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| “ | Max, that reason, that purpose is: You are supposed to save the world. | ” |
–Jeb Batchelder, The Angel Experiment | ||
| Jeb Batchelder | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Title | ||
| Jeb | ||
| Vital Statistics | ||
| Gender | Male | |
| Family | Max (Daughter)
Ari (son) | |
| Status | Deceased | |
| Eye Color | Blue | |
| Hair Color | Brown/Blond | |
| Height | ||
| Other | ||
| Affiliation | The Flock, Whitecoats, The School | |
| Weapons | ||
| Species | Human | |
| Home | Unknown | |
| Appearances | The Angel Experiment,
School's Out - Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, MAX, FANG, Nevermore, Maximum Ride Forever |
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Jeb Batchelder was Ari Batchelder and Maximum Ride's father. Though he used to be a good whitecoat, he gradually lost the trust of the Flock after the events of The Angel Experiment.
History
Before The Angel Experiment
When Max and the Flock were young, Jeb rescued them from the School and went into hiding, living in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado. He became a fatherlike figure to them, teaching them how to fight and to fly. However, after two years, Jeb disappeared without a trace, and Max became leader.
The Angel Experiment
Angel, imprisoned and forced into experiments by the School, was the first member of the Flock to learn that Jeb was alive. She found that she was unable to read his thoughts. Unlike the other whitecoats, Jeb showed her kindness and gave her food. He seemed saddened when Angel told him that she hated him.
Max met him later, after being captured by the School along with the rest of the Flock. Max, seeing her savior and father figure back with the School and his fellow whitecoats, feels deeply betrayed, although Jeb tells her he's proud of her and that she was created to save the world. Later, as the Flock escaped, Jeb screamed to Max that everything was a test and that she was safe at the School. Max, however, said she didn't think so, and promptly flew off with the rest of the Flock.
Jeb encountered the Flock once more on a beach along with his son Ari. There he once again told Maxshe had to save the world. He also informed her that the mistakes she'd made in New York City had cost her and that she had to be more careful. Jeb soon left with the rest of the Erasers.
He was devastated when Max killed Ari, saying that Max had killed her own brother.
School's Out - Forever
Upon discovering that Anne Walker and her home are tied to Itex, Max also learns that Anne is Jeb's boss. Jeb is involved in kidnapping Max and pitting her against her clone, Max II.
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The School recaptures the Flock, and Jeb informs them that all of their adventures have been a simulation and they never left. However, upon escaping, it becomes clear he was lying.
While Max, Nudge, Angel, and Total are imprisoned in a dungeon by the Director, Jeb visits them. To Max's shock, he speaks to her as the Voice. He asks questions, testing her to see her intentions. Jeb reveals that he is Max's father and that Dr. Valencia Martinez is her mother.
Jeb in the Marvel series
The Final Warning
Jeb is present at Ari's funeral. He, along with Dr. Martinez, serve a parental role to the Flock, recommending that they go on a trip to Washington and eventually to Antarctica.
He and Max have an uneasy relationship. When Jeb asked Max if she trusted him, Max replied, "No. But I trust my mother, and she apparently trusts you." Although Max believes Jeb's intentions were ultimately good, she is still wary of him after the torture he has put the Flock through over the years. Both Jeb and the Voice tell Max that they are not, in fact, the same person, but cryptically tell her that this is just "part of the picture."
MAX
Jeb remains an authority figure to the Flock, while Max distrusts him. He encourages the Flock to attend the Day and Night School, but it does not work out.
FANG
Jeb, along with Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, introduces Dylan to the Flock. After Jeb takes a bullet for the Flock at Furious, Max partially forgives him.
ANGEL
Max is suspicious of Jeb's continuing association with Dr. Gunther-Hagen. The two are in a plane leading the Flock to the Gen77 school when the plane is destroyed. As the plane goes down, Gazzy catches Jeb but cannot lift him. Jeb intentionally lets go in order to keep from weighing him down, telling him as he does so that the human race will have to die to save the planet. Jeb nearly falls to his death, but is caught by Dylan.
Jeb later drives away with Dr. Martinez, who is acting strange. Max theorizes that Jeb planned the crash and kidnapped her mom.
Nevermore
Angel, held captive once more, finds that Jeb and Dr. Martinez are working with the enemy as they operate on her.
Jeb later appears with an army of Ari clones and announces sadly that Fang must die to protect him from Gunther-Hagen and others who would experiment on him for his immortality gene. After the conflict, Jeb weeps over the corpse of the cloned Ari, having tried in many attempts to bring his son back. Max breaks his ribs with a kick. When the Flock leaves for Paradise, she suddenly says they can't just leave the unconscious and wounded Jeb to freeze on the porch and to bring him with them. They bring him along, tied up securely, with Dr. Martinez agreeing that Jeb is sick but not evil.
Maximum Ride Forever
Jeb somehow survives the Apocalypse. While looking for the Remedy, Max and Dylan find Jeb in the underground base called Himmel. Jeb confirms that he made the Horsemen by splicing Fang's genes. He has bought into Dr. Gunther-Hagen's plan completely. Max chokes him, then once she lets go, he tazes her. He straps her onto a gurney and is about to stab her with a syringe and convert her a Horseman when Kate and Star arrives. Max stabs the distracted Jeb with his own syringe. He ultimately dies after Kate snaps his neck.
Trivia
- In the first volume of Maximum Ride: The Manga, a picture of Jeb and a slightly younger Flock can be seen taped to the walls of the Flock's kitchen.