This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 season 2 episode 2.
X-Men ’97 isn’t just concerned with adapting comic book stories from the ’90s or telling stories about the X-Men in 1997. The animated series also gives attention to characters who reached their peak in the 1990s, characters who embodied the edgy attitude that defined the era, guys like Gambit, Bishop, and Cable. As popular as these characters were in their heyday, they were divisive, drawing just as many haters, who resented characters like Bishop and Cable for drawing attention from their favorites in New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men.
The first season of X-Men ’97 seemed fully aware of the controversy surrounding Gambit and seemed determined to settle it once and for all. Season 2 turns its attention toward Jubilee, making the chili-fries-eating mall baby briefly the coolest person at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
The scene occurs episode 2, “A Force to Be Reckoned With,” in which Jubilee and Sunspot join Cable, Psylocke, and Archangel to form the reactionary X-Force. X-Force clashes with the government-sponsored group X-Factor, who captures Jubilee and takes her to a holding facility. However, X-Factor member Polaris, who once served on the X-Men with Jubilee, has a change of heart and uses her magnetism to set her old teammate free. Instead of sneaking out, Jubilee intentionally sets off the alarm to draw armed guards towards her, and that’s when the fireworks start… literally.
Pulling on her headphones and pressing “play” on her walkman, Jubilee faces off with the guards while “Volcano Girls” by Veruca Salt blasts on the soundtrack. She uses her fireworks powers to propel herself around the guards and amp up her punches. When a guard grabs her and pushes her against a wall, Jubilee shoots a colorful blast from her feet, effectively making herself into a rocket.
The scene might be the best moment in Jubilee’s history, which has been weird and varied, even by X-Men standards. She made her debut in 1989’s Uncanny X-Men #244, written by Chris Claremont and penciled by Marc Silvestri, in issue in which, appropriately enough, a bunch of characters go to a mall. She soon started hanging around the Xavier Mansion and really found her place once Jim Lee came aboard as the regular artist. Lee paired Jubilee with Wolverine, making him the Batman to her Robin (why do you think she wears a yellow jacket, a red shirt, and green glasses?).
Although a mainstay in ’90s X-Men comics, Marvel hasn’t always known what to do with Jubilee. She really came into her own in Generation X, the ’90s teen book that filled the hole left when New Mutants became X-Force. But after that book ended and a 2004 solo series failed to give her a compelling new status quo, Jubilee was picked as one of the mutants her lost her abilities when the Scarlet Witch depowered thousands in the House of M storyline. Later, she became the adopted mother of a son, Shogo, and she also became a vampire after getting doused with an exploding monster’s blood. Worst of all, she used tech to replicate her powers and take on a new superhero name, Wondra, to join the New Warriors, a fate worse than death.
These days, Jubilee has her powers again and has been cured of all vampirism. She still has Shogo, though, because Jubes isn’t the type to abandon a kid. She played an active part on the mutant nation of Krakoa, working with the magical group Excalibur. But since the island’s destruction, Jubilee has faded into the background, making X-Men ’97 not just her best appearance, but also one of the few appearances in recent years.
It’s a good thing that she made that appearance count. Now, if only the show can do the same thing for another polarizing character, also seen in “A Force to Be Reckoned With,” the snot-nosed telekenetic punk, Quentin Quire.
X-Men ’97 streams new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.
