Jack (monkey)

"Why thank ye, Jack." "You're welcome." "Oh, not you. We named the monkey 'Jack'."

- Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

Jack was the monkey belonging to Captain Hector Barbossa eight years after the finding of the treasure of Cortés. He was apparently named for Captain Jack Sparrow, as something of an insult to Sparrow.

Biography
Jack became cursed along with the rest of the crew of the Black Pearl, and helped Barbossa's men track down all 882 coins that would free them from the curse. Jack stole the final piece of treasure from Will Turner aboard the Interceptor and returned it to Barbossa. He was present at Barbossa's death on Isla de Muerta, and was, at this point, free of the curse. However, Jack deliberately stole a coin from the treasure chest, thus ensuring he became cursed once more.

Return to Barbossa
"I brought payment. Look! An undead monkey! Top that!"

- Jack Sparrow to Tia Dalma

After this, Jack found his way back onboard the Black Pearl when it returned to Isla de Muerta to find the island had been claimed by the sea. Jack remained onboard the Pearl, now under Jack Sparrow's command, and attempted to steal a drawing of the key to the Dead Man's Chest held by Sparrow. The pirate captain shot Jack, though the undead monkey escaped unscathed but lost the drawing in the process. Later, Sparrow's crew managed to capture the monkey, and Sparrow used him to barter with Tia Dalma for information on the whereabouts of the Dead Man's Chest. Jack remained in the vicinity of Dalma's shack, perhaps due to the presence of his former master, returned from Purgatory. When Tia finally introduced the reborn Barbossa to Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann and Joshamee Gibbs, Jack returned to his rightful place on his master's shoulder.

Jack accompanied his master on the quest to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. The monkey admitted, with a raised hand, that he had missed Sparrow after returning from World's End. He also developed something of a partnership with Cotton's parrot; the two worked together during the battle in Singapore to destroy a fireworks factory. However, during an altercation aboard the Black Pearl, Jack drew a small pistol on the parrot just as Barbossa did the same to Sparrow.

Jack later retrieved Jack Sparrow's piece of eight and gave it to his master. Jack remained aboard the Pearl during the battle around Calypso's maelstrom, where he witnessed the impromptu marriage of William Turner and Elizabeth Swann. After Turner and Swann swung over to the Flying Dutchman, Jack joined them by way of Pintel and Ragetti firing him from a cannon. Jack, still immortal but none too pleased with this undignified mode of transport, flew into Maccus and attacked him, knocking him to the deck.

The monkey escaped the Dutchman by clinging to Jack Sparrow's makeshift parasail, and returned to his master, who later commandeered the Black Pearl at Tortuga. Barbossa happily fed Jack a peanut while onboard.



Behind the scenes

 * Jack was played by two capuchin monkeys in The Curse of the Black Pearl; a ten-year old female named Tara, and a ten-year old male named Levi. He was portrayed by Chiquita (female) or Pablo (male) in the following two films. There are several sub-species of capuchin monkey, and judging by Jack's white face and lower brown fur, he is likely a White-Fronted Capuchin (Cebus albifrons).
 * Jack appears in an additional scene found after the credits of The Curse of the Black Pearl, showing how he becomes cursed once more after Barbossa's death, explaining his undead status in Dead Man's Chest.
 * The "Jack the Monkey" card in the Pirates of the Caribbean Trading Card Game states that he was the only member of Barbossa's crew not to put his blood on the Aztec coins, hence why he remains cursed. However, this directly conflicts with the post-credits scene in The Curse of the Black Pearl, which sees him purposely take a coin from the chest to become cursed again (and besides, if Jack hadn't put his blood on the coins none of the other crew members could have undone their curse).

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End