Inheriting her family’s legacy of guarding a mystical Tome, Jennifer Kale uses it to become a powerful sorceress and fight demonic forces.
A Magical Legacy
When the Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na publicly prophesies the sinking of Atlantis in the Great Cataclysm, the Atlantean Emperor Kamuu refuses to believe her, circa 18,000 BC. Kamuu exiles Zhered-Na, setting her adrift in a small boat. Landing on the continent Thuria (which would become Europe, Asia and Africa), Zhered-Na organizes a cult of disciples, including Dakimh the Enchanter, whom she endows with an extraordinarily long life span. Zhered-Na also foretells the invasion of Earth by the demons of Sominus, who would be driven off by a savior with the aspect of a monster. As the Cataclysm begins, an agent of Zhered-Na’s enemy, the Fear-Lord known as the Dweller-in-Darkness, slays her as the Dweller harnesses the Cataclysm-caused terror energies to create a spawn, D’Spayre. Only Dakimh and a few other disciples escape, bearing with them scrolls containing Zhered-Na’s mystical knowledge, keeping her teachings alive for over 20,000 years.
Dakimh continues Zhered-Na’s struggle against the great fear, battling D’Spayre over the ensuing millennia. When Jennifer Kale’s ancestress, Illyana, joins the Cult mere centuries ago, she completes the unfinished Tome of Zhered-Na, a repository of Zhered-Na’s magic, by adding mystical knowledge gained from both an angel and a demon. From then on, only a member of the Kale family, working together with an agent of Heaven and an agent of a demonic realm, could fully utilize the magical powers of the Tome without unleashing the monstrously destructive Hellphyr.
Jennifer Kale, a present day member of the Kale family, is a lookalike for Zhered-Na and may be her reincarnation. Joshua, her grandfather, raises her. He is the designated keeper of the Tome of Zhered-Na and the leader of the Cult of Zhered-Na in Citrusville, Florida, in the section of the Everglades that is a mystical “Nexus of All Realities.” As a teenager, Jennifer becomes interested in magic. She and her brother Andrew steal a book they believed to be the legendary Tome (which had somehow vanished from Joshua’s keeping) and experiment with a magic spell, inadvertently summoning to Earth Thog, the Netherspawn, and another demon from the realm of Sominus. Ted Sallis, AKA Man-Thing, monstrous guardian of the Nexus, defeats Thog and destroys the other demon, who becomes weakened as Andrew burns the mystic book.
Jennifer’s friend Ross Jaxon doubts her tale, but upon entering the swamp he becomes possessed by another Sominus demon. Joined by Andrew and Joshua, Jennifer locates Jaxon who casts an illusion that seemingly transports them and the Man-Thing to Sominus where Thog confronts them. Joshua recognizes the whole thing as an illusion, but they are unable to dispel it from their minds until the Man-Thing finally recognizes it as an illusion, too. As they return to the swamp, the demon’s exorcized from Jaxon, but Jennifer somehow retains a psychic link with the Man-Thing.
Soon after, humanity begins to be driven mad by the opening of a portal to Sominus. Joshua brings the Cultists into the swamp to perform a ritual to recover the Tome, calling upon the Mists of Maalock, which transports both Jennifer and the Man-Thing to another extra-dimensional realm, Sandt. There, they encounter the now-aged Dakimh, who—as a test of their worthiness—pretends to want them killed. Though they fail to recover the Tome, they pass Dakimh’s test, earning his trust and support. Dakimh subsequently takes Jennifer and the Man-Thing on an extra-dimensional voyage to locate the Tome, but demons abduct Joshua and the Cultists, bringing them to Sominus. As Jennifer approaches the Tome, Yopp, an elf demon from Sominus, transports Jennifer, the Tome, and the Man-Thing (but not Dakimh) to Sominus. There, Joshua has Jennifer touch the Tome, restoring them all with the Tome to Citrusville. The Tome then vanishes once again, allegedly no longer needed with the Sominus invasion over. The Cult apparently dissolves as well, and Jennifer’s connection to the Man-Thing is seemingly severed.
Skilled Sorceress
Jennifer Kale is a highly skilled sorceress, initially trained in the ancient Atlantean sorcery practiced by Zhered-Na. Her knowledge and power continue to grow as her studies continue.
