Evolution is a messy process.
I think that unless you’ve been
living under a rock for the last few days, you’ve heard about that absolutely
tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman to Colon Cancer. Cancer is a terrible illness,
and the fact that it claimed someone as young as Boseman is heartbreaking. I
remember when it was first announced that he would be taking up the role of the
Black Panther that I was cautiously optimistic for his performance. I’d only
seen him in the Jackie Robinson Biopic 42 and he knocked that out of the park.
After seeing him in Captain America: Civil War and later in his own Black Panther,
I had fallen in love with his portrayal and had hoped to see him grow into and
expand the role in the same way that Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans had for
Iron Man and Cap. Sadly, that will not be the case. My heart goes out to his
family and friends, and to the multitude of Black boys and girls that lost
their Superman before he had much of a chance to spread his wings. Rest in
Peace, Chadwick Boseman. You were a hero and a King, that just happened to get
to play them on the big screen.
…
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that bit
of depressing business out of the way, let’s move onto something happier. I hope
this doesn’t come across as callous. As I said when the George Floyd/Black
Lives Matter protests were going out of control here in Minnesota, this is how
I process.
Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Magneto
finally revealed himself and let slip the dogs of war. X-Men and Brotherhood
were pitched against each other to prove if they were worthy to join Magneto’s
ranks on Asteroid M aka Sanctuary. Xavier was given a free pass. After the
fighting had mostly died down, Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, Rogue, Jean, and
Storm were shown to be the victors while Logan and Sabertooth continued their
battle. And in the closing moments, it’s revealed that Scott and his newly
rediscovered brother Alex had both signed onto Magneto’s team. What a twist!
Let’s get to it, shall we?
After a quick recap of the last
episode’s events, we cut over to the beach where the X-Men and Brotherhood
brawled. Toad is sitting by the water, eating flies, and lamenting the fact that
he’s the only one from his team that didn’t get a ride to Sanctuary. A very
angry Kurt grabs Toad and demands to know what happened. Toad, no longer
feeling loyal due to snubbing, gives them the general info. Magneto, a super-duper
Mutant pitted the two teams against each other and they were the losers so they
were left behind. A still pissed Kurt demands to know where the winners were
taken.
 |
| Fun fact, Alex is one of only a handful of people who can do this without fear. The Summers brothers emit energies that the other absorbs. |
We jump back to Asteroid M. Xavier
asks Scott why he’s thrown in with Magneto, to which Scott seems confused. He says
that the only came to talk. This sentiment seems to be proven when Xavier shows
Scott his team in pods, which infuriates Scott. Magneto claims it’s a precaution,
and that once they’ve had a bit of a dialogue, he’ll let the others out. Xavier
tries to warn Scott telepathically that he knows Magneto and that he won’t just
talk. Magneto, either somehow sensing or just saw Xavier put his hand to his
head, magnetically pushes Xavier into a pod and knocks him out. With his last
few seconds of consciousness, Xavier reaches out to Logan and tells him to
throw the fight. Scott immediately demands Magneto release Xavier or risk
blasting, but Alex talks him down so that they can hopefully have a peaceful
discussion. Magneto, seeing that his biggest telepathic threat is taken care
of, takes off his helmet tells the Summers’ he’s no ones enemy.
Wolverine and Sabretooth continue
to brawl. Wolverine seems to be debating on whether to listen to Xavier or not,
before sheathing his claws and letting Sabretooth throw him off a cliff. After
the pod comes and collects Sabretooth, he gets back up and notices a chopper in
the distance, presumably Victor’s ride to the island. And I guess he left the
keys in the cockpit? That seems silly.
 |
| Just a reminder that canonically, Wolverine is quite short and yet still intimidating as hell. |
The other X-Men return to the
mansion looking for Storm. Mystique reveals herself and lets them know that
Storm is go. Toad finds it pretty funny that his boss lost, that is until
Mystique grabs him by the scruff and lets him know in no uncertain terms to never
call her a loser again. She tells the kids that she’s going to get payback,
they can either come along or stay out of her way. Logan walks in and says they’re
going. When Mystique tries to take command, Logan tells her she can find her
own ride if she doesn’t want to work with him. So, Mystique relents, and the
X-Men + Mystique and Toad strap into the X-Men’s new ride, the XM Velocity, a
sort of Jet-Copter that takes off at high speed.
On Asteroid M, Scott is looking at
the Arctic Landscape below and remembering his tragic backstory. Alex joins him
partway through the remembrance. When he and Alex were young, their parents’
plane was damaged and was going to crash. Scott and Alex were given the two
parachutes and jumped to safety. Scott helped Alex pull his shoot before the
plane exploded, his chute catching on fire. Scott explains he hit the ground
hard and was in a coma for a month, and when he awoke was told he was the only survivor.
Alex lets him know that his foster parents took good care of him and what
matters now is that they’re together. His only real problem now is the arthritis
like pain his powers seem to be causing. Magneto joins the boys and lets them
know that he has a way to fix both Alex’s hands and Scott’s eyes.
 |
| I love the face animation here. Magneto looks like he's holding the holy grail or his newborn child, and both Summers are like "Kay, it's a Rock." |
He takes them and the Brotherhood
to his Genetic Enhancer. The device he designed uses the Gems of Cyttorak, the
same rocks Cain Marko used to trigger his powers, to develop a machine to push Mutation
to it’s limit, perfecting it and making them more powerful. The process is
supposedly voluntary, but Magneto won't release the others until the Summers’
go through it. To prove its’ not dangerous, Scott demands Magneto do it. He claims
to have already done so, but has Sabretooth go through to show it’s safe.
