Jet Pack



A standard piece of equipment for anyone from The Future. A backpack that lets the wearer fly by shooting jets of fire (or concentric rings of Pure Energy) out of the back, parallel to the wearer's legs. Strangely enough, nobody ever suffers Toasted Buns as a result. Nor do they ever run out of fuel, or even consume any fuel of any sort in the first place.

Also covered here are Rocket Boots.

Due to its ubiquitous appearances alongside the Flying Car as a predicted technological advance, it's one of the reasons why people declare I Want My Jetpack.

A Sub-Trope of Flight and Awesome Backpack. Not quite related to Stupid Jetpack Hitler, although jet packs may be involved there as well. Compare Helicopter Pack.

Anime and Manga

 * Chachamaru of Mahou Sensei Negima is equipped with one, though even in her upgraded form, she can only use it for up to fifteen minutes before needing to recharge.
 * Mazinger Z: Mazinger-Z's Mid-Season Upgrade was a Jet Pack docked with Mazinger-Z. It was yellow with red Razor Wings and could shoot star-shaped shurikens to whoever tried attack Mazinger-Z from back. Its name was Jet Scrander.
 * Great Mazinger: Great Mazinger had a red Jet Pack folded from its back, and a second Jet Pack (Big Booster) docked with it. It was grey, with wide triangular wings, and was equiped with a spike to impale Robeasts. Venus-A also had an attachable Jet Pack, right like Mazinger-Z.
 * UFO Robo Grendizer: Grendizer had THREE of them (not counting its spaceship): Double Spacer -to fly inside and outside of atmosphere-, Marine Spacer -to fly and dive underwater- and Drill Spacer -to fly and burrow underground-.
 * The Principal in the Ranma ½ manga had one that exploded.
 * Samurai Gun. Kaishu Katsu has one in the Tokugawa era.
 * In the first episode of Urusei Yatsura, used by Ataru Moroboshi in an attempt to catch Lum, despite her flying abilities. Instead the jetpack blows up when he starts it.
 * Astro Boy has Rocket Boots.
 * The main propulsion/jumping thrusters for most Mobile Suits are mounted on a backpack. Some have secondary thrusters in the legs as well.
 * The eponymous Strike Witches have a cross between Rocket Boots and Power Armor for the leg area, powered by magic.
 * In Code Geass, the Float systems used by Britannian Knightmare Frames look like Mecha-sized jet packs. The Air Glide Wing variation used by the Black Knights, and the Energy Wing system that appears later look less like jet packs, although they are much more refined.
 * Macross Frontier finally gives the franchise a real jet pack, standard on all EX-Gears.
 * Hanaukyo Maid Tai La Verite episode 11. Konoe's Onee-Sama has one as part of her armor, which she uses to pursue the protagonist party as they escape via elevator after rescuing Mariel.
 * In the Best Wishes saga of Pokémon, a much more formidable Team Rocket uses these gadgets to avoid getting blasted off.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The Gurren Lagann, the somewhat-eponymous mech, uses the drills on its back to assimilate an enemy aircraft and turn it into one of these.

Comic Books

 * Iron Man has the rocket boots. In the film this leads to some Amusing Injuries before he learns to control them.
 * This was clearly a retcon of the comic-book Iron Man, due to the fact that boot-only rockets would too-obviously end up failing hiliariously as shown; thus since comic-bok Iron Man already had repulsor-rays in his gauntlets, they rationalized that he could simply use them to stablize himself in flight, and avoid flipping over backwards like that when he fired his rocket-boots.
 * War Machine's armor also has these features.
 * The DC Universe equivalents - Steel and Hardware in particular - also use them.
 * DOOM has either a jetpack or rocket boots, depending on his whim!
 * Standard equipment for Wonder Man in the Marvel Universe.
 * And Adam Strange in The DCU.
 * Zot apparently has several models of the boots.
 * GI Joe get these as standard issue, called J.U.M.P. packs. Cobra later answers this with a man portable flying wing, The C.L.A.W.
 * The Marvel Universe version of Leonardo da Vinci has this beat with an ornithopter-pack.
 * Cyclops has one.
 * The Rocketeer
 * The 1980's British Starblazer comic had jet packs.

