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Jacket (Hotline Miami)
"Mature Content" | |
This character or verse has mature themes and concepts, thus those of young age are ill-advised to look through these. |
Articles About Jacket
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Hotline Miami | Jacket |
Crossovers | PAYDAY2 - Travis Strikes Again |
“ | Do you like hurting other people? | „ | |
~ Richard to Jacket |
Background
Jacket is the main protagonist and player character of Hotline Miami, and a side character in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Over the course of the first game, he dons various animal masks and performs a number of brutal assassinations in response to cryptic messages left on his answering machine. The second game explores the causes and consequences of his massacres two years after the first game's events, with Jacket himself making brief appearances in several cutscenes.
This dropdown contains the synopsis of Jacket’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise! |
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Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
March 17th, 1985
October 25th, 1985
October 30th, 1985
Beard calls for reinforcements, ultimately saving Jacket's life. Beard gives Jacket the picture that Evan took for them as a reminder of his deed, telling Jacket "No need to thank me, kid, it's on the house. You'd do the same for me, right?". The two ultimately are discharged and retired from the military. 1986
Hotline Miami
Jacket drives to a local convenience store where Beard is the cashier. Beard greets him and says he hasn't seen him in a long time and was worried about him. He comments that the last time they talked Jacket told him about his girlfriend dumping him. He quickly switches the topic and gives Jacket a midnight snack "on the house". April 8th, 1989
April 13th, 1989
April 25th, 1989
May, 1989
May 11th, 1989
May 13th, 1989
Jacket visits Beard's customer-less VHS store, where Beard excitedly asks him if he's following the news of the killings, and says that a friend of his in the police force told him about a rumor that there's a full group of masked killers. Beard comments that it fascinates him, like something from a movie. He tells Jacket to take whatever he wants on the house, because "that's what friends are for." May 23th, 1989
Jacket arrives at Phone Hom headquarters to find a motorcycle parked outside and all the employees inside dead. In the manager's office he confronts a Biker hacking the manager's computer, who tells him he's "dead meat" and attacks him with a meat cleaver. After a long fight and multiple hits with a golf club Jacket apparently defeats Biker, seemingly destroying Biker's entire head with the golf club (It is revealed later that this event did not go as Jacket depicted it, and was the only job he ever failed). Afterward, Jacket visits Beard's customer-less bar. Beard comments that Jacket doesn't look happy, and admits he feels pretty bad himself, "something in the air, like something terrible has happened tonight," and comments that he "hasn't felt this way since San Francisco". This foreshadows that Jacket's failure to actually kill Biker will have repercussions for him that will lead to loss of someone he cares about. May 27th, 1989
Jacket visits Beard's customer-less convenience store, which is now marked in the same manner as all other targeted locations. Beard says he has to tell Jacket something important, gesturing to the exploded-head corpse of Biker and saying "that did not happen" and that all of this "is not happening." He sees that Jacket doesn't believe him, and demonstrates as the screen turns to surreal static. The corpse of Biker is gone, but a blood stain remains, revealing that Jacket merely wounded Biker. A mysterious man, Richter, appears in the bathroom of the convenience store. Beard seems to "reset" and tells Jacket it's nice to see him, that friendly faces are "few and far between these days" and to help himself to whatever he wants. The surreal static intermittently continues as Jacket leaves. May 31st, 1989
June, 1989
June 8th, 1989
Jacket arrives back to his home from his June 8th job to find it tagged for a hit. He sees The Girl's corpse riddled with gunshot wounds in the bathroom. He enters the living room where Richter is watching TV with a silenced submachine gun resting on his lap. For the first time, he's wearing an animal mask, revealing him to be a masked killer just like Jacket. Richter says "Well, let's get this over with then..." and shoots Jacket. The dream static returns as Jacket wakes up in his own apartment and walks over to his body. Richter has been replaced on the couch by Richard. Don Juan and Rasmus have gone and Jacket is left alone with Richard. Richard tells Jacket none of this will have a happy ending, that what he does upon waking up will have no consequences, that Jacket will never see the full picture and it's his own fault. Jacket exits the apartment and his outfit changes into a hospital gown and head bandages; he opens the door to the apartment across the hall to find himself in a hospital bed, his head then explodes. The dream static erases his headless body, much like Biker's in Push It's outro. July, 1989
