Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 21

Lets see if a paradox can fix a paradox.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, we had a time travel conundrum. Bishop returned to his future to learn that the Sentinels enslaving Mutant kind were seemingly replaced by a plague ravaging the world. He went back in time again to try to stop it. He joined forces with the X-Men and learned that the plague was engineered by a scientist working with the Friends of Humanity. Creed’s plan was to use the artificial virus to ruin human/Mutant relations and maybe kill some Mutants along the way. He attempted to poison Beast with it, but Bishop intervened and got Creed poisoned instead. Knowing Creed would have a cure, the team followed him back to base and faced off against him and the scientist. Who is revealed to be Apocalypse in disguise. He engineered the plague to hopefully wipe out humans and Mutantkind. The X-Men destroy his containers of virus, thoroughly pissing him off and Apocalypse kills them all in his rage. While that sucks in and of itself, it sucks even more because in the farther out future of 3999, Cable learns that the plague is 100% necessary for stabilizing the Mutant genome and leading to his future. He’s left with the dilemma of either letting his present be destroyed or helping Apocalypse’s plan to spread the plague. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens back in 3999 as the time storm rages and reality is trying really hard to erase Cable out of existence. He has his computer repeat the infuriating bit of information that Apocalypse’ Plague has to exist to save their current timeline. Cable is infuriated by this as literally his whole ‘thing’ is fighting Apocalypse. The computer tells him that millions must die then to save the billions in the future. Cable’s son, Tyler, then runs in as the energy from the time storm follows him, the boy vanishing before Cable’s eyes. Hot damn.  Cable runs to his own time machine and orders his computer to send him to the past, NOW.

 

We cut to Bishop being deposited in the Alley in 1993. He has just enough time to moan ‘Here we go again,” before Bishop portals in beside him. Cable tells Bishop that he can’t stop the plague his way, Bishop refusing to listen after he says that. They have a quick gun fight which ends with Cable being blasted through a wall. Bishop runs to tell the X-Men what is going to happen. Cable clears the debris off him using a personal shield before telling his computer to “body slide” him ie short range teleport him, to follow Bishop. He cuts Bishop off and starts firing on him, saying that he can’t let Bishop stop the plague. Cable says that his future needs the plague, while Bishop insists his future needs it gone. What a conundrum. Bishop tries to shoot Cable, but he teleports behind Bishop and shoots him in the back. Bishop just absorbs the shot and redirects it back at Cable. He runs off in the confusion, Cable getting up and shouting that he doesn’t understand what he’s doing.

 

We shift focus to the War Room and the team gathering to watch the news, with Storm recognizing the protestor that poisoned Adrian at the Mall. They head out.

 

Cable has his computer scan for Bishop’s “temporal aura” to try to find him. It locks onto his trail. His computer asks him why he didn’t just kill Bishop. Cable says he’s seen enough death in his life and won’t kill a man for trying to save his timeline. His computer urges him to finish Bishop off and be done with it. Cable says he will do it, but only if there’s no other choice. He sees the quarantine news and some FoH members saying to get rid of the Mutants. Cable is disgusted to think that he’s technically on their side this time. He mutters to himself that there has to be another way before teleporting.

 

We jump over to the apartment building with the quarantined Mutants. Cable teleports to the top of one and gets Bishop in his sights but finds he can’t kill Bishop. He can’t bring himself to shoot someone trying to do the right thing. Bishop gets shot by the FoH and uses his powers to force people back. Storm and Rogue fly in and report Bishop is there. Rogue then sees Cable pointing a gun at Bishop and intercepts him, asking “Member me, bright eyes?” before punching him. The two start fighting, Cable saying that the X-men need to stay out of this. Rogue and Cable duel as the others handle Bishop and the mob. He throws Rogue into a wall and takes a shot at Bishop, just missing him thanks to Wolverine tackling Bishop. Bishop tries to take out Cable but only shoots at a hologram. Cable tries to take a few more shots but Jean warns Cyclops and he eyebeams Cable back. Cable shoots at their roof, dropping Scott and forcing Jean to use her powers to keep the Blackbird from dropping. Wolverine attempts to climb up and fight Cable, but Rogue knocks him to the pavement before going to help Jean with the Blackbird. He leaps over and tries to tackle Cable, but he shoots Wolverine back. The X-Men all attack Cable at once, overwhelming Cable and damaging his robot arm. Cable falls back to HQ to regroup, as the X-Men gather to figure out what is going on, with Bishop, with Cable, and the plague.

