BIOGRAPHY - Page 3
A great TV show always keeps the viewers guessing and surprises them just when they think they know what is going on. In that vein, Mojo’s death at the hands of Longshot wasn’t all it seemed, as the overthrown despot had merely been wounded. Whilst the rest of the Mojoverse fell in line under Mojo II’s new but not very different ruling style, the original Mojo plotted his comeback. In an unseen plot twist, Mojo revealed his survival to the rest of the Mojoverse, and he relieved Mojo II of his dictator duties. However, in the short time he had been away, the viewership across Mojoworld fell and the various TV networks were struggling to find content to keep them happy. Whilst he would have relied on the X-Men to gain him a solid ratings hit in the past, Mojo was against using the mutants since they were the ones that resulted in his downfall. Instead, he turned his attention to a team called the Youngblood, from an alternate Earth.
Realizing how popular they were on their Earth, Mojo decided to invade it in the hopes of gaining an entirely new planet of viewers. Capturing Dazzler, Mojo converted her into another version of the bounty-hunter called “The Agent” and he sent her to lead the charge on Youngblood’s home world. However, Youngblood teamed up with Earth-616’s X-Force to stop his assault on their world, causing Mojo’s forces to retreat and Dazzler to be freed of her brainwashing. Whilst Major Domo saw the endeavor as a huge loss, Mojo was ecstatic at the huge ratings boost his network had receive by airing footage of the invasion. Mojo demanded a sequel, feeling that showing more footage from Youngblood’s home world was a sure-fire way to maintain his control of the airwaves. Before he could send his forces to take the alternate Earth, Youngblood (along with X-Force and Dazzler) stormed Mojo’s base, looking to stop him once and for all. The combined might of the two teams was enough to destroy Mojo’s base and put an end to his latest world-dominating plans. [Youngblood/X-Force #1, X-Force/Youngblood #1]
X-Force would come crashing into Mojo’s life once more when Shatterstar set out on a quest to uncover the mysteries of his birth and his link to a man called Benjamin Russell. All that he knew was that he came from 100 years in Mojoworld’s future and he was destined to finally kill the tyrannical ruler once and for all. Mojo encountered Shatterstar and Cable on their journey through 
Mojoworld and he captured them. Using his vast power, Mojo travelled to Earth and digitized both men, forcing them to enact scenarios from Shatterstar’s mind for the viewing public. Mojo broadcast the events across Earth, but he was shocked when he saw his own death at Shatterstar’s hand. Determined to avoid the possible future, Mojo managed to fatally injure the digital man, seemingly ensuring his own survival. However, the two men were saved by the intervention of X-Force, as well as Longshot and the traitorous Spiral. In a twist that not even Mojo could have seen coming, Shatterstar’s spirit was placed in the body of the braindead Benjamin. With Shatterstar alive once more, Mojo’s brutal fate at his hands was once again a likely future. [X-Force (1st series) #60-61]
Wanting to keep an eye on Shatterstar, Mojo teamed up with the sadistic gamesmaster Arcade to put the man through the ringer by forcing him to fight against his teammate Domino. [X-Force (1st series) #76]
Ever since his glorious comeback, Mojo had struggled to regain his place at the top of the media-driven hierarchy in Mojoworld. Longshot and Dazzler continued to be a thorn in his side and Mojo found himself relegated to the public-access networks, a great step down from his former media rule. He began planning an epic line-up for sweeps week and he decided he would have a sure-fire hit with the X-Babies…only they had escaped into the wilds of Mojoworld during the rebellions. Teaming up with Arcade once again, Mojo captured the X-Babies and had them compete in a deadly gameshow. Naturally, the pint-sized X-Men didn’t cooperate and they put an end to the diabolical show, escaping back home. Mojo was furious, and revealed he knew Arcade was actually Funhouse, one of his many new X-baby creations based on the X-Men ever-growing roster of heroes and villains. Sending Funhouse to be punished, Mojo comforted himself with the fact the chaotic gameshow had generated some solid ratings. [X-Babies: Murderama]
In spite of all the trouble the X-Babies had caused in the past, Mojo couldn’t let the idea of them go and he commissioned more of them to be produced. This time he decided not to limit himself to mutants, taking inspiration from the other heroes of Earth. When Spiral brought word that the original X-Babies were interfering with his latest schemes, he deployed the Mitey ‘Vengers, a group of loyal babies based on the Avengers. When the two groups fought, Iron Lad began to have questions about what made him and the X-Babies so different. Not exactly suited for the parental role, Mojo became angry at the child’s questions and lashed out at him, showing the young boy his true colors.