On July 21st, Jacket wakes up in his hospital room. He shimmies out the window and dodges several nurses and guards to escape the hospital. He drowsily returns home, finding it a gang-trashed former crime scene. There seems to be blood near the fridge, implying Jacket walked over there or was dragged by Richter after being shot in the head, potentially explaining the June 8th fridge zombie in his dreams. Moving to the laundry basket in the bathroom, Jacket gets another burst of dream static before donning his clothes, implying he fell asleep and some time has passed, making it either July 22nd or July 23rd as he heads downstairs. Jacket proceeds to his trashed Acado GT and drives it to the local precinct, where he proceeds to kill around thirty cops and a Police Chief to get to Richter and the evidence room. Richter confirms that he takes orders from the same mysterious phone messages as Jacket, prompting Jacket to spare him and turn to the police file on the case for clues (the player has the option of strangling Richter, but this has no bearing on subsequent events, as Richter is still alive in Hotline Miami 2). The police have traced some of the calls to a club of suspected Russian mafia ties (deemed the Golden Truck Stop in the sequel), but have insufficient evidence for a warrant. July 23rd, 1989
Now at what he assumes is the source of the calls, Jacket kills his way through the Russian Father's home. In the main room, the Father remarks that Jacket is one of the assholes who's been killing his men, but then commends Jacket for his senseless bloodlust and looks forward to seeing his face. Jacket beats the Father's attack panthers and ninja body guard to death with nearby trophies, and uses the dead ninja's throwing knives to maim the Father from a distance. The Father, realizing he is defeated, denies Jacket catharsis by killing himself with the boss gun. A dejected Jacket then hears the phone on the Father's desk ring. Jacket answers, and the elderly Grandfather asks what the noise down there is. When there's no reply, the Grandfather says "Goddamn phones! I hate these things!" Jacket takes the Father's revolver and heads upstairs, following the ever more tenuous idea that the phone-hating voice is behind the calls, where he finds a wheelchair-bound and unarmed Grandfather, who briefly wonders who Jacket is before deciding it doesn't matter. He expresses regret for all the wrongs he's committed and is resigned to his fate. "Nothing really seems to matter anymore, does it?" he asks before Jacket shoots him in the face with the Father's suicide pistol, killing him. Stepping outside onto the balcony, Jacket throws off his mask and removes from his pocket the picture alluded to in the animal room in his coma dream. He lights a cigarette and throws it to the wind as the credits roll. |
General Information
Name: Unknown, referred to as Jacket, potentially Richard (The masks gifted to 50 Blessings Hitmen are usually named after them directly)
Origin: Hotline Miami
First Appearance: Hotline Miami
Latest Appearance: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (Canonical latest appearance), Dead Cells (Non-canonical; appears as a unlockable costume in Dead Cells)
Company: Dennaton Games
Sex: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Pronouns: He/Him
Story Role: Hero/Main Protagonist (Hotline Miami), Tertiary Character (Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number)
Age: Unknown, at least mid-twenties (Given Jacket was enlisted into the military sometime before 1985, and the events of the first game takes place in 1989, this would indicate that he is at least 22-years-old in Hotline Miami, with two additional years passing by the time Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number begins)
Residence: Miami, Florida (Currently), Hawaii (Formally during the war)
Classification: Jacket, The Miami Maniac
Species: Human
State of Being: Regular
Physiology: Humanoid Physiology
Occupation: US Special Forces Operative (formally), 50 Blessings Hitman (formally, unwilling), Prisoner (currently)
Affiliations: Beard (Jacket's Comrade/Close Friend), Barnes (Jacket's Comrade), Daniels (Jacket's Comrade), Colonel (Jacket's Colonel)
Enemies: The Father (Leader of the Russian Mafia in Miami), The Biker (Fellow 50 Blessings Hitman, opposing assassin), Richter (Fellow 50 Blessings Hitman, opposing assassin)
Status: Both Alive and Deceased (After the events of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, nuclear war breaks out across all of America and kills off the entire cast, including Jacket. Although upon replaying the game, a sequence will began where Richard acknowledges the cast returning to relive their ultimately futile fates which strongly suggests that the events will persist so long as the characters continue their doomed paths)