Like most sorcerers on Earth, her power comes from three major sources: Personal powers of the soul/body/mind derived from developing one’s own psychic resources (such as thought-casting), powers gained by tapping the universe’s ambient magical energy and employing it for specific effects, and powers derived from tapping extra-dimensional energy by invoking entities or objects of mystical power.
Kale can cast a wide variety of spells, project magical bolts, create mystical shields, open interdimensional portals, perform astral projection and affect the memories of or mesmerize others, among numerous other feats.
Jennifer possesses the Tome of Zhered-Na, one of the most powerful known books of magical spells. She also has some training in the martial art of tai chi.
Demonic Forces
In addition to going up against Thog, Jennifer faces evil sorcerer Baron Karl Mordo, AKA Baron Mordo, helping Man-Thing realize he’s being used by him, and perishes at Mordo’s behest through a chaos demon. Thankfully, Jennifer’s ally Strange restores her.
She also faces her Hellphyr-possessed brother Andrew, whose body and soul are lost to a demon, though she doesn’t know it until it’s too late.
Mystical Allies
While extensively self-taught in sorcery, Jennifer trains under sorcerers, such as Dakimh and Dr. Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange. She also shares a psychic bond with the protector of the “Nexus of All Realities” Man-Thing for a time. She becomes quite protective of her friend and he saves her life many times.
She joins Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, and the barbarian prince Korrek, and together, they face the demon Thog and retrieve her family’s missing Tome.
Jennifer helps other teams, such as the Legion of Night, X-Force, and the Midnight Sons to take out demons and zombies. Doctor Strange also recruits Jennifer into a trio dubbed The Witches alongside succubus Satana Hellstrom, AKA Satana, and empath Topaz, and together they face demonic forces, including Lilith, the Mother of Demons.
A Bewitched History
Jennifer soon began having visions of other realms as Thog and his “Congress of Realities” took advantage of the disruption of the Nexus of Realities to attempt to collapse all realities into a single cosmos under his control. As a result of the chaos at the Nexus, Korrek, warrior prince of Katharta, and the talking waterfowl Howard the Duck, were transported from their other-dimensional worlds to the Citrusville swamp, where Jennifer met them. Dakimh, the Man-Thing, Jennifer, Korrek and Howard joined forces in traveling to the godly realm Therea to oppose Thog, whom the Man-Thing destroyed.
Jennifer became Dakimh’s apprentice, studying with him at his castle in the other-dimensional Land between Night and Day and wearing a costume patterned after Zhered-Na’s. Jennifer, Dakimh, Korrek and the Man-Thing united again to save Korrek’s homeland, Katharta, from conquest by the evil wizard Klonus and the barbarian warrior Mortak. Although Klonus killed Dakimh’s physical form, Dakimh survived on the mortal plane in astral form and continued training Jennifer in sorcery. Jennifer and Dakimh allied yet again with the Man-Thing, Howard and Korrek against Bzzk’joh, ruler of the Imperium Emporium and master of the Death Store, who captured Jennifer before being defeated himself.
Later, D’Spayre captured both Jennifer and Dakimh, intending to enslave them, but Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, and the Man-Thing defeated the demon, freeing Dakimh and Jennifer. Still later, the sorcerer Baron Mordo sacrificed Jennifer to a chaos demon, who consumed the young sorceress; but Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange restored her to life. Strange, Jennifer, Dakimh and other sorcerers were subsequently taken prisoner via the Magus Sword by Citrusville sheriff John Daltry, who was under Thog’s control, but were freed when the Man-Thing again overcame Thog.
When Jerome Myers, AKA Quagmire, a criminal from Earth-712 (home of the Squadron Supreme), entered Earth-616 through the Man-Thing’s body, Jennifer came to the Man-Thing’s aid. Quagmire attacked her but was bested by the costumed adventurer Wendell Vaughn, AKA Quasar.
At some point, Jennifer apparently completed her apprenticeship with Dakimh. Pursuing a conventional education as well, Jennifer began attending Seaview College in Malibu, California and dating Bernard Drabble. She initially took an MBA track, but switched to a dual major in painting and interpretive dance. Sensing the demon Aan Taanu, Jennifer took a leave of absence from Seaview to join the Legion of Night mystic coalition in thwarting the demon’s plot to father a race via a human woman in order to overrun Earth. Jennifer planned to stay with the Legion to oppose other mystic threats, but any such adventures are unrevealed, as is the Legion’s fate.