Film

 * Commando Cody (AKA Larry Martin, AKA The Rocketman) the interchangable hero of various Republic Film Serials in The Fifties who battled criminals, supervillains, and alien menaces with the aid of an atomic-powered jetpack and a rather silly helmet.
 * The Rocketeer
 * Despite the name, this was a jetpack rather than a rocket, since it was fueled by alcohol but carried no oxygen to combust it with. Here, the hero stopped Hitler from creating an army of flying Nazi stormtroopers that would conquer America—and the world.
 * Hell, the first time they fire it up you can see an air intake fan start to move under the housing. Everything we're shown in the movie marks the device as a Jetpack, but everyone in the movie keeps calling it a "Rocket," Even Howard Hughes who built it and presumably know the proper name.
 * In Star Wars, both Fetts have jetpacks, and both of them fail them in one way or another. Since they wear armor, it's at least justified why they never get burned.
 * The Star Wars Expanded Universe has a very select cadre of (non-Mandalorian) mercenaries with jetpacks, also armored. And there are several varieties of clone and stormtrooper with jetpacks, each with different appellations like jet trooper, airtrooper, and Rocket Trooper. Since at least one of those was developed for a tabletop game, the type of jetpack troopers use comes with restrictions like fuel and where it can or can't be used.
 * Raises Fridge Logic issues, as repulsor-field technology otherwise suggests that jetpacks are obsolete as a means of aerial propulsion. Justified by Rule of Cool and as an homage to scifi tradition.
 * It is noted in a few places that Repulsor packs are not small, and are not efficient when they are small. Even droids that use them don't use them constantly, because it drains their batteries. And really heavy loads still use wheels or legs to support them. Granted, Boba's is probably nostalgic, because it belonged to his father.
 * Mandalorians as a whole are traditionalist, since they made the art of bounty hunting they don't like people taking different approaches by altering the core of their tactics (flamethrowers, wristblades and personal missles in a world with laser everything-else.)
 * One of the clone troopers is called Commander Cody in a homage to the original Rocketman.
 * In Attack of the Clones, we suddenly discover that R2-D2 is equipped with leg rockets.
 * Incrediboy/Syndrome in The Incredibles
 * James Bond uses one at the beginning of Thunderball.
 * It makes a cameo in Die Another Day
 * Fahrenheit 451 (1966) film: the bad guy search squad has them.
 * Minority Report film: the police use them.
 * The Iron Giant
 * That's more of a Flying Robot.
 * Spy Kids has these, of course. One of the characters gets her hair burned off by the flames shooting out of the engine of a pack.
 * Spock has rocket boots (Spocket boots?) in Star Trek V the Final Frontier. This might be one of the reasons people like to pretend that film never happened.
 * That, and the fact that the entire rest of the film was totally shitty.
 * So much that the rocket-boots were the best part of it... "I feel your pain."
 * In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock stole a "thruster suit"—a space suit with a one-use rocket backpack—so that he could reach V'ger's inner chamber.
 * Do the Stompers in Super Mario Bros. count?
 * J-Men Forever! (1979). Rocket Jock (a re-dubbed Commando Cody) mutters constantly about the problems of using his atomic-powered jetpack, including the worry that his tailor might have forgotten to include the lead-lining, the need to hit his springboard in order to launch himself into the air, sore arches whenever he lands, his feet setting on fire, and the risk of drowning inside his full-face helmet should he get airsick.
 * Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow (2004). Action Girl and Ace Pilot 'Franky' Cook ejects from her submersible airplane just in time to avoid a Macross Missile Massacre. After breaking the surface of the water a Jet Pack boosts her the rest of the way up to her Airborne Aircraft Carrier. Even the rival for the hero's affections is impressed.
 * Monsters vs. Aliens. General W. R. Monger has one of these for travelling around his Elaborate Underground Base and talking to 49 foot, 11 inch women. They also come in useful for reaching giant floating alien spaceships.
 * The Running Man. Used by the Stalker named Fireball.
 * Kick-Ass has
 * In Sleeper, Milo (Woody Allen) tries to use one to escape the security police, but it takes off without him. He then tries a backpack helicopter, also with comedic results.
 * The classic Buster Crabbe Buck Rogers serials had a jet pack strapped to the back of the eponymous hero in some of their more memorable moments.