 

At his HQ, Cable gets his arm working again and then has his computer pull up info on the X-men. He gets profiles on the X-Men, though he tells his computer to intentionally skip Scott Summers and Jean Grey as he already knows about them. He gets a quick blurb about Storm and Wolverine before he has an idea. How interesting.

 

We return to 1993 and the Senate hearing. Beast tells some reporters just before the hearing that his research says that the plague was lab created and there are no signs of Mutants carrying it. As a reporter uses a phone booth to call this tip into his office, Cable uses another booth to teleport in. He makes it to the hearing just as Creed tries to poison Beast. Security is ordered in to clear the camber, but Cable stops them from interfering. He heads in and starts taking out FoH members. Wolverine sees Cable and decides he’s going to be the one to take him out. He and Cable face off, but the future warrior’s tech out maneuvered the ancient one. In the scuffle, Creed is once again exposed to the virus and blames Mutants. Cable grabs Wolverine by the throat and tells his computer to body slide them both back to HQ. Jean reads his mind in her attempt to stop him, but gets flashes of things like DNA, her and Scott’s faces, Apocalypse and the virus. Cyclops order the team to the Blackbird, they need to stop the plague.

 

Cable teleports them to a motel. He tells Wolverine that he needs his help to stop the Techno-Virus and that Apocalypse is behind it. When Wolverine doesn’t believe him, Cable shoots Wolverine, knocking him out.

 

We shift to the Blackbird and the team getting the info that Creed is the one spreading the virus and that he tried to infect Beast. Scott asks Jean if something is wrong when he notices her spacing out. She says she touched Cable’s mind, and that he’s more important to the future, their future, than Scott could imagine. Like… Jean, just tell him that Cable is your time traveling son. It’s not that mind blowing when you think about it. They figure out that Creed with have the cure and aim the Blackbird at the FoH HQ.

 

Back at the Motel, Cable wakes Wolverine up... by throwing water in his face. He keeps Wolverine at gun point while ordering his computer to teleport them to Creed’s Virginia based headquarters.

 

The X-Men touch down outside the FoH compound and raid it. Jean finds Creed’s secret lab and sense’s Apocalypse’s mind as well. Cyclops blasts them into the lab, with Cable and Wolverine teleporting in as well. Cable introduces himself to Apocalypse, telling him to remember the name before shooting his side and forcing the ancient Mutant to reveal himself. He says Cable’s weapons can’t hurt him, and Cable says they need to test that out. A fight breaks out, Apocalypse quickly overwhelming the X-Men with his power. Apocalypse shoots at Wolverine, Bishop tries to pull him aside but Cable stops him. Wolverine gets hit into a container of the techo virus. Cable tells Bishop that this is the only way. Wolverine quickly succumbs to the virus, before recovering. Cable throws a forcefield generator at Apocalypse that slows him down long enough to explain how Wolverine’s healing factor cured him of the virus and more importantly rapidly created antibodies to cure the virus. Cable tells Apocalypse they have the cure now, so the virus is useless, and the X-Men destroy the lab. Cable reminds Apocalypse of his name and Apocalypse angrily shouts, “I shall not forget this IMPUDENCE!” Cable and Wolverine teleport away and the others run outside, Beast grabbing Creed. Apocalypse decides to just bail this time instead of destroying the X-Men.

 

Bishop teleports back to the future. It looks to be about the same as he left it. He enters Forge’s lab to find him tinkering with Wolverine’s skeleton in a tube again and asks about the plague. Forge asks what plague and Bishop offers to tell him all about it.

 

In 1993, Wolverine’s blood is looked over by Beast. Beast says that he’s cured and that the antibodies his body created to fight the plague are unlike anything he’s seen before. He’s curious as to what scientific advancements studying the antibodies will lead to.

 

Cable returns to the future to find his son Tyler waiting for him. As father and son hug, Cable says that he knew Wolverine’s antibodies would do the trick.

