We’re Team Magneto over here.
With only hours left to possibly save the entire world, our X-Men are scattered, bruised and wounded. Bastian and Sinister are still at large and the odds are looking worse and worse. Is it possible that we might not actually get a resolution to Season One in the final episode? Could we have to wait until Season Two to see whatever happens here? The stakes have never been higher and unless Episode 10 is longer than the 25-minute format of the rest, there’s very little time for our heroes to win.
The Team Reunites, Then Divides
The first half of the episode was based primarily around the team reuniting after different characters have been scattered throughout the season. Storm and Forge find Jubilee and Roberto cornered and save them, bringing them home to the mansion and Storm returning herself for the first time since Episode 2. Xavier has made his official return, even though that technically took place last episode. It was clear that the team was all there as they all sat in the war room, trying to figure out the best plan of action to stop both Bastian and Magneto. Yet the peace doesn’t last long as Magneto invites himself over.
The thing with Magneto that’s so important to all of this is that he not only is right, but he has shown the X-Men with his time with them that there are choices. Professor X, while we will always love him, is a leader through telling direction, while Magneto could recognize that not only did he have many different personalities to deal with on the team, but that not everyone responded well to not having a choice. In his return to the mansion, he gives the X-Men the option to join him, and much to no one’s surprise, Rogue does. To slightly more of a shock, Roberto also joins Magneto, after his mother willingly handed over him and Jubilee to the Prime Sentinels. While these two were the only two at the moment to join, after the final events of this episode, it wouldn’t be too shocking if we saw some other X-Men follow suit. It was always easy to pick Xavier’s side when it was believed that he would always make the right and just choice and Magneto wouldn’t. Clearly, that line and definition are becoming blurred.
Xavier Crosses the Line
Elaborating on the fact that the line that used to seem so obvious between Magneto and Xavier is becoming blurred, it has to be addressed that Magneto isn’t the only reason that is happening. Xavier has been calling interesting shots since he made his return but by far his most questionable has been entering and essentially jacking Magneto’s mind. Magneto purposefully wears his helmet to help keep Xavier out of his mind and upon his deathbed in the OG series, mentions that it will be strange not feeling him there. Since the return of the show, he hasn’t worn his helmet once, as he no longer had a need for it. In Episode 9, during a moment in which he doesn’t have the helmet on, Xavier makes a terrifying decision to jump into his mind and force him to use his powers.
From Magneto’s reaction, it’s clear that this was an invasion of privacy like no other. While he and Xavier have a checkered relationship to begin with, it’s still one built of love and respect. They stand on opposite sides of the same debate, yet it doesn’t change that they still admire each other. However, that admiration included the understanding and respect that Xavier would never violate Magneto and his mind like that. It was also likely incredibly painful to have someone who is entering your brain essentially force you to use a large surge of your power. From Magneto’s reaction, it’s clear that he feels extremely betrayed and it only angers him more, setting off the last few horrible events of the episode.
There is one more person whose reaction is important to flag. Cyclops seemingly had quite an adverse reaction to what Xavier was doing for two possible reasons. One, Xavier was crossing a line unlike any other, invading Magneto’s mind and essentially taking control of him in a painful manner. Though part of the second plan, the craziness of that is still unlike something Xavier normally does. The other reason is that Xavier was putting their entire mission, and the entire mutant race, at risk for going after Magneto before Storm’s team was able to get to Bastian. The ground team had to take down Bastian prior to them getting Magneto to put the world back to normal, or all the Prime Sentinels would return to power and continue their attack on mutants. At this moment, Xavier was being insanely reckless, which clearly struck a nerve with his star pupil.
Jean and Nathan Go Toe-To-Toe
Perhaps a more shocking turncoat moment of the show so far has been the reveal of Cable to be under Sinister’s control. It was clear the Madelyne/Goblin Queen/baby Nathan storyline had to pay out somewhere and it appears it finally has, as Nathan turns against Jean and (possibly) disintegrates her. During Sinister’s fight with Jean, he plays mind games with her, trying to egg her on and out of her complacency with what he did to her. When he saw that didn’t work, he pulled his ace card, revealing Cable to be under his influence, just as his mother had been. The Cable who seemed to be accepting of Jean as his stepmother quickly turned his hatred back on. Yet this moment left a few questions that need to be explored further.