Literature

 * In The Last Hero, having already established dragon-power as the motive force of the Discworld's first rocketship, Leonard of Quirm invents a device that allows one to leave the ship with a dragon strapped to one's back, in emergencies. No-one else can think of an emergency that would be worse than having a dragon strapped to one's back.
 * In Star Wars, novels, again at least the Fetts use them.
 * Stewart Cowley's Great Space Battles. A law enforcement officer investigates the base of a band of mutant space pirates. After they detect his presence, he activates his backpack jet pack and lifts off, barely escaping their grasp. When he returns with the authorities, the pirates are gone.

Live Action TV

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Seeing Red": villains with jet packs. Of course, this being the nerd trio, one of them tried to fly while underneath a ceiling and knocked himself out.
 * Worn by Tom Paris in the Captain Proton holoprogram in Star Trek: Voyager, in a deliberate homage to the old Commando Cody/Rocketman Republic Film Serials.
 * George Michael receives one of these in an Arrested Development episode, with predictable results.
 * Farscape. The engine room of a Peacekeeper Command Carrier is so large it requires jetpacks to conduct routine maintenance. Needless to say this leads to a mid-air jetpack fight between the protagonists and a group of Peacekeepers.
 * Captain Blue uses one to rescue the World President in the pilot episode of Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons. Of course, the lifting ability of the jetpack was undoubtedly enhanced by those strings holding him up.
 * Used a few times, in the Lost in Space series. They actually filmed a stunt pilot using a Bell Rocket Belt.
 * The NCIS episode "Ignition" is about a murder committed over the design of a new jetpack. McGeek McGee unsurprisingly is a huge fan and bores his co-workers to tears with trivia on rocket belts, but when the guilty party tries to make a quick getaway in one at the end even Tony and Ziva look impressed.
 * One episode in Dai Sentai Goggle Five features one. Which never seems to work properly, so it doesn't become a staple to the series.
 * The Saturday morning kid's show "Ark II" used the "jet jumper" at least once in practically every episode.
 * Mentioned as being part of the equipment available to the crew of Babylon 5, but never shown.
 * A piece of standard equipment available to Unicorn agents in the Japanese show Giant Robot (you may know it better from its movie compilation, Voyage Into Space).

Tabletop Games

 * Warhammer 40,000 is full of these, usually as an accessory to Powered Armor. Space Marine Assault Squads, Tau Crisis Suits, Chaos Marine Raptors, Ork Storm Boys, Sisters of Battle Seraphim, Eldar Swooping Hawks, and Yeld Spyrers all have some form of jet pack. Most jump infantry without wings are examples of this trope, and even some with wings are as well.
 * Though most of these people are slightly more realistically set-up, Crisis suits, Assault Marines, Raptors, and Seraphim have angled thrusters so that they don't set their butts on fire, Stormboyz don't really care about safety, and Swooping Hawks use anti-gravity vanes sculpted to look like wings instead of proper jetpacks. Also, given the rules' remarks that soldiers don't have unlimited ammunition but are instead assumed to have enough to last six turns of gameplay, it is reasonable to assume that these people merely have enough fuel in their jetpacks to last a normal-length battle instead of being unlimited-fuel affairs.
 * At least the Seraphim usejump packs in more sane tactics than usual for 40k "I'm too hardboiled to live" charge. They don't mistake themselves for slow ultra-light aircraft, but are trained as close-combat specialists with short-range weapons (flamer or Dual Wielding bolters), that is, skirmish and harass buzzing around an enemy, and  are supposed to be used in combination with  ground troops.
 * Monsterpocalypse's Sky Sentinel, Defender X, and Nova-ESR all wear giant jet-turbines to help them jump and fly their way across the battle maps.
 * GURPS
 * GURPS Ultra-Tech has a nuclear jet pack that lets out a torrent of irradiated plasma below it. It's cool but neither particularly safe nor stealthy.
 * GURPS Supers supplement Supertemps. The heroes Clone and New Javelin each had one.
 * Most flying models of Powered Armor in Rifts use heavy jet systems mounted on the back, though the armor itself is usually hanging/pushed along from them in an upright position. Jetpacks are otherwise fairly rare on Rifts' Earth, though the Three Galaxies setting uses gravity-based versions fairly extensively.
 * Also noted are a set of rocket boots used to enhance jumping ability. They fire once on takeoff, and again to brake for landing. Notable in that it's also mentioned that one has to be superhumanly tough to be able to use them without breaking your legs.
 * Specially trained "Jump infantry" with jetpacks formed some of the least useless unarmored units in the original BattleTech game, though their mission was frankly suicidal: to fly in, swarm huge mechs and hope to plant explosive charges before you were swatted like the vermin that, to the mech pilot, you resembled. Armored infantry also had jetpacks, a similar attack and a higher survival rate, but both were nearly useless in any area with clear fields of fire.
 * Certain BattleMechs had jump capability themselves, allowing a "Death From Above" attack on other mechs which, in the original rules, allowed EVERY ENEMY MECH within range a free shot before your mech slammed into your target mech, hopefully mashing its head, and everyone fell down.
 * Champions supplement Gadgets!. The Rocket Pack allowed powered flight at a speed of 65 m.p.h. in combat and 130 m.p.h. out of combat, with a maximum flight duration of 1 hour.
 * Iron Crown Enterprises' Cyberspace RPG had jet packs for police, military and corporate use. They could reach over 60 k.p.h. and were controlled by extended handgrips. Some models could be controlled through cyberware.
 * The Hollow Earth Expedition supplement Secrets of the Surface World had jet packs as a possible Artifact Resource for characters.
 * Laserburn Sci-Fi Combat Rules (1980). In combat, jetpacks allow long, low leaps from cover to cover. They are normally used by assault troops, either for moving into close combat range or for a quick getaway. They're powered by chemical fuel cannisters.
 * Maid RPG. The Rocket Pack in the Great List of Items.
 * Mongoose Publishing's Starship Troopers Role Playing Game. Both Mobile Infantry Marauder armor and the similar Skinny armor have jet packs on the back.
 * Terran Trade Authority RPG. Space Combat Armor has a built-in jet pack on the back designed for use - IN SPACE !
 * DC Heroes has one that can fly at 100 m.p.h.

