X-Men '97: Episodes 1 + 2 Review/Spoilers

[Rift]

Or should we call it a Watch Party? I know this isn't an actual watch party, but it's fun. Also, I can't believe they released this show at 3:00 AM.

Xavier's assassination last year at the hands of Henry Gyrich, people have become more sympathetic to mutants. Things still suck for Sunspot though, because he's been slapped with a power-suppressing collar and brought to a warehouse by members of the Friends of Humanity. He's going to be sold off to a buyer for 10 grand. Sunspot tries to offer them some of his family's riches in exchange for his freedom, but it isn't about the money. Sunspot didn't even try to use his powers before he got the collar, because he's not like other mutants. He's "one of the good ones," as he says. The FoH respond by raising their arm cannons, which are retrofitting Sentinel tech.

So Storm and Bishop come in and kick ass, while also bantering a bit, MCU-style. But then a machine blows up and knocks them out. Luckily, the Cyclops show up to finish the job. Cyclops has this cool trick where he uses beams on the floor to slide himself around, increasing his speed. (I imagine that would kill his feet, but this isn't the first time Cyclops' powers ignore any horrible implications they might have on his body.) The FoH, however, have a secret weapon: a giant Sentinal's hand. Cyke and Sunspot dodge a blast, but the former gets caught in a trap and is knocked down. The FoH take Cyclops' visor away, thinking it'll disarm him. He disarms them by laser-blasting them.

ACADEMY X ALERT: Dust and Loa, along with some other people who aren't from Academy X, appear on a newspaper advertising a fashion show.

The next day, at the mansion, Cyclops is telling Gambit how Storm and Bishop could have been hurt, and that they really needed Gambit there. Gambit's wearing one of those slutty half-shirts while cooking. Cyclops is still worried about how things go down, but Rogue and Gambit dismiss them because, let's be real, Sentinels kinda suck and they kick their butts all the time.



Anyway, a walking Xavier shows up and agrees with the others, Cyke needs to get the stick out of his ass and stop worrying. Oh wait, it's actually Morph in disguise. Jean also shows up in work-out spandex, heavily pregnant.

Meanwhile, Roberto wakes up in Beast's lab. HAPPY AND FUN Beast's lab. Sunspot points out that Beast is blue, and Beast jokes that his observation is very astute. Jubes is also there. Cyclops and Storm show up, wanting to talk to Roberto. He dismisses them, offering money to them for the save, but wanting to leave as soon as he can. They can't let him go just yet, due to the danger the FoH currently pose. Roberto snarks that this is basically another kidnapping, and Jubilee chews him out. But since Roberto is bored, Jubes takes him through a Danger Room simulation against Magneto for funsies. (And we get another reference to future mutants, when Jubilee asks if Roberto can shoot gold balls from his body.) Wolverine sneaks up on Sunspot to scare him.

Meanwhile, the gang discuss things with Val Cooper. The UN had destroyed all the Sentinels and Bolivar Trask is MIA. She assures them that they aren't making Sentinels and they will keep looking into how the FoH got their tech, but Cyclops struggles to trust the gubmint. Jean and Scott them reminisce about their past as teenagers, and Jean wonders if they should consider starting a life beyond the X-Men. The others are family, but they need to think of the baby. Scott protests, but Jean knows he wants to protect everyone, but this is the one time he should be willing to let things go and stop worrying about others.

A basketball crashes through the window and smashed into a portrait of Xavier and the O5. The team was playing basketball and Jubes blasted Logan with fireworks. She did it because Wolverine scared Roberto off, and Jubilee is worried. Cyclops calls them and the other X-Men out (sans Bish and Sotrm) for being lazy shits and sends them off to look for Roberto. Cyclops later tells Jean that he knows someone who can find Bolivar Trask: the man who killed Magneto.

The X-Men track Bobs to a nightclub, where they all split up to look for him. Rogue laments how everyone is getting down and touching skin, but Gambit is still by her side and trying to get his skin touched. They hold hands while wearing gloves. Morph, meanwhile, hangs out with a beer-drinking Wolverine. He turns into Jean and talks smack about Cyclops for having a stick up his butt. The FoH arrive, but the X-Men scare them off. Jubilee tries to get Roberto out, and he says that he'll leave after they share a dance.

Scott, Ororo and Bishop visit Gyrich in prison. Gyrich doesn't want to talk, and he dismisses recent mutant sympathies as a fad. That people only care because they're in vogue now. But most people know that if you make room for others, you have less room for yourselves. "Tolerance is extinction."

Since he's being unreasonable, Jean (using Cerebro) enters Gyrich's mind to learn where he might have kept a second Master Mold. But something's wrong and Jean screams. She has a vision where she's in uniform and not pregnant, in a desert. She runs to a crib to meet a crying baby, then looks down in her arms and finds that she's now holding her infant son. Now they're surrounded by graves. A Master Mold rises up from the ground and vaporizes them. Jean wakes up screaming.

