With the airing of last week’s episode “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs” the second season of X-Men ’97 passed the halfway point. And after tomorrow when this goes live, we’ll be 2/3rds of the way through the season since it’s only nine episodes. Since I am away (again) for the sixth episode, I figured I’d do a little recap post and offer up some of my thoughts on where we’re heading from here. There’s a lot of stuff we know is likely to happen, but a lot we don’t, and it sounds like the plans for season three have been changed since they were originally mapped out. It should probably go without saying, but just in case, there are spoilers ahead for the first half of X-Men ’97’s season two and I’ll also be talking about the potentially scuttled plans for season three so you have been warned.

Season two of X-Men ’97 has been a lot of fun so far. The actual episodes have been pretty tight focusing on just select squads of the heroes involved while also laying the groundwork for a big finale against Apocalypse. With the most recent episode, we got a deviation where Wolverine and a select group of mutants ran off to Canada to shut down the latest Weapon X lab. Or at least that’s what the squad signed up for, but in reality Wolverine was just looking to get his adamantium skeleton back which Magneto had stripped from him in season one.

We might as well start there. That episode was a pretty interesting look at Wolverine and it also really put a spotlight on his relationship with Morph. It’s been a little divisive in some circles from what I’ve seen and that goes back to how the story was presented in the comics. Any X-Men show or movie is going to run into issues where fans compare what they’re seeing on their screen to what already happened in the comics while writers and showrunners aren’t always looking for a direct adaptation. In the comics, Wolverine went years without his adamantium skeleton and even had a botched attempt at it during that time period which brought about the feral Wolverine era. We got a slight taste of that in episode one as Wolverine’s look was evocative of that one, but that was it. The comic book story put Wolverine before Apocalypse with a choice: battle Sabretooth for the right to become Death, or let Sabretooth assume that mantle. Whoever became Death would have an adamantium skeleton courtesy of Apocalypse which was kind of like a little bonus. For Wolverine, it meant letting someone else turn him into a weapon as the Weapon X program had done years before against his will. On the other hand, letting Sabretooth get basically a power-up and a new job that was all about killing didn’t exactly sound appealing either. Wolverine’s choice was presented as a sacrifice and he had faith in himself that he’d eventually beat Apocalypse’s programming and ultimately cause the world far less harm than a powered-up Sabretooth and that’s just what he did.

In X-Men ’97, Wolverine lead a group of allies and enemies into a hornet’s nest under false pretenses. During the first episode and in this one, we saw how Wolverine’s effectiveness had been reduced thanks to his new, fragile, bone claws. He had a tough time taking down the robotic foes in the distant future and was unable to takedown a Brood-infested polar bear in this one. And in that moment, Sabretooth had to bail him out and he was all too happy to let him know. Wolverine ended up getting infected by the Brood which caused him to murder his ally Maverick who wanted to bail on the mission as soon as they realized what they were up against. He very nearly killed Morph, but Morph was able to distract him by morphing into Jean (that always works). Sabretooth and Deathstrike saw through what Wolverine was doing, but Morph was the last one to cross the finish line. Morph refused to see Wolverine as a monster, but in the end, they found out that even Wolverine thinks he has no worth unless he’s a monster. It must have been a pretty devastating episode for Morph who we know has feelings beyond just friendship for Wolverine. Morph presenting as themself to Wolverine to try and get him to stop failed, but Jean? Apparently she has enough of Wolverine’s heart to pull that off and Morph likely never will. There could be a rift forming here and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. For fans, I get it that some were upset that Wolverine’s sacrifice in the books was turned into a selfish act, but I think this aspect of his personality that X-Men ’97 is shining a light on is also a worthwhile avenue. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

As for the rest of the season, we know the episode titles for what’s to come starting with the episode that airs the day after this post goes live “Danger.exe.” I am expecting this one will feature the enemy Danger (duh), and based on the newer trailers, it could also feature an X-Men and X-Force team-up. Or a fight, either sounds enjoyable. It should be a good opportunity to bring in the Grant Morrison era costumes we’ve seen featured in the trailers (they thankfully have not featured Wolverine’s look from that run which I have never liked) and I think it will also be a chance to get most everyone in the same place. We have not had an episode where the whole team is together. It would also be a chance to see the first bit of fallout from the time jumping adventure the X-Men went on as well as the loss of Magneto. I wonder if it will stick with the Danger plot, or maybe jump around? We haven’t really had an episode like that this season apart from briefly jumping to the future in episode two and starting episode 3 in the present.