Video Games

 * Hero Smash: Has some examples.
 * Some players have Jetpacks even though they can fly without Jetpacks
 * Rocker from Skull Deep
 * Mr Purple in the trailer.
 * The original Dangerous Dave featured a jetpack that could be picked up and used on certain levels.
 * Halo: Reach. What's cooler than a Halo multiplayer match? A multiplayer match with jetpacks!
 * Halo 2 introduced the Ranger-class Elite which were equipped for EVA with jetpacks and fully-enclosed helmets, though they fight planetside as well. Halo 3 added a class of Brutes with the same abilities.
 * Even before Reach, we had TRIBES!!!
 * No exaggeration there: in all Starsiege: Tribes games, the jetpack is an EXTREMELY integral piece of the gameplay. Someone in juggernaut armor can only achieve any significant height gain by standing still while the same person in scout armor is nigh unstoppable on flag runs. And then we have the skiing ability of players, which originally came by as a bug, but is explained away in-game via micro-bursts from the jets. By the way, only scout and assault armors have jetpacks; juggernaut armors have jetboots instead.
 * Though jetting arond too much will sooner or later attract an enemy heat-seeking missile, another thing to watch for in multiplayer.
 * Also important to know is that efficient use of the jetpack is key to survival, since the jetpack requires energy to use. Waste your energy, and you've wasted your manueverability, which means you can't dodge spinfusor discs and other explosive weapons. This gets a bit complicated if some of your weapons also require energy to use in exchange for never worrying about having to reload on ammo.
 * There are also the spiritual succesors of Tribes, such as Legions: Firefall, PlanetSide, and Global Agenda for the big hitters. Hi-Rez Studios (Global Agenda developer) is currently working on a Tribes Universe MMO and Tribes Ascend (a non-MMO, free-to-play FPS) after buying the IP from Instantaction.
 * Pirate Aerotroopers from Metroid, which also go kamikaze on you after being defeated.
 * The main selling point of Dark Void.
 * Its Retraux cousin, Dark Void Zero, also features the use of jetpacks, although slightly more limited in scope.
 * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had one, and it was arguably one of the most fun vehicles in the entire game. It was also highly necessary to collect all the items on the rooftops in the Las Vegas-like city. Grand Theft Auto IV had no jetpack, which, of course, ievitably lead to cries of I Want My Jetpack.
 * You eventually get one of these in Cave Story. Notably, it comes in two, mutually-exclusive forms. The Booster 0.8 only allows you to fly straight up and is acquired in a normal playthrough. But, if you perform a bit of precision platforming, you can skip that Booster, which allows you to later acquire the Booster 2.0, which can fly in any direction.
 * Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine has a slightly more realistic take on it's jump packs, the thrusters are angled such that they aren't going to fry Titus' ass (and given his Powered Armor it might not do much damage anyway), and at the end of every jump pack level Tidus comments that he's out of fuel and takes it off.
 * You get a Jet Pack and a rocket pack in City of Heroes as a reward item for finishing a mission.
 * Rocket boots (and piston boots) are also an unlockable costume part, though they're purely cosmetic, only adding a special effect to existing flight powers.
 * Pey'j from Beyond Good and Evil also has Jet Boots, although they don't propel him very high.
 * In the Dragonball Z games, Hercule has a jetpack to fly... but from the Tenkaichi series onwards, they only get him in the air for several seconds.
 * Also, Mario's Rocket Nozzle in Super Mario Sunshine. It substitutes plumes of fire for a blast of boiling water.
 * And Mega Man's Jet and Super Adapters, and Bass' Treble Boost.
 * Mega Man Battle Network also has the AirShoes Battle Chip.
 * Mega Man X has the falcon armour as well as Axl.
 * Duke Nukem.
 * In Elite Beat Agents, the "Makes No Difference" stage has the agents entering the scene via jet packs.
 * ''Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire'. Has finite fuel, so you must learn to manage it.
 * Jetpack (obviously)
 * Jetpack Joyride (obviously again)
 * In the Pilotwings series the "Rocket Belt" is one of the vehicles that can be piloted.
 * Nancy Drew, of all people, gets a jet-pack in the PC game The Haunting of Castle Malloy.
 * Warhawk (1995 video game)'s latest expansion pack adds jetpacks.
 * Wario has a hat version of this in Wario Land, the aptly named Jet Cap/Jet Wario, which allows him to fly forward for a certain amount of time. Underwater too apparently.
