Review: Guardians of the Galaxy: Christmas Special

 Peter really needs to sit these guys down and explain what kidnapping is. 

Alright, let’s close out this year with Guardian’s of the Galaxy: Holiday Special. All I know about it is that it’s the team trying to cheer Peter up after he was still depressed following Gamora’s death and replacement with a pre-Guardian Variant of herself. I’ve heard people are mixed on it overall, but that’s all I know. Let’s see how I feel about it, shall we?

 

Such an odd opening...

The story opens with a drunk man singing a Christmas song before cutting to an animated scene of Peter explaining the concept of Christmas to Yondu and Kraglin. Yondu is… unusually aggravated at the concept of being given gifts and tells them to clean up the mess or they’ll be on latrine duty. He then violently smashes the tree up, announces he hates Christmas (despite knowing about it of only about a minute) and storms off. We then jump to current Kraglin, sporting Yondu’s old fin, explaining that that’s how Yondu ruined Christmas forever to Mantis, Drax, and Nebula. Mantis is sympathetic… and Drax enjoyed hearing about the violence. Kraglin says that he saw on a multi-calendar that it’s Christmas time on Earth and that it brought back memories. Nebula admits she kind of agrees with Yondu, as the Guardians have been super busy remodeling Knowhere since buying it from the Collector. Kraglin and Nebula go off to do more work. Mantis mentions that that was a heartbreaking story, to which Drax agrees, saying he hates stories where everyone lives. Mantis looks at, and we jump over to, Peter who is signing some paperwork. We shift focus a little to Rocket Raccoon berating Cosmo the space dog’s sloppy telekinetic movement of some panels. Cosmo drops the panels after Rocket calls him a mutt and demands treats if he’s to keep working.

 

An alien named Bzermikitokolok calls Peter over to get his input on how his band is doing on Christmas song he’s been working on. He learned about Christmas from Rocket, who learned from Cosmo, who learned from Kraglin who learned from Peter, so this is going to be weird, me thinks. The first lines are normal, but then they go into a full rock song about how weird Santa is when you think about it. A nearly fully grown Groot is rocking out to it in the background, so they’re doing something right. Peter walks off when they’re finished, looking miffed.

 

The Hangover but with Aliens. And
Christmas.

      Back with Mantis and Drax, she talks about wanting to help Peter out by trying to “fix” Christmas for him. She wants to do this in part because of her secret, the one that only Drax knows, that she is Peter’s half-sister. I guess that she didn’t have the spark or whatever Ego needed to enact his plan. Who knew? She doesn’t want to tell him because she doesn’t want him to only think about their psychotic father when they look at him. She wants to get Peter the ultimate Christmas gift to make up for Yondu humbugging up Christmas and Gamora’s disappearance. Drax suggest they get him the ultimate hero, the one that Peter has talked about most in the years he’s known him. We cut to Kevinn Bacon getting his car and getting a call from his wife Kyra Sedgwick and saying he’s all set for them to have the perfect Christmas. Oh, Kevin, you fool.

 

Drax and Mantis grab a ship and hyperspace fly to Earth. Their ship causes several onlookers to start sobbing, as they probably think another invasion is happening. At least they do until Drax remembers to turn on the cloaking device. Their plan is to go down to LA and ask around until someone tells them where to find Kevin Bacon. Wow, this is a weird premise but I guess we’re going for it. They both think Kevin Bacon is some kind of king or something. They land the ship and start looking for Kevin Bacon. There’s a funny bit where Mantis thinks a street performer is the real Steve Rodgers and Drax threatens a “Gobot” because one I guess killed his cousin? Drax’s backstory is weird. They make a bunch of money from tourists that take photos and such with them. The segment ends with Mantis in another photoshoot and Drax beating the Gobot guy in the background.

 

They’re still wandering around hours later and end up in a bar. They buy a couple shots and ask a bartender where Kevin Bacon is, which he obviously doesn’t know. They get a shot, Mantis wanders off to dance and Drax is hit on by a rando. They have a good time getting drunk and partying for a bit. They end up drunk and sitting on the street. Mantis laments not knowing where Kevin Bacon is or even what he looks like. A lady shows them a “Map of the Stars,” which Mantis makes her hand over for free, along with all her money. Damn, drunk Mantis is a monster.

 

I wonder if this was the weirdest house call that Kevin
Bacon has had...

They travel to the Bacon/Sedgewick house and interrupt the start having a lovely night in. They ring his doorbell and get his attention, but obviously Kevin Bacon isn’t super interested in helping out two random weirdo’s at his front gate. Mantis blames Drax for acting weird and not wanting to talk to them. Mantis tries to formulate a plan, wondering aloud if Drax could toss her over the gate and maybe… her thought isn’t finished because Drax immediately throws her over the gate. He leaps over a few seconds later. He immediately steals an elf Christmas decoration, and Mantis scolds him before also stealing a candy cane decoration. They knock on the door and call out to Kevin Bacon. Kevin does the crazy thing and goes to check his front door. He asks them to kindly put his decorations back and leave, and that he’s calling the cops right now. Drax breaks in and tells him that they’re taking him as a Christmas present. Kevin runs through his house, Drax and Mantis in pursuit, before escaping outside. They get distracted when Drax realize he left his elf behind and argue about whether he can go back for it. … kay.

 

Kevin Bacon runs into the cops as Mantis and Drax follow. They get ordered to raise their hands or they’ll shoot. They don’t stop and the cops start firing. Unfortunately for them, Drax is bulletproof. Mantis then leaps through them and using her powers to knock them out. She almost gets Kevin Bacon when another cop car drives and Drax flips the car over. Mantis yells at him for possibly killing cops. She goes over to make sure they’re okay and gives them her stolen candy cane as a peace offering. She grabs Kevin Bacon and uses her powers to make him super excited to come with them. They steal a bunch of Christmas stuff from a store and take off.

 

As they fly back to Knowhere, Kevin Bacon explains that he’s in fact not his characters from Footloose or Friday the 13^th but, ya know, an actor. Drax and Mantis are immediately disgusted by this, as I guess actors don’t have a great rep in the intergalactic community. He tries to explain how great actor’s are, but they’re too busy being disgusted by actors to notice. Mantis uses her powers to make Kevin Bacon to act like a real hero. He at first tries to be a literal hero, a private in the British army during WWII, but Mantis corrects him, saying be like Kevin bacon if he didn’t suck. Oy.

 

On Knowhere, Groot is sent to get Peter’s attention and lure him to the Guardian’s surprise display. They strung up a tone of lights and set up some fake snow to blow for him. Peter is absolutely floored by the display. Mantis runs in and wishes Peter a merry Christmas from everyone before all the citizens of Knowhere run in to celebrate. They then wheel out Kevin Bacon in a box. Peter opens his present and is shocked to find Kevin Bacon inside. Peter is obviously less than stoked his friends kidnapped Kevin Bacon and orders Mantis to get him out of his super stoked trance when he realizes what she did. She does and Kevin Bacon is scared shitless by what is happening. Peter tries to keep him calm while ordering Kraglin to get the ship ready to bring Kevin Bacon home. Groot pretends like he thought it was a bad idea, Peter scolds him for lying, and Kevin Bacon gets more freaked out. Peter lets shim go and he immediately runs. He orders Nebula to get him. She runs after him “You can’t outrun me, Bacon!”

