- Name: Jubilation Lee
- Code Names: Jubilee, Wondra
- First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #244 (May ’89)
- Powers: Creates fireworks, is a vampire
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, X-Corps, Generation X, New Warriors
About
One of the useful tools a writer has to introduce readers to a new world is the audience surrogate. This is a character that is new to the environment, say the Xavier Institute, which allows exposition to flow much more smoothly. In the first X-Men film, Wolverine filled the role and the audience was allowed to learn about the school and the mutant struggle alongside him. As the learning becomes a shared experience, the audience builds a strong connection to these characters because they are seeing the world through that character’s eyes. For an impressionable generation in the early 90’s a character was need to bring them into the wild world of weird that is the X-Men. Someone the kids could relate to would be good, maybe someone they could see themselves as, someone to add an outsider’s perspective to the group. X-Men: The Animated Series found that character in a spunky little mall rat named Jubilee.
Portrayed by Lana Condor in X-Men: Apocalypse
Jubilation Lee was created by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri at the tail end of the Outback era. She was the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a typical Beverly Hills teen. After the sudden death of her parents, Jubilation struggled to find her place in this new situation. She ran from her orphanage and discovered her mutant ability to generate brightly colored plasmoid burst that looked like little fireworks and found that she could make some money entertaining the crowds at her favorite place in the world, the Hollywood Mall. Mall security eventually got tired of the little pest and sent the suspiciously qualified M-Squad to capture her. The women of the X-Men, fresh from Inferno, decided to go shopping that same day and were able to rescue Jubilee from the hunters. Unknown to the X-Men, the teen saw their portal to the Outback and decided to follow her impulse and jump into the strange vortex.
Art by Marc Silvestri, Dan Green, and Glynis Oliver
Jubilee stayed hidden for a little while, she was impressed and a little intimidated by these powerful women. She watched as the X-Men battled Nanny and the Orphan-Maker, she saw people like her doing amazing things, being more than a brat. She wanted that life. Her opportunity came when the Reavers, led by Lady Deathstrike and Donald Pierce, attacked the base and bested Wolverine leaving him crucified on an X-shaped cross. When all was quiet she snuck out, watched him pull himself off, and kept him safe until his healing factor could kick in. She formed a close bond with Logan, he was the hard mentor she needed, she was the innocence that kept him balanced. They traveled the globe and eventually met up with the rest of the X-Men in Genosha where Jubilee played a key role in liberating the island.
Art by Rick Leonardi, Kent Williams, and Glynis Oliver
Jubez continued to train with the now united X-Men and became the heart of the group. While the mutants we embroiled in angst and conflict, she was always spunky and positive. When Professor Xavier briefly gained the use of his legs, Jubilee took it upon herself to invite him rollerblading and show him that his work really was changing the lives of young mutants. And when his legs began to fail him, the young X-Man was right there to help. Unfortunately, being so young left Jubilee feeling isolated among the X-Men. She was deeply affected by the death of young Illyana Rasputin and she felt abandoned when Wolverine left the institute after losing his adamantium. The Professor had an idea, though, to reestablish his original dream of a school for mutants. With great consideration, he sent Jubilee to Massachusetts to join Generation X.
Art by Brandon Peterson, Dan Panosian, and Marie Javins
It took some time for Jubilee to be comfortable at her new school. She developed a rivalry with M, and had a superiority complex from being “demoted” from the X-Men. Her experience in combat situations was a huge asset to the group and allowed them to defeat many foes that were out of their league. After the school shut down she briefly joined Banshee’s X-Corps to watch over her former teacher as he struggled with the death of his lover. The Church of Humanity soon captured Jubilee and crucified her on the lawn of the X-Mansion alongside her Generation X teammate Skin. The X-Men were able to save her life, but Skin wasn’t so lucky. The loss of her friend sent her into a depression, one that was made worse by what the Scarlet Witch did next.
Art by Chris Bachalo
Jubilee was one of the highest profile mutants to lose their abilities on M-Day. No longer welcome at the Xavier Institute she began a home for depowered mutants in NYC. She was the first depowered mutant to be recruited into the latest incarnation of the New Warriors as the tech-powered Wondra. There she was reunited the Jono Starsmore from her Generation X days but she was wary of the group’s leader Night Thrasher. She eventually led a mutant exodus from the group and relocated to the San Francisco Bay to be near her friends on Utopia.
In San Francisco, Jubilee was infected by a biological agent that began turning her into a vampire. While in the med bay on Utopia, she began to feel a calling, an urging to be with the other vampires. She escaped Utopia to go to the side of Xarus, the son of Dracula, who used her as bait for the rest of the X-Men. The mutants were able to stop Xarus but Jubilee was left cursed and with an overwhelming thirst for blood. Knowing that his healing factor would allow him to survive, Wolverine offered to be her meal when she needed it, and Jubilee tried to determine how to go on in this new existence.
Art by Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Marte Gracia
Taking a sabbatical, Jubilee found an orphaned baby and decided to take it upon herself to raise him. Naming the boy Shogo, she took him to the X-Mansion, the only real home she knew, and rejoined her friends as a full-time mother and part-time X-Man. When a group of X-Men came from the future, Jubilee was less surprised to see the future self-leading the team than she was to see that Shogo was a member known as Sentinel X. Currently, she is hanging out with Patsy Walker and becoming more and more comfortable with her vampirism.
Art by Brittney Williams and Rachelle Rosenberg
Must Read
There are a lot of good Jubilee stories. She is an icon of the Jim Lee era, a staple of Generation X, and the key member of Brian Wood’s immensely enjoyable X-Men run. I could go the self-serving route and tell you to read Bish & Jubez, the fantastic web comic by Adam Reck, but he still has one more page to release so I can’t yet judge it as a whole (though you should still read it). The best recommendation, the one that everyone thinks of when I say Jubilee is the two-part pilot of X-Men: The Animated Series Night of the Sentinels. This introduces our favorite little mall rat like none other and asks the question, does a mall-babe eat chili fries? It may not have held up the way you remember but this is still a fantastic and fun episode that all should watch. You can find this on Hulu or at your local Pizza Hutt in 1993.
Ranking
Jubilation was a mall rat, and now you finally know that. She is a character that many love and a ton of creators have done great work with. To me, she has always felt like a character of the 90’s that never found her footing in the modern era. Wood did great work with her but it never worked as well as say X-Men ’92 Jubez. That doesn’t make her bad, it just means I can’t be clearing out the top of the list for her. The easiest comparison to Jubilee on the list is Boom Boom and I think these two are almost perfectly even. Both fun-loving misfits who endear themselves to other X-Men but Jubilee has the iconic status that Tabby just can’t match. That’s why Jubilee ranks as the new number 11 in the Xavier Files.
Jubez was requested by Emperor_Ducksauce on Reddit and a fan vote. Thanks for the request. If you want to cut to the front of the line like our new supporters Jude and Kalean, we have a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward for just a $1 pledge. Our first goal is only $15 and it gets rid of those ads and makes the hosting for Xavier Files entirely reader supported.
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Next week we get our Morrison on with Kid Omega! See you then!
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
