Mojo rules over the planet Mojo World in the dimension dubbed the Mojoverse, both so named by himself and his tyrannical ego. He is a member of the race of Spineless Ones, beings whose evolution was stunted by their lack of spines until the scientist Arize created exoskeletons and other mechanical devices that could help them move. (Mojo himself uses various mechanical platforms, some outfitted with hover jets and others with spider-like appendages.) This technological development allowed the Spineless Ones to rapidly advance their civilization until its basic technology surpassed Earth’s own. Unfortunately, the society developed around its obsession with television, due in part from the Spineless One’s low attention span, and its political structure became based on television programs and the resultant media ratings. Mojo rose to power due to his control over the television industry and his popular programming choices, the most notable of which were televised exploits of the X-Men from Earth-616.
Another facet of the Mojoverse society was its reliance upon slavery, which Mojo had also profited from immensely. Arize had genetically engineered a race of beings with spines to become slaves for the Spineless Ones, basing their construction on mythic images of devils, which look like Earth human beings. Two slaves in particular that Mojo supervised the creation of were Spiral and Quark, whose head resembled a ram. Secretly, however, Arize genetically programmed all slaves to feel the desire to rebel against the Spineless Ones and seek a just rule. This dispensation finally reared its head in Longshot, a slave who had previously enjoyed great popularity as a stuntman in Mojo’s programs.
Longshot began to grow so dissatisfied with the Spineless Ones that he formed a rebellion, only to be forced to escape the Mojoverse and arrive on Earth with Mojo and bounty hunters in pursuit. He was found by Ricochet Rita, a stuntwoman, and together with Dr. Strange, the threesome defeated Mojo and forced him to return to his home dimension. Longshot and Rita soon followed, hoping to continue the rebellion.
At some point, Mojo captured Besty Braddock, Psylocke, who had been blinded by Slaymaster. Mojo offered her cybernetic eyes, which she accepted, and she was rescued by the original New Mutants and returned to Earth, not knowing that Mojo could use her new eyes as cameras to record the adventures of the X-Men.
Having captured Longshot and erasing his memories, Mojo transported him to Earth so that he could encounter the X-Men, which in turn led to their capture. The New Mutants freed the X-Men, who returned to Earth with Longshot. Despite Mojo’s apparent failure, the broadcast of this adventure earned high ratings, increasing Mojo’s political clout.
When the X-Men were believed dead after a battle with the Adversary, Mojo stopped receiving signals from Psylocke’s cybernetic eyes. Around the same time, Mojo captured Phoenix (Rachel Summers), but she escaped his dimension and defeated his agents, the Warwolves, with the help of the heroes that became Excalibur. Faced with the possibility of never being able to televise the X-Men’s adventures, Mojo decided to create his own version of the X-Men, one that could be under his supervision and control. He finally approved of the X-Babies, and the group earned great ratings until they finally hoped to opt out of their contracts, rebelling against Mojo with the help of Ricochet Rita.
When Mojo captured Longshot again, he earned his highest ratings to that point when he also took captive the X-Men and placed them all in roles such as the Scarecrow (Cyclops), the Tin Woodman (Rogue), and the Cowardly Lion (Wolverine) for The Wizard of X. Dazzler was also transported to Mojo World, but she was kidnapped by an upstart clone, Mojo II, who used Dazzler and other spined slaves the rebellion. When the final ratings came in, Mojo II triumphed, replacing his predecessor. His rule didn’t last too long, however, for when the X-Babies tried to escape the Mojoverse, the original Mojo was seen in charge once again. (The X-Babies had escaped and stumbled into Shadowcat, and she helped them turn the tables on the Agent. She helped the X-Babies return home, but only so that they could renegotiate their contracts to the chagrin of Mojo.)
Creating even more X-Babies, Mojo found even more rebellion. His latest version included baby analogues of all X-Men at that point, but they all escaped. Mojo then created baby versions of the Avengers in the Mitey ‘Vengers, but they, too, would turn on their creator, eventually siding with the X-Babies. Perhaps learning his lesson, Mojo turned to creating baby versions of popular X-Men villains, but this turned out to be a mistake. Mojo World was reportedly destroyed by the baby versions of the villains Apocalypse, Holocaust, Dark Beast, and the Sugar Man.
More recently, however, the dimension-hopping Exiles were stranded in the Mojoverse-- trapped by Mojo, who hoped to keep Morph as an exclusive star. The Mojo World loved Morph’s escapades, and the merchandise alone helped drive Mojo’s profits. Morph’s teammates escaped to find Longshot, who helped them turn the tables on Mojo. Morph nearly killed Mojo in the final confrontation but was stopped by the Timebroker, who argued that continuing with such action would irreparably damage the timestream. The Exiles later contacted Mojo once again, as their leader Heather Hudson hoped to bargain with Mojo to release Longshot so that he could join the team. As an exchange, she offered access to the video feeds of the Exiles’ headquarters, effectively allowing him to view all realities of the multiverse, to which Mojo agreed. Treacherous to the end, Mojo wiped Longshot’s mind clean before releasing him, although he nevertheless helped the Exiles defeat Proteus.
