The fourth episode of X-Men ’97 whisked us back to the Mojoverse, one of the most unique arenas in the entire animated X-Men canon, this time with a pixelated twist.
Indeed, gone are Mojo’s days of torturing superheroes with his network television-style gauntlet, and in its place is a beat-em-up video game full of other iconic animated series locations like Asteroid M and Genosha, complete with Sentinel enemies and a Magneto boss battle.
Jubilee and Roberto, the lone subjects of Mojo’s antics this time around, ultimately succeeded in defeating Mojo and escaping from the game, but not before catching a glimpse of Spiral, the multi-armed woman who shot a mischievous grin their way as she pushed over Mojo’s incapacitated body.
So, what’s the deal with Spiral?
Who is Spiral?
Spiral appeared in the original X-Men animated series as an assistant to Mojo, managing the technical side of the Mojoverse programming. She betrayed the viewership-hungry alien in the episode “Mojovision” by freeing the X-Men after getting fed up with both Mojo’s treatment of her and his general unpleasantness, but it seems she’s back working for him as of ’97, albeit with what appears to be a suspiciously disgruntled attitude.
Indeed, Spiral seemed all too happy that Jubilee managed to defeat Mojo, even going as far as sending her and Roberto back to the X-Mansion once all was said and done. It’s possible, then, that Spiral rejoined Mojo’s ranks specifically to curate his defeat and take over the Mojoverse in his wake; why else would she agree to assist someone she hates so much as to have betrayed him once before, knowing that he’d be foolish enough to let her back, only to happily send Roberto and Jubilee home once they’ve defeated Mojo for her?
It still seems like a bit of a reach to call Spiral an ally now, given how mercurial her loyalties have now proven to be across both the original animated series and X-Men ’97, but while that aforementioned grin suggests that maybe there’s more to come from Spiral (and “more” could very well mean bad news for the X-Men), it does confirm one thing without a doubt: She is most certainly not an ally of Mojo.
(featured image: Marvel Animation)
