Jubilee (comics)

Superherobox


caption=Jubilee as Wondra.
Art by Paco Medina.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Wondra
real_name=Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee
species=Human Mutant
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Uncanny X-Men" #244 (May, 1989)
creators=Chris Claremont
Marc Silvestri
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=New Warriors X-Men X-Corps Generation X Xavier Institute
aliases=Wondra, Jubilee
powers= Depowered; formerly:
Ability to project pyrotechnic energy plasmoids
Concussive blasts
Ability to evade the detection of telepaths
Ability to explosively charge objects.
With Tech Devices:
Superhuman Strength, capable of lifting freight trains and automobiles with ease. Hover discs allow her to fly with mental control.|

Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri, she first appeared in "Uncanny X-Men" #244 (May, 1989)

A mutant, Jubilee had the superhuman power to generate "fireworks" of explosive plasma. A teenage "mall rat", she was the X-Men's youngest member in the early 1990s, often playing sidekick to Wolverine. She eventually joined the junior team Generation X. She was a prominent character in the 1990s-era "X-Men" animated series. In late 2004, Marvel launched a self-titled series for Jubilee set in Los Angeles, written by Robert Kirkman and covers by Casey Jones; it was canceled after six issues.

Jubilee is one of the depowered mutant characters that has since reappeared using technology-based powers in the latest "New Warriors" comic series.

Fictional character biography

Jubilation Lee is a Chinese American girl born in Beverly Hills, California, where she lived with her wealthy immigrant parents. An immensely talented gymnast, she was believed to have the potential to participate in the Olympic Games. However, her life was destroyed when her parents were murdered by the hitmen Reno and Molokai.

Jubilee was sent to an orphanage, but she ran away and hid in the Hollywood Mall, stealing food to survive. She first discovered her mutant power to generate blinding and explosive energy "fireworks" while running away from mall security. The stress of running away from the security guards caused Jubilee to emit a large light energy blast while in a back alley. This completely disoriented the men and allowed the frightened young girl to escape. Upon learning about her mutant ability to create fireworks, she realized she could earn money by using her powers to entertain customers in the mall.

Frustrated with the young girl's rebellious nature and powerful lightshows, and their own inability to catch her, the mall security hires mutant hunters known as the M-Squad to capture her. Jubilee initially holds her own by blasting the M-Squad's energy tractor beams, but she is eventually caught by them. She is rescued by X-Men members Dazzler, Psylocke, Rogue, and Storm, who happened to be shopping at the mall. Curious about the women, she tracks them for a while and later follows them into a portal. ["Uncanny X-Men" #244]

On the other side of the portal, Jubilee finds herself in the X-Men's temporary base, deep in the Australian outback. She uses her wits to stay in hiding in the base while the X-Men remain unaware of her. While she is living in the underground base, the mutant known as Gateway, who created the portal to the Hollywood Mall, is the only being aware of Jubilee's existence. During her stay in the base, she steals food and borrows clothes from several of the X-Men to create a makeshift costume for herself. Peter Rasputin notices evidence of her food gathering but is distracted by the attack of Nanny. Jubilee personally battles Nanny, and finds that her energy powers neutralize the brainwashing power-manifestations Nanny emits. She is also attacked by a cybernetic dog, and is forced to use her powers in self-defense by blowing up the beast. This is the first time Jubilee learns her powers can do real damage, although a later retcon has her first manifestation causing destruction on a similar scale. She stays in hiding until the X-Men have abandoned the base, and their enemies the Reavers have captured Wolverine.

While sneaking around the caverns in the outback base, Jubilee is startled and horrified to find Wolverine tied to an X-shaped cross, being tortured by the Reavers. The Reavers eventually cut the torture session short to seek shelter from a coming storm, leaving only Wolverine and the hiding Jubilee outside. Jubilee is torn between her desire to help Wolverine and her fear of what the Reavers might do to her if they catch her doing so. Thus Jubilee watches as, after the storm hits, Wolverine flies into one of his berserker rages and summons enough strength to tear his arms (which had been nailed to the cross while he was being tortured) free before collapsing to the ground. Jubilee finally makes the decision to risk helping Wolverine, and helps him back to her hiding spot in the complex, where she does her best to nurse him back to health (after being brutalized repeatedly by the Reavers, days of exposure to the harsh elements of the outback, and deprivation of food and water, Wolverine's healing factor had been taxed to its limit and thus was not able to quickly repair his body the way it normally would). ["Uncanny X-Men" #251-252] Before Wolverine has completely recovered, he and Jubilee are forced to abandon their sanctuary when the Reavers locate them and attempt to capture them. The pair manage to escape and make their way to Madripoor. They battle the Mandarin and Matsu'o Tsurayaba's Hand. Jubilee holds her own against the Hand, and blows up a section of the Mandarin's castle with her powers when she, Wolverine, and Psylocke are the supervillain's prisoners. ["Uncanny X-Men" #257-268]

Afterward, Jubilee teams up with Wolverine on several of his missions throughout the world. She does not handle the travel well, as she desires American food and luxuries. She helps Wolverine in battle when he becomes involved with well-intentioned but violent mercenaries.

