The three-part X-Men ‘97 season finale kicked off last week with a bang as Bastion launched his Prime Sentinel attack on the mutants and Charles Xavier returned to Earth. Now, with Magneto back to his old ways and the X-Men facing a threat unlike they’ve ever seen, the stage is set for an epic final showdown.
There is only one small difference in this week’s intro. In the closing moments, with the heroes and villains running at each other, the civilians in the middle have been replaced by Prime Sentinels.
The episode opens with Xavier waking up in what remains of the X-Mansion. We then see Magneto, once again donning his classic purple and red costume and holding his iconic helmet in his hands. Meanwhile, Bastion walks through his old hometown, holding his Prime Sentinel’d mother in his arms, surrounded by frozen Prime Sentinels. Jubilee and Roberto get cornered by an angry mob of humans in the city, before being saved by Storm and Forge.
Xavier sees that his old hover chair has been destroyed so he opts for a more traditional wheelchair while Magneto puts his helmet on and begins to raise something out of the ocean. We eventually see that it is Asteroid M, his old base of operations. Jubilee embraces Storm, who has been missing from the team since losing her powers.
Back at the mansion, Jean lays out the stakes for us by letting us know the world is going to end in 12 hours due to the fallout of Magneto’s global shockwave that has disrupted the Earth’s poles. Scott argues with Xavier over his decision to leave everything to Magneto, but the Professor contests he wanted Scott and Jean to leave and live a normal life. Eventually, Scott walks off, leaving the Professor reaching out a hand for him.
Rogue wakes up from a nightmare about Gambit’s death and finds Nightcrawler by her side. She questions what happened with Trask and he tells her he is alive. He also begins to explain that someone else has survived but Rogue cuts him off asking if it’s Remy. Nightcrawler shows a frown and never finishes his sentence. Rogue seems to not care about Magneto quite as much any more.
Storm, Forge, Jubilee and Roberto return to the mansion and Jean rushes to embrace Storm. Beast also embraces Forge, who explains that his prosthetics are still functioning because of technology he invented that protected them from Magneto’s blackout. This serves as a reminder that Forge can fix or invent anything simply by thinking about it.
Jean explains that the team is relocating to their old base on Muir Island. This is a location that has been seen in the original animated series as well as in the comics, countless times. It was once the home of the Mutant Research Center, created by Moira MacTaggert. Cyclops explains to the team that first world infrastructure has been destroyed all around the planet and thousands have been killed in the Prime Sentinel attack and Magneto’s blackout. Storm says she can feel the Earth’s magnetic field dying and that when the sun sets, “it sets on the future.”
The mission becomes to both neutralize Bastion and his Prime Sentinels and to convince Magneto to undo what he has done. Wolverine makes it clear he wants to kill Magneto but Xavier talks him down. Cyclops divides the X-Men into two teams to accomplish their two goals.
Beast explains that he and Forge can eventually figure out a way to remove the Prime Sentinel tech from the humans it infects. Roberto objects, explaining that these people hated them before Bastion and asks what happens once they’re saved. Jubilee shrugs off his concerns and Storm explains they’ll handle that problem together. Xavier tells the team he once wen to recruit Bastion when he was first forming his school, mistaking him for a mutant. He believes that once Bastion is dealt with, Magneto will be open to undoing what he has done to Earth.
Forge and Beast work on a collar to neutralize Bastion but Storm voices her distaste, via thunder, for the technology. Outside, Xavier finds Rogue, still struggling with Remy’s death. Rogue voices her displeasure with the Professor and he apologizes. Xavier does specifically mention Moira as well, further confirming she was among those killed on Genosha.
Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Asteroid M over the Mansion. Magneto approaches and the rest of the team rush out to join Rogue and Xavier. Magneto issues and invitation for anyone who believes in his cause, to wage war against humans, to join him. Rogue chooses to abandon her family to stand (or, kind of hover) by Magneto. Roberto is the next to join, despite an objection from Jubilee. The three mutants retreat to Asteroid M, which floats off into the sky.