 * Cortex Command has nearly all units equipped with jet packs, which is a good thing, because the "realistic" physics and inability to jump makes simply walking on anything besides completely flat ground almost impossible. However, if a unit carries too much weight, the jetpack becomes nearly useless, and not all units have jetpacks. Plus, they're a little fudgy to use, and if you come down too hard, you break your legs off. Or break your body.
 * Losing legs and non-vital parts does mean losing weight, however, which makes it that much easier to fly.
 * Certain levels of Beyond Dark Castle give you a helicopter backpack. And you do need to keep it fueled.
 * Diddy Kong has a Rocketbarrel Jetpack in Donkey Kong 64, which becomes his recovery move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * He also uses one in Donkey Kong Country Returns, though it looks much different from the Rocketbarrel in DK64 and Brawl as it has a little rocket that comes out of a backpack to help Diddy (and Donkey Kong if he has Diddy on his back or if you combine in Co-op) float for a short while.
 * Rocket Boots are a powerup in Backyard Football.
 * The Icecrown Citadel gunship battle in World of Warcraft gives players a somewhat limited form of jetpack to fool around with. They also have Rocket Boots in the game, though their intended purpose is for horizontal travel rather than vertical.
 * Metroid Prime 2 had an item that lets you rise up while underwater for a limited time, so it was an underwater-only jetpack.
 * The side-scrolling shooter Jets'n'Guns is full of jetpacked mooks, and in several levels you have to leave your spacecraft and infiltrate an enemy base wearing a jet pack.
 * The shop in Clash at Demonhead sells jetpacks. They're useful, but quite expensive.
 * The old ZX Spectrum game Jet Pac, plus its successor Lunar Jetman.
 * Also, the protagonist of Dark Side uses one. (Be careful not to run out of fuel in mid-air!)
 * Jet packs can be found/purchased/stolen in Spelunky.
 * The fourth-to-last and second-to-last levels in Crash Bandicoot 2 feature the use of a jetpack as a game mechanic, although this example barely averts the Never Trust a Trailer trope by showing up just by the end of the game, after teasing up with its awesomeness right before the main title screen. It's also an example of Unexpected Gameplay Change, as the difficulty of the commands is arguably why these stages have been put in the fifth Warp Room. With this said however, the levels themselves make up for everything you've just read.
 * The alternate title for this trope is Rocket Boots, right? Well, actual rocket boots are an unlockable powerup in the Toy Story 2 game. Awesome Yet Practical, like the game as a whole since it arguably averts inverts The Problem with Licensed Games.
 * Metal Fatigue has these as optional flight accessories for combots. MilAgro and Neuropa have jetpacks with wings while Rimtech uses mundane jetboots. Mounting jetpack/jetboots make combots behave like aircraft when ordered to move beyond a certain distance; they can even use ranged attacks without landing and cannot be attacked via melee until they do land. Now the drawback: while flying, combots get zero armor and all hits do full damage which means bad news, as flying parts have about 20 HP which is INSANELY low. It's still the fastest form of travel, though.
 * Point goes to Rimtech in that regard as torsos usually contribute more than half of the HP. Losing over 100 HP to get flight but being able to mount a 600+ HP Armored Torso instead kinda makes the former irrelevant...
 * The Cyborg class in Ghouls vs. Humans has a jetpack, which has limited fuel. Apart from flying, it can be used for super-jumps, or to make a rapid dodge forwards, not unlike a Flash Step.
 * Dead Space 2: Isaac has thrusters in his boots and shoulders. However, they only work in zero gravity. (and certain cut scenes)
 * Reapers in StarCraft II are Terran close-combat infantry with jetpacks and dual pistols. Their jets, actually mounted on the shoulders of their Powered Armor, don't let them outright fly, but they are very fast on the ground and can hop over cliffs.
 * Jabless Adventure. Jables even Lampshades the fact that, since you have the jet pack, you must be near the end of the game.
 * In the Command & Conquer: Tiberium series, GDI has specialist infantry units with jetpacks in Tiberian Sun. The Zone Troopers, Zone Raiders, and Commandos in Tiberium Wars also use jetpacks, although they are for leaping rather than flying.
 * The hero of Jett Rocket has one, although the use is limited.
 * The Ratchet and Clank games have this as an option for Clank. It's mainly used for hovering and high jumping.
 * Ratchet and Clank Going Commando have the "Gravity Booster", which gives proper flight.
 * The Rocket Boots can be purchased in Terraria.
 * The Jet ability in Kirby Super Star basically grants Kirby a Jet Pack. He can use this not only to fly, but to charge at enemies and fire energy pulses, and even perform an aerial throwing attack.
 * Fassad from Mother 3 sports a jet pack from Chapter 7 onward. Presumably this is because