 

Later, Kraglin brings Kevin Bacon onto the ship and prepares to take him home. Kraglin apologizes about what happened and mentions that this only happened because Kevin Bacon means so much to Peter. He mentions that Peter told them all about the story about Footloose and how Peter saved the Universe via dancing in part because of him. Kyra Sedgwick calls, and Kevin lets her know that he’s going to be a little late. Kevin Sings a son with Bzermikitokolok and his band while the Guardians do a gift exchange. Groot got a classic Gameboy, Nebula got Rocket Bucky’s arm, Cosmo got Kraglin a dead… space rat, and Mantis got Drax another Elf guy. That’s sweet. Groot made everyone little dioramas of the events of the special. My favorite is Kraglin’s, which is Kraglin holding a figure of himself, holding a figure of himself. Classic sight gag.

 

Sibling hug!

After the song, Peter and the gang have group hug with Kevin Bacon before he heads out. Nebula is amazed that all actors aren’t pieces of shit. Later, Peter asks Mantis why they went to all the trouble. Mantis says that Kraglin told them the story about Yondu ruining Chrismas and how they wanted to fix it. Peter mentions that he isn’t sure Kraglin knows the full ending. We see in another animated segment that Yondu eventually opened his gift and got this little green alien thing, and in thanks gave Peter his guns. Mantis reveals that they’re half siblings. Peter says that’s the best Christmas gift he’d ever get and they hug it out.  The story ends with the two saying Merry Christmas to each other, and a scene of Yondu and Peter bonding before flying off.

 

In a post credit scene, Rocket and Cosmo try to turn Groot into a Christmas tree. He can’t keep his arms up forever, though, so he drops the ornaments he was holding. Cosmo says Groot ruined Christmas again and Rocket comments that they’ll need to do another special.

 

Alright, that was fine. I definitely think that Werewolf By Night is the superior special. But that was introducing several new characters and new elements to the MCU, this was always meant to be just a “oh, aliens are weird” gag story involving the Guardians of the Galaxy. I in general like Batista’s Drax and Pom Klementieff’s Mantis… but I think they tried to milk them too much for this. Mantis not understanding what an impersonator is and not getting how she freaked out Steve? Funny. Mantis not realizing that kidnapping is bad? Less funny. It was fun to see Kevin Bacon in this, though. Celebrities just playing themselves in a movie/special is kind of easy mode, but again, this was just supposed to be a dumb fun goofy set up. His song was well done. And, while the “the real greatest gift is the truth” bit is cliché as hell, Pom does sell it as a big moment for Mantis to know that Peter is happy she’s his sister and not pissed off at the reminder of Ego. Oh, and it was fun to see Rocket and Cosmo interacting. What? Unlikely animal friends are great. So yeah, it was a silly little side story. Kind of dumb in places but harmless. I’d personally prefer more Werewolf By Night style specials than this one, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen this year. (Sidelong glance at Black Adam.) It makes me excited for whatever Guardian’s of the Galaxy Vol. III is going to look like, so that’s a win in and of itself. And that’s all I have to say about that. Have a Happy New Year, everyone!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76621033?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Villain Profile: M'Baku

He's hear to kick ass and smack his chest like a gorilla, and he's all out of asses to kick.

Okay, so I’m still feeling pretty burnt out, so I think that I’m going to delay Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for the beginning of 2023. Sorry, but a full-length movie feels like a lot given the last few days. But, to at least do something Black Panther themed, I’ll do a quick Villain profile for one of T’Challa’s big villains, M’Baku. Fair warning, I’ll only be referring to him by his real name for this one. Again, sorry, but I just feel a little dirty referring to him by his supervillain alias the Man-Ape. Like, I felt ill saying it that one time to acknowledge that is in fact his name. M’Baku is overall a minor character in the Black Panther mythos, but his prominence in the MCU makes me think that he’s going to be given greater focus in the years to come. Enough preamble. Let’s get to it.

 

I honestly don't know if Gorilla
beats Panther or not.

M'Baku began life in the Jabari village in the outskirts of the African nation of Wakanda. M’Baku trained relentlessly and became known as one of the country’s greatest warriors. As he grew in skill and renown so did his ambition. Wanting to take control of the nation and return it to a ‘survival of the fittest” mentality, M’Baku made plans for a coup while T’Challa was away working with the Avengers. He revived the cult of the White Gorilla to meet this end. The cult had been outlawed by the ruling Panther cult centuries before. To show off his dedication and to make himself a match for the Black Panther, M’Baku hunted down and killed a rare white Gorilla that lives in the mountains of Wakanda. He ate its flesh and bathed in its blood to imbue himself with mystically enhanced strength. He also took to waring the skin of the gorilla he killed in like Hercules did with the Nemean Lion skin.

 

When T’Challa returned to Wakanda with the Avengers, he found M’Baku waiting, and the gorilla skin usurper challenged his king to trial by combat. M’Baku planned to defeat T’Challa and outlaw the advanced technology and return the country to a simpler, survival of the fittest lifestyle. After a long battle, M’Baku bested T’Challa. He tied the king to a statue of the Panther God Bast and intended to push it over and crush him, but the statue instead crumbled, burying M’Baku. T’Challa returned to New York to continue working with the Avengers, believing his enemy dead, but M’Baku was dug up by his supporter N’Gamo and he began to prepare for another battle with the Black Panther.

 

M'Baku became a recurring villain for T’Challa. He often served on villainous teams as the villain opposite of the Black Panther. He served on the Lethal Legion, a villain team run by the Grim Reaper. This didn’t last long, as the Reaper is openly racist and obviously, he got fed up with that. He also worked with an incarnation Masters of Evil. Weirdly, he did get an invite to T’Challa’s wedding where he and Ororo Monroe (aka Storm) where he tried to pick a fight with Spider-Man after he got totally wasted on scotch. Sounds like a wedding with my family. Ha. I wonder if he ever got pissed off that Killmonger got to usurp T’Challa’s place as king of Wakanda. I can’t seem to find a summary that talks about them interacting. What are you going to do?

 

He's really in your face, this guy.

M'Baku was a strong man and gifted fighter before he gained his superpowers. After bathing in the blood of and eating the flesh of a sacred white gorilla, M’Baku gained enhanced strength, speed, agility, stamina, and durability. Your standard Strongman powerset.

 

M’Baku is a recurring antagonist and rival to T’Challa in various media. His portrayals vary from generic to truly noble.