Alongside Wolverine and Psylocke, Jubliee battles Hardcase and the Harriers. ["Uncanny X-Men" #261] She also meets the Black Widow. ["Uncanny X-Men" #268] and goes to Genosha for the first time. ["Uncanny X-Men" #271] After meeting the X-Men, she travels with them to the Shi'ar Empire, but is captured by the Warskrulls. There, she first meets Professor Xavier. ["Uncanny X-Men" #274-277] She also briefly falls under the control of the Shadow King, along with the X-Men and numerous others. ["X-Factor" #69; "Uncanny X-Men" #280]

Wolverine and the X-Men

Wolverine brings Jubilee to Professor Xavier, who welcomes the girl with open arms, and she and Wolverine develop a close father-daughter relationship with one another. Jubilee had been needing the guidance of a parent, while Wolverine had been needing the peace and joy of a child. Due to this relationship, Jubilee is referred to as Wolverine's unofficial sidekick. The duo team up to take down Sentinels, Omega Red, Sabertooth, Mojo (see Abcissa), and Sauron. They even confront Reno and Molokai, the hitmen who murdered Jubilee's parents. After the battle, Jubilee wants to kill them but Wolverine talks her out of it. Jubilee also teams up with Wolverine and Cable. ["Marvel Team Up" vol. 3 #19 (April 2006)]

Jubilee finds a home with the X-Men, and joins the X-Men Blue Team. She aids her fellow mutants in battles against Omega Red, the Shi'ar Empire, Skrulls, and the Brood, among others. With the last three, she holds her own against many powerful entities, often being the vital factor that helps save fellow X-Men and/or innocent people. She forms close bonds with many of the team members. She catches piggyback rides with the Beast, enjoying his leaping abilities. When Professor Xavier temporarily regains the use of his legs, she takes him rollerblading. She has the chance to talk about Wolverine with Shadowcat, who had been in her role before. She bonds with the younger version of Illyana Rasputin. Jubilee mourns the loss of Illyana with the rest of the X-Men, especially Jean Grey.

Jubilee also participates in the mission to rescue several kidnapped New Mutants from Genosha. She becomes separated and finds Meltdown and Rictor. The group survives on the streets of the island nation before meeting up with the other X-Men and participating in the final battle.

Alongside the X-Men, Jubilee is captured by Omega Red, Matsu'o Tsuryaba, and Fenris. She also fights Sabretooth during this encounter. ["X-Men" Vol. 2 #6] Alongside Wolverine, she then clashes with Mojo, and first traveled to Tokyo. ["Wolverine" #52-53] She aids the X-Men and Ghost Rider against the Brood. ["X-Men" Vol. 2 #8-9; "Ghost Rider" Vol. 2 #26-27] In Tokyo, she first meets Yukio, and teams with her against Cylla. ["Wolverine" #55] Jubilee then journeys with the X-Men to Mojoworld. ["X-Men" Vol. 2 #10-11] She meets Terror, ["Wolverine" #58-59] and then meets Nick Fury, John Wraith, and Silver Fox. ["Wolverine" #61-62]

Generation X

Jubilee joins a new group of teenage mutants known as Generation X. The team is led by both Banshee and Emma Frost, and is composed mainly of Jubilee, Husk, Synch, M, Chamber, Skin, and Penance.

Both Banshee and Emma Frost educate the teenagers in school subjects as well as combat and field skills. Jubilee and the other mutant teens hone their unique abilities and occasionally battle foes such as the Juggernaut, Omega Red, and their archrival Emplate. Time after time, Jubilee uses her experience with the X-Men to help her teammates outsmart their enemies. On more than one occasion, Jubilee is solely responsible for the defeat of Emplate. She uses sarcasm when Emplate siphons her powers so that he will become enraged enough to not have control over them, causing him to blast himself with Jubilee's energy blasts. During the team's last encounter with Emplate, Jubilee blows up Proudstar Hall in order to defeat him. Her teammates survive the massive explosion because Iceman covers them with an ice shield.

