X-Men '97: Episode 3 Review/Spoilers

[Joy Boy]

I feel like I've mis-remebered or confused with the comics a lot of things. Weren't Bishop and Cable at odds some point?

I remember Cable having a solo series during the Utopia era in which he protects Hope Summers from a homicidal Bishop. Not sure about TAS

[MechaJeanix]

I loved the episode. Sure it may have been better served if it was this big multi-episode but we don't have time for the Inferno saga when we just have 10 episodes. I loved how we had Inferno but it was just Maddie and her powers (great use of her tp and tk imo).

I really felt for Maddie, Scott, and Jean in this story. Jean will likely have identity issues like she did in the 80s during X-factor (not knowing where she ends and others begin, etc.). I think at the end of it she'll know she was Phoenix, married Scott, but at first she will question because as of yet they don't know when the switch was made. It creates drama and allows the audience to speculate on when it might have happened.

I will miss Bishop, but I'm sure he will show up again. I love him as being part of the main team. Morph has really grown on me. I didn't care for him when I was 10 years old watching X-men TAS for the first time. The shower scene with Wolverine was surprising.

There is a lot of story in each episode and the pace is fast. If any of you watched the 5 episode MOTU cartoon it was done in a similar way - when you have so few episodes there is little time for filler.

All in all - it was an enjoyable episode. I loved that we got Pryor in a cartoon and baby Cable. I look forward to Maddie showing up again (and wondering if she'll make it out alive).

[marhawkman]

I remember Cable having a solo series during the Utopia era in which he protects Hope Summers from a homicidal Bishop. Not sure about TAS

There was an ep where they fight over... something related to the Legacy virus or something. IIRC they had different ideas about the right way to interfere with history.

[MentalManipulator]

Just gonna say it. If they can do the Maddie arc in one episode then they can do Betsy and Kwannon

ok ok ill stop lol

You know I was thinking the same thing ;-)

Bring the confusion in season 2

[Godzilla2099]

One hell of a way to open up a new season. Overall, a fantastic episode. Loved the Madeline vs Magneto Fight. Maddy and Bishop were my favorites this time.

However, the ending left me feeling sad for Scott and Madeline.

Within 48 hours, Madeline finds out she's a clone, her own husband has doubts, mind controlled by the biggest POS in existence, watches her baby get infected, has to give up her baby, loses her husband, home, and family. How can you not feel bad for her?

As for Scott, after over a year of personal happiness with a wife and child on the way, leader of the team despite the pressures, he has lost everything. The wife he knew was not the real Jean, even if she was Jean where it counted. Maddie leaves to start her new life without Scott, who is understandably torn over the revelation that she is a clone and having to give up his child.

Meanwhile, no one but Sinister knows when the switch happened, so even though Jean and Maddie basically have the same memories now. It'll be a tough road to overcome if Scott and Jean get back together. (I personally think he should have stayed with Maddie. I can't imagine losing my kid like that, but everyone copes differently)

And Wolverine is being a simp wanting to take advantage of the situation.

I also felt bad for Jean. Locked away, missed out on her life, not sure what memories are her's but overall, the Universe looked at Scott and Madeline and gave them both the biggest f*#k you

My two biggest complaints were I wish Scott was more sympathetic/supportive of Maddy and of regardless I wish he would have at least said good-bye to his son. However, I didn't see that as Scott abandoning his son, he was mad BECAUSE he did not want to abandon him but at the end he knew it was the only way.

If I had one wish I would love to see Cyclops hunt Sinister down on his own quest to find a cure for the virus and contact Bishop. I cant see him functioning in the mansion with the X-Men.

[Joy Boy]

I like how Bishop just wordlessly accepts taking Nathan into the future indefinitely to be his caretaker and protector. That's a HUGE ask of someone. Or did I miss something?

[NK1988]

There was an ep where they fight over... something related to the Legacy virus or something. IIRC they had different ideas about the right way to interfere with history.

Yep. I remember that, at least the gist of it, because TAS Cable was awesome, and it had one of the best action scenes in the show.

