X of Swords Teases the Return of Mojo to X-Men Comics

Though briefly mentioned in X-Factor #3 earlier this year, the X-Men villain Mojo has been mostly absent from the comics ever since Jonathan Hickman relaunched the series with House of X and Powers of X. It’s understandable why, the mutants continue to get used to living on Krakoa and now they’ve found themselves wrapped up in the ongoing X of Swords tournament (with the twenty-two part event set to conclude next week). This week’s crop of books in the crossover hint at the eventual return of Mojo in some exciting ways, while also keeping his schtick of being a sleazy TV executive active. Spoilers for this week’s X of Swords comics below!

In the midst of this week’s X-Force #14, the series takes a break from the action for one of its expository text pages. Unlike others that have been letters or newspaper clippings, this one is a memo from Major Domo to Mojo himself about what has transpired during the tournament. As Domo recaps the beats that happen, the slimy villains makes notes about which elements from the event need to be changed and which can be cliffhangers for their eventual TV show production of X of Swords. It’s hilarious.

When recapping the defeat of Betsy Braddock at the hands of Isca the Unbeaten (the first round of X of Swords) wherein Captain Britain crumbles into a pile of crystal shards, Mojo writes: “This could be an episode cliff-hanger for the television event. Draft a script, Domo.” After reading about Magik and Pogg Ur-Pogg’s two rounds (each winning one), Mojo asserts: “In our version of this for the show, let’s have Magik lose both times and become Pogg Ur-Pogg’s love interest afterward.”

Other highlights include a notation that there’s “Spin-off potential” for a dance themed show after Cypher does well during a dancing round of the tournament, while also referring to Queen Saturnyne as a “hack” when one of the rounds is nothing more than an eating contest. Finally he makes a note of another major change he intends to bring to his Mojo’s X of Swords series, revealing how they’ll market and bill one of the rounds featuring Wolverine, perhaps in a nod to ridiculous comic book marketing.

“Let’s give nod to historical accuracy and also maintain the X-Men’s obliterative losing streak in our retelling of these events, he writes. “We’ll hammer it down as wolverine’s heel turn. Tell marketing to prepare for ‘The ultimate betrayal!!!’”

It’s unclear when Mojo will eventually strike back against the X-Men or how this new status quo will ever interact with him, but this marks the largest appearance by the character (without physically appearing in-panel) in a few years at this point.