 

A solid finale. It was interesting to see how Cable’s involvement in the past changed things, and what things stayed the same. Like, regardless of Cable’s actions, a fight broke out in front of a quarantined apartment building, and the US senate, and Ceed’s attempted poisoning of Beast ultimately lead the X-Men to his lab. Neat. It’s always fun to see Cable get involved and for him to show off all the weird and crazy future tech he’s got up his sleeve. Dude only uses his powers like twice in this whole episode. I enjoyed the little nods and hints of his parentage, like how he didn’t need Scott or Jean’s profiles read to him or how Jean’s mind reading lead her to think he was super important to them without her saying it out loud. I liked seeing Cable have his lightbulb moment to use Wolverine’s antibodies to make sure the virus got out but kept it’s casualty count at zero. Wolverine’s healing factor is always useful, but seeing it be used for medical science instead of just keeping him going longer than he has any right too was a neat twist. The episode doesn’t say why Cable needed to knock Wolverine out for a few hours, which I felt odd. Like, I can guess that he needed to wait for the in universe time elapse instead of time traveling to when Apocalypse revealed himself… it just would have been nice to hear that. Also, don’t know what Apocalypse was less pissed this time that he decided to just bail instead of attacking the X-Men one last time, but I guess he just didn’t want to deal with them anymore. It was also fun to see Cable start the paradox that is his rivalry with Apocalypse. Since, ya know, he won’t even be born for a few more years in universe and then won’t meet Apocalypse again for centuries, but Apocalypse will remember the name Cable for all these centuries. And that’s all I have to say about that. See you later. 

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 20

 Time travel is a tricky thing.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, we got some history on a Cajun. Gambit is called back home to the Bayou to take part in the Tithe. The Tithe is a ritual done by his Thieves Guild and their rival Assassins Guild to appease a being called the External in exchange for more power. Ten years prior, the Thieves guild was minutes late with their Tithe, so their chosen one was banished from time and space and they were given the warning if they’re late again they’ll be destroyed. The current Chosen One is his brother Bobby, who has been kidnapped by the Assassins. Gambit goes to the Assassins and trades himself for his brother. It’s revealed that leader of the Assassins is Bella Donna, Gambit’s ex-fiance.  She orchestrated this in order to get him back. And by back, I mean to stick a ring on his finger that causes him pain if she so chooses. She also reveals she gave Bobby a fake Tithing box so the External will destroy the Thieves Guild tonight. Rogue, Jean and Wolverine follow him to the bayou and make it to the Tithing. A huge fight breaks out, the thieves are almost punished but Jean telepathically shows the External what the Assassins did to frame the Thieves. The External asks what the Thieves think is an appropriate punishment. Bobby says kill them, but Gambit steps in and says to take Bella Donna’s powers from her. She does and Gambit returns with the X-men. Enough Recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens in the dystopian far future. No, not 2055, but 3999. At this point in human history, the Mutant time traveler Cable is battling what look suspiciously like Terminator style robots in the ruins of New York. Using his massive gun he destroys several before an ally of his tells him that Apocalypse’s forces are too strong and that their position is being overrun. Cable says to counterattack because they’re not retreating. They blast through several more bots and lead a charge of their allies. Apocalypse, watching from above, says they’re only delaying the inevitable. Over 2000 years later and the dude still has a massive god complex. Which probably isn’t too surprising as he was like 3000 in the 90s. He’s distracted from the fight by a ‘temporal storm’ in the sky that shows Bishop falling through space time. The storm causes several people to vanish, both friend and foe. Tornadoes of energy form and start sucking everything up. Cable dodges away and asks his computer what is happening. The device tells him that Apocalypse isn’t doing this, this is the result of the timeline being shifted. Someone changed something in the past and now the time stream is realigning. He asks what he can do, his computer tells him nothing can be done. Cable runs from more robots. His computer tells him this all started with a time traveler from the 21^st century with a mullet.