After joining a number of mystics in a vigil as Quasar foiled the Deviant Ereshkigal’s efforts to conquer the multiverse, Jennifer took a sabbatical from her mystic studies to live a normal life while taking further classes at the University of California at Berkeley. While there she was saved by Doctor Strange from assassination by the evil mystic Silver Dagger and also began a romantic relationship with a woman. Jennifer later moved to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, continuing to study sorcery on her own. Doctor Strange obtained her aid in treating a mystically afflicted Danile Ketch, AKA Ghost Rider (Noble Kale). Jennifer then learned she was also one of Noble Kale’s descendants and the cousin of Dan Ketch and Johnny Blaze, AKA Ghost Rider, when they were attacked by the Furies, who sought to eradicate Noble’s lineage in revenge for the death of his wife, Magdalena. Ultimately Jennifer summoned the spirit of Magdalena, who relieved the Furies of their mission of vengeance.
Jennifer attempted to send Howard the Duck home, but this instead resulted in the summoning of Earth-78411’s Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy. She also located Ketch for the cosmic Eternity to oppose Mephisto’s alternate Earth plot and subsequently aided Blaze in unsuccessful attempts to locate his missing children, with the two parting on bad terms. Later, Jennifer moved back to San Francisco where she was sought out by X-Force members Jesse Aaronson, AKA Bedlam, Sam Guthrie, AKA Cannonball, and Danielle Moonstar, AKA Dani Moonstar, for aid against a succubus who had taken mystic control of several of their other members. Based on their description of the succubus, Jennifer identified her via her Demonic Concordance text as Pandemonia. Jennifer freed Pandemonia’s mental slaves (Locus, Meltdown, John Proudstar, AKA Proudstar, Sally Blevins, AKA Skids, Roberto Da Costa, AKA Sunspot) and, assisted by Moonstar, banished Pandemonia back to her home dimension on the chaos plane. Jennifer later examined the reality-warping energies that Dani Moonstar began to display, confirming that they were not supernatural in origin. The two then attended a tai chi course. Jennifer subsequently summoned the Man-Thing and assisted X-Force against the Queen of Star Swords, the extra-dimensional counterpart of Moonstar responsible for her temporary warp powers.
At some point Jennifer relocated once again, moving to Orlando, and she had resumed her college studies when she was wracked with mystic agony. The demon Marduk Kurios, AKA Satan, had manipulated Andrew Kale into touching the Tome of Zhered-Na, thereby becoming possessed by and transformed into the Hellphyr, which sought to destroy all mystics in existence. To defeat the Hellphyr, Doctor Strange recruited Jennifer, alongside the empath Topaz (who had previously been aided by the forces of Heaven against the demon Mephisto) and the succubus Satana (Satan’s daughter). After the three women destroyed the creature (with Andrew’s body and soul having already been completely consumed by the Hellphyr), they felt betrayed by Strange for not being truthful about Jennifer’s brother. He demanded the Tome, but having promised that it would remain in Jennifer’s family, the trio prevented him from reclaiming the Tome and decided to remain together as the Witches to combat mystical threats.
Following the Super Hero “civil war,” Kale registered as a superhuman and was assigned to the Command, the Initiative team based in her home state of Florida. Jen was emotionally traumatized when Earth-2149's super-zombies devastated the Command, but later battled a Skrull Conquistador imposter during the Secret Invasion.
She then looked into Man-Thing’s swamp and ended up fighting off zombies, including a zombie Deadpool from another dimension who cut her off from her powers. She later joined the Midnight Sons against the zombies while hunting a missing zombie Deadpool’s head, and ultimately called on the Piranha to help, but ended up controlled by him. While controlled, she fought Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm, who freed her from Piranha’s control. Though severely injured from the assault, she was pivotal in helping contain the zombie virus.
When the spirit of Daniel Drumm possessed the body of Victoria Hand, Jennifer sensed the possession and fought the spirit in Hand’s body. Though, she was slain by Drumm.
Jennifer asked dark magic sources to bring her back from the dead, but there was a painful price, one that left her face badly scarred. Following her resurrection, the ninja order known as the Hand recruited a wizard. To fight them, Jennifer joined assassin turned mercenary Elektra Natchios, AKA Elektra, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill to defeat them.
Jennifer’s face was later restored but was subsequently wounded by Ethan Slaughter. Later, in helping her friend Man-Thing carry out his vengeance, she summoned Belasco, who was involved in Man-Thing’s condition as the monstrous protector of the Nexus.
