I’ve been rewatching X-Men: The Animated Series in
preparation for the revival and continuation series X-Men ’97 and with
that in mind, I thought now was the perfect opportunity to cover both shows’
protagonist and audience surrogate as she appears in the MC2. This is Jubilee
in the MC2.
In the Main Marvel Universe Jubilee made her
debut in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #244. Her first name, Jubilation,
was apparently revealed in the pages of X-Men Annual #13 with her surname, Lee,
first given in X-Men Annual #14. As for her first appearance in the MC2,
Jubilee showed up in a brief cameo within What If #105 alongside
other members of the Avengers
including the Vision,
Jolt,
J2,
Speedball
and Thunderstrike.
Jumping back in time ever so slightly, A-Next #1
delivers the new Avengers team’s origin which involved Kevin
Masterson transformation into the new Thunderstrike as a result
of the machination of Loki.
During this adventure, we learn Jubilee is too busy leading the X-People
to join the team as a full-time member but notes she should reach out to J2.
After a tease of this in the final panels of J2 #1,
we see this play out in the next issue where a visiting Zane Yama aka J2
fights to liberate the mind-controlled X-People including team leader Jubilee
from the thrall of the villainous villainess Enthralla (J2 #2).
Jubilee is called upon by Mainframe
to evaluate the Avengers newest recruits, American
Dream, Freebooter,
Bluestreak
and Crimson
Curse. Unfortunately, this all comes as a shocking surprise to the
other members of the team (A-Next #4).
When Cyclops
stops by to test the Uncanny X-People, they are aided by J2 who, Jubilee
notes, helped the team improve their previous time, increasing by a single
second for a total of five measly seconds (J2 #7).
Next, Jubilee leads her X-People against Rina
Logan aka Wild
Thing in an initiation trial for probationary membership on the
team. Rina rejects this offer,
declaring that she was only taking the test as favour for her father, Wolverine
(J2 #11).
In Wild Thing #3 we learn that Mr
Woodhill, the social studies teacher at Upper Saddle River High was
involved in a crash ten years prior, spending a year in the hospital as a
result. While there Woodhill was transformed into a Sleeper
Sentinel, including suppression implants to ensure he remained unaware
he was a cyborg. Jubilee explains that the X-Men had
years ago attempted to find all the Sleeper Sentinels but some
-such as Mr Woodhill- had gone undetected. Using a program devised
by Dr McCoy and Forge, the Sleeper
Sentinels would have their Sentinel activation
nullified, allowing them to continue believing they were ordinary humans (Wild
Thing #3).
In Spider-Girl #32, we catch a tantalising glimpse of
the largely unseen interim Avengers team who attempted to fill the void
left after many of the original Avengers perished on their final
mission. Jubilee was a member of this line-up alongside Nova, the
Steel Spider, Jolt and Speedball. I have to point out the
subtle changes Jubilee makes to the costume she wears depending on which
team she’s representing at any given time.
Jubilee and her X-People are not seen again
until a large assembly of the MC2’s super heroes gather
at Avengers Headquarters in preparation for battle with Seth the
Serpent God of Death. Despite this, the assembled heroes end up trapped
within an impenetrable barrier until Spider-Girl weakens Seth enough
to free them. Notably, Jubilee is seen alongside former Avengers
teammate Nova (Spider-Girl #58).
When May ‘Mayday’ Parker’s classmate is outed as a
mutant to all of Midtown High, Nancy's locker is vandalised
and graffitied with anti-mutant messages. At home, Nancy's parents
argue over their daughter’s situation and Nancy's siblings are
ostracised at school. Later while attempting to get some air, Nancy is
accosted by several hooded figures (Spider-Girl #67).
The group attacking Nancy Lu are revealed
to be fellow students from Midtown High. When The Buzz (aka JJ)
and Spider-Girl intervene, Nancy reveals
she's more afraid of hurting others due to a lack of control of her abilities
than being hurt herself. After being approached by Jubilee, who Nancy
had met previously when she attempted to recruit her to the X-People
(events referenced in Spider-Girl #23), Nancy makes the
decision to go with the X-People to better master her powers (Spider-Girl
#67).
When various superheroes active and retired start
disappearing, Stinger
of the Avengers contacts Jubilee to ask if the X-People
have any suspects. However, believing the attacks may be focused on mutants due
to Wolverine and Cyclops’ abductions, Jubilee informers
her they have decided to continue their investigations without outside
assistance (Last Hero Standing #2).
Despite this, Jubilee still reports the return of Wolverine
and Cyclops to Stinger shortly afterwards, even with the apparent
disappearance of Wild Thing (Last Hero Standing #3).
The next time we see Jubilee is during the events of
the Last Planet Standing mini-series when Galactus is finalizing
his final solution which will ultimately destroy the entire universe. Jubilee
is briefly seen along with her X-People among many other heroes (Last
Hero Standing #4-#5).
Jubilee and the X-People again joins a
large assembly of super heroes who show up to help Spider-Girl when
she is captured by the Hobgoblin aka Roderick
Kingsley (Amazing Spider-Girl #15).
Continuing the returning divide between the rest of humanity and mutants, with Magneta’s Sisterhood of Mutants attempting to recruit confused Midtown High student Sara Hingle, Jubilee and the X-People attempt to locate her and in the process cut out Spider-Girl (Amazing Spider-Girl #23).
Having been pushed into attacking the anti-mutant Humanity
First organisation, Sara finds herself in battle with Jubilee’s
entire X-People team. With Jubilee and the rest of her team
side-lined, trainee member Nancy Lu aka Push faces Hingle (now
calling herself Nucleus) alone until aided by Spider-Girl (Amazing
Spider-Girl #24). After Magneta uses Nucleus as a human bomb,
many of the X-People are taken to hospital with the rest ensuring the
surviving Sara is taken to a secure facility (Amazing Spider-Girl #25).
Finally, Jubilee appears in flashback story set
between the pages of A-Next #1 while the various heroes are celebrating
on Asgard. Feeling humiliated in front of Loki, Tyrus
the Terrible leads a group of trolls in ambushing Thunderstrike and J2 for
a rematch. But after a brief battle, the trolls flee when confronted by Jubilee
and the rest of the assembled soon-to-be Avengers
alongside Thor (Avengers
Unlimited Infinity Comic #37).
That’s it for now, but with the last appearance it should be
clear there’s always room for more appearances. I’ve often said I want a series
to focus on the mutants of the MC2, particularly the X-People and
a major reason is because I love seeing Jubilee as the leader of her own
team. He started as the audience surrogate youthful character so this feels
like she has reached her full potential.
Until I get to say ‘To me, my X-People’, I remain
frogoat
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