 

M’Baku was a minor villain in the excellent The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, portrayed by Kevin Michael Richardson. In the short episode “Welcome to Wakanda” M’Baku challenged T’Challa’s father T’Chaka for the throne. T’Chaka was bested and killed by M’Baku, with unseen help from the evil Ulysses Klaw. T’Challa fled the country and went to New York to seek aid from the fledgling Avengers. While he’s away, M’Baku and Klaw made plans to sell the Vibranium Mound, one of Wakanda’s most precious resources, to HYDRA. In “Panther’s Quest” T’Challa returns with his allies and battles M’Baku again. Despite using the same device that let him best T’Chaka, T’Challa is able to defeat M’Baku and later Klaw, who’d turned into a monster, and free his people.

Biggest villain glow up since Marvel comics
made The Prowler's nephew a Spider-Man.

 

A significantly more heroic version of M’Baku appears in the MCU. M’Baku is portrayed by Winston Duke. In this continuity, the Jabari are one of the tribes of Wakanda, the only one that originally didn’t want in on the pact that formed the nation of Wakanda under the Panther tribe. He’s never referred to by his alias, but it’s made reference to in the fact the Jabari worship a gorilla god named Hanuman instead of the Panther God Bast, and they wear armor stylized after Gorillas. M’Baku even has a habit of beating his chest like gorilla as a combination personal psyche up and intimidation check against his opponents. He first appears with the Jabari during T’Challa’s coronation ceremony, where any member of the five tribes can challenge the prospective king to single combat without his powers. T’Challa and M’Baku fight, but the Panther beats the Gorilla by getting him into a grapple. He returns later when T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, his sister Shuri, agent Ross, and his girlfriend Nakia flee Killmonger’s hostile takeover of Wakanda. They offer him the Heart-Shaped herb if he’ll fight Killmonger and avenge T’Challa but he instead informs them that T’Challa is alive and receiving medical aid from them. During the climax, he and the Jabari arrive at the last minute to help T’Challa regain control of Wakanda.

 

In later MCU projects, M’Baku serves as one of T’Challa’s advisors and confidants. By the events of Wakanda Forever, he’s been placed as an advisor to the dowager Queen Ramonda after T’Challa’s death and tries to be a friend and ally to the grieving Shuri, to mixed results.

 

When I started writing this post, I had assumed that M’Baku was the Black Panther’s version of the Abomination, or Venom, or even Whiplash, but honestly his sparce appearances and list of accomplishments is way more reminiscent of the Scorpion when I did research for his post. A visually iconic villain that is a physical match for the hero but has rarely done much to distinguish themselves as a real threat. I have to assume that’s at least a little bit due to how… ookie… it is to have a Black man wearing the skin of a White Gorilla. HP Lovecraft called; he wants his extremely ham-fisted metaphor back. Another could be that he just sort of serves as a starter villain for T’Challa, much like the Enforcers did with Spider-Man. He is the baseline that T’Challa builds off as he begins facing off against more cunning villains. Or, he might have just been following T’Challa’s path, as it were. I saw Wakanda Forever at the Alamo Drafthouse theater. For those whom have never been, they like to start MCU movies (possibly others) with a sort of ‘spotlight’ that gives context on the history of the characters and their portrayal in the MCU and behind the scenes stuff. It’s how I learned that for Dr. Strange, the MCU hired a dancer who specialized in specifically finger movements to help Benedict Cumberbatch come up with the movements for Strange’s spells. For Black Panther’s, one of the artists that was interviewed pointed out there was a ten or fifteen year time span where T’Challa was there with the Avengers, but he really didn’t do anything. He was stuck in a holding pattern, so I guess his villains might have been too. Who knows. I kind of hope that the comics are considering giving him an alignment make over to make him more of a support character to T’Challa than as an antagonist. What? I like Winston Duke and would like his portrayal to be canon. I’m not apologizing. I have greatly preferred the honorable, heroic M’Baku to the dastardly villain, and again, I’m not apologizing. And that’s all I have to say about that. Next time, The holiday special. I’ll see you there. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76578726?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Wheel of Time: Legendary Items

Three objects that will rock the foundation of creation.

So, at time of writing, it’s Christmas time and I’m feeling a little bit burnt out. I have the Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special to do and Wakanda Forever if there’s time, but I for sure need one more post to do to get to lucky number seven. To do that, I decided to talk about the Wheel of Time some more. Why? Because it’s one of my favorite book series, I liked the show, and I want to hype both. To do this, I figured I could talk about a few legendary objects in the Wheel of Time mythos. I’ll warn you there will be a few spoilers for these objects, but I’ll try to keep things vague. The three items I settled on talking about here are as follows, The Horn of Valere, Callandor, and the Choedan Kal. Even set up, let’s get to it.

 

Horn to shake the pillars of creation.

The Horn of Valere is one of the most legendary items in the Wheel of Time. And much like a lot of legendary items, it’s appearance is rather humble. It looks like a simple curled gold horn. No jewels, no ornate designs. The only adornment on the Horn is a line in the Old Tongue etched in silver. “Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin.” Translated, it reads “The Grave is no bar to my call.” The origins of the horn are shrouded in mystery. It was ancient during the Age of Legends, 3000 years prior to the Third Age where the Wheel of Time take places. It’s power allows the Hornsounder to call back the heroes bound to the Horn to fight. The Heroes, as they’re known, will gather when the Horn sounds. They’re ghosts of legendary heroes, those who are tied to the horn and will reincarnate periodically to begin new stories and legends. The Dragon Reborn is implied to be one of these heroes, but due to the fact they need to be alive to fight the lasts battle, it seems like there’s no example of the Dragon Reborn being called back by the Horn.

 

What an odd looking horn.

The Horn of Valere was lost during the Breaking of the World, where male Aes Sedai were driven mad by the Dark One’s corruption on their source of power, Saidin. Well… lost is not the right word so much as hidden. While the world was in chaos following the Dragon Lews Therin’s death and the sealing of the Dark One, a group of Aes Sedai took the Horn of Valere and a copy of the Dragon’s personal banner and sealed it within the Eye of the World. The Aes Sedai sacrificed themselves to create a pool of pure Saidin at the Eye to hide and protect the Horn through the ages.

 

In the Wheel of Time show continuity, the Horn wasn’t protected by the Eye of the World. The Eye is repurposed into one of the Seals holding the Forsaken and Dark One in their prison. The Horn is instead hidden beneath the throne in the Shienaran fortress of Fal Dara.

 

Onto Callandor. For a refresher, in the Wheel of Time universe, the magic users (Channelers) have access to two specialized devices that can enhance their powers. The more common of the two are the Angreal. A Channeler who uses an Angreal will have their power greatly enhanced, turning a moderately strong Channeler into a strong one. Sorry if I’m being too vague here, it’s about the level vagueness that Robert Jordan used when he described power levels in universe. The second type is called a Sa’Angreal. These are exceedingly rare, and they enhance a channeler’s powers by an even greater degree. And one of the strongest Sa’Angreal for a man is Callandor. Its name, roughly translated, means The Sword that is not a Sword. Jordan really loved that kind of poetic language.

 

The Sword of the Dragon.