Later, the team go to the Sahara Desert to track Trask and the Master Mold. Their banter is interrupted by a Sentinel attacking their plane. They beat its ass and later find Bolivar, who was warned by Gyrich via friends on the prison staff. He attacks them with Sentinels, but the X-Men beat their asses. Beast even climbs into one and pilots it like a mecha. But the Sentinels overwhelm them through sheer numbers... until an "Omega Level threat" comes to help them. Storm beats their asses. Then Wolverine, with others' assistance, beats Master Mold's ass.

Later, Jubes tries to sell the X-Men to Roberto. They're a family. Roberto feels bad because he can't tell his parents that they're a mutant, and it feels like he's lying to them because of it. He doesn't want to be an X-Men... he doesn't even want to be himself. They flirt and Sunspot hands her his business card before leaving.

Cyclops and Jean are ready to announce to the team that they're leaving. But they get an alert of an intruder. It's Magneto, who has entered Xavier's office and is now reading his will. According to the will, Xavier left everything to Hellion. But until the show is rebranded as X-Men '03, Mags will take over in Julian's stead.

And that's episode 1. Pretty good so far. Animation could be awkward and movements could look gross, but it holds up in action scenes.

[jddoyle]

Fucking amazing!!! Lives up to the hype. So much material perfectly packed in! I can’t wait to see people’s reaction on some of the developments. Sunspot was perfect intro character. There is a new love triangle I did NOT see coming… Rogue, Magneto and Gambit! Storm powerless. I am going to be talking about it all day. Will need to rewatch to make sure I got everything

[Rift]

Episode 2 now. A firemanwoman is saving a kid who's trapped on a broken-down Ferris wheel. The wheel collapses, but Magneto holds it together and saves them. The news reporter catching all this are shook. At home, Scott watches the news and wonders if Xavier didn't trust him enough to lead the team. Jean suggests that bringing in Maggie was Xavier's way of giving them a break.

The FoH are rounding up the Morlocks in the sewers. Mags beats the FoH's asses, although he doesn't kill them. He later arranges for the Morlocks to take refuge on the mutant nation of Genosha, then talks smack to the X-Men for not using Xavier's wealth to guide mutants to an island nation, where they can be safe. Because an island nation of mutants is a good idea, Marvel. Still, Cyclops doesn't trust Magneto, despite him clearly being in the right. Storm takes a more measured approach, saying that it's only natural for them to want Magneto to prove his sincerity in helping them. Magneto gasses her up with compliments and agrees to try and prove himself to them.

As Jean and Storm pack up, we get the scene where Jean and Storm talk on Jean's bed. Later, Rogue comes to Magneto to talk. Magneto just can't quit Xavier, no matter how wrong he was. He needs to honor Xavier's wish. Rogue sympathizes with Magneto, as she was also a former villain the X-Men took in. She thinks Magneto can earn their trust through his actions. Magneto starts feeling up her hand and getting close, but she stops him from degloving her. He asks if he knows about their past, and Rogue says "that cat's got to stay in its bag." So Savage Land Rogneto in the past is canon here?

Luckily, this plot point is ignored when peeps in helicopters arrive. It's Val and her hang of dudes armed with anti-Magneto guns. They want to bring him in. Unfortunately, their giant flying vehicles with sharp blades are made of metal, and Magneto's willing to use them. Val still wants to place him under arrest for his past crimes and face trial. In order to earn everyone's trust, Magneto agrees to the arrest and trial.

People protest in front of the UN, hating on mutants and Magneto. The FoH are there to stir the pot, while one readies a gun. At the UN, The Trial of Magneto begins. Magneto's immediately playing the Holocaust card. Then he says that that people are always hating, and even the oppressed can become oppressors. Xavier knew this and believed that they can change the way things are and instead have them all live in harmony. A UN guy is all "Well that's nice, but what about all the people you hurt?" And Magneto is all, "Well, what about all the mutants people hurt?" A UN lady questions if Magneto is really willing to walk Xavier's path.

"Protestors" breach the perimeter, and they want Mags. And the judges, since they were willing to give a "monster" a fair trial, which makes them traitors. Magneto's pretty smug about it. Most of the X-Men, who are at the trial, try to de-escalate things.

Meanwhile, Wolverine and Jean are watching the trial at home. Logan wants to get involved, but Jean has to make things all about her by going into labor. They jump into Logan's car, nearly run over a guy, and drive like mad to the hospital.

The protestors continue their attack, and Cyclops blasts the ground in order to lift up the ground and create a wall of material to block them? The X-Cutioner, one of the FoH from episode one, shows up to cause trouble. He kicks their asses with lasers, then collars Bishop so he can't absorb his energy blasts. Jean makes it all about her again by telepathically telling Scott she's in labor. So Storm has Rogue fly Cyclops out of the fight to watch his wife pop out her crotch goblin. She then tells the UN to STFU and free Magneto so he can save everyone.

