Iron Jackal

Full body shot of the Iron Jackal

Ilya Pankov, the Iron Jackal's real name

White Wolf (Currently)

**Iron Jackal**(real name **Ilya Pankov**) is a former Russian Spetsnaz operative turned White Wolf PMC. A trained fighter in the Russian Army, Ilya Pankov was known as the most feared soldier in the Armed Forces. He later left the Armed Forces for unknown reasons, only to abruptly resurface as a member of the Russian PMC known as White Wolf.

## Biography

### Early life

Born in Volgograd as **Ilya Pankov**, the man who would become the Iron Jackal wa fascinated with the Russian military at a young age. His father Oleg Pankov was a former colonel of the Soviet military and his mother Anna served in the Soviet Armed Forces as a sniper. Both parents were a huge influence on the young Ilya, who later decided to join the military himself to "honor his family tradition."

### Military career and becoming a superhuman

Ilya Pankov went to military academy, where he ended up as a lieutenant in the Russian Ground Forces. He later made it into the Spetsnaz, where he served at least three tours in Chechnya and one in Dagestan.

Out of all his military adventures, Ilya's tour in Dagestan changed his life forever; during one patrol he learned that the radical Muslim fundamentalists he was fighting had discovered some sort of "element", which later turned out to be a crystalline object of extraterrestrial origin that was found on the banks of the Sulak River, dubbed "Element X" by the Russian government.

Ilya, who happened to study Geology before going to military academy, decided to examine the object himself. However, he suffered some sort of "reaction' to the object, as he soon felt overcome with dizziness and later was overcome with violent convulsions. At one point, he started frothing at the mouth and ranting and raving in both Russian and English before passing out.

When he awoke in a military hospital in the village of Makhachkala, he was surprised to find that his body had "enhanced"; he possessed an accelerated healing factor, increased physical performance, pain suppression, and a near superhuman set of reflexes.

He was eventually discharged from the military, his encounter with Element X being dismissed as an "accident" by the Russian government.

### Becoming a PMC

In early 2015, Pankov joined White Wolf, a Russian private military company that took interest in him due to his interesting military background. Operating under the codename **Iron Jackal**, Pankov was hired by many rich clients to either protect families and friends or kill high value targets on behalf of other people. However, his biggest claim to fame was during the Venezuelan Civil War.

## Personal details

### Personality

As a soldier, Pankov was defined by his lack of empathy, ruthlessness and brutality. He was also considered quite prideful, with many commenting that his hubris would one day get him killed.

As a PMC, Ilya was sadistic at times, showing total apathy while sometimes torturing his enemies for information. This made him the second most feared fighter after the Righteous Crusaders led by Edward Maglio.

Despite these tendencies, he still has some shred of morality present in him, as he considers it "dishonorable" to leave people behind during wars and lives by an "honor code" of sorts that emphasized care towards your comrades, while at the same time showing apathy and hatred towards one's enemies.

### Physical appearance

Ilya Pankov is described as a tall, stocky man with short brown hair and two differently colored eyes. He has  *Heterochromia iridum,* which leads to one eye being blue and one eye being green. However, during his time as a White Wolf contractor, he has started wearing green contact lenses.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Artificially Enhanced Physiology**: Because of his interactions with Element X, Ilya's body was greatly enhanced, allowing him to survive a fall from a high mountain into a waterfall, which should have killed him.
* **Enhanced Strength**: Element X enhanced Ilya's body to near super-human levels, allowing him to kill people by punching them with tremendous force. Using this strength, Ilya could tear a hole in a wall with his bare hands, rip a door off its hinges with little to no effort, and even send cars flying across a road with a powerful kick. For him, carrying a Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle is like carrying a five pound weight.
* **Enhanced Durability**: Element X left Ilya with a vastly denser and more resilient body, able to survive a fall from a cliff that should have killed him. He can also land on hard surfaces from great heights without any injury. However, this doesn't make him invincible; he can still die from jumping off of Mount Everest-level heights.
* **Enhanced Speed**: Iron Jackal can run faster, to the point where he could easily outrun Edward Maglio during a footchase. Edward Maglio even commented that he could "outrun Usain Bolt" if he wanted to.
* **Enhanced Agility**: Iron Jackal is extremely agile, able to make complex backflips to avoid getting hit by gunfire.
* **Enhanced Stamina**: Compared to a normal human, Iron Jackal's enhanced body allows him to produce far fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity. This allows him to run longer distances than a normal person.
* **Enhanced Reflexes**: Iron Jackal's reflexes have been enhanced to extraordinary levels. He can sense a strike from an enemy seconds before actually getting hit. He could also jump on a moving vehicle with pinpoint accuracy.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor**: Element X left Iron Jackal with an accelerated healing factor, to the point where scars and major injuries that usually take years to heal take mere days, with little to no scarring to boot.

