Recap: The Daughter of Magneto Steps Into Her Rightful Role in Season 2, Episode 6 of "X-Men '97"
With the X-Men returning back to the present day, sans Magneto, Professor X is left with the decision of what to do next. Meanwhile, X-Factor continues to work for the US government to oversee mutant activity. It appears though that some members of the team are more willing to follow orders than others.
The episode opens back at that unforgettable scene at the end of episode four. Apocalypse obliterates Magneto in front of Charles as he taunts the leader of the X-Men. As the moment concludes though, Charles orders the Danger Room to repeat moment. He does so again and again until Apocalypse begins to crush him beneath his boot. Panicked, Charles orders the Danger Room to stop the scenario. The Danger Room explains that it adapted because of his repeated failures. The room assures him it has updated its directives.
Elsewhere, Polaris is on a mission for X-Factor. We see a group known as the Purifiers who have acquired a shipment of vibranium weapons, with which they plan to hunt mutants. Polaris interrupts them though and orders them to stand down on behalf of the US government. They refuse and a very one-sided fight breaks out. Polaris lifts their ship and dumps the group and their new weapons into the ocean.
Val Cooper orders Polaris to stand down, saying she was supposed to be on a covert mission. Polaris begins to leave with their ship but the Purifiers begin firing at her again. Enraged, she hurls the ship back at them. Havok and the rest of X-Factor arrive just in time to save the Purifiers and keep Polaris from becoming a very public murderer.
In Cooper's office, she berates Polaris for her actions, saying they don't need another magnetic mutant killing humans. Polaris argues she was trying to take out terrorists but Cooper ignores her argument. She says Polaris is being called the next Magneto and hints at the fact that she is his daughter. Polaris expresses some displeasure with her estranged father, but Cooper dismisses her from X-Factor anyway.
In their locker room, Havok and Polaris have a brief argument before he seemingly offers her a place to stay. She says runaway mutants have a safe place to go again.
We then see the X-Mansion and hear Charles giving a speech to a group of new students that includes several notable mutants, like Kid Omega, Monet St. Croix, Doop, Glob and more. He tells them the school is back open and that Storm is the new Head Mistress of the school. The meeting is interrupted by Sentinels before Charles reveals the are in the Danger Room. Meanwhile, we see from the point of view of the Danger Room itself, seemingly taking Charles' words to mechanical heart.
Later, Polaris arrives as the mansion. She gets no response as she calls out to everyone and she explores the mansion, looking at old photos before going back to her old room. Jean, Scott and Hank find Polaris and greet her warmly. They reminisce a bit as we see an old photo of an X-Men team that included the four of them, along with Angel and Ice Man.
Polaris meets with Charles outside. In the background, we can see Morph playing with some of the new kids by transforming into Reed Richards and using his arms as jump ropes. Polaris asks Charles how he is doing after losing Magneto. Charles decides to reference when he had to infiltrate Magneto's mind to stop him on E-Day. It's interesting that he would bring this up because the popular theory is that this moment will be the catalyst for the creation of Onslaught, a sort of mind amalgamation of Xavier and Magneto that becomes an immensely powerful villain.
Polaris brings up the headlines calling her the next Magneto. She acknowledges her blood relation to Magneto but says he is not her true father, pointing out it was Charles who raised her. Charles tells her a group of X-Men are going to the wreckage of Genosha to look for answers and invites her to stay at the mansion to look for her own.
Polaris is greeted by Forge and Storm before Morph calls them to the Danger Room, where we see one of the new students has been hurt. Storm and Bishop revive him and begin to wonder what happened. Storm, Morph and Forge are then called off by a perimeter breach, leaving Polaris and Bishop with the students.
As they begin to make their way out of the room, it locks them inside. While they search for a way out, the room begins to attack them in various ways. Polaris and Bishop handle the attacks fairly easily but eventually the Danger Room explains to them that it has been programmed to get stronger, in order to prepare them for stronger threats in the outside world. The room taunts Polaris with the though of her becoming the next Magneto, sending her into a rage before Bishop calms her down. Eventually, the room takes a humanoid form and attacks them itself. It knocks Polaris out before escaping the mansion.
Polaris wakes up to see Storm, who explains the situation. Polaris and Bishop head to Genosha to follow the Danger Room.
In Genosha, Charles, Scott, Jean and Hank pay their respects to the mutants who were killed there. Charles explains that he is not finding the answers he was hoping for but his search is interrupted by a garbled warning from Polaris.
The Danger Room drops in to attack them. Scott and Jean try to hold her off but it knows their moves. As it makes landfall, the machine also makes short work of Hank. Charles tries to hold the machine off, and manages to do so momentarily. Eventually though, the Danger Room gets a hold of Charles. Wielding an axe, it says "this time I go for your head." Is this a reference to Avengers: Endgame?
Polaris arrives just in time to stop the Danger Room, kicking off another fight. The X-Men team up to fight their old training simulation, but it simply absorbs their power. Charles convinces Polaris she can generate enough electro magnetic energy to overwhelm the machine. To do so, she has to unleash her full power, embracing her ties to Magneto at the same time. Polaris reluctantly agrees to try and eventually unleashes enough power to wipe out the machine. With the fight over, Charles says he finally understands what he has to do next.
In a press conference, Charles announces to the public that he has founded X-Corp, a new company that will serve the purpose of continuing his mission to help mutants and humans live in harmony. In a separate press conference, Cooper, flanked by X-Factor, says the US government will work to shut down Charles' new company.
X-Corp does appear in the comics and plays a large role in the X-Men's Krakoa era. This could be a hint that this modern storyline will come to the animated series in the future as well. During this time in the comics, X-Corp is run by the aforementioned Angel and Monet St. Croix, so it may not be coincidence that we see both of these characters in this episode.
In a boardroom, Charles and the X-Men meet around a table. Charles tells them that he can sense that Apocalypse will be coming. Meanwhile, in Athens, we see Apocalypse begin to experiment on a body. He turns on a machine that lets out a surge of power on the body, which begins to glow pink. Glowing playing cards fly into the air and begin to transform into tarot cards. Finally, we see the glowing red eyes of Gambit open. In the comics, Gambit briefly takes on the role of one of the four horsemen of Apocalypse. This was also of course teased in the post-credits scene of the season one finale.
This episode was another unexpected detour from the main Apocalypse-focused storyline. And yet, it was another very strong episode that did a lot to set up the future. Polaris can now be a big player moving forward, we got another hint at the impending arrival of Onslaught and we now know Apocalypse has his new horseman. Now, with just three episodes left, it seems we are heading to the final showdown with Apocalypse.
X-Men '97 season two is now streaming on Disney+.