Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
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History
Spiral's real name is Rita Wayword, a.k.a 'Ricochet Rita', a professional stuntwoman who befriended Longshot when he first appeared on Earth. The story of how Rita became Spiral is a paradox: Rita was attacked by her evil, future self which led to her meeting Longshot and falling in love with him. When Longshot sought to return to his home dimension, the Mojoverse, the lovestruck Rita went with her boyfriend, only to watch Longshot fail and be captured alongside him by the dimension's evil overlord, Mojo. Longshot was promptly mind-wiped to forget all about Rita, while a much worse fate was left for Rita.
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After holding her prisoner for several years (at which point Rita was made to serve as guardian for Mojo's army of "X-Babies"), Mojo forced his chief scientist, Arize, to perform extreme physical and mental body modifications onto Rita to recreate her into a loyal subordinate. These experiments left her with six arms (some of which are robotic), turned her hair gray, and drove the young woman insane through forcibly evolving Rita's mind to the point that she could see into other dimensions that were used for time-travel/teleportation. He also trained her in the dark arts of magic and body modification, so that she could use these skills to mutilate others like Mojo had mutilated her. Finally, in a cruel act of manipulation, Mojo sent Spiral back in time to set into motion the events that led to her former self becoming Mojo's prisoner and become Spiral by attacking her past self.
Now in the past, Spiral found herself stranded on Earth by Mojo for failing to kill Longshot and Rita. At some unknown point, Spiral encountered Val Cooper and was recruited into Freedom Force, a revamped version of the second Brotherhood of Mutants. Despite being utterly insane and more blood-thirsty than her new teammates, Spiral quickly became a valuable member of the team, single-handedly defeating the X-Men on several occasions as well as kidnapping the X-Man Rachel Summers for Mojo. She was also instrumental in Freedom Force's victory over the Avengers and the West Coast Avengers when sent by the U.S. government to arrest the heroes. Her magical powers temporarily robbed Captain Marvel of her energy powers and she also defeated Iron Man, removing two of the most powerful Avengers from the battle.
She also ran the "Body Shoppe", which sells alien cybernetic parts to amputees and others who see the power of cybernetic limbs. Lady Deathstrike and several members of the Reavers were some of her earlier clients though later writers have retconned Donald Pierce and not Spiral as the person responsible for their becoming cyborgs. She also was responsible for giving Psylocke cybernetic eyes, which doubled as cameras for Mojo to spy on the X-Men.
Along with Mojo, Spiral played a role in Psylocke becoming Asian.[1] Originally, it was believed that the two literally transformed Psylocke from being British to being Asian, but it was discovered that Spiral (without Mojo's involvement) transferred the X-Man's mind into the body of the Asian assassin Kwannon.[2]
Even though she was a loyal servant of Mojo, Spiral deeply resented Mojo's crass manners and cruelty towards her. In particular, Spiral has been known to go against Mojo's orders and attack Longshot out of psychotic need for revenge for Longshot's seduction of her and how her love for him led to her transformation into the being she is today. As such, Mojo has been known to leave Spiral stranded on Earth (since Spiral required Mojo's power to travel between dimensions safely).
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 apparently returned to Mojo's services. She later attacked the X-Men together with Mojo, but ended up defeated once again.[3]
Endangered Species
Spiral was among the nine criminal geniuses that Beast sought out when it came to reversing the effects of Decimation. Mojo himself was another.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Spell Casting:Spiral has powerful mystical abilities. With gestures or dance moves, she can teleport herself and numerous people across great distances. Teleportation and powerful spells require more complicated dance moves. Spiral's spellcasting powers can be triggered through small hand gestures of her many hands. Spiral often incorporates knives and swords into more complicated spells. Spiral can also disguise herself through her magic. Spiral can open gateways between dimensions and travel through time, though it has been implied that she sometimes requires Mojo's help to successfully teleport from one dimension to another.
By using magic, Spiral can:
- teleport herself and others
- project concussive energies
- paralyze others
- turn invisible
- remove superhuman abilities
- cause unconsciousness
- conjure up objects
Possession Immunity: Spiral's mind seems to be immune from possession. When Rogue attempted to steal Spiral's mind and powers, Spiral stole Rogue's instead, laughing that she had danced in many people's souls. Nocturne was fooled by Spiral into thinking Spiral had been possessed while Spiral remained in control.
It was also established that Spiral is aware, through unknown mystical means, whenever a person speaks her name.Abilities
Spiral is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and sword fighter. Her six arms are fully coordinated, giving her great dexterity and athletic ability. However, Spiral will often lose to less powerful opponents due to tendencies of overconfidence, toying with her foe for too long, or becoming distracted.
Spiral demonstrated highly developed skills in cybernetics and genetic manipulation which she has used to turn humans into powerful cyborgs at her Body Shoppe. Most notable include Lady Deathstrike and the cybernetic Reavers, who have since been "upgraded" by Donald Pierce.Strength level
Superhuman with an unknown upper limit.
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Dimensional travel using her own spells. Formerly Freedom Force Helicopter.Weapons
Swords constructed from unknown metals.
Notes
- It was revealed that Spiral was Ricochet Rita in X-Factor Annual #7.
Appearances in Other Media
Video Games
She is a playable character in the fighting games X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
Television
Spiral only appeared in another form in the X-Men 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. Their relationship, however, turned out for the worse and Spiral once again turned to Mojo's side in the end.
Links
- Appearances of Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
- Character Gallery: Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
- Images that feature Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
- Quotations by Rita Wayword (Earth-616)
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