As Mojo went on a verbal tirade on how important he was to Mojoworld, the X-Babies secretly broadcast it live across the planet. Iron Lad and the rest of the Mitey ‘Vengers turned against him, teaming up with his first creations to fight against his rule. Despite his defeat at the hands of the X-Babies yet again, Mojo proved he wasn’t one to learn from his mistakes. Instead, he doubled-down and revealed his latest batch of babies based on the villainous superbeings of Earth. [X-Babies: Reborn]
Like every batch of X-Babies before them, the villainous children proved too much for Mojo to handle. Whilst the exact details are unknown, apparently Mojo had the great idea of launching an X-Babies special based around the Age of Apocalypse. The baby version of this ancient mutant proved to be just as powerful as his adult counterpart, and Mojo quickly lost control of the production. The ensuing chaos was so much that it caused Dazzler to flee back to Earth, believing Longshot and many more to be dead. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #393]
Putting the X-Babies debacle behind him, Mojo turned his thoughts to one of his former TV stars who had escaped his grasp years before. Since he had technology that could record people across alternate dimensions and realities, Mojo had made a star of the shape-shifting Morph, who hailed from Earth-1081. At this point, the man was serving as a member of the reality-hopping Exiles and Mojo thought it was the perfect time to bring him back. Having Spiral kidnap the Exiles as they were travelling between realities, Mojo imprisoned Morph and his teammate Nocturne, whilst the rest of the team escaped. Morph was adamant he wouldn’t work for Mojo again, but the sadistic man showed images of Nocturne being tortured, forcing Morph to comply or else it would continue. Morph quickly became a hit once again, delighting Mojo with the sky-high ratings. However, the rest of the Exiles conspired to 
break their teammates free, going as far as to team up with Longshot. As the team broke into Mojo’s TV studio, the Exiles’ mysterious Timebroker appeared and put a stop to the whole situation. He informed Mojo that by kidnapping the Exiles he had destabilized his reality and that they needed to all leave for things to be put right. Mojo reluctantly let Morph go, whilst also taking the opportunity to imprison and mindwipe Longshot once more. [Exiles (1st series) #18-19]
[Note: In this story, Mojo claims there is one Mojoverse across the whole Multiverse. Whilst many of the Exiles recognize Longshot and Mojo from their own dealings with them, it’s hard to know whether this is true or not. Due to his ability to jump through time and space, any of the brief appearances of “alternate” Mojo’s could simply be the single prime one at different points in his timeline. Then again, anything Mojo says should be taken with a pinch of salt]
Mojo stayed out of the X-Men’s affairs for a few years but, when the Brotherhood of Mutants was teleported to Mojoverse, he couldn’t help but get nostalgic for the ratings the X-Men brought him. Amongst the group was Nocturne, a former member of the Exiles, who’s power was to possess another person. The rest of the Brotherhood sold out Nocturne and Juggernaut to Mojo in return for their freedom, but the duo managed to escape before Mojo could get his clutches on them. Nocturne possessed Spiral and used her powers to travel to Earth in search of help but, once there, Mojo revealed he allowed them to escape. Subduing the X-Men present, he managed to de-age them into children, once again leaning on the X-Baby angle for ratings. However, just like every other time he used the X-babies, it all went wrong for him as they rebelled. Mojo and Spiral were captured by the rest of the X-Men and handed over to Emma Frost for punishment. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #460-461]
Mojo made it back to his home world but the scars that Emma left in his mind gave him pause for thought when it came to dealing with Earth again. As he settled back into his role of tyrannical ruler of a media-dominated society, he realized he was getting bored of the same content across all his channels. His salvation came from an unlikely source; when Heather Hudson of the Exiles contacted him, looking to make an offer. The Exiles were going up against the reality warping Proteus and losing badly. They believed that Longshot’s luck would help them turn the tide of their 
war but, since Mojo had complete control over the man, a deal needed to be made. Heather offered Mojo the viewing rights to all the realities the Exiles had access to in return for taking Longshot off his hands. It was a no-brainer for Mojo and he readily accepted, sending his nemesis off across the multiverse whilst gaining access to an infinite number of realities. [Exiles (1st series) #73-74]
The deal benefited Mojo greatly and he remained happy with all the new content to which he now had access. That was until a catastrophe happened as almost all the mutants across the multiverse lost their powers. Mojo lost some of his best stars in the blink of an eye and his viewership plummeted as a result. When Beast started searching for a way to return everyone’s powers, Mojo watched him intently, hoping the X-Man would fix the situation. He sent Spiral to help, but even she did not know what had caused the mass depowerment. [X-Men: Endangered Species]