Jubilee once made a huge sacrifice in order to save the universe, choosing to become the servant of one of the X-Men’s most disgusting villains.
Whether she’s on the main X-Men team or not, Jubilee has always been a source of hope for the X-Men, with her youthful energy helping to bring levity and love to the X-Men during dark times. However, there was a chance that she would have been contained and controlled by one of Marvel’s most despicable villains.
In 1992’s “The Crunch Conundrum” by Larry Hama, Andy Kubert, and Marc Silvestri from Wolverine #51-53 introduced Jubilee to Abcissa — her darkest possible future form.
After embracing more and more of his animalistic side following an exploration into his past, Logan spends the night at a motel with Mystique. The shape-shifting villain sought him for help in bringing down her former Freedom Force teammate Spiral, who has become increasingly deranged. Spiral promptly arrives but reveals she’s not the real threat. Chaos is being caused at the Crunch, the exact moment when the universe ceases to exist. It’s spiraling out of control and impacting time travelers across space and time. Spiral recruits the pair to help her solve the crisis in the distant future — unknowingly leaving Jubilee alone to face off against Mojo, who’s responsible for the damage to the timeline.
Mojo’s assistant Abcissa also arrives, catching the young mutant by surprise. Abcissa is a terrifying figure clad in a body-length blue suit and wrapped in chains. She uses flaming rollerblades as her main means of movement, giving her a sudden speed that allows her to easily capture Jubilee. In many ways, Abcissa’s design feels like a precursor to the appearance Speedball would adopt during his time as Penance. After Jubilee is captured, she is teleported to the Crunch, where Mojo hopes to harness the power and scope of the event for entertainment purposes. Mojo is even aware of the stakes at play, and agrees to back off and spare the timeline — and Wolverine — if Jubilee agrees to become his servant.
Although Jubilee initially resists, it’s revealed why Mojo has confidence that she’ll accept his offer: because Abcissa is a future version of Jubilee, who took the deal and became one of Mojo’s greatest assets. Abcissa pulls off her helmet and reveals this is indeed the truth, having served Mojo for decades at this point as evidenced by her old face and grey hair. It explains Abcissa’s incorporation of roller-skating into her tactics, as that happens to be a favorite past-time of the young mutant. Eventually, however, Jubilee resists Mojo’s offer and kicks him instead, refusing to ever serve him. This causes Abcissa to cease to exist, as Jubilee’s actions in the present kept her from ever becoming the dangerous older woman in the end.
Jubilee and Wolverine are able to escape Mojo’s grasp, save the Crunch, and escape via a time portal back to the present-day, but it’s still a harrowing encounter for Jubilee. Jubilee joined the X-Men after the team had already discovered the potential for dark futures, such as the “Days of Future Past” timeline where mutants have been all but wiped out by the Sentinels that rule over the planet. As a result, Jubilee didn’t get to see a dark possible version of her fate.
Now, the existence of Abcissa as a possibility exists in the multiverse, giving Jubilee a greater idea of the kind of fate that could befall her if she wasn’t strong-willed enough to resist the machinations of someone like Mojo. It’s a welcome warning of how dark her life could become and a refreshing reminder that it’s still her life to determine, meaning she has the chance to earn a happy ending at the end of the day.
