"X-Men '97" Season One Talkback (Spoilers)

[Rick Jones]

LOL I guess Wolverine's ToyBiz motorcycle is now canon. The whole Rogue/Magneto relationship

Spoiler

seemed to be used to lead up to her taking Colossus place as Magneto's acolyte

. That would mean things aren't looking good for Logan. Jake Castorena and team do such a good job with the action scenes. This Jean/Sinister stuff is nice. Loving this Jade Giant cameo too. LOL "Know Your Role". Another 90s throwback. I can feel the "Pryde" homage in this Asteroid M sequence.

That ending... This really is the darkest timeline.

I wonder if Cable's lack of fondness for Jean, who he gets half of his biological makeup from, is part of that Sinister conditioning.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

"Tolerance Is Extinction Part Two" - You know the biggest worry I had from the original trailer of this series? That they were making this big declaration of "oh Xaiver left Eric his school because he trusted him to carry on his legacy after he was gone" and then were going to go "... no those were just empty lies made up by Magneto, Professor X never meant that at all let's keep this simple". I don't know I just thought that for the sake of having Magneto be the more easy villain again they would have pushed him into this position and then found a way to just push him out which they didn't. I actually do really like the scene where Scott calls out Xaiver for doing so and Xavier reveals he actually wanted Magnus in charge so Jean and Scott could have a future together and Scott rightfully pointing out "what a future where I have to give up my child and there's people around causing havoc anyway" and even Xavier admitting yeah much as he thought he was going to stay on Shi'ar and leave earth he came back. I kind of wanted a moment of more him reflecting on why he generally came back with the group since there's also a good talk with Rogue later on as well but does feel like he should of clarified more "Once I heard how bad things have gotten I left and realized I could never rid my mind of all of you no matter what happened." I guess that is implied but again we did spent at least a good part of an ep of him on Shi'ar so addressing more of that fall out would have been nice.

I am glad though the focus is put back now on Charles and Eric's relationship and the struggle of these sides which yeah reminds me how the movies never really got that dynamic right. Ian McKellen had the presence and wisdom of Magneto and you get why he would command a following but they always made him a few steps too evil to really sell just how much the awful of humanity has really pushed him into seeing there is no other way. And yeah Michael Fassbender did a great job of capturing the raw intensity and compassion Magneto has and why there's a struggle for him to fully be on the side of good but them not really taking a break and doing that in EVERY MOVIE really robs the switch of the power it has. Especially when in Apocalypse it was over a small family and in Dark Phoenix (which I still don't totally hate unlike a lot of other people) it was just him pushing to take out Jean. Here though it works because we spent time having Eric go through the honest effort of trying to carry out the dream and actually be the more peaceful hero that Magnus wanted and we also spent a lot of time on the fall out to show how humanity still keeps finding ways to screw mutants over. So Magneto causing that blackout (and yeah now I get more an act of war if he's keeping the poles misalligned so no power can come back again) and making a declaration of "I am creating a better place for mutants giving them the choice to live in this place that will never hurt them having see humans go over and over again" really does work. And I also appreciate that yeah it's not words totally lost on all of the X-Men having Rogue and Sunspot join up. Like Rogue pointing out not wanting to see anyone else die after how much they've been through and it always happening really does hit and even if not as focused on, Roberto admitting seeing his own mother decide to cuff and lead him away actually did turn him on humanity and it driving a wedge between him and Jubilee is the stuff of great drama and really flows well. Granted I don't see them sticking on Magnus's side after all of this is over but you get why they are here and it does hit.

And you know there are a lot of great little character moments, subtle like Beast putting his hand on Trish while she's still in a coma to more out in the open like Scott admitting even he's still confused on the whole Jean/Madeline situation to Cable but knowing how strong and great the two are and not trying to let it cloud his judgement. Also really dug the scene of Storm actually comforting Jean before they had to part pointing out knowing how going through darkness can make you stronger and telling her to believe in her power while she distracted the other sentienels. In most other series the "You let them worry about weathering your mind"/"And let let them mind your weather" or something to that extent could be seen as sort of lame but again they lean in on that slight 90's cheese with these strong characters and relationships to make those hits feel impactful. Plus I do like the idea of this being this ticking clock of trying to get Magnus to restore the earth's magnetic field while having to stop Bastion's whole sentinel threat as this way to divide both groups and have each piece feel really impact and powerful. Like in both the "stop magneto" and "Stop Bastion" parts you get the high drama of it which must be a hard thing to do to make both parts feel so important but it works really well having these relationships and moments that click. Feels like everyone really had one of those moments at least in this episode... I guess sans just teleporting around Nightcrawler's big one was just talking to Rogue after she just woke up but eh he had his big moment last time I'm fine with him not really having a big one this time around.