Callandor resembles a slightly curved sword made of crystal. It was made during the War of Power, the battle between the forces of Light and Shadow at the end of the Age of Legends. It was the personal weapon of the Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon. After his death and the start of the Breaking of the World, the surviving Aes Sedai used their powers to make a grand fortress. This fortress became known as the Stone. The Stone is a virtually impregnable structure, a fortress carved from living stone, a miniature Mountain. The Aes Sedai placed Callandor at the heart of the Stone of Tear and wove wards to protect it and punish anyone that tried to touch or move it, save its rightful owner, the next incarnation of the Dragon. The crystal sword floated in the Heart of the Stone for millennia, waiting for the Dragon Reborn. The Prophecies of the Dragon state that the Stone will never fall until the People of the Dragon come to it, and that it shall stand until the Dragon Reborn takes Callandor. Because of these two lines from the Prophecies, the High Lords (the ruling class) of Tear think of themselves as the defenders of the world and will do whatever they can to ensure the Dragon Reborn never claims Callandor.

 

The final item we’ll talk about today are the Choedan Kal. The Choedan Kal are a pair of enormous Sa’Angreal statues that resemble a giant man and woman in flowing robes. Both statues hold above their heads a giant crystal sphere. The Spheres glow when the Kal are activated. The Choedan Kal are thought to be the single most powerful Sa’Angreal ever made. Their power was so great, and the statues so large, that one couldn’t channel directly through them. A Channeler wishing to access their power would instead have to use the Access Keys, smaller replica statues of either figure, ter’angreal. Ter’angreal are devices that don’t amplify the powers of the user but use the One Power for different effects. In this particular case, the Access Keys allow one to tap into the Kal from anywhere on the planet.

 

One of the the
Statues.

The Choedan Kal were made during the War of Power as a last ditch effort to try to stop the Dark One and his Forsaken. The plan, pitched by Latra Posae Decume who was a contemporary of Lews Therin, was to use the power of the Kal to seal off the very mountain of Shayol Ghul and keep the Shadow at bay until a more permanent solution could be thought up. This plan was almost immediately ruined when the forces of the Shadow ended up capturing the city where the Kal were built and getting access to the Access Keys. This major loss was in fact what motivated Lews Therin Telamon to lead his Hundred Companions on a strike against the Dark One and to try to seal the bore with seven seals. So, in a way, they’re kind of the reason why the whole world ended up the way it did.

 

During the Breaking of the World, the Choedan Kal were lost. As men driven insane by the Dark One’s corruption reshaped the very face of the planet, the Kal were separated and spread across the world. The statue of the Man was unearthed near the city of Cairhien around the time that Rand al’Thor and his friends were trekking north to Tar Valon. The statue of the Woman was left buried on the island of Tremalking in the Aryth Ocean. The statue is almost completely buried except for it’s glowing crystal sphere. While the statues were completed during the final days of the Age of Legends, they were never tested, and their power remains largely hypothetical.

 

Alright, there you have it. Three of the Legendary Items of the Wheel of Time. Each of these objects are very important to the story and have world shattering events tied to them. Each one will be of use to the Dragon Reborn as he beings his march to the Last Battle and his confrontation with the Dark One. Their power is immense, the risk of using them is immense, but where you’re fighting the literal personification of evil, one needs to bring out the big guns. So far, only the Horn of Valere has appeared in Amazon’s adaptation of the Wheel of Time. They seemed to stick with the design as described by Robert Jordan, a golden horn with silver script written on it. I can’t wait to see how Callandor and the Choedan Kal will look when it’s their turn to be brought out. It’ll hopefully be amazing. And hopefully Callandor will make its appearance soon. Depends on when they get around to releasing season 2. Release season 2, Amazon, I’m begging you. Have a good night, everyone.  

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76533421?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 52

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine. 

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Apocalypse began his master stroke. The X-Men learned via an unwilling but abandoned Mesmero that Apocalypse plans to use a three Pyramids set up around the world, powered by the Sphinx in Egypt, as part of a machine that would forcibly transform any human with a dormant X-Gene into a Mutant. The process would be fatal to millions. Xavier, wanting to try a peaceful approach, headed out with Storm to speak with Apocalypse. The ancient Mutant had just finished a full body makeover, using the ships technology to turn himself into a full cyborg. Apocalypse claimed that he is a tool of destiny and that he’ll do what he deems the world needs. When Charles objects, he and Storm are destroyed. Nick Fury attempts to stop him using Sentinels, a small squad to distract Apocalypse and several large ones to attack each of the Pyramids. Apocalypse, rather annoyed by this, summons his Horsemen and orders them to protect his Pyramids. The Horsemen are Charles Xavier, Magneto, Storm, and Mystique, they’d each been given cybernetic upgrades to enhance their powers and control their minds. They make short work of the Sentinels. Logan orders his people assemble teams. Four groups of X-Men and their allies head out to each of the Pyramids to face the Horsemen and Apocalypse to save the world. Enough recap. Let’s get to the finale!

 

Go team!

The episode begins with each of the teams heading toward their Pyramid. To recap, those teams are Jean, Piotr (Colossus), Jaime (Multiple), Tabitha (Boom-Boom) and Amara (Magma) vs. Charles; Logan, Scott, and Kurt vs. Mystique; Hank, Ray (Berserker), Bobby (Iceman) and Spyke vs. Storm, and Kitty, Roberto (Sunspot), Alex (Havok), Warren (Angel), and Wanda (Scarlet Witch) vs. Magneto. Logan gives his people a pep talk via the radio, basically telling them that it’s do or die time. He says they’ll stop Apocalypse, regardless of who they must go through.

 

Jean begins by trying to telepathically reaching Charles, but the tech controlling his mind is too much for her to overcome. Amara and Tabitha throw bombs and lava at Charles but he’s too powerful to stop.

 

In China, Spyke tries to talk to his aunt, but she also can’t be reached. Her weather manipulating powers are matched by Bobby’s ice and Ray’s lightning blasts, but she’s significantly stronger than both.

 

In Mexico, Wanda also tries to talk, but let’s face it, even if he were in his right mind, Magneto would probably ignore her. Magneto pulls Sentinel parts and uses them to try to bash his daughter, but Kitty grabbed her and phased them through it. He then assembles a scrap metal Sentinel and sends it at them.

 

Back at the Sphinx, Logan, Kurt, and Scott enter the chamber beneath it. Logan tries to sniff out Mystique, but her enhanced powers are too much for his senses to… well, sense. Kurt notes that something big is powering up at the Pyramid, just as dear ol’ Ma shapeshifts from a pool off water into her human form and grabs him. Yeah, that’s a major power boost for her. She throws Kurt at Logan, knocking them both down. Scott tries to optic blast her, but she just forms a hole in her stomach to dodge before shapeshifting into a swarm of bats. Damn. The boys swat at the bats as best they can

 

As this is going on, Apocalypse is in the Eye of Ages and begins to power up his device. As he touches a holographic display, all the Pyramids start glowing.

