Recap: Magneto Tries to Change the Fate of Apocalypse in Third Episode of "X-Men '97" Season Two
After X-Force recruited the only two remaining X-Men to hunt Apocalypse, Jubilee instead briefly repurposed the team to save a bunch of mutant kids who had been rounded up by the government-controlled X-Factor. Now, with one team of X-Men finished with their mission in the future, it seems it's time to catch up with the team that had been sent to the past.
The third episode opens with the team from the future returning to the X-Mansion to find that the team from the past is still gone. Cyclops says they should go find them but Forge argues they don't know where they are.
In the past, the year 3000 BCE to be exact, we see Magneto attempting to manipulate En Sabah Nur, long before he would ever become Apocalypse. He tells him he could be a god among insects before we see En Sabah Nur leading a group into battle.Interestingly though, the pharaoh En Sabah Nur opposes appears to be using futuristic technology. We see this pharaoh receive word that En Sabah Nur is leading the Sandstormers against him. He appears to be unsurprised and orders his General, Logos, to redirect his forces toward the coming fight.
Logos speaks to a group of slaves, who are being controlled by an army of robots. In his speech, Logos names the pharaoh, calling him Rama-Tut. This explains the futuristic technology as Rama-Tut is one of the many names used by Kang the Conqueror. In the comics, Kang went to ancient Egypt in search of En Sabah Nur because he knew that he would one day become the most powerful being on Earth and he hoped to control that power.
En Sabah Nur and his army stop just outside the walls of the city they plan to attack and he talks briefly with Baal, a man he counts as family. Magneto and an astral projection of Charles watch the impending battle from a nearby cliff. Magneto explains that he intends to use the pharaoh's technology to get them home, but Charles protests his use of Apocalypse to do so.
En Sabah Nur launches his attack and his army is quickly swarmed by robots. He himself is trapped under hundreds of them and the gates of the city are closed, to the delight of Logos. Seconds later though, En Sabah Nur breaks through the wall and begins wiping out more of the robots inside. He even displays his mutant strength by throwing the elephant on which Logos was riding.
En Sabah Nur approaches the fallen general and Baal tells him to take his head, but En Sabah Nur looks up to see Magneto watching on. He decides to spare Logos instead, to the surprise of many. Magneto tells Charles to send the team to recover the robots so that they can salvage the technology.
Nightcrawler returns to a makeshift lab with bags full of robot parts. Beast and Rogue work on a time machine to get them home and Beast fires it up. After a moment though, the machine fails and Beast says he needs more power. Xavier says Magneto's plan is to get information from Logos on how to adapt the pharaoh's technology, they just have to trust En Sabah Nur not to kill him.
Magneto rides with En Sabah Nur and his remaining army. Nur warns Magneto that Baal does not trust him. When Magneto returns to the team, they argue over how to get information out of Logos. Nur interrupts their debate and is overjoyed to be amongst other mutants, after having spent his whole life being the only one. Baal enters next and berates Nur for not continuing his attack on the pharaoh. Magneto argues they would have been killed and Nur stops their argument and says Magneto mentioned a destiny for him, which grabs Xavier's attention. Baal tells Nur he is giving him another day before he kills Logos.
Xavier questions Magneto about this "destiny" he sees for Nur. Magneto explains that his plan is to get Nur to launch Xavier's dream of peace between humans and mutants thousands of years before he ever could. With a mutant as powerful as Nur championing that dream from the beginning, it would have to work.
Nur questions Logos but doesn't get the answers he wants. Logos goats him into killing him, but Magneto stops him. Nur leaves Magneto and Xavier with Logos, who tells them that the pharaoh is looking for a temple with a cosmic power. Xavier looks into Logos' mind for more information on this temple but he is greeted by a voice that tells him the end is coming. the voice calls him to the Sphinx, which, in the comics, is actually Kang's ship. That ship later becomes Apocalypse's after he confronts Kang and chases him away.
The X-Men make their way back to their lab as Xavier explains that Logos only knew pieces about the mysterious temple. When they reach their lab though, they are ambushed by the Sandstormers. Baal found their work on the time machine and showed it to Nur, causing him to lose trust in Magneto. Nur beheads Logos and the Sandstormers begin to attack the X-Men. However, one of the warriors is actually Bishop in disguise and he gives the X-Men the advantage in the fight. Bishop blasts Baal, which enrages Nur.
We see that one of Logos' eyes is blinking and sending a signal to Rama-Tut. Bishop blasts Nur and then tosses each of the X-Men a device for them to return home. However, Rama-Tut launches a blast from his temple at the mountain in which the X-Men where hiding. He even refers to himself as "the conqueror" in the process.
Xavier tries to convince Magneto that their chance to redeem Apocalypse is gone and they need to return home. Nur emerges from rubble though and draws their attention before the blast from Rama-Tut seemingly obliterates the mountain. Rama-Tut laughs as the episode comes to a close with the words "to be continued."
While this new season is obviously heavily based in time travel and tells a wildly complex story, it continues to deliver more intimate and self-contained stories with each episode. This may have been the strongest episode yet and it certainly sets the table for a lot of exciting things to come.
The second season of X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+.