When gamers discuss the best villains of the franchise, it is almost inevitable that Borderlands 2's Handsome Jack gets brought up, as in many ways, this villain helped define the franchise. And in the most recent Borderlands 3 DLC, Mad Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, his legacy is on full display, leaving many to wonder if that was it for the iconic villain. Before moving forward, it's worth highlighting that this article will contain MAJOR STORY SPOILERS for BL3's first major story DLC.
Players first meet Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2 after he tries to kill the PC, the new Vault Hunters, who were joining up with the Crimson Raiders. Throughout the game, Handsome Jack's desperation, acts of evil, and hilarious wit are on full display, with the character's arc putting the fact that he thought he was the hero first. He laughs about killing Roland, he enjoys teasing the players, he seems to be in genuine pain at the death of his daughter, and he awakens the Warrior, the final boss of Borderlands 2. His character was arrogant, but fragmented; evil, but damaged; and complex, yet simple. This narrative arc and character development made any villain living up this legacy a hard sale, long before Borderlands 3 ever released.
Thus, Gearbox turned its eye on how Jack became this way. In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, it becomes abundantly clear that Roland, Lilith, and Moxxi turn Handsome Jack (who was then just Jack) into their own personal demon. He was very much the same character but to a lesser degree, forcing Roland, Lilith, and Moxxi to turn on him, permanently scarring his face with the vault symbol and sealing his fate as the man who would one day awaken the Warrior. This is something that Roland, Lilith, and Moxxi would face come Borderlands 2, and something that left wounds far into Borderlands 3.
Gearbox debated bringing Jack back for the threequel, but ultimately decided against this, citing that it would undermine his entire development. It's a good point, forcing Gearbox into the lesser of two evils: replacing him. As such, it was inevitable that the Calypso twins would be compared to Handsome Jack in the main storyline, in which most agree that they fell short. Yet it's almost guaranteed that even the most compelling Borderlands 3 villain would fall short, and while dead, Handsome Jack's legacy lives on in Mad Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot.
Handsome Jack opens the DLC by talking about his casino, there are recordings of Jack that appear throughout, there are busts of Jack abound, the final boss is a giant robot of the character, and most of the BL3 characters involved—Moxxi, Timothy, Pretty Boy, the Mayor of Trashlantis—are all still living in the shadow of Handsome Jack. For Moxxi, this Borderlands 3 DLC is a way of removing him from her books forever; as such, it's clear that she still feels the pain of Jack's actions (and perhaps even hers in Pre-Sequel) several years later. For her, this is a story of closure.
Timothy, on the other hand, is hated everywhere he goes, simply for being Jack's doppelganger. Because he has Jack's DNA, Timothy will often say something that sounds just like Jack, which is torture for him and nostalgia for the player in Borderlands 3. It's clear that Timothy only wants to escape the confines that Jack has put on (and into) him and actually be with Moxxi, thinking for the majority of the DLC that she only ever thought of his as Jack's doppelganger, thinking that she only sees him as a part of Jack. As such, it's hard for Timothy to escape Jack's legacy, making this a story of redemption—but not for himself.
Notably, Pretty Boy is an interesting Borderlands 3 villain, one that seems intent to capture how villains inevitably fall short of Handsome Jack. The name alone is somewhat of a contrast in the specific Handsome versus the generic Pretty, with the specific name of Jack to the general reference of Boy. Moreover, Pretty Boy would be nothing without Jack, having only his power and authority over the casino because he was locked in Jack's Tower when the shutdown happened (directly caused by Jack's death). And even in the final fight, it's Jack that Pretty Boy has to rely on in the form of the Jack Bot. As a villain, Pretty Boy is the opportunity seizer, one filling a vacant hole left by his predecessor yet is simply incapable of living up to him.
For Jack's former tailor, the Mayor of Trashlantis, this is a story of returning to a forgotten past. The Mayor saw Jack's greed, Jack's ambitious, and determined the road to happiness to be free of material possession by Borderlands 3. And returning to the world he left justifies his belief in his material-free life. In so many ways, every deeply-involved character of this BL3 DLC learned from and was molded by Handsome Jack.
And with Moxxi getting her closure, Timothy ostensibly being freed from his shadow, and Roland and Lilith now dead, it seems that this full DLC was a sendoff for Handsome Jack's legacy. At this point, there's no seeing Jack return in the flesh, at least not in the immediate future (so it seems), and so for fans, just like Moxxi, this may be closure on Handsome Jack's legacy. Yet, even with his legacy receiving a befitting narrative end, it seems hard to say to goodbye. With so much left in the air by the end of Borderlands 3, it seems that moving forward is the only possible outcome—yet with so much about Borderlands shaken up with its identity (outside looter shooter mechanics, of course), it's hard to imagine what the future could look like.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