And I have to say these fights the whole team get in really slap. I would have liked more lightning destruction of all the sentinels with Storm letting loose but they really do still make her look cool with that and even scarring away a mob in the opening and though yeah we know she isn't dead from being knocked back they do sell the worry of that in the moment. Same with Jean. I really love her knocking around Mister Sinister with bowling balls and pinning him down before he brings out Cable using his psychic brainwashing trick he did on Pryor (makes sense he'd also be able to do it on her kid) and having him attack her. Again especially with his line about how strong psychic powers are not skipping a generation I think it's safe to say she isn't dead (notice Rogue throwing shade on the whole "Jean? been there" referencing to her death in sort of a scathing joke earlier... again I just noticed that and wanted to point it out) and it still hits plus yeah how it was framed made me think "wait shouldn't Cyclops be doing something... oh right he's with the other team and has to focus on Magneto right right" like it takes you out of where everyone is supposed to be with how it's framed but in a good way. On the Bastion side I also really like Morph going fulk Hulk and tearing through sentinels and again the whole "how about I give you a hand" with Beast could be really lame but delivered and framed well enough where you don't really mind. I also really like how Bastion knew it wasn't actually Sinister who showed up knowing Sinister wasn't the kind of guy who would care about someone else's losing side and only be in it for himself that hit well. And yeah really good stuff with the other team. Much as Eric's "you're always sorry Charles and there's always an excuse and no one cares" worked in Dark Phoenix, Magneto just going "there's two words I wanted to always say to Charles. Shut, up" just hits better. And yeah then there's Jubilee and Sunspot clashing and yeah trying to get the helmet off Magneto leading to two big shocking gut punches that yeah wouldn't ever expect to see in any X-Men cartoon; Wolverine actually stabbing through Magneto and dellvering that line about war and then Magneto pushing him away as he tears through his Adamanteium skeleton. You know the especially funny part is I remember like over twenty years ago when I was just getting into X-Men through evolution talking with my friends about X-Men and going "you know a point between Magneto and Wolverine would be useless he could just tear apart the metal in his skeleton" and a friend pointing out they did that in a comic and wondering if they ever would do so in a movie. Never did I expect an animated series doing that but no that's the cliffhanger we leave on and yeah a much immedate kind of one. I did feel having some time pass after the last one was weird but pretty clear they aren't going to do that here so yeah curious where this is all leading.

Honestly in terms of character moments and even shocking battles think this beats out the last episode which yeah had to spent more time building up Bastion and what his deal is while this can more fully go into the fall out through the entire last season and even some other stuff with these big meaningful swings and show us all that build up. Now if the season nails the finale this will easily be one of the best X-Men related projects... ever especially in the extended entertainment medium. So yeah hope the ball is not dropped in anyway and we can be patient waiting to week to see the fall out of all this.

 

[RoyalRubble]

This was another good episode. Bastion kind of took a back seat in favor of Magneto and even Sinister but he still made his presence felt. Wonder how they'll tie it all together with only one episode left, though there are bound to be some plots that carry over to the next season.

The new (old) costumes looked pretty good. Jubilee's is probably the most "modern" at this point. Roberto finally gets a new recruit uniform but quits the team. The gag about black leather aimed at the first live action movie worked pretty well, kind of a shame they spoiled it in a promo before this episode was released.

Lots of cool action scenes... not a lot to comment on all that but I liked Morph's Hulk cameo and Beast's "sound of one hand clapping" comment. Jean also used her powers pretty well but I didn't expect Cable to be one of her opponents. Magneto versus Wolverine at the end was done well, it got a bit disturbing by the end but it made for a good cliff-hanger for the episode.

