Previously On X-Men: ‘X-Men ’97’ Season 2 Special Edition

Welcome mutants! My plan is to work X-Men ’97 annotations into the regular Previously on X-Men posts, but with the series dropping three episodes at once and then me falling behind, here’s a special “all X-Men ’97” Previously on X-Men to get us caught up!

X-Men ’97 2×01: “Days of Past Future”

Written by Brian Ford Sullivan and directed by Emmett Yonemura

In the year 3960, half the X-Men help the future Cable realize his destiny.

• The image on the landing page of Disney Plus is an homage to X-Men Alpha #1, the issue which kicked off “The Age of Apocalypse.”
• Trish Tilby, the reporter in the opening infodump, is a longstanding X-Men supporting cast member and one of Beast’s ex-girlfriends.
• The phrase “time’s tide” that Bishop uses would have been a good episode title.
• The design of Apocalypse’s robot goons are consistent with their appearance in the original series.
• Wolverine is rocking his “feral” look from when Genesis (Cable’s son) tried to re-implant him with adamantium and he rejected it, including wilder hair and a bandana. Thankfully, he still has his nose.
• Also, as in the comics, his bone claws are functionally little different from the metal ones, able to stab into the robots and whatnot.
• Cyclops and Jean are wearing versions of their Walt Simonson X-Factor costumes, while Storm is wearing a version of the standard X-Men training uniform.
• I have no idea where anyone is getting these new threads in the future.
• Mother Askani is voiced by Gates McFadden aka Doctor Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Apocalypse’s citadel is more or less lifted directly from the Clan Akkaba citadel in Cable #17-19, complete with giant Apocalypse face on the front.
• Ozymandias first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #332. As detailed in the Rise of Apocalypse miniseries, he was a warlord serving under Rama-Tut who was transformed into living stone by Apocalypse and made to serve him for eternity.
• Apocalypse’s horsemen in this episode are his Final Horsemen from the Rick Remender‘s Uncanny X-Force run. They are Pestilence (Ichisumi, the Asian woman), War (Decimus Furius, the big horned guy), Famine (Jeb Lee, the drum player), and Death (Sanjar Javeed, the East Asian guy).
• Morph suggesting Lil’ Cable didn’t know he was supposed to throw the baseball back genuinely made me laugh.
• The ship that Mother Askani wants to get Lil’ Cable into it is Ship, the Celestial ship which previously appeared in the original series episode “Obsession,” in which the X-Men helped free it from Apocalypse’s control.
• Cyclops and Jean are repeating their goodbye message to Nathan from last season when they’re motivating him to get free.
• Morph transforms into Thor during the battle with Apocalypse’s forces.
• Lil’ Cable picking up the giant gun arm from one of Apocalypse’s Terminators and blasting away was a fun wink at his future as the massive gun-toting Cable.
• Apocalypse spending the whole episode in a fancy sarcophagus gives him big Mumm-Ra vibes.
• I chuckle every time someone say, “the 1990s” with tremendous seriousness.

Not the strongest of the first three episodes, but probably the one I enjoyed the most; I’m a sucker for Cyclops/Cable parental drama.

X-Men ’97 2×02: “A Force To Be Reckoned With”

Written by Anthony Sellitti & Mariah Wilson and directed by Emmett Yonemura

Cable recruits Sunspot & Jubilee into X-Force and battles X-Factor.

• This episode shares its title with the title of the story in X-Force #1.
• The mutants in the cold open seeking out the X-Mansion are Quentin Quire (currently of X-Men), Monet/Penance (from Generation X, currently in Uncanny X-Men), Wing (who lost his powers in M-Day and then was gaslit into committing suicide by Danger in Astonishing X-Men) and two characters whose names in the closed captioning are given as Jill and Mark; they are presumably meant to be the two mutant kids of the same name killed by the Purifiers in God Loves, Man Kills.
• Chamber, also from Generation X, is seen in the news footage of X-Factor, having been apprehended.
• When Cable first appears, he gets the musical sting used for him in the original series.
• Psylocke’s hero shot in the revised opening credits mimics her position on her trading card in the first, Jim Lee-drawn, series of cards.
• X-Factor’s brief appearance in the opening credits is structured like the cover to X-Factor #71, the first issue of the “All New, All Different” X-Factor.
• Angel Salvatore from New X-Men is included amongst the characters running between the two sides of mutant teams in the opening credits.
• Apocalypse’s side is composed of his horsemen and hounds.
• Archangel gets his dedicated theme music from the previous series reprised as well.
• The coffin War is seen delivering is almost certainly Gambit’s coffin.
• This X-Force straight up murdering War in cold blood is arguably more extreme than anything the comic book X-Force did.
• Back in the original X-Men animated series, the Hellfire Club had to be renamed the Circle Club to appease network censors worried about the precious baby ears of ’90s kids; here, it is the Hellfire Club again.
• Emma wearing her skimpy Hellfire attire in the swirling snows of Switzerland is a nice reminder that while this show might have a larger budget than its predecessor, it’s still not going to animate an entirely new look for a character for one scene, no matter how illogical the base design is for the setting.
• Psylocke seems to be doing some telekinetic stuff but she is not, traditionally, telekinetic.
• X-Factor is basically operating out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.
• The captive mutants I can spot include Quentin, Monet, Wing and Chamber from the opening (but not Jill and Mark), Nature Girl, Synch, Skin, Mondo, Eye-Boy, Artie, Dust, some Stepford Cuckoos, Beak, Rockslide, Angel II (from the opening credits) Glob, Anole, and Maggie, the little mutant girl from Marvels #2.
• The song playing when Jubilee busts everyone out is “Volcano Girls” by Veruca Salt.