Alignment: Neutral Good initially (Jacket enlisted into the military and was apart of an elite four-man special forces that fought in Hawaii against Soviet Troops. Although his initial intentions are left ambiguous, he followed orders from his colonel with good intentions), Chaotic Neutral after the death of Beard (After Beard's untimely death in Los Angeles due to the nuclear bombing in 1986, Jacket spiraled into a crazed hatred towards Russia and joined an organization called "50 Blessings" that forced him into the role of a hitman against the Russian mafia. Although he takes pleasure in killing these individuals due to justifying his actions as a conquest for revenge, he is sickened by the idea and actions of directly killing innocent lives. Went out of his way to save an innocent woman who was kidnapped by a film director within the mafia), Chaotic Evil after his surgery (Jacket went on a killing spree against dozens of police officers to get information on the mafia)
Threat Level: Metropolitan Threat (Jacket singlehandedly became a threat to the entire Russian Mafia, allowing for rival mafias to take over territory previously claimed across Miami, Florida. He was also able to take out an entire major police station in a few minutes)
Codex Statistics
Tier: At least 9-C physically, Higher with certain masks, 9-B to 9-A with weapons
Cardinality: Finite
Dimensionality: 3-D
Attack Potency: At least Peak Human level physically (Jacket has the raw power to split open a man's skull with a mere head bash, and crush said skulls with a single stomp. Jacket can swing open doors with enough power to knock grown adults several feet and unconscious. He is able to tear people's jaw off with ease, and snap a man's necks without little to no difficulty), Higher with certain masks (The Tony Mask allows him to physically kill opponents with a single punch, and the Don Juan mask grants Jacket the power to kill people by simply swinging a door open), Wall level (Jacket can utilize simple objects like bricks with such efficiency that he can shatter the skulls of over three adult men all at once. Jacket has experience with and indirect/direct access to various firearms and close-range weapons) to Room level with weapons (The 50 Blessings Organization can supply deadly explosive weapons such as rocket launchers to their hitmen[2] which have an explosive yield of a tenth of a ton of TNT)
Durability: At least Peak Human level (Jacket is shown to be able to handle the recoil of his own brutal attacks without any strain on his body whatsoever), Higher with Sheer Will (Jacket has endured major injuries through sheer grit and determination like being blasted by an elevator explosion, or shot through the skull)
Striking Strength: At least Peak Human Class physically (Jacket can very easily bash the skull in of foes), Higher with the Tony Mask (The Tony Mask empowers Jacket with greater physical strength), Wall level to Room level with weapons
Lifting Strength: At least Superhuman (Jacket can tear the jaw off of his opponents with relative ease. He can also throw large sledgehammers tens of meters with ease and can throw small objects like knives through massive multi-layered windows), Higher with the Jake Mask (The Jake Mask allows Jacket to throw any kind of object with lethal power)
Travel Speed: At least Athletic Human (Jacket is an incredibly agile individual capable of rampaging and slaughtering through a multi-story building in mere minutes), Superhuman with Graham and Brandon Masks (The Graham Mask increases Jacket's speed by twenty-five percent, whereas the Brandon Mask further increases it by fifty percent)
Combat Speed: Supersonic (Can kill several trained men in a matter of seconds and before they can even react. Can kill Dodger enemies who are specifically trained to avoid projectiles such as gunfire and get in close quarters), Higher with Tony Mask (The Tony Mask increases Jacket's execution speed greatly)
Reaction Speed: Supersonic (Jacket can maneuver around gunfire and avoid it with enough precision. Former soldier Corey is agile enough to roll out of gunfire and completely avoid it)
Stamina: At least Peak Human (Even after being shot in the head and undergoing life-saving surgery, Jacket was able to awake from his medically-induced coma while drugged and began his revenge by first going to the police station and raiding it for information, then following up by attacking the Father's club and getting information on his whereabouts before finally ending his revenge by killing the leader of the Russian Mafia)
Range: Standard Melee physically, Extended Melee with melee weapons, Tens of Meters when throwing any object, Hundreds of Meters with firearms
Powers and Techniques
Equipment
- Richard Mask: The Richard Mask is the first mask granted to Jacket on April 3rd, 1989 by the 50 Blessings Organization. The mask grants Jacket little to no direct benefits in combat other than hiding his identity when in missions, but is his most iconic mask by far.