 

Back in Mexico, Magneto is holding off the X-Men team well. Wanda, still not 100% on board with the whole “fighting dad” thing, gets a pep talk from Kitty that she has to fight or they will die. Why did no one try to break the mental block on her? Kitty gets hit with debris, which gets Wanda to fight back. She blasts Magneto with her powers, which stops his puppet, but the Pyramids start glowing and the tops of them take off into the sky. In China, Hank explains to Spyke that he believes that the Pyramids need to be in low orbit to have the effect Apocalypse wants.

 

The Pyramids enter low orbit and break up into smaller pyramids, forming a grid around the entire planet. As Apocalypse watches, three Sentinels fly into orbit and attempt to disrupt the web they formed. On his Helicarrier, Fury is informed of this before going into a private room that has Rogue waiting inside. Ominous. The Sentinels attack one of the lesser Pyramid pieces.

 

In China, Bobby is able to hit Storm and freeze her solid. Hank tells his students that it’s not over. While Pyramids in the sky are bad, he reasons that if they can break the base units, that will cut power to the sky pyramids. She breaks free, though, and while Evan tries to spike her, she creates a tornado to throw them all about.

 

Mexico isn’t going well either, as Magneto has a lot of metal to play with. He’s easily overpowering the X-Men with his bits of metal, knocking Roberto down and out with some debris. But, while he’s distracted, Kitty phases Alex through the ground to near the Pyramid base. The younger Summers gets a blast off at it, but one of Magneto’s scrap Sentinels see and begins to attack them.

 

Jean's got her game face on.

In Eypyt, their team is trying a… unique approach. Basically, Jaime has made dozens of clones of himself, each armed with slingshots, Tabitha uses her powers to make little balls of explosive ammo and he launches them at Charles. They’re basically trying to distract him to death. Colossus makes a run at the Pyramid while they work. He gets several hard his in, but Charles takes out the Jamie brigade and then Colossus and Amara when she tries to defend him. Jean puts on the Cerebro remote helmet and goes on the offensive. With her powers enhanced, she’s actually on par with Charles’ mental powers.

 

At the Sphinx, the boys outrun Mystique’s bat form and block her out by sealing one of the doors. Kurt is ordered ahead to scout. He teleports to the other side of the big doors hiding Apocalypse’s ship… but is immediately found and knocked out by Apocalypse. Logan orders Scott to blow the doors, but Mystique got in an knocked him out. She then grows swords for hands and they start battling.

 

In orbit, the Sentinels are able to destroy one of the relay fragments. This obviously pisses off Apocalypse, but from his reaction this is a slight hinderance and not a checkmate issue for him. He projects his face to and orders Magneto into space to take care of this. Once he is gone, Wanda gets up, but she’s the only member of her group still active. She tries to get Kitty to help her destroy the bases unit but she’s out of it. As Magneto destroys the Sentinels, Wanda blasts at the beam of energy that is powering the relays. Magneto quickly returns and prepares to crush Wanda with Sentinel parts. Wanda begs for her life, but Magneto drops the debris anyway. Thank God her twin has superspeed, as Pietro runs her out of the way at the last second. The other Brotherhood boys arrive, Toad explaining that they stole a jet, got lost but still arrived in time. Magneto tries to throw the jet they stole at them, but Blob catches it. Seeing his on-again-off-again girlfriend down really pisses off Lance, whom after an order from Pietro causes the ground to basically eat Magneto.

 

At the Sphinx, Apocalypse is once again laying in the Eye of Ages like he was found last season. He announces that “And the Evolution begins.” He powers on the device and his Pyramid relays turn black as they envelop the sky. Storms begin all over the planet as the machine works. And from his cries, the process is rather painful for Apocalypse too. Mystique overpowers Logan and tosses him through a hole in the ground.

 

Meanwhile, Jean and Charles battle with their astral selves. Jean puts up a good fight but Charles appears to be the strong for several moments. That is until Jean’s astral self turns into a bird of some kind and overwhelms Charles. She forces his astral self back into him and he drops. They both drop, but Charles gets back up to attack again.

 

In Mexico, Toad asks if they won just before Magneto attacks them with the propeller of the plane. And in China, Storm unleashes a massive lightning blast, Ray absorbs it and tries to redirect the lightning, but Storm just increases the rain fall to short him out. Hank radios into Logan that they aren’t going to make it, but Logan tells him they need to keep fighting as they have one more play left. And then Mystique turns into Cobras and leapt at him.

 

The play begins as a helicopter drops down beside the one already outside the Sphinx. Rogue, along with Fury, Sam (Cannonball) and the Leeches have arrived. Rogue absorbs Dorian Leech’s power and then heads into the Sphinx, using Sam as a jetpack essentially. Inside, Mystique changes into a panther and attacks Logan, but Rogue hits her with a wave of disruption, turning her back to normal. Logan cuts her a way into Apocalypse’ chamber and she runs in. He tries to follow but Mystique pulls him back in.

I'm sure we won't see him again...

Rogue blasts the entire Eye of Ages device with Dorian’s negation wave. It disrupts Apocalypse’ entire grid, and the technology he was using to control his Horsemen. They each drop with varying degrees of drama. Rogue, saying that he’s used them for the last time, seals Apocalypse back into the Eye of Ages. Apocalypse, drained from attempting his big play like he had tried thousands of years ago, only can flop around feebly. Logan helps her seal the Eye and then Rogue turns the power back on. The ship takes off, Logan slashing the controls in an attempt to keep it from coming back. They’re hoping that that’s the end of Apocalypse, but Rogue isn’t sure they’re that lucky. They all limp from the Sphinx, Scott asks Logan if they stopped him in time, and Logan says he thinks so. Mystique attempts to rationalize her actions to her children, but both Kurt and Rogue aren’t going to listen to her anymore. They tell her to leave them alone, and they teleport off supporting each other. That’s sweet.

 

Everyone begins to recover. In Mexico, Magneto is helped up by his children and they make for the jets. In China, Storm and Evan hug it out while the others nod in approval. And in Egypt, Charles gets the collar off his neck just as Jean levitates him to his full height so she can hug him. That’s really sweet.

 

No good comes from huge squads of robots.

We cut to everyone gathered at the gazebo back at the X-Mansion. Charles congratulates everyone for their accomplishment today but says it’s not without its cost. He reveals that he was able to see some of the future while he was tied to Apocalypse. He lets his team know that they’ll face challenge, more adversity in the form of public outcry is a big one. But, he did see that “some who had been our enemies become friends” and we see Magneto leading a training session with the New Mutants. Neat. He then continues, “And with a heavy heart, I saw the dearest of friends become the most terrible of enemies” and we see Jean transform into the Dark Phoenix. That is significantly less neat. We’re shown a moment with the X-Men, that Laura (X-23) will join up with them, and somehow Rogue gains the flight that her comic counterpart is famous for. The Brotherhood plus Pyro will go on to work for SHIELD. And the Sentinels will be a problem in the future, lead by Nimrod (that used to mean great hunter before Bugs Bunny, he’s really scary). Charles says that his X-Men will always be there, ready to face what is to come, and that he’s proud of them. The final shot is of the X-Men, New Mutants, Angel, Havok, Gambit, Colossus and X-23 in a big group shot. I’m tearing up a little watching it.