The next episode is titled “Strange Land, Savage Heart” which is a play on the episode title from the original series “Savage Land, Strange Heart.” It would seem to suggest the presence of the Savage Land and perhaps that is where the shrine for victims of Genosha has been erected? We also saw shots of Nightcrawler battling with Exodus and perhaps that takes place in the Savage Land? Or we’re just going to split up with Nightcrawler and Rogue heading to Genosha and the rest heading to the Savage Land. Beyond that, I’m not sure, but I think this is the episode that brings everything back to focus on those lost at Genosha. And based on the trailer, it looks like the body count has gone up since season one ended as Magik and possibly Iceman were added to the death toll despite appearing on Forge’s board as being alive and accounted for. Colossus was also in his Acolytes costume and if the Acolytes have a new leader it’s almost certainly Exodus. Colossus is likely to be in a bad headspace following the loss of his beloved sister. We know of some similar scenes with Polaris returning to the mansion and taking sight of how everything has been destroyed and one shot in the trailer shows a picture of her and Bobby which seems to further hint that he may have been among the casualties. This all leads me to speculate on some big things in the next episode.

“Dead Man’s Hand” sounds pretty self-explanatory. When Gambit died in season one, few expected it to be permanent. That’s just not how comics work. When Apocalypse was shown at the end of season one finding a playing card in the rubble of Genosha that basically cemented it. Gambit is coming back as Apocalypse’s horseman of death, but what of the other three? Horsemen always come in fours and we have not seen any shots in any trailer suggesting who could be among the horsemen. In the comics, Polaris became one at one point and could her anger towards humanity over the loss of Bobby and others drive her to Apocalypse? She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s also lost a father in Magneto though that one is complicated by the fact that it was Apocalypse who killed him. Then again, that could be what the X-Men use to pull her out of his clutches. Rogue is another possibility. She was devastated by the loss of Gambit, could this be a way to be with him? I don’t know if she would go willingly, but there’s a darkness in her brought about by Genosha. Archangel also reminded us in episode two that it was Rogue who took away the evil within him and allowed him to break free of Apocalypse’s control. That evil has been dwelling inside her ever since perhaps ready to come out. She could also attempt to do the same for Gambit, and maybe that backfires? In the scene where it looks like the X-Men and X-Force are bracing for a fight from the trailer, I don’t think Rogue is seen, though that might not be them getting ready to tangle with Apocalypse too. Colossus is another candidate. Devastated by the loss of his sister, he could certainly turn towards Apocalypse if he thinks the Acolytes aren’t doing enough.

The other possibility for the horsemen that I envision is the show using it as a way to undo some deaths. We know Gambit is likely one such character, but then there’s others who perished in Genosha like Magik, Iceman, Marrow, and Banshee. Many others fell as well and if they indeed decided to add Magik and Iceman to the death toll between seasons then virtually anyone is on the table if we have yet to see them alive. And it could also be a way to bring back Magneto. Perhaps when Apocalypse nuked Magneto’s body he preserved his essence to put into a new body and control? I personally think it would be a mistake to bring Magneto back yet again, but I can’t rule it out. After all, these are comic book characters and they seem to never die. There’s also opportunities to introduce new or forgotten characters to fill out Apocalypse’s ranks. Characters like Nemesis, Mikhail Rasputin, Deathbird, or Tyler – Cable’s son he essentially abandoned in the future. We’ve also never really had Stryfe in the animated universe as he’s only ever made cameos. We have not heard from Sinister at all this season and it’s been even longer since we’ve seen Mystique, the Brotherhood, or anyone from The Nasty Boys. And can we fully write-off Wolverine as a horseman? Maybe his opinion of himself as only a weapon and his actions up north create a bigger divide with the team than expected and it allows Apocalypse to corrupt him somehow? Maybe a character like X-23 or Daken gets introduced as a horseman and Wolverine has to find his worth as a human being in order to convince one of them to suppress what Apocalypse has done to them?