Other
Standard Tactics: Jacket is highly aggressive and often will brutally kill his foes with his hands. If this is not possible, he will simply utilize his surroundings, such as practical objects or nearby weapons, to kill his foe as quickly as possible.
Weaknesses: Jacket is an unstable individual who often fights without thinking of the immediate consequences that follow.
Trivia
- It is possible that Jacket's real first name is "Richard", since it is the name of the first mask received in the game (mailed to him personally by 50 Blessings), and it grants no special abilities. It is worth noting that most masks, such as Jake and Richter, are shown to be named after their original owners.
- Jacket's family and his relationship with them is completely unknown. His parents are never mentioned or alluded to, we don't know if he was an only child or not, and he doesn't have any visible photos of them in his apartment. Given the lack of family photos in his home, it is possible Jacket is either estranged from his family, or moved away and isn't in regular contact with them. It is also possible, however, that the presence of flowers by his hospital bed in “Trauma” indicates that he does have someone out there that cares about his well-being.
- On the Dennaton Games website, there is a picture of Jacket with the name "Fritz" embroidered onto his jacket. If not his surname, it could be the name on the jacket or a clothing brand, as there is no indication at all that the jacket originally belonged to him, nor do we know if he bought it new or not.
- Jacket is the only playable character who doesn't have a single line of official dialogue in the games. He does talk over the phone to Beard in the outro to Casualties, but the game only expresses this by Beard regularly pausing and responding to whatever Jacket said.
- Ironically, he is one of the only character who makes any vocal noise, he does it when vomiting.
- Consequently, Jacket is also the only playable character without an unmasked dialogue sprite.
- Canonically (e.g. in-game, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, official artwork) Jacket owns the Tony Mask, the Richard Mask, and the Aubrey Mask, and has used the Fireaxe, Baseball Bat, Pistol, Throwing Knives, Shotgun and/or Machine Gun, Double Barrel and Trophy.
- Like Biker, Jacket is easily interpretable as a meta self insert of the player: taking the game's events fairly passively and silently going through the motions, putting much more effort into exploring a variety of violence implementation and mission completion rather than exploring the reasons behind what he's doing. Jacket is a gamer himself and regularly escapes into recreational activities to wind down from what he's just done, and these are associated with the player's high score screen.
- Jacket has either two or three ex-girlfriends. He's being consoled on a break up by Beard in 1986, he has a stripped twin sized bed in his apartment in early 1989, and his relationship with his girlfriend is explicitly followed. The pairing of him next to Rachael Ward in Apocalypse and her role in Midnight Animal as his 1989 girlfriend could place Ward as his early 1989 ex. The Ambush intro in 1985 seems to imply a sibling bond between Jacket and Alex, both being the only ones standing away from the bar smoking and ready to leave, This is the only time Alex is shown smoking a cigarette, an animation otherwise restricted to Jacket.