The strongest of the first three episodes, due to the way it centers Jubilee as someone willing to work with Cable but also push back against his specific morality, while also giving her a kickass, standout action sequence as the episode’s climax.

X-Men ’97 2×03: “Rise of Apocalypse Part I”

Written by Beau DeMayo & JB Ballard and directed by Chase Conley.

In ancient Egypt, the other half of the X-Men help a young Apocalypse battle the pharaoh Rama-Tut.

• This two-parter shares its name with a late 1996 miniseries by Terry Kavanagh and Adam Pollina, from which much of the En Sabah Nur/Baal/Logos look and backstory is lifted.
• Rama-Tut is one of the forms of Kang the Conqueror; in the comics, Kang is technically Rama-Tut twice, once when he’s still a bad guy bent on conquering, and then later, when he’s older and more low-key, he returns to Egypt and resumes his crown, ultimately aiding the Avengers against his past self. Obviously the Rise of Apocalypse miniseries takes place in that first Rama-Tut era.
• The woman attending him is Candra, one of the Externals (a sub-group of long-lived mutants). She previously appeared (in the present) in Gambit’s origin story from the second season of the original series, as the person to whom the New Orleans guilds were giving their tithes.
• Apocalypse’s claim to being the first mutant in comics is less literal (it’s more like, “the first important mutant to have an impact on historical events”); Selene, for one, predates him. In publishing terms, of course, Namor the Sub-Mariner is considered Marvel’s first mutant character.
• Rogue’s look in this episode, with the orange tunic, resembles her post-Secret Wars look designed by John Romita Jr.
• I love Professor X has, basically, a wheelchair made of stone that still functions like his hoverchair (ie he’s not constantly using his arms to turn the wheels).
• During his probe of Logos’ mind, the moon resembles Onslaught’ head/helmet.
• The whole “rock of the eternal shore” dialogue is from Apocalypse in “Obsession.”
• Rama-Tut is voiced by John De Lancie aka Q, while Baal is voiced by Michael Dorn aka Worf, as X-Men ’97 continues to try and go full Gargoyles.

The most plot-heavy of the first three episodes (not surprising, given it’s a Part 1), but I do enjoy the tension between Magneto, the reformed villain, wanting to help Apocalypse break good, while Xavier, the alleged mortal center of the X-Men, is all, “he bad and he always will be and nothin’ gonna change that!”

X-Men ’97 2×04: “Rise of Apoclaypse Part II”

Written by Beau DeMayo & JB Ballard and directed by Chase Conley.

Professor X and Magneto try to stop En Sabah Nur from becoming Apocalypse. It … does not go well.

• Rama-Tut’s helmet when he’s telepathically talking with Xavier resembles Cerebro.
• That’s Eson the Searcher hanging out inside the ship.
• Given the little romantic spark that seemed to exist between them in “Obsession,” I love that Beast is the one who recognizes the Celestial ship as Ship.
• Also, I love that Beast, of all people, is the one who recognized the celestial temple for what it is, his old love interest, Ship. 
• This episode races by a lot of plotting on its way to its (admittedly killer) third act, including how exactly six stars in the sky somehow lead to the temple/Ship, what the deal with the energy barrier around it is, what exactly Magneto is doing to stop Ship’s attack, Beast vacillating between wanting to go home and staying, and Xavier managing to hang around in the past after Magneto sends everyone else home.
• Also, Xavier is somehow able to communicate telepathically with Magneto several times in this episode despite Magneto’s helmet blocking his telepathy. 
• In departing, Rama-Tut puts heavy emphasis on the word “external;” In the comics the Externals are a race of immortal mutants (Candra is one, as is Apocalypse himself).
• Magneto sure seems to blow up Ship by dragging it into the black hole it created, but we know it exists in the future (both in “Obsession” and in “Days of Past Future” where it transfers its consciousness into Cable’s arm), so not sure what actually happened to it there.
• The line “only a coward feels might when when stepping on ants” was first spoken to Apocalypse by Magneto in Part I.
• Now that Magneto is dead and they’re teasing “Onslaught,” can animated Joseph be far off?
• In the series’ first post-credits scene, Wolverine is presumably in France (based on the backgrounds). His past with Black Widow and Captain America is presumably a nod to the much-loved Uncanny X-Men #268, though that issue was already loosely adapted in the original series’ “Old Soldiers.”

A far superior conclusion to the previous episode’s setup. Some of the muddied plotting keeps it from being a top-tier episode, but its gut-punch of a third act is up there amongst the series’ best.