Jubilation Lee: X-Woman of the Year

M-Day. In and of itself this arc could constitute an article for this blog, but it is only a supporting role, an explanatory piece of the puzzle as to why one of my favorite characters of the X-Men titles, my second favorite of the mutants, has lost her power. I speak, of course, of Jubilation Lee; once known as her X-Man moniker “Jubilee” but now resigned to being the New Warrior known as “Wondra” she seems to have fallen far from her power of infinite possibility, as Emma frost called it, to a simpler role as super tutor in heroism.

Once a mutant with the power to expel tiny firework-like puffs of light she called “pafs” and cause an explosion inside them at a molecular level she soon learned to cause these explosions in almost anything, once even combusting the clothing of a guard to make an escape, she is now resigned to more cliché powers; superhuman strength, limited invulnerability, and flight-assisting disks. Jubilee once had the unlimited potential to be one of the most powerful mutants ever, exploding the atoms of anything leave possibilities without end, but the Scarlet Witch saw to it that she had her future ripped from her hands and thrown into limbo.

M-Day robbed all mutants of their astounding powers, altering their very genes, but it also took away their identity, their sense of community. They had, for so long, been united by their need to survive the onslaught that the Homo sapiens had begun upon the Homo Magnus, but with the loss of their powers they could actually blend into society. No longer was it a two-sided war, the harsh no man’s land had been cleared of some of its barbed wire, a few mortars stilled their shells on each side, and the trenches no longer seemed so deep, so some of the mutants naturally formed a gradient into the norm, leaving the home front open to attack.

Jubilation, having grown up a rich Asian-American girl, had her parents torn from her by the assassins called Reno and Molokai, and was forced to live by whit and will in a shopping mall in Hollywood. She has a naturally acuity for gymnastics, which aided her in stealing food to survive, and she’s got good hand-to-hand skills, which Wolverine later honed even further, and is both street- and book-wise.

If haunting the temporary Outback base of the X-Men was Jubilee's way onto the team, her linchpin was saving Wolverine from the torturous Reavers. She cut him down and nursed him back to health, earning her the right to fight with the best of the best on the good guy's side. Going through stents with almost every X-Team Jubilee is truly a mutant of all trades, and a respectable fighter in pretty much every way. Whether she’s standing in a yellow trench coat and denim shorts or the Wondra get-up, whether she’s causing molecular explosions or bench pressing a freight train, Miss Jubilation Lee gets my vote for X-Woman of the year.

But seriously, Marvel; powers, she deserves ‘em. So make with the creative solution, some science experiment, hell, let her make out with Quicksilver and his healing touch for all I care, just the Jubilee Paffing again.