During her stay at the Massachusetts Academy, Jubilee is kidnapped and held hostage by Bastion during . She manages to resist his mental probes for a good amount of time, hiding valuable information about the X-Men. Jubilee stages an escape early on after being kidnapped, knocking several armed soldiers unconscious with a large plasma volley. Her innocence and morals lead to her capture once more, as she decides to give CPR to one of the guards she has injured. She eventually escapes with the help of Bastion's assistant Daria. While wandering the desert after her getaway, she is attacked by a Prime Sentinel and holds her own by blasting his vision receptors. She is saved at the last minute by Wolverine, who takes her back to the X-Men until she is comfortable enough to return to Generation X.

One of the most important episodes of her stay with Generation X comes when she discovers the true killer of her parents, Hunter Brawn. She stages a solo operation, using all of her powers, skills, and abilities to track down Brawn. With the help of her friends and teammates, she manages to take him down. Enraged at how he has destroyed her family, her powers flare to a massive level. Instead of killing the man, she takes out her aggression by blowing up his warehouse, leaving him to be arrested by local authorities.

After Generation X

After Generation X disbands, Jubilee moves to L.A. with former teammate Skin to pursue an acting career. Unfortunately she is cast in nothing but stereotypical Asian roles, and after her agent tries to seduce her, she blasts him with a powerful plasma blast.

Around this time she is offered a position on Banshee's militaristic X-Corps team, alongside former teammates Husk and M. The three young women hesitantly join Banshee in order to keep an eye on him. During her run with the X-Corps, Jubilee holds off an uprising in Paris by blinding hostile enemies. Jubilee and Husk, with the help of Stacy X, also manages to take down the Blob and rescue Banshee from Mystique.

After her time in the X-Corps, Jubilee returns to L.A. with Skin, but the two of them (along with Magma and other mutants) are kidnapped and crucified on the front lawn of the X-Mansion by the Church of Humanity. Jubilee, Magma, and the others recover from the attack thanks to Angel's healing blood, but Skin isn't so fortunate. Jubilee becomes slightly depressed due to the loss of her friend Skin, and reunites with her friend Husk. The two of them, along with Angel, attend Skin's funeral. Since the gravekeeper won't allow a mutant to be buried in his cemetery, he has had Skin cremated and unemotionally hands Jubilee the ashes. After that, Jubilee goes on a few missions with Nightcrawler and Havok's Uncanny X-Men team, but is taken off the active roster when Cyclops decides she needs a mental break.

L.A. and Aunt Hope

While inactive, Jubilee is contacted by a long lost relative, her aunt Hope. Hope has decided to adopt Jubilee and take her into her home in Los Angeles, which gives Jubilation a much-needed break from mansion life. Jubilee attends Payton Noble High School and becomes a peer advisor. She gets into a few fights in school, and is reprimanded because of her power display. She also befriends a mutant named Shane Shooter, and helps him take down a gang leader. Unfortunately for Jubilee, her aunt is caught in a crime ring, as she was an assassin. While Wolverine is visiting Jubilee, the two of them — along with Hope (and her butler Brad) — get into a battle with Hope's former boss. Hope is caught in a violent explosion and seemingly dies, causing a distraught Jubilee to move back to the mansion with Wolverine where she is seen celebrating Christmas in "X-Men", Volume 2, #165.

Decimation

Jubilee is next seen back in LA on M-Day rollerblading at the now-defunct Hollywood Mall (where she was first seen) in "House of M: The Day After". She is among the massive number of mutants who lose their powers due to the reality-altering powers of the Scarlet Witch. ["Decimation: The Day After"] Back in New York after her power loss, Jubilee begins working for a liberal website called useyourvoice.org. ["Generation M" #2]

Jubilee reappears "running" a half-way house for depowered mutants in Queens, NY. ["Wolverine: Origins" #6] Wolverine stumbles upon Jubilee while looking for his friend Maverick in New York. She helps some of the depowered mutants escape to safety, but is kidnapped by Omega Red and his henchmen, while Wolverine is sidetracked during the battle and taken to Berlin as a hostage.

Wolverine manages to use S.H.I.E.L.D. as a distraction in finding Omega Red and Jubilee, but finds her bound, gagged, and gravely injured, with a ceiling joist from the collapsing building through her abdomen. The 'Savior' arc ends with Wolverine trading his freedom from S.H.I.E.L.D. for Jubilee's safety and well-being. She is carried away in a medical unit by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, and spends time under their watch and medical supervision ["Wolverine: Origins" #10] .