 

We cut over to Bishop’s POV as he returns to 2055 after being forcibly ejected from the past by Rogue. Bishop tells Forge that they did it, but Forge says nothing has changed. While looking over Wolverine’s skeleton in a tube I must add. Bishop says he stopped the assassination, so Forge thinks something else must have happened to keep the Days of Future Past timeline on track. Forge says that a plague still rages, and Bishop has no idea what he’s talking about. Turns out in this slightly altered timeline, an artificial virus is raging across the planet. It first infected humans and then Mutants, the effects getting worse as it shifted targets. Bishop asks if the X-Men couldn’t stop it, and Forge doesn’t know what the X-Men are. Bishop demands to be sent back, and Forge does so, warning him that messing with time has ramifications.

 

Bishop arrives in 1993. He grabs a paper that has the plague as the frontpage story. He’s infuriated to see that Mutants are being blamed for it just because there’s no obvious cause of it. He tosses the newspaper away and runs to warn the X-Men.

 

We join Jubilee and Storm as they do some shopping at the local mall. Jubilee is getting a new CD player and Storm’s getting a book. While Jubilee is alone, a man starts following her, he’s got a wristwatch that has pics of several known Mutants including Jubilee. The employee at the electronics shop, Adrian, takes Jubilee’s CD player in back to have a look. The man follows Adrian and uses a gun that disperses smoke on him, covering his own mouth with a rag. Adrian comes back, telling Jubilee her CD player can’t be fixed. He starts coughing loudly and weird circuit board patters appear on his skin. The man accuses Jubilee of being a plague carrying Mutant, and it doesn’t help in her startled confusion she blows up some TVs. Storm hears the commotion, causing a fog to hide them and then the two fly out through ha window.

 

Back at the Mansion, they do a full medical scan on Jubilee. She comes back clean according to Beast. Jean tells her that the plague has everyone on edge, and that’s why she’s being blamed. Bast decides to check things out, he breaks into the hospital Adrian was taken to and looks up his file. He sees the artificial plague attacking cells under a microscope. He’s horrified but fascinated by it.

 

In the War Room, the bulk of the Team see a news story about Mutants being quarantined due to the virus spreading. During the report, a man starts screaming about taking Mutants backc to where they came from, Storm recognizes him from the mall. The team decides to investigate. At the sight of the quarantine, Bishop is already there and trying to defuse the situation. Until someone shoots him, then he uses his powers to try to drive them off. Storm and Rogue fly in and report that Bishop is at the scene. The others touch down, Wolverine going to wrestle Bishop but is thrown to the mob instead. Storm calls up a storm and drives most of the protestors way. Cyclops starts yelling at Bishop, until Bishop says he’s trying to save the Future, again.

 

Back at the War Room, Bishop explains how the timeline has shifted so that 40 years from now People haven’t even heard of the X-Men. It’s like they never existed. He tells them the virus was cooked up in a lab and they need to stop it before it’s too late. Beast comes in and confirms what Bishop is saying about the virus. He also says it’s not lethal now but could become so when it mixes with the Mutant population. Cyclops says they’ll figure out what’s causing this, but they need to calm plague hysteria first. And he wants to go to the president for help.

 

We shift over to the Friends of Humanity Headquarters. Graydon Creed is watching a news report about how Beast is going to be called in to a senate hearing on the public health crisis. He thanks the man from earlier for his plague scheme, saying that it’s working better than he’d hoped. The man says they need to hurry if they want to capitalize on it, as people will start recovering in a few months. Creed agrees it’s time to infect the Mutants. Their plan is to infect Beast and use that as a catalyst to ruin Mutant-Human relations. Once alone, the man’s eyes begin to glow an eerie purple as he announces that it’s fitting his plague will cleanse the Earth of both humans and Mutants.

 

We cut to DC as the hearing begins. Creed is the first person to testify, claiming he has a document of 5000 people who have been infected by contact with Mutants. It’s weird seeing the team in their full gear just in the front of a senate hearing. Fun easter egg, among the groups watching this hearing are War Machine and SHIELD. They’re blink and you’ll miss it scenes, probably because the X-Men team technically didn’t have the rights to use them. The chairman of the hearing cuts in to say that a report from the president shows no case of infected Mutants thus far. Creed says it’s a coverup and that Kelly is a Mutant lover. Senator Goode calls Creed from the stand and orders Beast to it. As they switch places, Creed keeps a cloth up to his mouth, which totally doesn’t look suspicious at all. As Beast begins his remarks, Creed tries to infect Beast but Bishop was watching for it and he tackles Creed. A fight breaks out, with Senator Goode ordering the chamber be cleared. The X-Men toss some FoH goons around before they’re ordered out. Creed starts showing signs of infection and does his best to blame the Mutants on it.

