle took custody. They also allowed her to heal and deal with her grief and guilt by treating her normally and with love. Bruce was an integral part of this, too, cementing the already close relationship of the cousins.

Beyond the large emotional impact, Jennifer's mutation proved difficult. She was stronger than anyone of them knew how to deal with and her fluxuating mood didn't help. The more emotional (angry, sad, etc) the more unstable her strength became - the Banners eventually ended up purchasing large amounts of spackle to repair holes in the wall.

Jennifer's grief counselor suggested that they find a positive outlet for her, someplace that would allow her to channel her emotions but also figure out how to deal with her strength especially before she went back to school in the fall. Brian Banner found that a number of places simply refused to take her - ballet was simply out and a number of martial arts places took one look at her picture and turned him away. Finally, though, he found a small boxing gym and a man, Craig Turner, who took her on.

Thanks to Craig, the other boxers and the gym, Jennifer slowly learned how to control her powers. They all knew someone was going to end up picking a fight with her just to see what the "mutie" could do and no one wanted to see her punch someone's head clean off their shoulders. They taught her how to punch without using her full power (and how to do it, too) and they gave her an outlet that wasn't her family.

When she went back to finish her Grade 12th year, Jennifer found herself in the uncomfortable position. She was no longer that black haired quiet girl who batted pretty decently. She was that girl who lost her parents and turned into a freak. She struggled for ages to find her place but started to realize that when she used humor (instead of throwing someone across the gym, which she'd been tempted to do on a number of occasions), it deflated her tormentors and won her friends. It wasn't an instant transformation but slowly she became the gregarious person she had no idea she could ever be.

The fact of the matter was that Jennifer felt that justice had turned a blind eye to her. Her parents had been taken and she'd been transformed into a person she didn't recognize in the mirror. She knew she couldn't change any of that, so she decided maybe she could change it for someone else and applied for law school.

She enjoyed school more than she thought and, while she still missed her parents so much, it was a balm to that wound. The outgoing nature she'd created for herself as a defense / shield had turned into something pretty close to natural and she found herself making friends in a way she'd never expected.

This included Warren Worthington. The two met when she started dating one of his close friends; when that friend later dumped her, Warren was the sympathetic shoulder she needed and the two have remained friends beyond college life.

Once college ended, once she passed the bar, however, life took a sour turn. While nothing was outwardly said, it became increasingly obvious that she couldn't find a job that wasn't working with a professor because she was an Obvious Mutant. She finally decided to try her luck and moved to the Big Apple where, after forever and after living off of ramen noodles, Legal Aid took a risk and hired her.

Especially after Day Zero, though, Jennifer was obviously treated as the lowest member of the totem pole. The partners tried at first to sometimes use her as a scare tactic though she quickly put a stop to it. From them on, she was handed the worst cases - if it was boring, she got it. If it was impossible, she got it. If it was horrible, she got it. The sad fact of the matter was that she was a much better lawyer than Legal Aid was willing to admit to and Jennifer floundered in her career.

Until Warren called in a favor. After working with him on Townshend Horgan's disappearance and case, she and Warren started up a partnership. Suddenly things were looking less grim and Jennifer has started to realize that her career might not be as dead-ended as it might have been. When Charles Xavier's in-house counsel retired, he suggested Jennifer as a replacement and in November 2012 she came to the mansion as their new lawyer - and as a new X-Man.

It was a short tenure. After assisting the X-Men against Magneto and his expanded Brotherhood of Mutants on his mutant homeland island, Jen was buried in the work of acting as the Institute's counsel and co-managing the legal firm in District X. It finally became too much for her to bounce between the two, and in August 2014 she left the mansion to focus on her duties at Walters and Worthington. She is still the Institute's counsel, however, and her position on the team remains open.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'5

Weight: 280 lbs (Jennifer is actually heavier than she looks, with the weight being more density than solid mass)

Eyes: Green

Hair: Black

Other Features: She's green. Everywhere. Also, she's very obviously Very Tall and Strong. It's kind of hard to ignore.

Powers/Abilities

Strength: Jennifer is exceptionally strong - at her normal rate, she can lift up to 10 tons, with 10 being where she starts having to struggle. Under certain circumstances, she can "hulk out" (you guys love me) and lift even more, potentially up to 25 tons.

However, this has severe downsides. If Jennifer forces her powers to stretch to the point of lifting that much, she pays the price later. The most minor thing that happens is that her low-level healing factor suddenly is focused on easing the strain to her muscles and dealing with the massive fatigue and she's got about a 90% chance of becoming pretty ill (nasty cold, flu) and it either stays with her until her immune system refocuses or the cold/flu runs its course.

The other effect is that most of her strength goes away for a certain amount of time. (Though she's still stronger than the average person but it drops from her normal rate of around 10 tons to 1, if not lower.) The more she stretches her powers, the longer they stay off, perhaps up to two, maybe three weeks.

Invincibility: Like most mutants whose 'main' power is superstrength, Jennifer was also gifted with invincibility (because there's nothing worse than being able to punch through a wall only to break your hand). Her skin is superhumanly durable and she can withstand most things (hit by a car, dropped out of a plane). However, things like her eyes and the inside of her mouth are not invulnerable - things like pepper spray, bright lights, etc. will affect her.

Jennifer also has a high pain tolerance, can withstand various temperature extremes (though extreme cold will actually slow her down) and generally is impervious to cuts, stab wounds, etc. Bright lights, loud sounds, telepathic assaults will always stop her, along with other things along those lines. Much like her strength, if Jennifer pushes her powers (say, to survive an explosion), her powers will rebel later - again, gets sick, becomes weakened.

Speed / Stamina: Despite her size and weight, Jennifer can move faster than the average person. She runs rather like a train - she's slow to start, can move fast once she gets going (20 MPH at her top) and it takes her some time to brake. Unless she stops herself by running into something.

She also has enhanced stamina - she doesn't tire as quickly as others, between the stamina and healing factor she doesn't get sick and it ensures that her body can actually handle the abuse that someone using superstrength does to their body.

Healing Factor: All in, Jennifer's healing factor actually isn't that strong. It couples with her enhanced stamina to generally make sure she doesn't get sick and ensures that her body handles the strain of her powers. However, it is the back-up plan when need forces her powers to surge and concentrates on making sure her body can actually handle everything she had to put it through.

Equipment

None.

Trivia

None.

Plots

2011

X-Factor Investigation: Cat vs. Bird

2013

Tropic of Capricorn

Meta

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Player Icon Base: Adrianne Palicki

Meta Trivia

Jennifer was originally an NPC socked by Kate until Jen picked her up in June 2012. RL got in the way and Jen dropped Walters in August 2014.