New Warriors

Jubilee is next seen operating as Wondra. [ [http://www.brokenfrontier.com/headlines/details.php?id=3142 Broken Frontier | The Portal for Quality Comics Coverage! ] ] ["New Warriors" vol. 4 #1] Wondra is shown to have technologically-based superhuman strength (supplied by what appear to be a variation of The Wizard's "Wonder Gauntlets") capable of lifting a locomotive engine over her head. [New Warriors (volume 4) #2] Recruited as the first member of the latest incarnation of the New Warriors, Jubilee acts as Night Thrasher's second-in-command and is responsible for training the team. Jubilee appears to take a more serious attitude to her role as Wondra. Jubilee appears to not trust Night Thrasher and has uncovered evidence that he's using the team for less than noble reasons.

Powers and abilities

Jubilee had the mutant power to generate bright bursts of multi-colored energy plasmoids from her fingertips. She referred to these globules as "fireworks". The globules obeyed her mental control, traveling where she directed them, arranging themselves in balls, streamers, and other shapes, and exploding when she wished. The strength of the energy varies in degrees of power and intensity, and could range from a multitude of colorful sparkles capable of temporarily blinding a person to a powerful detonation capable of smashing objects and destroying property, or a precision burst inside a human's brain simulating the effects of a massive stroke. Jubilee could absorb the fireworks back into her own body without harm.

A point of interest about Jubilee's powers is that she often referred to them as Pafs. Considering that the word 'Paf' appears in many instances as an onomatopoeia when drawn with her powers, it is believed to be the sound that her energy bursts create, much like Nightcrawler's Bamf noise.

As referenced by Emma Frost while training in Generation X, Jubilee has the untapped potential to detonate matter at a sub-atomic level, which in theory is the equivalent of a fusion bomb. Her moral stance on taking a life was observed by Emma during the Phalanx Covenant when Jubilee explained her fear of killing someone should her powers ever flare up again as they did during the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline in Uncanny X-Men. Emma Frost stated that Jubilee had unlimited potential and was one of the most powerful mutants she had ever encountered.

Upon joining the post-Civil War New Warriors team, Jubilee gained highly advanced technology from Night Thrasher to replace her mutant abilities, giving her superhuman strength. While the upper limits of this power have not yet been explored, Jubilee (as Wondra) can lift the engine of a freight train over her head. Wondra's power suit and gauntlets also enhance her with limited invulnerability, as well as the ability to fly with hover discs.

In her early appearances, Jubilee also displayed an apparent immunity to telepathy, but this was soon forgotten. She had on occasion used this ability to hide herself from telepathic scans and probes from Sentinels. Whether or not she knew of this ability has yet to be determined.

Jubilee is a talented gymnast and rollerblade skater, and while living rough she used her skills to evade capture while stealing to survive, first from the various shops in the mall and later in the X-Men's Australian base. She has also displayed above average hand-to-hand combat skills, sufficient to survive combat with the Hand. She is a fair hand-to-hand combatant, having learned street-fighting techniques while in Los Angeles County Juvenile Hall, and was coached further by Wolverine. She has also been shown to have strong leadership abilities, often been placed in a field commander role by Banshee during her closing time with Generation X, and acting as a drill-sergeant figure for the most recent New Warriors team.

In one issue of Wolverine's comicissue, it was stated that Jubilee suffers from dyscalculia.

Other versions

Abcissa

In one alternate timeline, Mojo tried to stop the Big Crunch, the end of time and collapse of all matter which would start a new Big Bang. Jubilee told him to stop, and she would be his slave. Giving her the new name Abcissa, her powers would be altered to animate and control the many chains that were attached to her body. Abcissa and Mojo kidnapped Jubilee, taking her to the Crunch, so she would become Mojo's slave. Jubilee refused, which nullified Abcissa's existence. Wolverine arrived and defeated Mojo. [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/abscissa.htm]

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Jubilee is part of Gambit's X-Ternals, a group of rebel thieves. She went with the X-Ternals to the Shi'ar Empire in order to steal a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal. Jubilee also displayed a greater level of control over her power by detonating the clothing of several Madri enforcers on a molecular level. Her fate in the tenth anniversary issue of the Age of Apocalypse is currently unknown.

Days of Future Past

In Days of Future Past, Jubilee is one of the last X-Men alive and among the few mutants who aren't prisoners in a concentration camp. She lives together with her lover Synch in the ruins of Hollywood.

House of M

The House of M version of Jubilee was a rich socialite teenage girl, unlike the Jubilation Lee of the main universe, but still a "shallow mall rat". Her best friend was Sooraya, also known as Dust. As a member of the New Mutants training team, she used both an explosive personality and power set to defend herself. Jubilee still kept her trademark compassion and love for her friends, resisting to fight her best friend to protect herself (knowing she's being mind controlled) even though she knew she could easily kill her, although she was more willing to use her powers at a forceful potential towards enemies.