Webcomics

 * The Adventures of Dr. McNinja takes this Up to Eleven, with organic jet packs that develop as a natural part of working your abs too much.
 * Also, we have James, who invented Rocket Boots, and used them to kick people.
 * also has rocket boots, but they're fake. Enemies act foolish when they think they're fighting someone with rocket boots.
 * A possible future features dinosaurs with jet packs and rocket launchers.
 * Cinema Bums features a strip applying the concept to The Shawshank Redemption.
 * John in Homestuck uses a jetpack which allows him to pull off some Sequence Breaking,.
 * The Trolls also make use of the jetpack's code to craft some variations on it. Vriska makes a pair of rocket boots, Gamzee now rides a rocket-powered unicycle, Tavros replaces his wheelchair with a rocket car, and Terezi uses a jetpack/dragon wing combo.
 * PCHOOOOOOOOOOO
 * As part of a rescue mission, Alice from I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space built a set of rocket boots from a pile of scrap. The pirates all refused to wear them because the colour clashed with their uniforms.

Web Original

 * Haloid. Another reason why Zero Suit Samus rocks: Rocket Boots!
 * Whately Universe:
 * The best known thing about Peril is that he tested a jetpack for an inventor, and the thing exploded at about two hundred feet up. Fortunately for Peril, he's super-strong and regenerates.
 * Chaka got to use one in a holographic sim (where she stole it off a badguy), and she wanted one for real. She just didn't want to lug it around when she wasn't in battles.
 * Baron von Fogel of The League of STEAM wears a rocket backpack.