On Muir Island, we see some classic X-Men vehicles, including two Black Birds, one of which is fit for space travel. We also see some classic X-Men costumes that have been seen in comics, video games and even X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, which served as the pilot for the original animated series. Before they split into their respective teams, Cyclops and Cable have a conversation that ends in the latter seemingly warming up to the idea of Scott being his father. Scott also gives Cable a blue and yellow X-Men uniform, which earns some criticism from the time traveler. Scott retorts with “what did you expect, black leather?” This is a play on the 2000 X-Men film, in which Wolverine questions their black leather costumes. In the movie, Scott replies with, “what did you expect, yellow spandex?”
Xavier holds a telepathic conversation with President Kelly, urging him to trust the X-Men rather than launching an attack on Magneto. As the conversation takes place, we see the X-Men suiting up in those classic costumes. Beast tends to Trish Tilby as an unconscious Prime Sentinel, Jubilee burns up Roberto’s card and Scott and Jean share one last embrace before heading off to their missions.
As the X-Men approach Bastion’s island headquarters, he uses his technopathy to launch dozens of Sentinels at them. Storm tells the rest of the team to continue to the ground while she and Forge distract the Sentinels. She and Jean then share one of the best lines of the series so far, playing off of both of their power sets:
“Make them mind your weather, sister.”
“And them weather your mind.”
Cable, Jean, Morph and Beast arrive on the island but are attacked by Sentinels. Morph takes on the form of the Hulk and they take out the Sentinels. A Sentinel head smashes into a sign for “DeMayo’s Diner,” a reference to the series’ lead writer Beau DeMayo. Jean is then attacked by Mister Sinister and the two go off on their own fight, during which Sinister uses the fact that he replaced Jean with Madelyne to his advantage.
On Asteroid M, Rogue and Roberto greet the arriving Black Bird only to find that it is empty. Instead, the team is teleported directly to Magneto by Nightcrawler. Magneto immediately begins to fight the mutants and Rogue and Roberto quickly join in. Xavier pleads with Magneto to stop the fight, but he refuses. Xavier orders Cyclops to remove Magneto’s helmet so that he can take over his powers and repair Earth. Cyclops contends that the other team needs more time to neutralize the Prime Sentinels first.
Sinister approaches Bastion and requests they retreat, but Bastion simply blasts him revealing him to actually be Morph. Beast leaps in and grabs the collar dropped by Morph, trying to reach Bastion, but he is also stopped. Forge and Storm are eventually overwhelmed by the Sentinels and they both fall.
Sinister takes control of Cable, who blasts Jean with his weapon. She deflects his attack and he reveals that he also have telekinetic powers, like his mother, and launches another attack. Jean defends but she is being overpowered, so she telepathically brings Scott there to see what is happening. She looks him in the eye and tells him she loves him before being overcome by Cables blast.
Back in his body, Scott screams, realizing what he has just witnessed. Wolverine manages to get Magneto’s helmet off and Xavier attacks him telepathically. Before he can end the fight though, Xavier is blasted by Cyclops who tells him the other team needs more time. Magneto takes his opportunity to subdue Xavier and place his helmet on him, neutralizing his psychic abilities.
As Magneto looks at Xavier, Wolverine stabs him in the back, finally accomplishing what he was wanted to do for so long. With his last breaths, Magneto overwhelms Wolverine with his powers and pins him against a well. Xavier pleads with him to stop but Magneto rips Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton from his body as the episode comes to a close. The image was not nearly as graphic as it could have been.
Did we just witness the deaths of two of the most iconic character in the closing seconds of this episode? Well, Wolverine has dies countless times in the comics and always finds a way to come back. And this wouldn’t even be the first time Magneto has died in this season. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Still, this was another epic installment in this three-part finale and there is still the matter of Bastion and the Prime Sentinels for the X-Men to deal with next week.
X-Men ‘97 is now streaming on Disney+.