Jack Fenton is the husband of Maddie Fenton and father of Danny and Jazz Fenton.
History[]
His past life before his college days is unknown, although he states in the first episode he was born in a log cabin. He had always wanted a pony, but was discouraged from this because he and his family had to eat horse meat during the war. Whether this is true or not is up for debate, considering that he does love to ramble. He has an ancestor named John Fenton-Nightingale who lived during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, sharing Jack's looks and obsessiveness (towards witches instead of ghosts), indicating that contact with the paranormal seems to run in his family.
During his college days at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he and Vlad Masters were once best friends, along with Maddie. Both Vlad and Jack were secretly in love with Maddie. In college, they studied science, and were interested in the paranormal. The three of them even built a smaller, early-version of the Fenton Portal during this time, which they called the proto-portal.
One day, when the portal was nearly complete, Jack, Maddie, and Vlad gathered to test the portal for the first time. Jack unwittingly filled the Ecto-Filtrator with diet soda, causing the portal to malfunction while Vlad stood directly in front of it. As Jack activated the portal, missing Maddie's warnings that his calculations weren't right, Vlad was hit with a beam of ectoplasmic energy. He came down with a horrible case of 'ecto-acne' from which he suffered years in the hospital. Soon after he lost contact with Jack and Maddie, but still held a grudge against Jack. Later, Jack concluded that ectoplasmic contamination cannot give a human any kind of ghost-related abilities.
Sometime after college, after an embarassing proposal by Jack, Jack and Maddie got married. Eventually, Maddie gave birth to their daughter Jasmine, and a few years later, Danny was born. During the next years, although they would occasionally argue over things like Christmas, Jack and Maddie had a good life, working on experiments and raising their children. Over time, prior to the beginning of the series, their interest in ghost hunting would return, and they decided to make a Ghost Portal. Although they thought it didn't work after they had finished it, Danny explored it and accidentally turned it on. This situation, unbeknownst to Jack and Maddie, resulted in Danny becoming half-ghost.
In "Mystery Meat", Jack accidentally mistakes Jazz for being a ghost when she exhibits interest in taking Danny to school. Once Jazz explains to him that he is wrong, Jack announces his plan to stop hunting ghosts, finally starting to believe they don't exist. However, his decision is forgotten when Danny Phantom, the first ghost Jack has ever seen, comes by and takes the Fenton Thermos. After this, Jack is confident that ghosts exist and even more determined to catch one, fishing in the Ghost Portal and working on more ghost-hunting technology.
In "Bitter Reunions" Jack and Vlad are reunited during a college reunion hosted by Vlad, who has become a billionare, in his castle. Vlad says that he is willing to forget the past, and Jack believes that they are on good terms again. In reality, Vlad still wants Jack dead, and never forgave him for marrying Maddie (the love of his life) and having a happy family with her.
In "Phantom Planet", the show's finale, Vlad reveals his identity as a ghost to the entire city. In the climax, Vlad is trapped in outer space near fatal ectoplasmic energy fields which surround him. Begging Jack to let him board his ship, and stating that he would not abandon an old friend, Jack, finally realizing that Vlad doesn't like him, replies "An old friend? No. You? Yes." He shrugs him off and heads off to Earth, leaving Vlad to fend for himself. After learning Danny's true identity as the Ghost Boy, Jack offers to team up with his son, making Danny his 'sidekick.'