The first big question is how long has Cable essentially been a sleeper cell for Sinister. As in the case of his mother, Madelyne, she was unaware that Sinister held a place in her brain until he wanted to be known. Is the same true for Cable? He also makes a comment about the power he inherited from his mother, which does finally pay out the fact that he’s supposed to be the first mutant/mutant offspring and theoretically the next generation of mutation. This is what Sinister was always after, yet Cable never appeared to exhibit much power, until now. Is it possible some of the power he inherited was the mind control that Sinister put in place? Has he really been ‘under his control’ since birth, or did Sinister intercept him at another time?
Whatever the case, Jean might have just been obliterated, with Scott forced to watch his son be the one to do the bidding. A lot of rumors are flying that Jean could now rise again so the Phoenix entity once again, considering the team likely needs some more help to take down Magneto and Bastian. As for Cable, they were able to help Madelyne escape the control from Sinister, so it’s very possible they can do it again, although likely not before more havoc. If no one but Scott saw what happened, the entire ground team still at large might be in danger, as Sinister is playing a very different game than Bastian.
The Final Seconds
The final few seconds of Episode 9 might have been the most mind-blowing moments of MCU content that has ever existed. They brought a literal comic book panel to life in a shocking way and there needs to be a huge shoutout to the writers’ room of this show. Their ability to not just take so directly from the source material but also keep shocking us again and again, episode after episode is amazing. But let’s get into the moment Logan learns why he should never mess with Magneto.
After Xavier entered Magneto’s mind, it was clear that that was the final straw for him, shoving his helmet on Xavier’s head to force him to stop going into other’s minds. The fight around continues until we see Logan’s three claws come out the other side of Magneto, shocking everyone and pausing the fight. Logan, known for being rash, made one of the craziest decisions, as without Magneto to turn back his magnetic pulse that shut everything off, the world really would end. Yet it also was just plain shocking, as up until this point with Xavier and Magneto, it was clear everyone to some level was pulling their punches. Xavier crossed the line entering his head and trying to take control and now Logan crossed the line by dealing a possibly lethal blow.
Yet no one could have seen what would happen next as Magneto, still alive but struggling, makes the final play of the fight and proves he really could have done a lot worse, so much sooner. In a crazy turn of events, Magneto uses his magnetic abilities to start to rip Logan’s adamantium skeleton right out of his body. Now before anyone panics, Logan isn’t dead. It’s important to remember his actual mutant ability is his healing factor and the adamantium that was laced into his skeleton (no his skeleton isn’t metal, he still had normal bones), was added during his time in the Weapon X program. Wolverine will live, although it will likely take his body some time to heal itself and this means he will be out of the fight in Episode 10. An important few things to note as well is that moving forward from this point in the comics, it’s discovered that Logan’s claws are actually bone and he is able to use them still, although he is much more breakable than he used to be. He eventually devolves into Feral Wolverine, which is similar to a wolf or dog, who lives outside in the woods of Xavier’s mansion. Apocalypse is the one who eventually fixes him, ripping Sabertooth’s adamantium skeleton out and giving it to Logan. The most important thing to take out of this is that our speculation of Apocolypse coming for Season Two seems to keep growing more legs.
Could Onslaught Be Coming?
A scary foe may be on the horizon for a future season. In the comics, Xavier uses his powers to shut down Magneto’s mind, similar to the attempt to use his powers in Episode 9 to force Magneto’s powers out. When Xavier does this in the comics, the darkest parts of Magneto’s mind merge with the darkest parts of Xavier’s mind, eventually creating a whole new being of its own, named Onslaught. A dark entity, Onslaught wreaks havoc multiple different times for the mutants and it seems we are on a crash course right to him.
What is very interesting about the initial Onslaught storyline is that it actually takes quite the star-studded team up to take him down. The X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four all come together to try and end him, which is pretty interesting when you consider the amount of cameos we’ve gotten from Avengers throughout this season of X-Men ’97. Could we be setting up for a massive crossover event in the future? It would be unlike what we’ve seen in the OG X-Men show and could be really cool to see it play out. We will just have to wait and see where this possible Easter Egg takes us.
Image: “X-Men ’97 Episode 9”, Alex Zalben, Comic Book Club