 

In the Blackbird, Bishop explains that Creed had a device he was going to use on Beast. It went off during the fight and infected Creed. Beast had the computer on the Blackbird to watch the transmission of the hearing for clues. They’re able to see the dispenser for the virus. Cyclops realizes that with Creed infected, he’ll go somewhere for Treatment, so they’ll track him.

 

In the future, Cable demands to know more about what happened. About Creed specifically, but his computer insists that Bishop is the key.

 

The X-Men begin investigating the FoH headquarters. Cyclops has Jean scan for Creeds mind. She finds him under the building itself in a secret lab. She sense not only him but an incredibly powerful mind, the doctors, before getting psychically blasted by purple energy. Jean tells him they need to hurry before it’s too late. The X-Men attack the compound, making quick work of the guards. Scott blows a hole through the ground to the lab as Creed begs for the cure. The Doctor reveals himself to be Apocalypse, chastising Creed for bringing the X-Men here and for Creed claiming dominion over him. When Creed calls him a Mutant, we get one of Apocalypse’s best lines “I am as far beyond Mutants as they are beyond you.” The X-Men attack, but Apocalypse is powerful enough to take them all on. He claims to be bringing the purity of oblivion to the is world. All the containers of virus are destroyed in the scuffle. The X-Men flee, taking Creed with them. Apocalypse, incredibly pissed off at this, grows to super size and destroys the X-Men.

 

In the future, Cable is furious to learn of Apocalypse’s involvement. His computer tells him that because of Bishop, millions of lives were saved from the Virus. But the unintended consequence is that Mutants were never infected, so humanity never developed specific antibodies to the virus that also stabilized the Mutant genome. Without those antibodies, uncontrollable Mutations occurred and lead to widespread death and massive changes to the timeline. The computer tells him that in order for Cable to save his world, the Mutant plague has to happen. Cable is horrified to learn that he needs to destroy a past world to save his future one.

 

This was another good two parter. Cable’s future sure looks rough. The death and destruction that Apocalypse is going to cause millennia in the future sure is crazy. The framing device of the bulk of the episode being Cable’s supercomputer telling him how the timeline changed was neat. I enjoyed getting more of Bishop. The other Time Traveling Mutant is a fan favorite for a reason. Seeing him learn that his time travels fixed one problem but cause another sure did suck. But that’s the best kind of time travel, where even when you win it’s not that simple. I honestly forgot how many time the X-Men get called in for senate hearings, this is like the third one in two seasons. The fact that the plague is a Friends of Humanity plot but actually an Apocalypse plot to kill off everyone is a nice twist. If Apocalypse is as powerful as he claims, then making him the puppet master of a greater scheme is usually a very good call. I’d forgotten that the scene plays out up to when Apocalypse kills the X-Men. This show can get dark real quick, which is why people love it. The final reveal that the Plague is necessary for Mutant’s long term is depressing as hell. Especially because it means Cable has to make sure an Apocalypse plan works. He hates that ancient Mutant with a passion. So next time, we’ll see how Cable works around it. See you then. 

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 19

 Back in the Bayou.