Some nice character moments, too. Scott confronting Xavier, his father and son talk with Nathan, Jean reunited with Storm, Beast & Forge working together (including Ororo's protest of them building a new neutralizer weapon). And of course, the few Xavier and Magneto debates that didn't really work out too well. Rogue and Roberto joining Magneto was a bit surprising as well. Though their reasoning within this continuity made some sense.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

If I had to nitpick, I would say if Wolverine really had a chance to stick Magneto in the back like that, Magneto isn't going to have a chance to counterattack. Don't tell me Magneto is going to shake off getting stabbed like that. I guess triple stab wounds these days ain't what they used to be.

Other than that, I enjoyed the episode. One thing I like about this series is that they're tapping into the different eras of X-Men. A show like this should be adapt the franchise's greatest hits, unlike something like the DC animated movies that focus so much on synergy and primarily adapt whatever's recent.

EDIT: Okay, second nitpick. "My X-Men" gets overdone. I wasn't liking it in prior episodes, but at this point it just irks every time I hear it.

 

[Frontier]

Opening Update! Storm's new costume is now prominently displayed in her intro! Though I'm kind of surprised they didn't do Jubilee's. Also the people running in-between the big hero and villains end sequence are now Prime Sentinels .

It's a new day dawning, Professor Xavier has lost the love of his life and the use of his legs, Magneto is back to his iconic red suit and helmet and back to swearing vengeance against humankind, Mutants are on the run...but Storm still makes an epic entrance .

I guess even after turning her into a Prime Sentinel, Bastion still loved his mother. Maybe he really thinks turning them into killer robots is the best thing for humanity now. But the tragic irony is that if Professor Xavier had had a chance to mentor Bastion's abilities, instead of his mom trying to make him feel so "normal" and closed off, maybe he wouldn't have ended up like this .

I think Xavier really meant well. He wanted his two kids to be happy and get to live a life of peace to really build a family, like he planned to do with Lilandra, and he also wanted to believe that his old friend could turn over a new leaf and believe in his dream. And to be fair, Magneto seemed to be coming around before the Genosha attack happened. And he had no idea of the Summers-Grey family drama that would erupt because of Sinister. I guess maybe the lesson in all this is that it's fruitless for people like the X-Men to imagine having a life outside the team or not constantly fighting for their right to live .

I'm genuinely surprised there was no addressing of the Maddie situation. Like, no questioning how Xavier never noticed the clone? And as nice as Jean and Storm's reunion was, part of the reason Jean was so overjoyed was probably because this is the first time she's seen Storm in forever while Storm probably still thinks Jean was Maddie .

Beast and Forge. Science bros .

It's kind of funny seeing them outright call the teams Blue and Gold, though the rosters weren't perfect matches .

So the Prime Sentinels CAN be saved. But should they? I mean, obviously there were bigots and anti-Mutant people who were involved in the process, but people like Trish are basically just innocents who had no idea what they would be transforming into. You can't just write them off like that .

So what was Magneto's plan exactly? Let the Earth fall into ruin and wipe off the entire populace while he, Rogue, and Roberto are all that remains to restart civilization on Asteroid M 2.0? I get that he's probably consumed with rage and grief and might not be thinking rationally, but it's pretty above and beyond a sense of reason at that point .

I see Rogue wasn't just wearing her old Brotherhood costume because it was retro costume week, but because she was going to join up with Magneto. Ultimately I can't help but feel like she's making the same mistake she made choosing to be with Magneto over Gambit, especially when Remy would be the first in line to tell her not to go through with this, but she's still as overcome with grief and anger as Magnus. Though she had some REALLY harsh call outs for her team, particularly Storm and Morph. Like, this is your family who accepted you and have always been there for you, and this is how you talk to them? Especially Storm .

It's kind of funny how they finally put Roberto into an X-Men suit and then he immediately bails on the team to jump ship to Magneto. Like, I get that his mom's betrayal hit hard but at the same time...kind of a lot to then write off an entire planet in the process. Not to mention betraying your (probably now ex-)girlfriend .

Time to go back to the classics! Scott in his 70's costume with the cowl! Jean in the Marvel Girl dress and mask! Wolverine in his tan and brown costume! Cable in his blue X-Men suit (complete with a dig at the Fox movies' obsession with black leather)! Morph has shoulder pads! Beast...still in his undies !