 

Okay, that was a great finale. The action was top notch, the fights well designed and the tension high. We logically know that Apocalypse will be stopped, but there’s a while there where you don’t know who may or may not make it. Granted, kid show, so the odds of permanent death are also low… but I’ve seen kids shows with body counts. Watch Beast Wars sometime if you don’t believe me, they killed at least 10 characters by the end. The Jean v. Charles fight I thought was particularly well done, as it became a battle off souls, as it were, and that it’s the first hint of the Phoenix in Jeans future. The show runners have said that had they been renewed for another season, the next big bad would have been Dark Phoenix. And while Jean is… insane… Scott and Rogue would have tried to see where their relationship could go. Shame we didn’t get to see that play out. Apocalypse’s end I thought was also well done. The foreshadowing here was well done. The last season finale set up that Apocalypse would be weakened by using the device, as even his substantial power is pushed to the limit to affect the whole planet. Dorian is introduced a few episodes back and is shown to have the extreme potency to stop things like a rampaging Mutant or highly advanced technology. And Rogue has been used pretty much since episode 3 onward by someone or something, so obviously she’d be itching to beat the one guy that used her the worst. Some might think that just sort of… banishing Apocalypse is a copout… but honestly, you don’t beat Apocalypse. Unless you’re Nathan Summers aka Cable. Everyone else just must hope to survive him and find a way to delay him. The flashforward from Charles I think was a very nice way to end it all. It ties up a few loose ends, gives us an idea of where the characters go from here, and some hope that, while we won’t see it, that the X-Men: Evolution team will just keep going. It’s a nice note to end on.

 

And with that, we’re done with X-Men: Evolution. I hope you see why it was that I decided to devote a few years and 52 posts towards this show. It was a fun spin on the X-Men that I near and dear to my heart. I think X-Men: The Animated Series is remembered more fondly by most, but this show was nothing to sneeze at either. It had some unique ideas, a few fun twists on old stories, and a final confrontation worthy of that name. If you have just been reading along with me, I highly recommend you trying this series out on your own. There are some things that just come out cleaner when viewed and not typed. Have a good night everyone. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76491701?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 51

They don't call him Apocalypse for nothing.

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Kitty had a very weird day. After having a very slight near-death experience, Kitty meets Danielle Moonstar, a Native American girl with Mutant powers.  Danielle is brought to the X-Mansion and begins training with the New Mutants. Danielle’s powers, a form of telepathy that causes people to live through incredibly realistic nightmares, are incredibly powerful but unstable. After causing the staff to have vivid nightmares… Danielle disappeared, and to Kitty’s shock, she’s the only one that remembers her. After bullying Kurt into helping her get back to Dark Hollow, Kitty discovered Danielle’s Grandpa, Black Eagle, who told her that Danielle has been missing for two years. Kitty and Kurt returned to the sight of Kitty’s accident, and Kitty phases through the ground. She find’s Danielle buried in the canyon; her power caused her to be in special coma that kept her alive for two years. Kitty and Danielle escape the flooding canyon with help from the New Mutants, Kurt, and Logan, and Danielle is brought to the X-Mansion to recover. Enough recap. Let’s get to it. Apocalypse is raising.

 

We open in Egypt, where Apocalypse’ ship appears and unburies a long-forgotten pyramid. It breaks the rock encasing the metal pyramid beneath and merges with it. Apocalypse creates another mysterious dome around the pyramid. We cut to Mesmero, whom is reading about Apocalypse’ exploit in the newspaper about .5 seconds before Wolverine slices his way into the tent. Mesmero runs from Logan but is captured by Jean via telekinesis. Mesmero announces that they’re too late and that Evolution is upon them. Ha, nice title reference.

 

Later, Mesmero is being held by the X-Men. Jean reveals that she scanned Mesmero’s mind and discovered that Apocalypse has abandoned him. Mesmero is in denial about no longer being useful to the master he spent who knows how long trying to free, but Charles won’t let him live in delusion. He asks Mesmero to just tell them and points out that Charles could just rip the knowledge from Mesmero if he wanted to. Motivated, Mesmero explains Apocalypse’ big plan. Apocalypse is going to use his pyramids and the ship to activate the dormant X-Genes in the human populace. The transformation will turn most into Mutants, but will kill some and kill anyone that doesn’t have an X-Gene to activate. Mesmero tries to cut It off there, but Charles grabs him and rips the remaining knowledge from him. He knows that the machine is powered by the Sphinx and that the other three pyramids will act as relays to what Apocalypse is planning.

 

It's never good when they leave a prized student
behind.

Charles and Storm prep to head to Egypt. Jean confronts the Professor and asks him what the plan is. Charles hopes that because he’s going to just talk, he’ll have a chance to not be horribly murdered like Magneto. Charles, ever the pacifist, believes that starting a dialogue will help. Jean wants to go with but Charles is insistent that he needs her there with the X-Men. She knows he’s not planning to come back, to which he tells her that she needs to be strong.

 

Apocalypse returns to the Sphinx and raises the fourth and final pyramid from beneath the sand. Storm and Charles make their approach, Storm telling Charles that they can find another way, but Charles knows they’re racing against the clock here. Inside the pyramid, Apocalypse places himself on a device that fully transforms him into a blue cybernetic form. When Charles and Storm arrive, Charles heads out alone, much to Storms irritation. Charles puts on an external link to Cerebro. The headgear allows him to receive Cerebro’s full amplification from halfway across the world. Charles tries to get Hank, who is running Cerebro back home, to keep the students from the chamber, but they were already there and want to give their teacher moral support. Charles calls out telepathically to Apocalypse.

 

Apocalypse floats out of the Pyramid. I should note, that both Charles Xavier and Apocalypse are played by veteran voice actor David Kaye. They just distort Kaye’s voice ever so slightly when he speaks as Apocalypse to differentiate the two. Charles tries to speak with Apocalypse, but the ancient Mutant already knows who Charles is, why he is here and is uninterested in negotiating. Apocalypse believes that he an instrument of destiny to usher the evolution of humanity. Charles tells him that he will be stopped. Apocalypse counters by saying what he knows is that he won’t be stopped by him. He then begins obliterating Charles like he did to Magneto; Storm tries to help but she gets caught in an attack too and is annihilated. Jean begins immediately beating herself up for not trying to stop him, but Scott comforts her by saying there’s literally nothing they could have done to stop the professor.

 

Oh, the Sentinels are back.

