Does a mall babe eat chili fries? We may never know the answer to that question, or to the larger question that it implies (which is "what does that mean?"), but one thing we can agree on is that Jubilee is one of the most important X-Men of the last thirty years.

When I say that Jubilee is the original mall rat, what you have to remember is that in her first appearance she was literally living in a mall. She was a runaway, busking with her mutant plasma powers and hiding out in a mall where the X-Men were shopping. She followed them home to their Outback headquarters and lived there secretly for a while, until the team basically fell apart and she began adventuring with Wolverine. That led to a prominent place with the X-Men when they officially reformed (and relaunched with a new X-Men #1 in 1991), which in turn led to a lead role on the X-Men animated series.

For the generation who started reading comics around that time, she was the entry point that Kitty Pryde had been for older readers, coming into the strangeness of the X-Men's world and reacting to it like a kid would, but ultimately proving herself a hero. In the years since, things have gotten more complicated, what with the loss of her powers, the vampirism, and the adopted baby. But she's still Jubilee at heart, and still has a fan following.

X-Men: Apocalypse promises her biggest movie role yet (she's only been a cameo in the past), so this is the perfect time to celebrate Jubilee with a gallery of fan art. There's a couple of likenesses of actress Lana Condor, one pic that includes her original "stolen clothes from the other X-Men" costume, one "vampire mom" portrait, and a whole lot of yellow coats.

 

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