So with Moira dead (glad Charles acknowledged that) what will be done with Muir Island? Is that going to be the X-Men's base moving forward with the mansion destroyed ?

If this season has taught me anything it's that no matter what you do...there will always be Sentinels .

Honestly I think Forge flies the Blackbird better than Cyclops does .

It's kind of funny in hindsight that the Motendo episode kind of predicted Magneto would be the Final Boss (or at least one of the final bosses) and Jubilee would be on the away mission to take him down .

Morph transforms into 90's animated Hulk! You can tell because of the hair !

Man, they really upped Beasts' strength level. Has he ever been able to tear through a Sentinel's hand and then slap it back at it ?

Jean finally takes on Mister Sinister for some much needed payback for bother herself and Maddie and both get to show off their powersets. Even Cable gets to finally show off his TK and go all X-Man on his stepmom, because he's been Sinisterized .

Jeez 'Berto, if you're going to commit to this, commit, don't apologize after attacking someone, even if it's the girl you love. Though it seems like his and Jubilee's powers are good matches for each other .

I can kind of see where Scott is coming from, Gold Team needed more time and they wouldn't have been able to succeed with Prime Sentinels coming back online...but he also took away possibly their only chance of stopping Magneto in the process and showed he's willing to attack the Professor if he feels he has to (especially for his family). I'm curious what the fallout of this will be .

Anyone who knows their comic history knew what was going to happen the moment they confirmed Wolverine was on the away team to Asteroid M, but they finally adapt one of the most iconic moments in comics...Wolverine stabbing Magneto (!!!) and Magneto ripping the adamantium out of his skin. Are we going to get bone claws Wolverine next week ?

 

[Rick Jones]

I keep seeing speculation that the show is heading in an

Spoiler

Age Of Apocalypse

direction. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that myself.

 

[RoyalRubble]

My weekly review is now up on the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com.

X-Men ’97: “Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 2” Episode Recap

Previously, on X-Men! Bastion’s Prime Sentinels are activated and attack the X-Men. Magneto sends out an electro-magnetic wave that affects all forms of technology and declares war to the entire world. Professor Xavier returns to Earth.

The second part of the “Tolerance is Extinction” arc is an action-packed episode that juggles a few plots while also bringing in some new developments, such as Magneto once again being opposed to the X-Men’s ways of handling things. With all the damage done to the planet’s magnetic field, the world is about to end in around 12 hours, give or take. The X-Men must work together to settle the score before it is too late. Which isn’t that easy given some on the team are still at odds with each other, and a couple even leave the team for Magento’s.

Click here to read the full article.

 

[Frontier]

I keep seeing speculation that the show is heading in an

Spoiler

Age Of Apocalypse

direction. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that myself.

Spoiler

I wouldn't be surprised if the end of season 2 shows Apocalypse digging up Gambit's corpse to turn him into Death .

Also notably Warren/Archangel was one of the only Mutants DeMayo confirmed survived Genosha...

 

[Christopher Glennon]

Our cast (okay, minus Bishop and Gambit) fully together! Too bad it couldn't last. I understand Rogue and Roberto joining Magneto, but I thought they were too quick to fight their friends. At least Cable had an excuse.

I loved what we got of Xavier with both Scott and Magneto. It was worth waiting for.

The new (old) costumes looked pretty good. Jubilee's is probably the most "modern" at this point. Roberto finally gets a new recruit uniform but quits the team. The gag about black leather aimed at the first live action movie worked pretty well, kind of a shame they spoiled it in a promo before this episode was released.

That line was funny and well earned. I liked the retro costumes, it's too bad they never wore them before this (except Jean during the Phoenix Saga).

Other than that, I enjoyed the episode. One thing I like about this series is that they're tapping into the different eras of X-Men. A show like this should be adapt the franchise's greatest hits, unlike something like the DC animated movies that focus so much on synergy and primarily adapt whatever's recent.

Even Marvel shows can take a cue from this series. Too many animated content from Marvel wants to use the MCU as a springboard.

I think Xavier really meant well. He wanted his two kids to be happy and get to live a life of peace to really build a family, like he planned to do with Lilandra, and he also wanted to believe that his old friend could turn over a new leaf and believe in his dream. And to be fair, Magneto seemed to be coming around before the Genosha attack happened. And he had no idea of the Summers-Grey family drama that would erupt because of Sinister. I guess maybe the lesson in all this is that it's fruitless for people like the X-Men to imagine having a life outside the team or not constantly fighting for their right to live .

