The X-Men's Best Battles with Mojo

First appearing in LONGSHOT (1985) #3, the egomaniacal Mojo Lifebringer has only one thing on his mind: getting high ratings from his violent television programs! The higher the ratings, the more control he wields over the denizens of Mojoworld. 

When the X-Men caught his unblinking eyes, he became obsessed with them, wanting them to be the focus of his programming—which, more often than not, involves trying to kill them. Considering the decades of bad blood between them, let's count down the X-Men's greatest battles with this interdimensional super villain!

X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #10 

Mojo wanted the X-Men under his command, and what better way to do it than through a Trojan horse? With the push of a button, he transported a mindwiped Longshot to Earth, right in the middle of a Danger Room training session. The "energy plasma bubble" surrounding the fallen hero popped, hitting the X-Men with a mysterious substance. Everything seemed normal until the X-Men realized they had transformed into teenagers, and later, kids! 

These young X-Men began to search for the person who did this to them, but that was exactly what Mojo wanted. He brainwashed them and tried to force them to kill the New Mutants, and eventually, the whole audience. Fortunately, the X-Men snapped out of their programming before either could happen. In the end, Mojo's show was a success, but he wasn't done with the X-Men.

X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #12

When Mojo believed the X-Men were dead (a whole other story), he tried to create a replacement for them for his own entertainment purposes. After various iterations, he settled on the X-Babies… until he saw little Longshot. Mojo didn't even like the adult Longshot, so there was no hope for the younger version. 

Mojo sent the Trademark Police to eradicate them, and a brief fight ensued. Hearing from Major Domo that the X-Babies were his "biggest hit ever," Mojo stopped the police and gave his mini creations a big hug. But the X-Babies wanted nothing to do with their creator, and thanks to Wolvie, they escaped.

X-MEN ANNUAL (1991) #1

Arize, a genetic scientist from the Mojoverse, fled to Earth after a failed rebellion. The X-Men traveled to Afghanistan and found him in "the heart of a Muhajadin camp." However, they weren't the only ones looking for him. A retrieval team from Mojoverse arrived as well, but they failed to take Arize from the X-Men. Although the event created great ratings for Mojo, Major Domo reported that the Mojoworld citizens were "laughing at Mojo, not with him," which left Mojo very unhappy.

X-MEN (1991) #10

Mojo soon returned to causing chaos, and this time, he had the X-Men "acting" in The Wizard of X. This parody led to big ratings on Mojoworld. But how did he get them there? One of Mojo's followers, Meek, hastily teleported the X-Men (sans Storm and Jean Grey) into enemy territory. The X-Men fought Mojo's minions, and Dazzler managed to run away, but the rest of the merry mutants got caught. Meanwhile in the "film," Mojo had one more trick up his sleeve.

X-MEN (1991) #11

Mojo forced the amnesiac X-Men to fight another group of amnesiac X-Men, leading this "fantasy tale" to turn into an all-out brawl! One by one, the X-Men started to shake Mojo's influence and unsuccessfully strike back at the head Spineless One. Dazzler returned with rebels and a Mojo clone named Mojo II: The Sequel (yes, that's his whole name) to attack Mojo… also unsuccessfully. Finally, Longshot struck the killing blow, and ended Mojo's tyranny. Right? (Hint: delayed, but no.)

X-FORCE (1991) #60 – #61

The X-Men weren't the only team of mutants that Mojo terrorized; the Exiles and X-Force, among others, were also subject to his machinations. Mojo kidnapped and mindwiped Cable and Shatterstar for his new TV program, so X-Force took the fight to Mojoworld. What they didn't know was that Mojo had traveled to Earth! 

For her own reasons, Spiral—Mojo's (multiple) right-hand woman—teleported Longshot, Siryn, and Rictor into the televised world while the rest of the team fought Mojo's goons. After Longshot and company rescued Cable and Shatterstar, Mojo tried to destroy them before they escaped in time. Mojo was left "lost somewhere in the transmission signal between Earth and Mojoworld." The end of Mojo, right? Right?

Nope.

UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #461

Thanks to Spiral, Mojo arrived in the X-Men's Danger Room. Spiral launched a "basic Jean bomb," a bomb shaped like Jean Grey, and turned all the X-Men present—except for Psylocke—into X-Babies. Déjà vu! The Babies escaped, but Spiral captured Psylocke. 

Mojo became enraged with Psylocke because her bionic eyes, which Mojo used to broadcast the X-Men's adventures to Mojoworld, had been removed. Her "breach of contract" resulted in Mojo calling the Exile Legal Eagles on the X-Babies. (Fun fact: Mojo's lawyers were the Exiles, a team related to the X-Men.) Thanks to some quick thinking, Mojo and Spiral were defeated and received a special send-off from Emma Frost.

X-MEN: GOLD (2017) #13

The X-Men were minding their business, playing a softball game in Central Park, when three gigantic obelisks descended from the sky. (Wonder who sent them?) The X-Men separated into three teams, which Mojo had planned for. Each obelisk transported the respective teams to three separate destinations: Rachel Summers' future, Inferno, and Asgard. 

In these destinations, their previous enemies were back; the X-Men were even wearing the exact costumes from those eras. Why? Mojo decided that instead of sending his forces to kill them, the X-Men would confront their "greatest hits"—their legacy! And of course, it was being broadcast worldwide. (For more of this arc, read in this order: X-MEN: BLUE (2017) #13, X-MEN: GOLD (2017) #14, X-MEN: BLUE (2017) #14, X-MEN: GOLD (2017) #15, and X-MEN: BLUE (2017) #15.)

Since the X-Men's last battle with Mojo, he fell in love with a human woman named Ann and allied with Glob, an X-Man, (but don't tell Major Domo) in X-MEN: BLACK – MOJO (2018) #1. Will Mojo ever return? Will he fully become a good guy, or will he continue to chase ratings? Find out in MS. MARVEL: MUTANT MENACE (2024) #2 by Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, and Rob Di Salvo, where he makes his next appearance, on Wednesday, April 10!

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