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First appearance []

Longshot #3 (November, 1985)

Uncanny X-Men 461

Cover Of Uncanny X-Men #461

Biography[]

Mojo rules over the planet Mojo World in the dimension dubbed the Mojoverse, both so named by himself and his tyrannical ego. He is a member of the race of Spineless Ones, beings whose evolution was stunted by their lack of spines until the scientist Arize created exoskeletons and other mechanical devices that could help them move. (Mojo himself uses various mechanical platforms, some outfitted with hover jets and others with spider-like appendages.) This technological development allowed the Spineless Ones to rapidly advance their civilization until its basic technology surpassed Earth’s own. Unfortunately, the society developed around its obsession with television, due in part from the Spineless One’s low attention span, and its political structure became based on television programs and the resultant media ratings. Mojo rose to power due to his control over the television industry and his popular programming choices, the most notable of which were televised exploits of the X-Men from Earth-616.

Another facet of the Mojoverse society was its reliance upon slavery, which Mojo had also profited from immensely. Arize had genetically engineered a race of beings with spines to become slaves for the Spineless Ones, basing their construction on mythic images of devils, which look like Earth human beings. Two slaves in particular that Mojo supervised the creation of were Spiral and Quark, whose head resembled a ram. Secretly, however, Arize genetically programmed all slaves to feel the desire to rebel against the Spineless Ones and seek a just rule. This dispensation finally reared its head in Longshot, a slave who had previously enjoyed great popularity as a stuntman in Mojo’s programs.

Longshot began to grow so dissatisfied with the Spineless Ones that he formed a rebellion, only to be forced to escape the Mojoverse and arrive on Earth with Mojo and bounty hunters in pursuit. He was found by Ricochet Rita, a stuntwoman, and together with Dr. Strange, the threesome defeated Mojo and forced him to return to his home dimension. Longshot and Rita soon followed, hoping to continue the rebellion.

At some point, Mojo captured Besty Braddock, Psylocke, who had been blinded by Slaymaster. Mojo offered her cybernetic eyes, which she accepted, and she was rescued by the original New Mutants and returned to Earth, not knowing that Mojo could use her new eyes as cameras to record the adventures of the X-Men.

Having captured Longshot and erasing his memories, Mojo transported him to Earth so that he could encounter the X-Men, which in turn led to their capture. The New Mutants freed the X-Men, who returned to Earth with Longshot. Despite Mojo’s apparent failure, the broadcast of this adventure earned high ratings, increasing Mojo’s political clout.

When the X-Men were believed dead after a battle with the Adversary, Mojo stopped receiving signals from Psylocke’s cybernetic eyes. Around the same time, Mojo captured Phoenix (Rachel Summers), but she escaped his dimension and defeated his agents, the Warwolves, with the help of the heroes that became Excalibur. Faced with the possibility of never being able to televise the X-Men’s adventures, Mojo decided to create his own version of the X-Men, one that could be under his supervision and control. He finally approved of the X-Babies, and the group earned great ratings until they finally hoped to opt out of their contracts, rebelling against Mojo with the help of Ricochet Rita.

When Mojo captured Longshot again, he earned his highest ratings to that point when he also took captive the X-Men and placed them all in roles such as the Scarecrow (Cyclops), the Tin Woodman (Rogue), and the Cowardly Lion (Wolverine) for The Wizard of X. Dazzler was also transported to Mojo World, but she was kidnapped by an upstart clone, Mojo II, who used Dazzler and other spined slaves the rebellion. When the final ratings came in, Mojo II triumphed, replacing his predecessor. His rule didn’t last too long, however, for when the X-Babies tried to escape the Mojoverse, the original Mojo was seen in charge once again. (The X-Babies had escaped and stumbled into Shadowcat, and she helped them turn the tables on the Agent. She helped the X-Babies return home, but only so that they could renegotiate their contracts to the chagrin of Mojo.)

Creating even more X-Babies, Mojo found even more rebellion. His latest version included baby analogues of all X-Men at that point, but they all escaped. Mojo then created baby versions of the Avengers in the Mitey ‘Vengers, but they, too, would turn on their creator, eventually siding with the X-Babies. Perhaps learning his lesson, Mojo turned to creating baby versions of popular X-Men villains, but this turned out to be a mistake. Mojo World was reportedly destroyed by the baby versions of the villains Apocalypse, Holocaust, Dark Beast, and the Sugar Man.