Either way, I see the finale “Survival of the Fittest” as being the battle for Gambit’s soul and anyone else corrupted by Apocalypse. They’ll also have to actually defeat Apocalypse and I don’t know how they’ll do that. I do hope it’s something satisfying as the ways in which those confrontations were settled in the original series were never satisfying for me. That’s the Apocalypse problem – he’s made to be so strong and so powerful that there’s almost no believable way to stop him. He kind of just runs for no reason or you get something a bit more abstract like the ending to “Beyond Good and Evil.” One possibility for taking him down is Onslaught. In the comics, when Charles Xavier wiped the mind of Magneto during the Fatal Attractions arc it meant Magneto’s consciousness remained with Xavier’s mind. It basically tormented him and eventually it caused Onslaught to emerge. Now, few fans seem to actually like that arc. The setup is fine, the character certainly has a 90s cool factor, but it basically lead to the temporary deaths of a lot of Marvel’s non-mutant heroes and brought about the controversial Heroes Reborn era. I, like many, am not a fan of the Onslaught saga, but I’m also not afraid of it. The way I see it, X-Men ’97 could be a way to redeem the character, but that may not happen.

According to former showrunner Beau DeMayo, Marvel axed his plans to introduce Onslaught in episode ten of this season and that’s why we ended up with nine episodes instead of ten. I would guess he knows this to be true because he probably lost a credit over it. Onslaught was going to be a season three enemy and somehow that was going to lead to an Age of Apocalypse in the animated universe. That might also explain why Hasbro decided to reissue their own Onslaught figure (review coming soon) since this was all stuff being worked on years before this season premiered. Does that mean Onslaught is completely off the table? No, as there’s been plenty of time to reconsider if they wanted to. They could have decided to kick the can further down the road as opposed to bring it into season two. There’s certainly plenty of foreshadowing with how Xavier ended episode four. Perhaps he even “saved” Magneto from death by psychically downloading his mind into his own? Such a thing sounds like absolute nonsense, but for X-Men? Nah, that could be sold. And from there it could be that which brings about Onslaught. How this would have created an Age of Apocalypse when the previous show already went down the rabbit hole of “What if Xavier were killed before forming the X-Men?” with the two-parter “One Man’s Worth,” is also something I can’t wrap my head around. Maybe the show was just going to forget about that? I’m pretty sure it was referenced in the opening title during season one so DeMayo likely wanted us to remember it for a reason. Either way, I could see Marvel not wanting to set an entire season of the show in an alternate present thereby throwing a wrench into the whole thing. Comic fans seem titillated by it, but would the casuals want to see another season where Magneto leads the team and characters like Beast and Cyclops are villains?

Onslaught not being the ultimate end game for season two has one obvious benefit in that it makes it really hard to predict what could follow instead. It could simply be a cleaner ending, but I can’t imagine them not teasing another villain or plot to come. Perhaps Krakoa? That seems to be something a lot of fans would take in place of Age of Apocalypse. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see Generation X being formed and maybe a reshuffling of some cards where X-Force and X-Factor are concerned. The mere fact that I’ve written over 2,000 words on the subject should be enough of a tell that I’m pretty excited and eager to see where things are heading. There’s so much for the show to cover or not and it feels like we’ve barely spent time with most of the characters. I hope the show is doing really well with whatever metrics Disney uses to evaluate these streaming shows so that it ensure we get even more beyond a third season because this is just too much damn fun each week.

Some prior X-Men ’97 musings and reviews if this wasn’t enough for you:

X-Men ’97 – “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

When X-Men went into development for the Fox Kids Network, it didn’t take the writing staff (who was unfamiliar with the property going in) long to figure out that Wolverine was their ticket to television royalty. The character really took off in the 1980s and helped the X-Men storm into the 1990s as the most…

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X-Men ’97 – “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3”

Today, X-Men ’97 dropped the curtain on its first season and what a way to bring it to an end. Last week’s episode was a roller coaster of emotions for me. I couldn’t go into much detail of my review of “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 2” without wading into spoiler territory, so allow me…

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