X-Men Spotlight: Jubilee
Chili-fry Eating Mallrat, Jubilee
Jubilation Lee, better known simply as Jubilee is originally a Californian born to two wealthy Chinese parents who migrated to America. A resident of Beverly Hills, Jubilee enjoyed a privileged life where she excelled in gymnastics. Sadly, her parents would both be murdered. With no other known relatives, Jubilee was subsequently sent to an orphanage, which she would run away from. Living on her own she’d soon discover her mutant abilities to project colorful, yet destructive, plasma globes which Jubilee would come to call fireworks.
Having nowhere to go, Jubilee made the Hollywood Mall her home. That is until she’s spotted by mall security. She’s initially able to evade the rent-a-cops, but when they called upon the mutant task-force M-Squad, Jubilee’s luck ran out. Luckily, the X-Men Rogue, Storm, Dazzler and Psylocke come to her rescue. Once the M-Squad is dispatched the X-Men retreated to their Australian Outback Base. Unbeknownst to them, Jubilee followed them home. Much as she did in the mall, she remained hidden from the X-Men, stealing food and other essentials from them when needed.
When Wolverine was assaulted and abducted by the cybernetic villains, the Reavers, Jubilee came to his aide. This was the beginning of what became a father-daughter relationship between the two that would last for years to come. After backing up her new best-bro on several adventures, Jubilee became a welcomed member of the X-Men. She’s made an adjunct part of the X-Men Blue Team all the way up through the events of the [easyazon_link identifier=”0785185496″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Phalanx Covenant[/easyazon_link]. By the end of that story, young mutants Synch, M, Husk, Skin, and Chamber made their debuts.
Alongside the similarly aged characters, Jubilee joins [easyazon_link identifier=”1302907379″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Generation-X[/easyazon_link]. Functioning as the 2nd generation of New Mutants, the team of teenaged X-Men trainees was mentored by veteran X-Man, Banshee, and former Hell Fire Club White Queen, Emma Frost. Generation-X was a particularly popular book that lasted throughout the remainder of the 1990s. Much like the Xavier School (following the X-Men movie) the school would grow from a handful of students to a formal boarding school with dozens of human and mutants.
The school would not be long for the world, however. It is eventually damaged by an explosion that cost Synch his life. Jubilee and the other surviving members of Generation-X would matriculate to other X-Men titles, some functioned as mentors to younger mutants at the Xavier Institute. Jubilee would later join [easyazon_link identifier=”078518502X” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]X-Corps[/easyazon_link] under Banshee before returning to L.A. with her teammate Skin, and New Mutant, Magma. The three would be abducted by the Church of Humanity and left crucified upon the lawn of X-Mansion alongside several other mutants. She and Magma would survive the ordeal thanks to a transfusion of Angel’s blood.
When M-Day hit and the mutant population faced the Decimation, Jubilee was amongst those that lost their powers. She’d decline opportunities to rejoin the X-Men on several occasions but would decide to become part of the New Warriors under the name Wondra. Upon returning to San Francisco, Jubilee fell victim to a bomb specifically engineered to infect people with a vampire virus.
Jubilee and everyone caught in its blast radius were instantly transformed into creatures of the night. Still, without her mutant powers, Jubilee gained all the abilities of a vampire- immortality, increased strength, speed, durability and of course the thirst for blood. Recently, through the efforts of Quentin Quire and a shard of the Phoenix Force, Jubilee was restored to her original, non-vampire, firework-shooting, self.
Off the Pages
It’s no secret that Jubilee gained the vast majority of popularity by way of X-Men: The Animated Series. She was introduced as the point of view character for the series. Although, her importance was gradually lessened by the series being more story arc-driven, as well as being edged out by characters like Wolverine, Gambit, and Rogue.
Jubilee, while never being much of the main character in any of the X-Men movies, was always present throughout the franchise. She’d pop up as an unnamed cameo regularly but had a larger than usual role in[easyazon_link identifier=”B01FV2BH62″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]X-Men: Apocalypse[/easyazon_link]. Jubilee was also the main character in the much-maligned Generation-X TV movie. She was portrayed by actress, Heather McComb.
Uncanny FaX
- Jubilee adopted an infant and named him Shogo, essentially turning her into a teen-mom. The child grows up to become a member of the X-Men as shown when his future-self journeyed back to the present.
- It’s suspected Jubilee’s powers may have a psionic root as her mind isn’t easily detectable- a reason why she was able to stay hidden from the X-Men while in the Australian Outback.
- After losing her powers Jubilee reconnected with her Aunt Hope and briefly reenrolled in High School in Los Angeles.
- When she became a vampire, Jubilee is initially locked up under Utopia. Blade, the famous Marvel Comics vampire slayer recommended that Wolverine put Jubilee out of her misery and kill her. Wolverine, of course, rejected the notion. He instead fed her his blood which kept her more violent tendencies in check thanks to his healing factor.
- As fond as Jubilee is of Wolverine, she and his clone/daughter, X-23, didn’t initially get along!
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