Spiral (character)
| Spiral | |
|---|---|
 Spiral Mike McKone, artist | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Longshot #1 (September, 1985) |
| Created by | Ann Nocenti Art Adams |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Rita |
| Team affiliations | Mojo,, Freedom Force |
| Notable aliases | "Ricochet" Rita |
| Abilities | multiple arms superstrength teleportation sorcery |
Spiral is a fictional character, a supervillainess in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in the Longshot miniseries by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams. In some comics she is drawn as having only four fingers on each hand, in others five.
Character biography
Her real name is "Ricochet" Rita. She was a stuntwoman altered by the alien Mojo to turn her into a six-armed teleporting sorceress. This happened in a possible future, but Spiral used her powers of timetravel to travel back in time. An unaltered version of Ricochet Rita was an ally of Longshot and later became the guardian of the X-Babies. She is unaware that Spiral is a future version of herself. She once joined the Freedom Force and she runs a Body Shoppe, which sells alien cybernetic parts. Lady Deathstrike is one of her clients. She is usually a servant of Mojo, although her madness often leads her to other causes and even during moments of sanity, her loyalty to him is fickle at best.
She claimed to have modified Elizabeth Braddock (Psylocke) during the Psylocke/Kwannon storyline that explained why Betsy had returned with an asian appearance in Uncanny X-Men #256.
In the X-Force: Shatterstar limited series, Spiral was revealed to have conquered an alternate timeline and referred to herself as "The Apocalypse". She managed to kill most of that Earth's heroes, and only Cable and some of his X-Force/New Mutants allies were left. Spiral had kidnapped that universe's Sunspot and tortured him by making him make love to her until his rescue. With the aid of Shatterstar, Spiral was evidently defeated and apparentely returned to Mojo's services. She later attacked the X-Men together with Mojo, but ended up defeated once again.
Powers and abilities
Spiral has powerful mystical abilities. With a gesture she can teleport herself and numerous people across great distances. She can open gateways between dimensions and travel through time. She can cast spells to stun, depower or transform her superhuman opponents. Spiral can also metamorphose into other mutants. Spiral is immune to certain types of psionic possession. When Rogue and Nocturne attempted to possess her, in each case Spiral's mind remained dominant. Spiral usually triggers magic through small gestures and her many hands aid her to cast her spells rapidly. In moments, she was able to deprive each of the Avengers of their superhuman powers, regardless of their source, bind them, and transport them across country. Spiral often incorporates knives and swords into more complicated spells. As a result of being cybernetically enhanced on Mojo-world she has superhuman strength.
Spiral demonstrated highly developed skills in cybernetics and genetic manipulation which she has used to turn humans into powerful cyborgs at her Body Shoppe.
She is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and sword fighter.
Ultimate Spiral
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Spiral is a citizen of the apartheid state of Genosha and the on-and-off girlfriend of Longshot. She differs from the mainstream continuity because she is not a villain, but rather a victim, and has no magical abilities. She was in love with Longshot, but betrayed him when having an affair with a human mutant-sponsor named Lord Scheele. When Longshot found out he killed the man and framed Spiral for it. She confronted the X-Men about it, and with the aid of Jean's telepathic powes, Spiral's innocence was proven. Template:Spoilers The X-Men recently enabled Spiral to emigrate to the USA.
Other media
She is a playable character in the fighting games X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Spiral only appeared in another form in X-Men: The Animated Series. There, she worked for Mojo and helped him torture the captured X-Men by making them perform in television shows against their wills, but eventually betrayed Mojo when she met and fell in love with Longshot. However their relationship turned out to the worst and Spiral once again turned to Mojo's side in the end.