A few miles out, the Velocity is
rocking towards Asteroid M. Toad claims to hear the metal shrieking in
protests, but Logan reveals the jet-chopper is entirely metal free, which only
seems to scare Toad more.
 |
| 1. Neither of them look good with white hair. 2. Why do I want to hear them both say "I'll be Back!"? |
Sabretooth emerges, his powers enhanced…
which in his case makes him look more like Bigfoot then ever before. Judging
that to be an adequate demonstration, the Summers agree to try it. As they walk
in, Magneto wakes the X-Men to watch. Xavier tries to warn Scott that the device
will alter his mind as well as his body, but Magneto slams the heavy door on
them, announcing to Xavier that “He’s mine, now.” The machine actives and
clearly causes Alex and Scott immense pain as they’re altered. When they
emerge, they’ve packed on a noticeable amount of muscle and their hair has turned
white-grey like Magneto’s. And, Alex seems to be pain free, and Scott can take
off his sunglasses and see. Magneto dubs Alex Havok… for some reason, and also
explains his machine purged their minds of “weakness” like compassion for humans.
Oh boy. Before he can pontificate more, Sabretooth warns a ship is incoming.
Magneto tries to pull it from the sky, but has no effect. He throws Xavier a
dirty look, whom just shrugs in reply. If I knew my magnetic best frenemy was
involved in something you can bet your ass I’d get a metal free vehicle built.
He orders Cyclops and Havok to shoot it down. The brother’s Summers comply. The
combined optic and hand blasts cripple the Velocity, but it’s momentum carries
it forward to crash into the Asteroid. Jean is able to pull the two out of the
way of the Velocity before it can crush them. The combined X-Brotherhood team
charge, with Mystique going to show her boss how displeased she is at being
left behind.
Wolverine frees the captives and
tells them to prep the Blackbird just before being tackled by Ultra Sabretooth.
Xavier has Storm and Rogue go prep the jet while he and Jean go to save Scott
and Alex. Some chaos ensues while the battle rages. During the scuffle, Magneto’s
enhancer is opened up and powered up. Mystique and Magneto brawl, with Toad
actually giving his blue boss a hand, but Mystique is ultimately thrown into
the Enhancer, with Magneto following to pull her out of his precious machine.
Rogue helps Evan take out Quicksilver, and Toad grabs Blob and Avalanche and everyone
books it for the Jet. Except Storm, who dives back in and saves Logan from
being killed by Sabretooth.
Scott and Alex are able to blast
free after Jean moves some of the rubble. They’re furious with Xavier for ruining
their chance at having Mutants unite. But Jean and Xavier won’t let them just
rage at them, the two telepaths guilt Scott and Alex for crossing Magneto’s
line in the sand and attacking their friends. The two leave, giving the brothers
Summers a chance to choose who they’ll follow. The enhancer opens and an
incredibly buff and more reptilian Mystique comes out with a roar.
Everyone sans Magneto, Mystique and
the Summers’ are on the Blackbird. The two Summers boys run up to join them,
but the landing pad breaks off and the Blackbird plummets to the ground before
they can join. Wolverine is able to pull up, but Scott and Alex are kind of
boned. Asteroid M tips to the side, knocking them off. They grab hands mid fall
and use their powers together to slow their descent and land. The Blackbird circles
around to get them, but debris from Asteroid M cause the jet to crash.
 |
| A very cool image to close out on. Just spectacular. But... what are they staring at? |
Two pods escape the Asteroid as it’s
come down. Implying Magneto either willingly saved Mystique for some reason or
that the pods are automated. Huh, not sure on that one. As the Asteroid falls
Alex and Scott combine their powers and blow it out of the sky. Now, either
over exerting them to that extent, or being hit with some sort of aftershock
from the Asteroid’s destruction causes their enhancements to wear off, reverting
their looks and flaws back to normal. Jean gives Scott his glasses back and
helps him up. The Brotherhood notes that their bosses escaped, so there probably
not done yet either. Xavier offers Alex a spot on the team if/when his powers fully
manifest and we close out on the line “We are the X-Men.”
Overall, this was a solid season
finale. There were a few twists, a fairly expansive brawl, the villain revealed
himself in full and almost got away with his plan. All the boxes were checked.
That said, I think this two-part finale really could have used a third part.
Just to give us more time with Enhanced Scott and Alex, to see how Magneto’s
machine altered them and to have them do something a little more terrible than
blasting their friends out of the sky. That was pretty bad, but I could have
used a little more of the evil Summers to drive the point home, just saying. I
did like the callback to the Gems of Cyttorak. In the shows lore, and the
comics, the Ruby of Cyttorak was what gave Cain Marko his powers. Obviously they tweaked it so that the one Ruby became many Gem's for Magneto's machine to work. Magneto
explains that while thought to be mystic, the Gems in fact give off a kind of
radiation that empowers Mutants. I like it when Science and magic and source material
can mix like that. You think that bit about Mystique getting a boost before the
Asteroid went down will come up again? Nah… The show tied off it’s plot fairly
well, it’ll be interesting to see how things continue when we come back for the
first couple episodes of season 2. See you then.
And, finally, Rest in Peace Chadwick
Boseman. You were so good, you deserved another goodbye. Tell Jackie Robinson, James
Brown, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Kobe Bryant and all the rest that we say hey.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41010124
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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