Fury arrives on the scene and tells Logan that he knows what happened to Charles and is there to convince Logan to not retaliate immediately. Why? Because SHIELD is taking measures. Fury is brought into Cerebro’s viewing room and tells them to bring up the Sphinx. We’re shown three Sentinels flying in to attack the pyramid. Logan is rightly pissed that the Sentinels are back, but Fury does point out that they’re sensors and weapons are the best bet against apocalypse. The Sentinels put up a solid fight against Apocalypse for a few seconds… until he merges with one and uses its weapons to attack the other two. When Hank scoffs at their “best defense” Fury reveals that that teams is actually a diversion. Nine more sentinels in groups of three are out to attack the other pyramids. Fury reveals the new Sentinels have atomic subdividers that should let them cut through the domes protecting the pyramids and destroy them.

 

Oh... he's pissed.

Apocalypse sense what is happening to his Pyramids and activates his counter to the attack. He opens the four pillars around his ship and unleashes his Four Horsemen… Charles Xavier, Storm, Mystique and Magneto. They’re all sporting some sort of cybernetic enhancements, things to control their minds and allow Charles to walk. He sends Charles, Magneto and Storm to defend the pyramids astride energy horses and keeps Mystique behind to defend the Sphinx. Charles, now able to summon energy scythes, destroys his Sentinels easily, as do Storm and Magneto. Fury, realizing that he is out of options, asks the X-Men to help. Logan spells out the situation. They need four teams of Mutants to attack the pyramids and stop Apocalypse. He sends Kitty to the Brotherhood, Kurt to get Spyke, Scott and Jean to gather anyone else they can think of, and takes Rogue to help him with a special assignment.

 

Kitty’s recruiting goes… poorly. Lance and the other Brotherhood Boys have zero interest in risking their lives fighting Mystique or Magneto. But Kitty does get Wanda to go with her, so that’s something.

 

Four helijets take off from the X-Mansion.

 

A pretty impressive group of Horsemen this go round.

In Mexico, the last Sentinel seems to be able to break the shield around the Pyramid, but then Magneto crushes it like a soda can. In China, Storm destroys hers with a tornado and lightning strike, but they’re also able to disable the shield. Xavier destroys his last Sentinel in Egypt, but once again the shield is brought down. Beast, over the radio, explains that everyone they’re about to face have had their powers greatly enhanced, the fight will be hard, but they must win.

 

As Apocalypse prepares his attack, the teams arrive. We have Jean, Piotr (Colossus), Jaime (Multiple), Tabitha (Boom-Boom) and Amara (Magma) vs. Charles; Logan, Scott, and Kurt vs. Mystique; Hank, Ray (Berserker), Bobby (Iceman) and Spyke vs. Storm, and Kitty, Roberto (Sunspot), Alex (Havok), Warren (Angel), and Wanda (Scarlet Witch) vs. Magneto. Some… lopsided teams there but it’s the best they’ve got. Surely Juggernaut, Gambit, and Sabretooth aren’t doing anything, right?

 

This one was an excellent penultimate episode. We got to see Apocalypse’ plan be unveiled in all of it’s insane glory. The whole “turn as many people into Mutants as he can and screw anyone who doesn’t survive it” is one of his go to plays and this plan is a great version of that. I especially liked his redesign after upgrading himself with the ship’s technology. It’s reminiscent of his classic look without being a knock off of his comic book design. I think using David Kaye as his voice was also rather brilliant. Kaye, while playing Charles beautifully throughout this series, is actually better known for playing villains. He’s been Megatron in several Transformers series, Sesshomaru in Inuyasha and was the voice of Arishem the Judge in The Eternals, to name a few. The man has a gravitas when playing a villain that you can just feel in your bones. The distortion they used fits with the cybernetic redesign and helps to not make him sound too like Charles. The reveal that the four major deaths of the franchise were in fact turned into Horsemen was also extremely well done. Turning four of the series main mentors into the final bosses for the various characters is brilliant. Plus, they represent some of the most destructive and or dangerous powers in the franchise, so each fight is going to be difficult. Using the Sentinels as a first attack wave was also a good choice, as the machines have enough firepower to be dangerous to Apocalypse but lack any sort of tactical thinking or flexibility to be a real threat. Giving them the win of disabling the shields was a nice touch too. The final battle is going to be intense, with most of our favorite characters going up against the most dangerous Mutants to date. I hope you’re as excited to read about it as I am to type it out. See you tomorrow. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76447674?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: X-Men: Evolution ep 50

 This one gets trippy.

Last time on X-Men: Evolution, Rogue went on a bit of a field trip with Remy LeBeau aka Gambit. The Mutant with the ability to charge objects with enough energy to turn anything into a bomb played this… well, to be honest, kidnapping, as an attempt to give Rogue a little push to go out and see the world like she’d been threatening to do for a while now. But in actuality, his less than stellar adoptive father Jean Luc had been kidnaped by a rival thieves’ gang and he needed Rogue’s memory stealing powers to help him find and free his dad. Rogue is, obviously, quite pissed when she discovers this and almost abandons Gambit but comes back to help get both LeBeau’s out in one piece. With a slight assist from Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops and Nightcrawler. They part ways, with Rogue feeling more secure with her real family and seemingly ready to start moving past what happened with Mystique. Gambit, as a parting gift, leaves her with a Queen of Hearts, his favorite playing card in this continuity, as a non-verbal wish of good luck. That was weirdly wholesome of him. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We open with Logan leading a small group of his Mutant charges, Kitty, Kurt, Bobby, Sam, and Rogue, on a dirt biking outing. They’re enjoying the local landscape just a few days before the area is supposed to be flooded to create a reservoir. Logan and tells the kids to partner up before riding off. Kitty has trouble controlling her bike, falls behind her partner Rogue and takes a wrong turn to a lower part of the canyon. She ends up hitting some debris that Rogue knocks loose and careening into the canyon. Oh, that’s probably going to ruin her day. … What? She can pass through solid objects, my fears of her dying via falling are insanely low. My point is proven when her bike falls and breaks into a billion pieces, but she phases through the ground and grabs onto an outcrop of the canyon. She pulls herself up, the ledge breaks and she drops a few more feet to the ground. She hits the ground hard but survives. Logan, who’d been racing Sam, notes the black smoke raising up from Kitty’s wreck and goes to look for her.

 

It's strange that finding a person in a canyon
isn't even in the top 100 X-Men intros. 

Kitty is almost crushed by more falling rock, but is pulled out of the way by a mysterious Native American girl around her age. She introduces herself as Danielle. Kitty is apprehensive when Danielle admits to having seen her use her powers, but Danielle is super psyched about it as she is also a Mutant, but claims her powers aren’t as flashy. She tells Kitty that she lives nearby in a place called Dark Hollow with her Grandfather. The others arrive and Logan runs over to make sure Kitty is alright. When Rogue pulls up, Logan is very angry with her for leaving her partner behind. The music sting makes this seem like a big deal… but I don’t think this ever gets brought up again between the two of them.