One of Xavier's weaknesses is that his hope for the future leaves him a bit naive. It's true, there is no retirement when you're an X-Man, but Xavier thought there could be.

 

[Rick Jones]

Our cast (okay, minus Bishop and Gambit) fully together! Too bad it couldn't last. I understand Rogue and Roberto joining Magneto, but I thought they were too quick to fight their friends. At least Cable had an excuse.

Even Marvel shows can take a cue from this series. Too many animated content from Marvel wants to use the MCU as a springboard.

I could handle them just fighting it out among themselves more than standing on the side and watching Magneto do his mass murder thing. LOL, the retconned Rogue/Magneto connection is still tough for me to grasp, having seen them not acknowledge each other for years and now it's as though she was secretly closer to him than any of her teammates. Personally, Roberto has just been written so cowardly. Betrayal by his parents has him already choosing the guy he called a bad guy 5 minutes earlier as his new found family.

The team dumping so much blame on Xavier has been a little sad to me. He wasn't perfect but I never saw him as being as shady as the comic version was at times. I kind of wish he just stayed up there with Lillandra, recovering, instead of losing it all to rush back when he saw how bad things got. I guess he's still a hero at the end of the day. Leaving everything to Magneto was really a boneheaded gamble though. He might have had better results leaving it to Juggernaut.

The lack of MCU here still feels so fresh at times. All of the bright colors and simpler designs without tons of lines everywhere just reminds me of why the old comic art is always so attractive to me.

 

[Frontier]

It's nice to have a Marvel cartoon where they take the material seriously and there are genuine weight/stakes and not 80% cracking jokes all the time.

 

[ShadowStar]

It's nice to have a Marvel cartoon where they take the material seriously and there are genuine weight/stakes and not 80% cracking jokes all the time.

That's rare in Marvel projects in general!

 

[RoyalRubble]

Season finale alert!

X-Men '97 - "Tolerance is Extinction, Part 3"
Debut: May 15, 2024 on Disney+

"The X-Men's dream is put to the test as mutant-human relations reach a tipping point."

Comments?

Mod Note: We appreciate and encourage discussion, but please keep your posts civil, relevant and insightful. Please do not post any improper or inflammatory material, as we will issue warnings if we believe it necessary. And remember to keep the discussion ON-TOPIC!

 

[Rick Jones]

That was a lot. I loved the cameos but one felt off.

Spoiler

T'Chaka should be dead already.

I definitely did not predict that ending though. It was a pretty engaging season of television, probably my favorite of any Marvel/Disney+ show, even with any nitpicks here and there. It's cool seeing some things I hoped for coming into play, while there are others that leave me completely clueless about where they're going. I kind of expected the series would be a sort of nostalgic victory lap/reunion tour but it's awesome that it was a lot more than that and actually had so many people engaged.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Some initial reactions...

Pretty great way to end the season. Bastion resumes his role as the big bad, and the action scenes of the X-Men trying to stop him were impressive.

Jean becoming the Phoenix again wasn't that surprising but it still made for a nice scene. Especially satisfying seeing her beat up Sinister a bit more.

Rogue and Roberto (Sunspot, finally!) seemed to switch sides a bit too easy, after their big dramatic moments of quitting the team in the previous episode.

Wolverine seems to be out for a while. I did like the short scenes with Cyclops and Morph wishing him "get well soon" in their respective styles (both involving Jean).

The Xavier & Magneto scenes were good and I am happy they didn't leave their psychic fate up in the air for next season.

Cameos... where to begin? Captain America returns, alongside Iron Man. Black Panther (T'Chaka?) also advises President Kelly against using the Magneto Protocol but that didn't work out too well.

Peter, Mary Jane and even Flash Thompson had a pretty good cameo but the timing could have been better. It was a dramatic moment and seeing them just amused me. Though MJ's presence here might spark some debates about when exactly this takes place, I didn't mind.

Daredevil, Cloak & Dagger, Mister Fantastic (thanks to Morph, but it still counts), Doctor Stranger, Alpha Flight, there are a few more I am forgetting at the moment but it was cool seeing so many characters squeezed into the episode, even if they didn't do much other than appear for a few seconds.