Western Animation
"Jade: Oooh, when're you gonna finish your jetpack? (accidentally takes off) Kepler (not noticing): Yesterday."
 * Jimmy Neutron
 * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
 * The Jetsons
 * Kim Possible: Often used by Kim and Sidekick Ron. Shego uses a bigger rocket pack at one point. And Dr. Drakken once used one to escape Kim and forgot that he was indoors. He embedded himself head-first in the ceiling.
 * Jonny Quest TOS. The protagonists use them in "The Invisible Monster" and "Turu The Terrible".
 * In Transformers Animated, Bumblebee has to get a volatile compound into the atmosphere real quick. His solution: Bulkhead throws him and Prowl, Prowl throws him, and by then he is high enough up that he uses his turbo boosters as a form of jetpack. Prowl himself has a jetpack that lets him fly short distances.
 * Sari gets a scooter that can transform into one after her Plot-Relevant Age-Up. She, her Dad and Ratchet build one (in pretty good time) for Optimus during the Grand Finale.
 * In G1, Skyfire's toy had a jetpack that clipped on.
 * Sideswipe also had one in G1, but only in the fluff (though a later toy would finally reproduce it in plastic form). Optimus Prime borrows it to reach the Decepticon ship at the end of the three-part pilot miniseries 'More Than Meets The Eye'.
 * In Revenge of the Fallen,.
 * Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot. Ms. Wakeman also made some that Brad and Tuck stole.
 * Jenny had rockets as part of her body, so it's not so much a jetpack as a Flying Robot.
 * Batman Beyond.
 * In Filmations Ghostbusters, the Ghost Packs could transform into "Buster Thruster Packs" at the press of a button.
 * Agent K from The Replacements.
 * Used regularly by Batman in Batman the Brave And The Bold.
 * Used frequently by the girls in Totally Spies!.
 * In Xiaolin Showdown, the Jet Bootsu are... jet boots.
 * Dexter's Laboratory probably has a few of these, but the JET BOOTS! that Mandark installed in the giant statue of George Washington stand out.
 * In Exo Squad, James Burns and the Venus Resistance make extensive use of jetpacks.
 * G.I. Joe makes a lot of use of these as well, particularly in the opening of the first mini-series, and even more spectacularly in the opening of the animated movie. Cobra has their own version in the C.L.A.W., which is essentially a jet pack with wings.
 * Slade's Mecha-Mooks in Teen Titans have Rocket Boots.
 * In Jackie Chan Adventures, Section 13 has one.


 * Heloise on Jimmy Two-Shoes. She even uses it in the second season credits.
 * In Codename: Kids Next Door, Numbah One has jet shoes, and they see a good amount of use throughout the series.
 * There was one that was one of the inventions made by Double-D in an episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy in which the Eds show up uninvited to Jimmy's birthday trying to be spy-like. The Jetpack didn't work so well.
 * The Swat Kats had them. It was even the special for Razor in the SNES game of it. They only used them a couple times in the show though.
 * Jan and Jace used them to fly through space in Space Ghost.
 * The Herculoids
 * "Queen Skorra": The title character's attack robots use them.
 * "The Pirates": The title characters use them after their vehicles are destroyed.
 * A sketch from Robot Chicken has a scientist complain that he's sick of people asking him all the time, "It's the future now, where's my jetpack?" They gave up on it and just decided to keep making iPods smaller.
 * On The Venture Brothers, 21 tries to get 24 to become full-fledged archvillains with him, using stolen jet packs as their motif - 24 burns his shoes with his, and 21 is too heavy to fly more than a foot off the ground.
 * Recess. The cast found a note worth a large amount of money and decided to try to find its owner. They did, and T.J returned it, only to be told to leave. The person he returned it to appeared wearing a Jet Pack and explained that he did this all the time, and the gang was the only one to actually return the note to him.

Real Life

 * The opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles included a Bell Rocket Belt (the Thunderball device) flown across the stadium.
 * Many people spend lots of time/money (attempting a successful run at) making these. A fair number had military funding some decades ago.
 * The Other Wiki has this.
 * A Swiss man used a jet pack to cross the English channel in ten minutes.
 * Though that particular jet pack did have wings.
 * Goin' public!
 * The space shuttle astronauts' Manned Maneuvering Unit is kind of like a jetpack, although it's thrust levels are so low that it's only useful in Earth orbit. (It would run out of gas after only 25 meters per second of delta-v.)