Jean is denied at the hospital, what with her dangerous powers and all. The doctor is dropping some not-so-subtle prejudice about mutants, too. Cyclops wants Rogue to just steal the doctor's info and deliver the baby herself. Rogue is worried about accidentally touching the baby and aborting it, but Jean and Cyclops trust her. So they steal the info out of the doctor's head.

At the UN, Magneto creates a cage with magnetic energy and metal, protecting innocent people from the FoH. X-Cutioner shoots him with a strange gun. Storm takes the blast meant for Magneto. In his rage, Magneto beats his ass and takes his gun. He looks to Storm, who, in her horror, realizes that she's lost her powers.

Magneto turns on the UN council, who say that they didn't want this. He points to a crying, depowered Storm and says that this was their dream. The X-Men do so much for humanity, and this is their reward for taking the high road. Never again. So he uses his power to lift the podium and take him, Storm, X-Cutioner and the judges into space. He says that in the past, he would have obliterated their asses. But he's a gay for Xavier, so he won't. He has them look down on Earth and listen to his feel-good speech about Xavier's dream. He'll try and be a good guy, but these humans better watch their asses and not made him regret it.

At the hospital, Jean successfully gives birth to a baby she names Julian. Julian Keller. But then she remembers that the name is taken, so she instead goes with Nathan Charles Summers. Logan watches Jean and Scott make out.

So Magneto is pardoned. Scott is still unsure, but he's willing to trust Xavier on the Magneto issue. Scott and Jean won't leave just yet, since they want to be there for Ororo during this trying time. Storm later goes to her room and looks forlornly at her uniform. Ororo leaves a note for Jean, letting her know that she's leaving the mansion and that Jean and Scott don't have to hold back their life for her sake.

Magneto and Rogue do some unprotected hand-holding. Gambit feels cucked.

The next day, as Jean reads Ororo's note to the X-Men, a second Jean shows up at the door.

[Jiminy_Cricket]

I foresee this scene in Rogue and Magneto’s future

IMG_0404.jpg

[jwatson]

"omega level... threat... detected." loveeeeeeed that scene.

[jddoyle]

“Shoot gold balls from your body, that would be weird” haha so many good one liners that reference lure

[jwatson]

Was also really cool how cyclops was skating around the floor with his concussive blasts.

[Purplevit]

I wasn't surprised with Gambit/Rogue/Mags. Lenore Zann hinted about it in some interview 2 years ago, I think. I definetely remeber how we spoke about it at GG and people were dissapointed.

The truth is that I don`t want or need such kind of journey to get happy Romy in the end. DeMyao chose the worst path.

[GeneTitan]

The first two episodes were so good! They got straight into the action and drama! The end of episode 2! WOW!
Beau DeMayo did a fantastic job writing these episodes!
And the scene with Gyrich and the X-Men falling from the sky was the sneak preview footage we were shown at San Diego Comic-Con
back in 2022!
I'm so excited. I have to get to work, but will post more thoughts later!

[BESTXMAN]

This was great. It was cleaner and tighter narratively than the original and less kiddy. A lot of social commentary in the first episode alone that I am sure will go completely over the heads of bigots. That said, the animation was not as terrible as some people tearing it down on social media is. Loved everyones characterization. Storm and Cyclops never looked so badass.

[jwatson]

See i don't think this is Jean but i could be wrong. IT's like she is recounting her memories but it's like. "Who was that for?" Storm was there. And she seems so ready to just leave the x-men. maybe the spoilers just have me waiting to see but something seems off with her. Second time she recounted a memory out of nowhere.

[DarkMagnus]

ROGNETO is back babys..

All Gail Anna Darkholme Lensherr Queen of mutants

[ChronoRogue]

I wasn't surprised with Gambit/Rogue/Mags. Lenore Zann hinted about it in some interview 2 years ago, I think. I definetely remeber how we spoke about it at GG and people were dissapointed.

The truth is that I don`t want or need such kind of journey to get happy Romy in the end. DeMyao chose the worst path.

Yea I'm not happy about this development either and it already feels exhausting as a fan. Not looking forward to this being Rogue's primary storyline all season. Really wish the team had gone in a different direction.

[TheLimboBabies]

This was pretty awesome, rogue and storm being bad ass.
Everyone's voices are great, jubilees change in voice actor isn't as jarring as i thought... I do miss jean greys voice tho �� action scenes were wicked.

[Malachi]

ROGNETO is back babys..

All Gail Anna Darkholme Lensherr Queen of mutants

Happy for you.

Now I just have to find the motivation to get through these 2 episodes.