As for the ending... Another "Days of Future Past" poster. Ancient Egypt, En Sabah Nur, nothing bad can come out of this, right? And in the future, the Askani who missed out on appearing until now on the show. And in the present, Apocalypse on Genosha. They set up a few plots for the next season and there are still a few bits left over from this one (i.e., Wolverine among others).

I'll probably comment more later on but overall, I enjoyed this a lot. The entire season was very entertaining and it's nice knowing there's at least one more season on the way. Also nice knowing it has a pretty positive reception from fans and critics alike, and some good ratings and whatever else.

So yeah, one of the best Marvel projects (regardless if it's animated or live-action) in a while. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[Rick Jones]

Wolverine seems to be out for a while. I did like the short scenes with Cyclops and Morph wishing him "get well soon" in their respective styles (both involving Jean).

Spoiler

Logan, Storm and Morph were conveniently missing after the time travel endings. I wouldn't be surprised if Apocalypse added them to his collection.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

"Tolerance Is Extinction Part Three" - Minor issues; I admit I get that it was part of the whole astral mind projection to get us in the mood of where a major part of the episode happened and most of that honestly worked but the opening does remind me of one thing I am really sick of of shows in general that have these epic "to be continued" two or three parters and what not and you end on this shocking cliffhanger which feels like you HAVE to pick up on right away but they like find a way around it. Granted it's only done for a minute and yeah you do deal right away with the after math but it is something that bothers me some. I also wish there was at least a line about Rogue and Roberto jumping back to the X-Men after joining Magneto. I get in the heat of the moment and yeah Magneto tearing away Wolverine's skeleton obviously was the tipping point but like it was made such a fairly big deal in the last episode but now they're back again with the team without really skipping a beat. Also I do appreciate how really serious a lot of this was played so when there was a joke half the time it did feel really off. I guess Morph cruelly morphing into Sinister's old form especially with their history wasn't that bad and Jubilee's reaction to Bastion saying "what are you going to do go 4th of July on me" was kind of funny but her come back really wasn't.

Plus though some of the fanservicy cameos in the ending are really cool like seeing Daredevil in action and Captain America's sigh of registration of Kelly using the nuclear option (Is Avengers the only movie/show where someone launching a nuke at the problem was actually PART of the solution that helped save the day in the end cause every other time seems like it just makes things worse) some felt really off. It was really cool seeing regular Peter Parker of the 90's animated series not just spider man but him with Mary Jane like... I guess it implies he did find her but that felt like something an actual Spider Man series should have shown, not here for a quick bit. Also I didn't watch much of the FF 90's series but yeah they stated that T'Chaka died in it so T'Challa would be Black Panther and that IS canon with X-Men TAS so like why is T'Chaka the Wakanda leader here? I really hope this isn't some stupid dictate of Marvel like "oh we can't use T'Challa anymore because of Chadwick Boseman even in alt universes" cause that's stupid and yeah considering there's still a dictate of how characters apparently can't be used here because of stupid ban ideals that we should have gotten rid of in the 2000s why are they still a thing now... okay that's a rant getting too off topic let's talk about the actual episode itself and it's strengths shall we?

I did have to think about it because some of the whole "okay you really trying to show compassion and connection to this guy" felt a bit off but not only was it handled well but it actually is part of the theme and point that this episode is trying to make. The whole title of this three parter is "Tolerance is Extinction" which based on how the arc's been going and where the characters have been pushed seem to imply "you know just trying to generally exist and be on the level with one another won't work you should be pushing for more" but that's not the lesson. Rather with Eric and Charles and even bleeding over into the end with Cyclops actually trying to talk through Bastion the lesson is actually trying to understand and connect with one another and see one another through the hardships you endured and rise to be better even if it comes at the cost of yourselves. Because the only way forward is to show you are willing at any costs to light that path forward as that what makes a hero. I feel this works unlike some other shows that try preaching that lesson is because this knows the complexities and hardships that ultimately sometimes make those path actually tragic. Like Bastion though wanting to reach out had ultimately doomed himself because of how much he pushed his whole plan thus why he ultimately wound up perishing and yeah sometimes you can't save someone even when they want to be saved. And honestly I actually really liked the talks that Eric and Charles had within Eric's mind scape of how after using him to re push the earth's magnetic polarity back Eric had totally lost himself in all of his past trauma. Seriously the talks of how he forgotten what his family looked like and of "we tried showing peace they showed us tanks" did really hit well and I am glad a good portion was spent on it showing the connection these two have with one another and how important that is. It made that whole moment of Eric reclaiming his Magneto title and helping put the Asteroid back at the end mean all the more and show yeah all that development of him with the team did mean something especially where they all end up. I guess that means though it was hinted at happening a couple times especially with "if you try saving him you'll be lost too" we aren't getting Onslaught as it almost seemed like they were teasing that but eh maybe for another time.