[Havok83]

I like how Bishop just wordlessly accepts taking Nathan into the future indefinitely to be his caretaker and protector. That's a HUGE ask of someone. Or did I miss something?

LOL..what makes you think he's going to be that? It would be funny if when we do see them next, its revealed that Bishop dropped him of at whomever had the cure and went about his business

The current comic Sinister is Hickman's creation; KG's version from his Uncanny X-men run was Prime Minister Sinister of Sinister London. The two are nothing alike. Hickman is the one who reinterpreted Essex as a gadfly dandy while Prime Minister Sinister was far more in line with the animated version.

Hickman barely used Sinister. KG is responsible for the bulk of the characterization we have seen this era

[nx01a]

The Good
>Condensing SO many great arcs into a single fantastic episode. Inferno, Apocalypse infecting baby Cable with the TO virus plus Scott sending the kid to the future with the Askani... Great stuff.
>Jean, Scott, and Maddie came out of this equally sympathetic, something X-Factor #1-#39 certainly didn't achieve. Still, the 97 team had decades of hindsight to draw on, and no editorial mandates to make characters act horribly. The original writers did the best they could under the circumstances, and still told great stories.
>Maddie vs Magneto! That was an epic fight, and culminating with Mags half-naked on the floor ain't a bad ending.
>Maddie vs Illyana! I always felt cheated out of that in the original Inferno. Morph is a godsend for these cameos. He even became the Darkchylde, and that 'I AM POWER!' was straight from Inferno! I liked how the Soulsword was a slim version of its ridiculously huge manga cousin.
>Maddie wiping the blood to make her lips redder? Badass.
>Bishop raising Cable in the future? Perfect!
>Scott agonizing over letting his son go? Maddie telepathically giving baby Cable memories of being loved? My poor heart!
>The horror elements (the typical queer-coded men's shower scene, Rogneto flesh-merging, The Ring knockoff with Jubilee's power actually being effective in paffing the mad mama monster apart, Sinister's creepy church base, a fight using animated stained glass) were brilliant.
>Creepy Sinister is the best Sinister. He's already a drama queen who enjoys physically and psychologically messing with his victims... without needing to be over the top catty or 'funny'. The goo inside him after Scott blasted him? Perfect... yet ew.
>Beast referencing Dante's Inferno was nice.
>I like the use of the opening credits to show cool moments and mirror changes in the cast. Storm better be powerless in her black leather next episode.

The Bad
>Couldn't Cyclops have just blasted the demons instead of empowering Bishop to do it? Surely Bishop could have drawn power from a conveniently placed electric cable. The sequence was cool, though.
>Maddie just came up with the name Madelyne Pryor on the spot? No justification? Sinister programming's still in there!

The Ugly
>Scott/Jean/Logan Ew. Gross.
>Ponytail weakling Jean again? Please, no. The Maddie/Magneto sequence should be Jean's new default power level.

The Verdict
This episode was better than several live action X-Movies. As a lifelong fan of Scott and Jean, I'm so happy this greatly improved on situations which were highly problematic in the original comics. 9/10

Some of my favourite shots...
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[nx01a]

Some more of my favourite shots...
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[Primal Slayer]

They really detailed. Got Logans hairy back and everything

[berserkerclaw]

I really did not like this one. It ruined Inferno. If the series was just this as building over q0 episodes I would be fine. Everything challenged to quick and I sae no reason she was the goblin queen.

[Wolverine12]

Another great episode. The horror bits were fantastic and I’m glad they are aimed toward the original audience and not necessarily trying to appeal to just young kids. My only gripe is that I felt like Magneto jobbed a little to Maddie. He uses his force field all the time but I guess it doesn’t work against glass? A minor nitpick but overall the episode carried on with the same level of excitement as the first two.

[jsg2295]

Ultimate Spider-Man…X-men 97…. More comments and enthusiasm for these works that I have seen on the main books for quite some time. I hope that Marvel is taking note of this and adjusting accordingly.

[GoingGreen]

I've been thinking about it.

I want Madelyne to go on her self-discovery and all that... and becomes a private pilot.