- Jacket is referenced several times in the heist game Payday 2. He is shown at the end of the Hotline Miami DLC trailer, beating an unnamed Russian mobster to death with a baseball bat after rampaging through the building, several animal masks can be purchased for the Payday 2 heisters, and a DMC DeLorean is the getaway vehicle in the Hotline Miami heist on day 1. As of the Hotline Miami 2 Update, Jacket is now a playable character and is unlocked by purchasing the Digital Special Edition of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. He never directly speaks, instead playing pre-recorded messages from a tape player to communicate with teammates, though he can be heard panting heavily if he sprints for too long. Jacket comes equipped with a customized Cobray M-11/9 machine pistol named "Jacket's Piece" and a claw hammer named "Carpenter's Delight". His associated Perk Deck is called "The Sociopath", for obvious reasons; the perks "No Talk", "Tension", "Clean Hit", "Overdose", and "Showdown" in his deck are all named after Hotline Miami levels. Because the Payday and Hotline Miami universes seem to be mutually incompatible, Jacket's appearance is most likely non-canon to the Hotline Miami universe.
- There has been some debate on if the Jacket seen in Payday 2 is an impostor, due to not only the conflicting canon, but also some pieces of evidence pointing towards the character being aware he is not really Jacket, but these are often brushed off as Jacket simply dissociating.
- Jacket's signature varsity jacket is based on the outfit of Axel Foley, the protagonist of the Beverly Hills Cop films.
- Jacket resembles Jasper Byrne, one of the music artists for the game.
- In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, his suit sprite reuses Jasper's sprite from the first game.
- While in the game Jacket collects several masks, only Richard, Tony, and Aubrey are shown as evidence in his trial in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. However, this could be because these were the only three of his masks which were actually found by the police.
- Jacket easily has the highest body count out of any playable character in the series, in front of The Son and Richter.
- Jacket's standing execution, where he rips out the throat of an enemy might be a reference to a scene from the movie Road House, where the protagonist, Dalton, kills one of the antagonists, Jimmy, by ripping out his trachea with his hand.
- Jacket is the very last character shown to die in the entire series, being killed by a nuclear blast in his prison cell during the credits of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
- There are several similarities between Corey and Jacket, most notably both being messy, being very quiet, and wearing a signature varsity jacket of a distinct style, she was also referred to as the "female version of Jacket" in the Artbook.
Battle Records
7-0-0-2
- The Producer - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket was limited to shotguns exclusively in the building.
- Location: Southwest 53rd Rd Place.
- Unknown Mafia Member - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket was limited to firearms and melee weapons exclusively in the building.
- Location: Downtown Relaxation.
- Note: Jacket had to fight and kill several armed guards with bulletproof vests before getting to the teal-haired individual throwing the Molotov cocktails.
- Police Chief - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket was limited to weaponry found exclusively in the police station.
- Location: Miami Police Station.
- Note: Jacket was heavily drugged and recovering from surgery whilst raiding the police station, suggesting he would've had a significantly more easy time going through the station.
- The Father - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket was limited to a select few items in the the room.
- Location: Ne 114th Place.
- Note: Jacket likely would have won significantly more quickly if he fought the Father one-on-one, but he ultimately killed his bodyguards as well.
- Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the camp.
- Location: Hawaii, America
- Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.
- Soviet resort Base - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the base.
- Location: Hawaii, America
- Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.
- Soviet Power Plant - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the power plant.
- Location: Hawaii, America
- Note: Jacket and his squad had weaponry and supplies from the US Military to aid them in their mission.
None.
None.
None.
None.
- Conditions: Jacket had his unit to help infiltrate the base.
- Location: Paradise Resort.
- Note: The conditions of this particular event are left ambiguous due to the date listed being incorrect, with no word being given on whether the comic is canon with incorrect dates, or entirely wrong.
- The Biker - Fight
- Conditions: Jacket was only equipped with a golf club, whereas The Biker had his knives.
- Location: Phone Hom
- Note: The actual results of the fight are left ambiguous, with the only information being given was that both individuals ultimately survived, though it's strongly implied that Jacket was ultimately superior due to having no notable physical damage, unlike the Biker.