I also give credit there was a lot of cool action in this one. Granted at first with Gold team it was mostly Jean Grey's last Phoenix embers taking away Sinister's mutant DNA and putting the crown on Bastion until they popped in a sentiennel much later but honestly the big epic throwdown with Bastion by Blue Team was really cool. I was at first wondering why Rogue didn't use her drain touch on Bastion but then remembered "oh yeah he's not technically a mutant as much as a combination human/sentienel and thus that wouldn't work on him" but her actually getting a lot of shots at him especially whalloping him out of the asteroid and two hand slamming him was really well done. Same with Nightcrawler teleporting all around and Cyclops and Jubilee teaming up to blast at him and then how most everyone came together to try and catch the asteroid also really worked and you know I do buy in this universe at least the X-Men being the best adapt team at that sort of super world stakes sort of action because yeah this isn't one with a full functioning Avengers and yeah Iron Man/Fantastic Four or even Spider Man aren't really on that kind of level. The whole "oh random characters being sent to spots in time" is a pretty weird ending I admit but it works because they made sure to wrap up that whole Bastion/Sentienel story so now they can tell a different one which does feel like the original show; if they know they're getting another season they can tease that at the end in this epic way. Plus yeah guessing with most of the team in ancient Egypt and Cyclops and Jean in the far Future the next big arc will be a spin on Apocalypse. I'm guessing maybe a team up of the past one, a future one and the current one who guess is going to bring back Gambit as one of his four horseman... much as I do enjoy Gambit I do hope that it actually isn't an excuse to fully bring him back but to like have him around for a season cause some tension but still ultimately be dead to again show how the stakes are still consistent cause yeah a big tension point is knowing someone CAN die and stay dead is if you know that person is still dead.

But yeah solid enough season ender that didn't drop the ball or anyting but rather try showing the postiivty of the X-Men's point even under these circumstances but didn't pointlessly pander for a super happy ending but still show the point of trying to reach for one so yeah that all worked for me. And knowing season 2 is being worked on now means we hopefully at worst will have to wait till... early 2026 for it. I know the original series would have seasons one year after the other but eh I think at this point The Venture Brothers and now streaming has made me fine waiting a couple of years for a season if it's worth the wait. So I trust this one to be so.

 

[khuddle]

That was a lot. I loved the cameos but one felt off.

Spoiler

T'Chaka should be dead already.

I definitely did not predict that ending though. It was a pretty engaging season of television, probably my favorite of any Marvel/Disney+ show, even with any nitpicks here and there. It's cool seeing some things I hoped for coming into play, while there are others that leave me completely clueless about where they're going. I kind of expected the series would be a sort of nostalgic victory lap/reunion tour but it's awesome that it was a lot more than that and actually had so many people engaged.

That's pretty high praise. I haven't seen X-men 97 yet, so I'm curious. How does it compare to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (another great Marvel animated series)?

 

[RoyalRubble]

Also, a Shadowcat cameo (first one in this continuity, I believe) on Forge's board towards the end. Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver are listed as "off-world", whatever that means.

 

[Rick Jones]

That's pretty high praise.I haven't seen X-men 97 yet, so I'm curious. How does it compare
to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (another great Marvel animated series)?

I love AEMH too much to compare it fairly to anything but this is the best Marvel cartoon since it ended. Very TV-14, in the way that an anime airing on Adult Swim might be.

Also, a Shadowcat cameo (first one in this continuity, I believe) on Forge's board towards the end. Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver are listed as "off-world", whatever that means.

Maybe they're hanging out with the Inhumans or the High Evolutionary or something. Maybe the Avengers.