More recently, however, the dimension-hopping Exiles were stranded in the Mojoverse-- trapped by Mojo, who hoped to keep Morph as an exclusive star. The Mojo World loved Morph’s escapades, and the merchandise alone helped drive Mojo’s profits. Morph’s teammates escaped to find Longshot, who helped them turn the tables on Mojo. Morph nearly killed Mojo in the final confrontation but was stopped by the Timebroker, who argued that continuing with such action would irreparably damage the timestream. The Exiles later contacted Mojo once again, as their leader Heather Hudson hoped to bargain with Mojo to release Longshot so that he could join the team. As an exchange, she offered access to the video feeds of the Exiles’ headquarters, effectively allowing him to view all realities of the multiverse, to which Mojo agreed. Treacherous to the end, Mojo wiped Longshot’s mind clean before releasing him, although he nevertheless helped the Exiles defeat Proteus.


Ultimate X-Men[]

In the series Ultimate X-Men, set outside the ordinary Marvel continuity, Mojo is not an alien but an ordinary human being. He is a well-dressed, obese albino television producer. He trapped a young mutant fugitive Longshot on an island where humans hunt him as part of a popular reality show. This Mojo also has a Major Domo, a young, fit, human man with a family of his own. Later on he was seen working with Augustus "Gus" Beezer and hired Deadpool and his Marauders to capture the X-Men and bring them back to Krakoa where they were to be executed on live television by the Reavers. He kept Professor X captive and forced him to watch the entire show a la Clockwork Orange by using some kind of collar to disable Xavier's telepathic powers. His plans however were foiled by the combined efforts of the X-Men and Spider-Man, who was also captured during his visit to the X-Mansion. It is unknown what happened to Mojo after this because Xavier seemed to have taken care of him during his escape. In this series, Mojo's full name is Mojo Adams, a tribute to his creator Art Adams


Powers and abilities[]

Mojo's multi-legged flying platform is armed with various particle beam weapons. It also has a large artificial appendage that can be used as an arm or a slicing weapon and two smaller arms. He is strong enough to hold a human off of the ground with one arm easily. He has several powers derived from magic, including the projection of magical energy blasts. These magical powers are strengthened by the 'worship of his followers' and hence directly linked to the popularity of his TV programs. He cannot be harmed by the touch of Rogue, no matter how long she is in contact with him. He has bear hugged Rogue with much ease until she was left unconscious.

Mojo also is a force of death and corruption; his touch can wither plants and age humans. His prolonged presence on Earth could cause storms and other natural disasters according to Doctor Strange

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Mojo, Spiral and Longshot from X-Men: The Animated Series episode #24 - Mojovision

Trivia[]

  • Mojo appeared in the X-Men episodes "Mojovision" and "Longshot" voiced by Peter Wildman. This version of Mojo had the ability of shooting laser blasts from a cannon installed at the tip of his mechanical tail
  • Mojo first appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "X-Calibre" voiced by Charlie Adler. He sends Spiral and the Reavers to ships bound to Genosha to pick out the mutants for his program. After Spiral was thwarted by Nightcrawler and seeing the X-Men, Mojo plans to abduct them. In "Hunting Grounds," Mojo abducts Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch and forces them to fight a mind-controlled Wolverine.
  • Mojo also appeared as a boss in the first X-Men game for the Sega Genesis released in 1993. A game where, in order to beat his level known as "Mojo's Crunch", players have to press the "reset" button.
  • He also makes a cameo (in the form big balloon shaped with his face) in the background of the lower lever in Spiral's stage and in both Spiral's and Iceman's ending in Capcom's X-Men: Children of the Atom game.
  • The third X-Men video game released for the Sega Game Gear was subtitled Mojo's World and features Mojo as its final foe.
  • Mojo is also the antagonist of a pre-created Cartoon on the X-Men Cartoon Maker.
  • Mojo makes a cameo appearance in Viewtiful Joe's ending for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, where he and Spiral are shown working as producers on the police procedural show Joe and Captain Blue are starring in.

Toys[]

  • In 1994, Toy Biz pro
    File:Ml14 mojo1.jpg

    Mojo Toy from the marvel legends "build a figure" pieces where found in with longshot, psylock, Iron Man and Baron Zemo 6' figures.

    duced a Mojo action figure for their wave of X-Men: X-Force toys.
  • In 2002, a Unique HeroClix figure of Mojo was released in the Clobberin' Time set.
  • In 2006, a "Build-A-Figure" Mojo toy was produced by Toy Biz for Wave 14 of their Marvel Legends toyline. This toy required you to buy all the figures in the wave with each figure coming with a piece of the Mojo toy. The pieces would snap together to make the Mojo figure complete. This Build-A-Figure was much smaller than the previous ones (Galactus, a Sentinel and Apocalypse).
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