Handsome Jack

"I see our fearless leader Jack is looking for you. Charming fellow, isn’t he? Spouts drivel about bringing "peace" to the frontier, then shoots unarmed men, women and children like it was going out of style. Bah, i’m spouting exposition again, aren’t I? Apologies!"

- Sir Hammerlock's thoughts on Handsome Jack

Handsome Jack is the main antagonist in Borderlands 2. He is a ruthless, cruel leader and a self proclaimed "Hero". He also stole the credit for defeating the entity that resided in the Vault from the original vault hunters form the original game. Handsome Jack wants to find and activate the Warrior, so he can get rid of all "criminals" on Pandora and rule the land for himself.

Handsome Jack's history is a complex one. Raised for some time by his grandmother, he was subjected to (at the least) physical abuse. This abuse would most likely become one of the main contributors to the decline of his mental state as he became older. When he became older, he found a job as a computer engineer for the Hyperion Corporation and would eventually get married and have a daughter, Angel, whom was one of the universe's six sirens; women who were gifted with immense powers. Handsome Jack then forcibly connected Angel to computers that would allow him access to the communication systems on Pandora. With his daughter in place, he orchestrated the events of Borderlands, using Angel as a proxy to relay instructions to the original vault hunters. He also used this as an oppotunity to rise up the corporate ladder by orchestrating bets to his superiors and using Angel and the original vault hunters (whom were unaware of this at the time) to see that it came to fuition. Some time after the Vault was opened, Handsome Jack, now as president and CEO of the Hyperion Corporation, began operations on Pandora to carry out his main plan. He then stole the vault key from Patricia Tannis, and used the rare mineral arose after the Vault was opened (eridium), to use as fuel to increase Angel's power in order to charge the vault key. This would eventually make Angel dependant on the substance for her own survival. He then tries to find other vault hunters in order to lure them into his sphere of influence, showing a need for them. After luring them in, he then tries to kill them. This however would eventually be the beginning of the end for Handsome Jack as vault hunters don't die so easily.

Handsome Jack's acts range from merely being petty, such as taunting the Vault Hunters and even naming his own stead "Butt Stallion" as an insult for them, into utterly sadistic, such as cold-bloodedly murdering Bloodwing and using his own daughter to charge the vault key. He is also very vengeful as he did not hesitate to kill Roland and kidnap Lilith, another siren, to replace his daughter who died from being disconnected from the eridium that helped kept her alive. He also resinded the bounty place on the vault hunters sent to stop him, so that he could kill them himself. He revels in whatever evil he does and is not afraid to rub it in his enemies' face.

He held the delusions that he was the hero of the story, as he would be hailed as the savior. However, at the end of his life, when he was spouting those as his Villainous Breakdown, he was promptly killed by either the Vault Hunters or Lilith.

Trivia

 * Handsome Jack is often considered a 'western-game' equivalent of Yuuki Terumi of BlazBlue, as they both enjoy mocking, trash-talking and trolling their enemies and flaunt their superiority and being sadistic in what they do. Unlike Terumi, however, Handsome Jack was more short-lived.
 * During the development of the game, the developers origionally gave him the name as a temporary place holder, but everyone liked the name that it was decided to become his actual name.