MC2

In MC2, Jubilee is the leader of a team of mutant heroes called the X-People. She was also part of A-Next, a future generation of Avengers. However, Jubilee prefers to act on her own and only reluctantly cooperates with other heroes. She apparently still retains a reserve status with the Avengers, and has joined them on several occasions. She can sporadically be seen in the Spider-Girl series and related miniseries.

Mutant X

In Mutant X, Jubilee is the leader of the villain team the Marauders, consisting of Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Husk, although she has trouble keeping her team under control. After the Marauders had a fight with Bloodstorm, Jubilee was severely hurt.

Team X

Team X was a brief one-shot featuring Bishop and Deathbird. It features a green-bodysuit Jubilee (code-named Vertigo) from about fifteen years into the future. Vertigo was a part of a resistance movement against Shi'ar Majestrix Alanna, the maniacal daughter of Lilandra and Professor X. This version of Jubilee possesses several light-based powers including making light knives, firing photon beams, and turning invisible.

Ultimate Jubilee

Jubilee is a member of Alpha Flight, first appearing in "Ultimate X-Men" #94. The team overpowers the X-Men during their game of baseball against the Academy of Tomorrow and kidnaps Northstar, claiming that he belongs with them. Her powers and appearance seem not to differ greatly from her 616 counterpart, as well as her laid back personality during and after the battle. She is a fan of Dazzler. She is such a fan that she planned to get Ali's autograph and wore one of her band's shirt's when they attacked, much to the annoyance of her team, especially Snowbird.

In other media

Television

*In the 1992 "X-Men" animated television series, Jubilee was voiced by Alyson Court. Jubilee was a main character of the original animated series, and starred in almost all of the episodes throughout the many seasons it aired. She also retained her surrogate daughter/father relationship with Wolverine who was still shown to dote on her in his own gruff way; in one episode, Logan was even shown teaching Jubilee how to drive.

*She also guest starred in "" in the 1990s in the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 2, along with the rest of the X-Men.

*In the 1996 television film "Generation X", the character was portrayed by Caucasian actress Heather McComb. Jubilee had several power scenes and was one of the main characters.

*In the 2001 "" animated television series, she appeared infrequently as one of the New Mutants, and was voiced by Chiara Zanni. As a nod to the original character, this incarnation of Jubilee always wore a yellow jacket when out of uniform.

Films

*Jubilee also appears in all three X-Men films, portrayed by Katrina Florece in "X-Men" and by Kea Wong in ' and '. In the first film, Jubilee is limited to a few cameo scenes in both Professor Xavier's and Storm's classrooms. She is featured in a deleted scene, in which she talks to both Kitty Pryde and Rogue. In "X2", Jubilee appears in a deleted version of the museum scene which gives a brief introduction to her powers as blue electricity crackles around her fingers. Jubilee is among the six kidnapped young mutants that Storm and Nightcrawler rescue. She can be heard calling Storm's name and is shown running to safety with the X-Men and can be seen in the X-Jet. She also appears in the final classroom scene and briefly talks to Professor Xavier. The size of her role in "X-Men: The Last Stand" is limited; she appears within the first ten minutes of the film, and can be seen sitting in the classroom.

Video games

"] Jubilee appears in some of the "X-Men" video games:
*She is a selectable helper character in "", in which she throws several fireworks at her enemies (and is voiced by Alyson Court).

*She is also a cameo helper character in Wolverine for the NES, in which she gives Wolverine a device to breathe underwater for a longer period of time.

*Most recently, Jubilee appears as a playable character in the video game "X-Men Legends", and is voiced by Danica McKellar from the show "The Wonder Years". In "X-Men Legends", Jubilee is unlocked early on in the game by talking to her at the X-Mansion.

Books

Jubilee first appears in the X-Men Dimensions series of books, in X-Men Dimensions 2, as the unofficial leader of the New Mutants. Twice in the book, she convinces various other New Mutants to go and play the superhero game themselves, to prove themselves to be real X-Men. Because of their irresponsibility, Professor Xavier decides to retract his earlier action, excepting them all as members of the X-Men. Jubilee will not be returning for X-Men Dimensions 3, although there is a small possibility that she will return in a later installment but no word yet from the author.

References

* [http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/spotlight/showquestion.asp?faq=10&fldAuto=99 UncannyXmen.net, Spotlight feature on Jubilee]

External links

* [http://marvel.com/universe/Jubilee Jubilee's entry at Marvel.com]