JACK BALE

Real Name: Jack Bale

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Bale Construction foreman

Group Membership: Bale Construction (Francis Barnum, Percy Stevens, others)

Affiliations: The Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Falcon/Sam Wilson, Quasar/Wendall Vaughn, Sersi, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters), Redwing

Enemies: Plantman (Samuel Smithers simuloid), Stilt-Man (Wilbur Day), Water Wizard (Peter Van Zante), the Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite) (though he was completely unaware of it)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, USA

First Appearance: Avengers I Annual#19 (1990)

Powers/Abilities: Jack Bale has no superhuman powers but he is a skilled construction foreman, familiar with construction materials and tools as well as the management of large crews of people.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 220 lbs)
Eyes: Light green
Hair: White (balding)

History:
(Avengers I Annual #19 / 5 / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 1 - Avengers entry - BTS) - Jack Bale, the foreman of the Bale Construction company, became a civilian associate of the Avengers when he oversaw the construction of a new Avengers Mansion.

(Avengers I Annual#19 / 5) - While working on the construction of the mansion in New York City, Jack Bale was visited by the small group of Avengers, who wished to check on the construction progress. Explaining that there was still trimming to do so and that he couldn't take the Avengers inside the mansion, Jack offered to walk them around the construction site while secretly thinking to himself how he hoped the Avengers would decline, as trouble always seemed to follow superhero types. The Avengers decided to take Bale up on his offer and Jack Bale began showing the group around and when She-Hulk ducked down to pick up a piece of paper to ask Bale who it belonged to, construction worker Francis dove into battle against a Plantman simuloid. Bale turned with Captain America and She-Hulk upon hearing the noise in the bushes but a grinning Francis emerged from the bushes, claiming he'd lost his favorite wrench. Another worker, Percy, soon stopped an attack from the Water Wizard and when Stilt-Man neared the construction site, Percy wondered to himself why Jack couldn't tell some sort of story to stall the Avengers further so a battle would not ensue. As Bale finished showing the Avengers around the construction site, never noticing his employees fighting off an array of villains, Captain America commended Jack Bale on the good work his crew was doing. Jack interrupted and started to ask Cap about World War II before he turned to see his crew dumping a load of construction material into a pile. Cap remarked that perhaps the Bale Construction crew might accomplish more if they'd stop clowning around, at which point Bale berated his crew about safety and asked whose crowbar had been left out.

Comments: Created by Gary Barnum, Steve Buccelato and Mickey Ritter.

    This profile was originally a subprofile within the Bale Construction profile by Madison Carter. As such, I tried to keep as much of the original subprofile text as possible, hence the dual writing credit.

    Jack Bale started to ask about Captain America if he remembered something about World War II, suggesting that Cap and a younger Jack Bale might've met sometime during World War II but even in 1990, when the story was published, Jack would've had to have been pretty young to have met Cap during World War II. Maybe Jack saw Cap at some sort of public bond rally or something as a child? I don't think Jack Bale would've served in World War II, as he would've been in his late 60s or 70s in 1990, which seems a bit old to be still working construction. Then again, I guess he WAS the foreman and not doing the actual labor. Still, with Marvel's sliding time scale, there's no way Bale would've served in WWII anyway so we'll just have to chalk up Bale's questions about WWII to him having an interest in history and wondering what Cap might've remembered of it personally.

    Jack Bale's eyes were only clearly seen in one panel and they looked sort of a pale yellow to me. Since most normal humans don't have pale yellow eyes, I went with "light green" as the color.

    This profile was completed on 09/28/2026 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Proto-Man and Madison Carter.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jack Bale should be distinguished from:

• BALE, BRYSON - mutant terrorist Brotherhood member--Brotherhood I#4
  
• BALE, EMERSON - lawyer--Champions I#5
• BALES - NYPD, associated with Det. Flint--Moon Knight VI#13
• BALES of Earth-93060 - Lodge--Firearm I#10
• other "Jack" or "Bale" characters, groups, items, races or events
  

Appearances:
Avengers I Annual#19 (1990) - "Clowning Around" story - "Gruesome" Gary Barnum (writer), "Starving" Steve Buccelato (pencils), "Mighty" Mickey Ritter (inks), Len Kaminski (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 1 (2008) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Mike Fichera, Stuart Vandal, Mark O'English, Sean McQuaid, Madison Carter, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Eric J. Moreels, David Wiltfong, Chad Anderson, Anthony Flamini, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Rich Green, Chris Biggs, Al Sjoerdsma, David Sexton, Bill Lentz, Barry Reese, Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Mike Raicht, Stephen Faulkner (writers), Art Adams (Avengers entry art), Pond Scum (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)

First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 09/28/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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