 

We cut to the X-Mansion, where Danielle is being orientated by Charles. Rogue arrives and apologizes for leaving her behind, but Kitty isn’t all that upset because it lead to her meeting Danielle. Xavier calls the students to meet in the dining area for a meeting. Meanwhile, Logan is tricked into a rematch with Sam since their motocross raise was interrupted by Kitty’s accident, Sam trying to humble his teacher a littler by raising the bet to loser has to wash the dirt bikes. Charles introduces Danielle Moonstar to the group and Kitty pulls her aside to show her around the institute. Logan asks Charles what sort of powerset they’re dealing with, and Charles tells him that she has a form of telepathy but she has some emotional issues that may make her powers unstable. Logan points out that troubled kid plus mental powers is a dangerous combination.

 

Later, a training session in “surprise” situations is underway. The New Mutants have to get across a lake in a storm while other X-Men pull “surprises” to complicate the situation. Bobby, Danielle, Sam, and Roberto are on a team together. Roberto and Sam are almost immediately taken out, but Bobby and Danielle almost make it to the goal thanks to an ice bridge, but it shatters and the two fall into the water. Danielle seems to be emotionally triggered by being in the water and her powers go haywire. Her form of telepathy seems to involve accessing other people’s powers as Jean, who’d been leading the training, is thrown skyward, Kurt gets stuck in his demon dimension, and Kitty falls through the ground. There’s a flash and everyone is back to normal, thanks to Charles. He reveals that that Danielle’s power locked them in their own personal nightmares for a second.

 

To be fair, Logan has this nightmare a lot on his own.

Later, Danielle leaves a meeting with the professors, clearly angry. Kitty tries to encourage Danielle, but her past issues dealing with people that are terrified of what she can do with her powers makes her feel on edge. That night, Danielle has terrible dreams and that puts everyone else into their own nightmares. Logan is back in the Weapon X Tank, Storm is crushed inn her room, and Xavier wakes up to Sentinels attacking the mansion. Damn. Upon waking up, Charles calls to Kitty and tells her to meet the teachers in the kitchen. They have a meeting where Kitty assures them that Danielle is asleep and never left her room. Charles believes her and sends her off to bed. Kitty lingers long enough to hear Charles tell Logan that he’s not sure what their next step is, but they need to deal with Danielle somehow. Kitty sits up, watching her friend for a minute, but when she goes to sleep, Danielle wakes up.

 

Damn, girl needs some sun.

       The next morning, Kitty wakes up to find that Danielle is gone. So is her bed, her clothes and, seemingly, everyone’s memory of her. When Kitty runs into the kitchen and starts yelling at Charles, Logan, Jean, Scott, and Kurt about Danielle being gone, they’re all confused as to who the hell she’s talking about. Later, we see Kitty calling around to try to find Danielle, asking someone if they’d heard of her or her grandfather Black Eagle, but is getting nowhere. Charles comes in and tries to tell her that she’d just had a very realistic dream, but Kitty doesn’t believe him. Charles tells her that she’d been unconscious since her biking accident yesterday, and that hopefully with more rest the dream will fade. Kitty tries to sleep but has nightmare about the mansion drowning in water and sees Danielle begging her for help. When she wakes up, her cell phone goes off and she hears Danielle begging her for help.

 

Kitty goes to the kitchen and starts screaming at Kurt about Danielle. He still doesn’t know who that is. Kitty, getting desperate to find an explanation, says that maybe the professor wiped their minds of Danielle. When Kurt points out how insane that sounds, Kitty doesn’t seem to notice and demands he teleport her to Dark Hollow. It’s too far for him to get there, but he agrees to take her as close as he can.

 

Meanwhile, Logan and Sam have a rematch of their motocross race. The race is complicated by the New Mutants being around to add additional obstacles as they drive. Ray electrifies water, Roberto throws rocks down on them, and Amara creates a lava trail to slow them.

 

Kurt and Kitty teleport to Dark Hollow and find that the town is abandoned. Kitty hears a ringing pay phone and hears Danielle again begging her for help. When Kurt calls out to her, it’s revealed that the phone’s receiver isn’t even connected. Desperate, Kitty pages through the old phonebook and find a listing for the Moonstars. They head out and find Danielle’s Grandpa, Black Eagle, sitting on his porch and looking spooky. He implies  that the town basically left after Danielle’s powers kept causing them to have ever worsening nightmares. He explains that Danielle went hiking in the canyon and disappeared two years ago, much to Kitty and Kurt’s shock.

 

The race between Sam and Logan comes to an end when Sam tries to use his highspeed flight to cannonball his way to victory… but the terrain ends up being too rough and he crashes his bike. He lands inches from the finish line and Logan drive right on through.

 

Kitty and Kurt are exploring the canyon, looking for Danielle. Kurt points out that it seems impossible that Danielle could be missing in the canyon for two years and for Kitty to have met her, but Kitty thinks she knows where Danielle is. They teleport back to where Kitty crashed her bike, and she prepares to phase into the ground to look for Danielle. Kurt wants to get help, but Kitty won’t wait. She dives into the water and phases through the ground. Kurt teleports to the other Mutants and tells them about what is going on with Kitty.

 

Good to meet again, for the first time.

Kitty, meanwhile, phases into an underground cavern. It’s filling with water. She finds Danielle in the cavern, she’s encased in some kind of blue glow. Kitty wakes her up and the glow fades. They meet for real, which is sweet, but we then we learn that they don’t have a way out, which is much less sweet. They’re too far down and Kitty thinks Danielle is too weak to be moved. The X-Men arrive topside, and Logan has Bobby freeze the water to buy them time. Sam tries to break a hole into the cavern, but is stopped by Logan who doesn’t want to risk a cave in. Danielle explains to Kitty that she’d been hiking when a cave in buried her underground. Topside, Amara uses her powers to melt a tunnel through the ground to the cavern. Kurt is then able to teleport down to them and free both girls.

 

Danielle is taken back to the X-Mansion to recover. She and Kitty bond a little as Kurt asks Charles’ the important question, how the hell did that happen? Charles explains that Danielle’s powers put her into a sort of hibernation that kept her alive for the last two years. She and Kitty met through a sort of out of body experience and that lead to a… unique friendship. Huh.

 

This was an okay episode. Danielle’s powers are interesting, and I could see how they may have turned her into the ultimate social pariah. Inducing Nightmares just by being around her does not sound like a good time. Also doing a whole dream fake out for Kitty was a nice touch to show not only how powerful that Danielle is but also add some uncertainty as to who or what Danielle is. The X-Men have dealt with a few beings that pray upon people’s dreams, so the idea that Danielle Moonstar might be Shadow King or some other psychic parasite isn’t outside the realm of possibility. The only thing that kind of confuses me about this episode is its placement. This is the last episode before the two-part finale. And you spend it introducing a one-off character that doesn’t factor into that finale? Surely, we could have done an episode to set up more of what Apocalypse is doing or seeing how SHIELD is preparing the Sentinels and Logan’s feelings on that instead of a one off is all I’m saying. Danielle’s power would be extremely useful and I’m kind of bummed she wasn’t introduced in season 2 with the other New Mutants. But, no use crying over spilled milk, I guess. Next time, it’s the beginning of the End. Apocalypse is coming. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76407997?pr=true

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero