What does it mean to be the King? That's the question duelist Jack Atlas asks himself over the course of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's series. The rival to the main character Yusei Fudou, Jack is introduced as a larger-than-life character. He's a lot like Yusei, only instead of remaining in the slums, Jack dueled his way to the top of the entertainment world and established himself as someone adored by the population of Satellite and the rest of the world.
But there's a lot to the character that only the biggest fans of the series are aware of. Is the character truly undefeated? How different was his deck in the manga compared to the animeーand what duelist finally attained King's title after him?
10 He Is Only Good At Dueling
For all of Jack’s abilities with dueling, it seems like it’s the only thing the character is actually skilled at. The character doesn’t really know how to interact with other individuals and allows everyone around him to take care of everything else. Of course, this is the entire purpose of being crowned the Duel King, but the series also shows him being fired from multiple jobs in the span of a day. He doesn’t seem like he knows how to do normal, so it’s a good thing he happens to be better at dueling than most other people.
9 He Can't Control His Money
Another thing that Jack seems to be bad at is knowing how to manage his own money. Being a good duelist means he gets paid quite a bit to entertain others. But it’s shown during the series that he overspends on anything he likes. In one episode, it’s even shown he’s in debt of almost $400 to a coffee shop because he pays $30 for just one coffee. Though everyone needs their caffeine, it seems more like Jack doesn’t know what the price of things is meant to be.
8 A Talented Fighter
Apparently, the other thing Jack knows how to do besides duel is actually fighting. In one episode, Jack fights an entire group of Duel Runner thieves and comes out on top without any help.
This feels weird at first, but it makes sense in hindsight because Jack actually grew up on the streets. Considering he had to run with what was essentially a gang with Crow, Yusei, and Kyosuke, it’s not a surprise he’s capable of defending himself.
7 Stole Yusei's Bike
Though Yusei and Jack became the best of friends growing up, the more Jack got into dueling, the more the two of them started to pull apart. Eventually, Jack got into a duel with Yusei, where Jack got the only victory over Yusei he ever did in the main series. He defeated Yusei and split away from him, where he met up with Jaeger, who encouraged Jack to become a new King. This led to Jack stealing not only Yusei’s Duel Runner but Yusei’s Stardust Dragon as well, something Yusei would have to regain from Jack years later.
6 The Master Of Faster
In the Japanese series, Jack has a dramatic flair and refers to himself as the King. With a bombastic voice, it feels more like he’s this larger-than-life character. But the English version of the series has Jack with many more funny catchphrases. He calls himself the “Master of Faster” and relies on the catchphrase: “Let’s kick this Turbo Duel into overdrive!”. Paired with his Australian accent, this makes the character more comical than cool.
5 He Loses His Position As King To The Lead Character Of ARC-V
In the Yu-Gi-Oh series Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, all the supporting casts from older series like GX, 5D’s, and ZEXAL make a return. In the Synchro Monster Dimension, Jack is once again the King of Duels in that universe. But eventually, he duels with Yuya, the protagonist of ARC-V, and is defeated in combat. After this, Jack admits the new King is Yuya and acknowledges that to be the truth, even if Yuya isn’t as good at acknowledging it himself.
4 He Remains Undefeated In Standing Duels
Despite everything about Jack’s status as the King involving his Turbo Duels skill, Jack is actually better in the regular kind of duels. In standing duels, Jack is actually undefeated across the entire series.
The end of the series involves Jack becoming the King once more and apparently remaining undefeated for an entire eight years, waiting on a chance to rematch Yusei and finally get a victory over the man he hasn’t been able to beat in almost a decade.
3 Criminal Branding
Jack ran with Yusei, Crow, and Kyosuke Kiryu during his younger years and was basically part of their gang, the Enforcers. But early on, Jack realized he wanted more than just working with them and made his way into the regular city after leaving Satellite. This worked out well for Jack, as he was never giving the criminal branding the other team members eventually got. Even Yusei wasn’t able to escape Satellite without being hit with it once he went to prison.
2 He Is Also Known As...
In the Japanese version of the series, Jack Atlas is voiced by Takanori Hoshino. The actor has roled dating back to 2003, and Jack Atlas was the actor’s biggest lead role, but they’ve also been in series like Gun x Sword as the lead protagonist Van or Noragami Aragoto. The English voice actor is Ted Lewis, Bakura in the original Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Monsters anime, and has also been Giovanni from Pokemon.
1 Master Of The Red Dragon Archfiend
Jack’s main deck type in the series is a Power Deck. It focuses on getting out its main synchro monster Red Dragon Archfiend and supporting it, usually through Resonator tuners' usage. A card Jack is best known for in the main game is Battle Fader, which lets players special summon it to the field to end the battle phase. Jack's manga version has a deck centered around being the King, with multiple monsters in that deck actually being referred to as King, working with his existing theme.