### Abilities

* **Master Martial Artist**: As a former Spetsnaz operative, Ilya is skilled in various Russian martial arts. He utilizes a fighting style that combines elements of Systema with MMA, Kali/Eskrima, boxing, Judo. At one point, during a fight with El Commandante, a Division 9 officer, Ilya was able to beat El Commandante.
* **Knife Mastery**: Ilya uses Kali/Eskrima during knife fighting.
* **Master Marksman**: Ilya is a trained sniper, able to make kills from miles away. He nearly blew Edward's arm off during a shootout involving both Ilya himself and the Righteous Crusaders and would have killed Edward if it weren't for Edward ducking moments before Ilya pulled the trigger. His accuracy is so good, he could also shoot a target through a wall using only a pistol.
* **Master Assassin**: Ilya is a master at stealth killing; when he kills someone, most enemies do not even see him. It is for this reason that he strikes fear in the hearts of nearly everyone he fights. This also makes him the second most feared opponent in the eyes of Division 9, as well as The Eternals.
* **Multilingualism**: Ilya can speak multiple languages. In addition to his native Russian, he can speak English, German, French, Icelandic, Spanish, Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese and even Mandarin Chinese quite well.

## Weaknesses

* **Sign language**: Ilya cannot understand sign language, no matter how hard he tries.

## Equipment

### Weapons

* **Gerber Mark II Combat knife**: This combat knife is Iron Jackal's weapon of choice.
* **Push Dagger**: Ilya also uses this weapon in close quarters combat in many occasions.
* **Throwing knives**: Ilya uses throwing knives to make stealth kills from a distance.
* **Beretta 92FS Inox**: Ilya keeps his weapon holstered on his waist. He used it a few times; once during a drive-by shooting, and on various different occasions throughout the Venezuelan Civil War.
* **SIG-Sauer P220ST:**This pistol was used on several occasions, most notably against Edward Maglio during their first encounter in the Venezuelan jungle.
* **Vz.61 Skorpion**: Ilya keeps a pair of these on his person, holstered on his waist. He later kept a third on one of his thigh holsters.
* **Intratec TEC-38**: This small gun was kept on Ilya's left thigh holster.
* **COP .357 Derringer**: This small gun was kept in Ilya's right thigh holster. He eventually replaced it with a **Vz.61 Skorpion** submachine gun.
* **Barrett M82A1M**: A heavy sniper rifle that Ilya used to assassinate several prominent lieutenants in The Eternals and Division 9.
* **M249 SAW**: This light machinegun was used by Ilya to massacre dozens of Los Eternos hitmen during a raid.
* **FN Mk 13**: A grenade launcher that was modified to fire EMP disk grenades, used to disable vehicles.
* **Milkor MGL**: A grenade launcher that was used to blow up a sicario's hacienda. Another variation modified to fire EMP grenades was used on a Division 9 FOB.
* **MTS-255**: A variant of this shotgun, known modified to fire Dragon's Breath rounds, known as "Hell's Cannon", was used against Division 9 soldiers. Another variation of the shotgun that fires modified shotgun shells loaded with sharp steel tacks, known as the "**Piranha**", was used against both Division 9 soldiers and Los Eternos hitmen in a brutal massacre.

## Trivia

* He is similar to *Call of Duty* villain Vladimir Makarov due to his sadistic tendencies.
* He is also considered an anti-hero; he genuinely seeks to do the right thing, though his vigilantism leads him to be perceived by many to be an evil person.

## Quotes

*"Please do not make me use this. It is going to hurt worse than Hell itself."*

- Ilya Pankov to a sicario before massacring dozens of Los Eternos hitmen