The X-men have fought a variety of bad guys, including both mutants and people. The deadly and strong sorceress Spiral is one of the stranger ones. Spiral, a six-armed robot, served as Mojo’s main enforcer. Before being abducted and left for dead on Mojoverse, where she was brainwashed into becoming Mojo’s puppet, she had been Ricochet Rita, a Longshot ally. Spiral first appeared in Longshot #1 by Ann Nocenti (June 1985).
The six arms of the Spiral sculpture seem to be models for gods from Hindu mythology, one of the world’s oldest religions. Numerous Hindu gods are shown as having six arms. Like Spiral, many characters in Hindu mythology have numerous personalities. How did Spiral end up opposing the X-men, then? Let us investigate.
Spiral: Origins
Rita Wayword was first seen in Longshot #1, although her character was not explored in it. Her character makes an official appearance in Longshot #2. Rita was a professional stuntwoman. She comes across Longshot while filming a movie and befriends him. While filming the movie, Rita is in charge of teaching Longshot the basics of stunts as he gets recruited by the director for his wild and fearless behavior as he crashes one of the scenes.
The two grow closer, and Rita develops feelings for him. But the actual story of how Rita became Spiral was actually a temporal paradox. Rita gets attacked by her future self, which leads to her meeting Longshot and falling in love with him. Rita decided to tag along when he attempted to return home, called Mojoverse. But once there, Longshot and Rita get captured by the dimension’s evil overlord, Mojo. Mojo wipes Longshot’s mind, and as he forgets Rita, she ends up suffering much more than she could have even imagined.
Rita remains a prisoner in Mojoverse for several years before Mojo forces his scientist Arize to perform experiments and extreme body manipulations on Rita to turn her into a loyal servant. These experiments resulted in her having six arms, some of which were mechanical. Rita is driven insane as she goes through immense abuse, and her mind is forcefully evolved to see through other dimensions and perform time travel/teleportation. She was taught dark arts and magic. After all these tortures, Rita becomes a ruthless sorcerer who is devoted to serving Mojo. This is how she finds herself back in time to set forth the sequence of events that led to her becoming Mojo’s prisoner and losing herself.
In Longshot #2, Rita is shown to be a daredevil type of woman who is not afraid of anything. She lived to do stunts and found immense joy in the sense of freedom it gave her. She described herself as too wild and thrived in the profession as a stuntwoman.
Spiral might have been Mojo’s servant, but she detested him quite a lot which was often seen in her behavior towards him and rebutting his orders, even though she eventually did follow them. She went against Mojo’s orders and attacked Longshot, for he was the reason for what she had been forced into becoming, which led to her being stranded on Earth by Mojo, who cut off her inter-dimensional travel powers.
Spiral becomes a foe of the X-men when she gets recruited into the Freedom Force by Val Cooper. She becomes a valuable team member and single-handedly defeats the X-Men on various occasions, even kidnapping Rachel Summers on one such occasion. She was also essential in Freedom Force’s victory over The Avengers and West Coast Avengers. She defeated both Captain Marvel and Iron Man, leading to the removal of two of the most potent Avengers during the battle.
She ran the ‘Body Shoppe,’ which sold cybernetic parts. Lady Deathstrike and many members of the Reavers were her frequent customers. She was the one who enhanced Psylocke with cybernetic eyes, which doubled as cameras so Mojo could spy on the X-Men. She also played a role in Psylocke becoming Asian, as she transferred the X-Man’s mind into the body of an Asian assassin named Kwannon.
Spiral might have been Mojo’s servant, but she detested him quite a lot which was often seen in her behavior towards him and rebutting his orders, even though she eventually did follow them. She went against Mojo’s orders and attacked Longshot, for he was the reason for what she had been forced into becoming, which led to her being stranded on Earth by Mojo, who cut off her inter-dimensional travel powers.
Mind-blowing Story of Spiral in Animated Series
Spiral makes appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series a couple of times and is voiced by Cynthia Belliveau. Her first appearance happens in Season 2, Episode 11, titled “Mojovision.” On the orders of Mojo, Spiral kidnaps and teleports the X-Men to Mojoverse to act in television shows. She then handles the shows through the control room on Mojo’s orders. Later on, as Jean messes with the controls and machines, Longshot enlists Spiral’s help to set the X-Men free. After putting them free from their holdings, Spiral then sends them back to their own dimension and then leaves with Longshot in tow.
She makes a comeback in Season 5, Episode 5, titled “Longshot,” as she’s seen chasing Longshot after he stages a rebellion against Mojo. She almost captures him, but Wolverine and Jubilee thwart her plans. She later returns to earth with Mojo to capture Longshot. A battle between the X-Men and Mojo’s minions ensues as Spiral battles Wolverine. It is also revealed that Spiral and Longshot had dated but eventually had a falling out, leading to Spiral going back to work for Mojo again. But soon, Mojo and Spiral are defeated, and as they teleport back to Mojoverse, Spiral demands for a rematch soon.
She also makes an appearance on Wolverine and the X-Men and is voiced by Grey DeLisle. Spiral and Reavers attack a ship named Avalon, which held mutant passengers and was heading to Genosha. They are soon defeated by Nightcrawler and his team and teleport away to escape. She soon returns to avenge her loss by tricking Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch into playing the part of prey in a hunting game designed by Mojo. Unfortunately for her, she is yet again defeated by Kurt and Wanda with the help of Wolverine, who had also been summoned and reverted to his former Weapon X persona.
What makes Spiral a Deadly Sorceress?
Spiral is an accomplished sorceress and has powerful mystical and physical abilities. She can teleport herself and others across dimensions through elaborate body movements and dance. She can manipulate energy, paralyze people, and even cancel other superhuman abilities. The more complicated her spell is, the more elaborate her movements are. She is also highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat.
She usually carries two swords and numerous other weapons. The body enhancements she received have granted her enhanced strength, agility, and reflexes. She can also disguise herself through magic. She is capable of traveling through time and conjuring objects. Spiral’s mind is immune from possession, which can be witnessed when Rogue tries to steal Spiral’s powers.
Although Spiral’s body collapses, she ends up possessing Rogue’s body, showing her clear superiority in sorcery. She also demonstrates knowledge and skills in cybernetics and genetic manipulation, which is used to turn humans into cyborgs. Through her mystical means, Spiral is aware whenever someone speaks of her name.
Spiral’s abilities can also be weighed by the fact that when Doctor Strange lost the title of Sorcerer Supreme, Spiral was one of the twenty candidates to replace him for the title.
Although Spiral is considered to be one of the weirder villains in the X-Men Universe, there is no denying that she is extremely powerful and dangerous. Her genius-level intellect and sassy attitude are worthy of the title of a true villainess. Even though her character is often sullied by the ridiculous plot lines of Mojo’s schemes, Spiral manages to hold her own against her weird spineless (in the literal sense) employer. At least she didn’t have to quit the show business, which she dearly enjoyed.