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Wolverine is forced home. He’s lured to Canada by a message from an old friend named Heather Hudson. He’s instead jumped by Heather’s husband, James aka Vindicator, and the Canadian Superhero Team Alpha Flight. He’s captured by the group and taken to a lab. Why? His old commander General Chasen wants to punish him for leaving Alpha Flight and Department H by rather painfully trying to figure out how the adamantium was bonded to his skeleton. We also get some flashbacks to Logan’s escape from the Weapon X facility where the metal was fused to his bones, meeting the Hudsons and joining Alpha Flight. Vindicator and Chasen are both dead set on punishing Logan for leaving to the point that Chasen orders them to operate on Logan to figure out the process. Heather, who made sure she oversaw this project to protect Logan from additional harm, says no. As do the rest of Alpha Flight. A brawl breaks out, and Logan almost kills Vindicator, but Heather begs for her husband’s life. Logan lets him live, for her, but makes it clear that if Alpha Flight tries this again, he won’t play nice. And in the Savage Land, Charles and Magneto meet and just barely escape a woman named Vertigo, a ‘Mutate’ that Magneto created when he was last in the Savage Land that now works for Sinister. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens with Cyclops next to a crashed ship. He, Rogue and Jean are attacked by an unspeakable cosmic horror. It’s basically a mouth with tentacles.  Cyclops blasts it to pieces, freeing them somewhat easily. Cyclops then yells at Gambit to turn up the program’s difficulty. Yeah, it’s a Danger Room scenario. Turns out Cyclops is the only person in there. Gambit teases about Cyclops not liking him going easy and starts making modifications to the program before leaning back and shuffling cards. The Danger Room’s phone rings and Gambit answers, a man Pierre is looking for Remy.  …I do believe this is the first time that the name “Remy” has been used for Gambit in universe. Season 2 is all about giving the X-Men their civilian names.  Gambit is so shocked by this man looking for him, that he accidentally shifts the Danger Room’s level to maximum. That involves Cyclops alone battling Omega Red, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, and Juggernaut. Oh, and one random monster. Pierre, meanwhile, tells Gambit that someone named Bobby is in trouble and needs his help. Gambit isn’t interested in helping, though and seems to hate this, Bobby. Pierre tells Gambit that Bobby disappeared, and something called the tithe is coming up. Apparently, something really bad is going to happen if that tithe doesn’t show that night. In the Danger Room Cyclops did reasonably well for a while but is quickly overwhelmed by the villains and monsters arrayed against him. He’s almost killed by a quartet of blasts and the tentacle monster when Rogue sees him getting attacked on the Danger Room monitor. She rushes into the control room, sees Gambit staring off into the distance, and shuts down the program. She starts yelling at Gambit for letting Cyclops get hurt like that, but Gambit can only say that he has to go home and save his brother.

 

Jean rushes into the Danger Room and checks on Scott. He’s hurt but alive. Rogue flies in and tells her that something spooked Gambit and it’s about his brother. Gambit takes one of the small jets and flies back to the bayou, calling his brother a fool, a thieving fool. He flashes back to the previous Tithing he was at. The Tithing, it seems, is a once a decade meeting between Gambit’s family, the Thieves Guild, and the Guild of Assassins, their rivals. Every ten years they need to present a tithing to a being called the External, who then blesses the families with protection from mortal men that bring the Tithe. At the last meeting, the Thieves’ Chosen One was late by minutes and for that transgression was banished from time and space. Damn. A woman from the Assassin’s and Remy’s brother Bobby were chosen to represent their families at the next tithing. The External says that if either side misses the tithing next time, their whole family will be punished with them before disappearing.

 

Back at the Mansion, Cyclops is laid up in bed with Rogue and Jean hovering over him. He says he’s feeling better but they’re doubtful. Rogue says they’ll round up Gambit while Cyclops recovers. Jean says that she scanned Gambit’s mind as he ran to the jets and felt a sense of dread from him unlike anything she’d felt before. Wolverine comes in and says he hears they need help tracking a Cajun. He teases Cyclops’ injuries but Rogue tells him to shut it and they need to hurry.

 

Gambit touches down in the bayou and immediately finds Pierre. Pierre greets Gambit and they take off in a boat. Pierre says that the Assassins have both Bobby and their Tithe. Supposedly, while they’ve been at war for centuries, there’s never been an instance of fighting like this on the day of the Tithe. Gambit doesn’t really care about the ceremony, saying they’ve been doing this for 300 hundred years and asks when it stops. Pierre says that the Assassins don’t want to kill Bobby, they want to exchange Bobby and the Tithe for Gambit.

 

The X-Men touch down and find Gambit’s plane. Rogue says that gambit has always been adamant that he never wanted to visit the bayou again and is concerned at his change of mind. Wolverine tracks their scent to the water, but then it dead ends. World’s greatest tracker everyone. Jean says that she wishes Gambit had asked for help… but we all know that’s not really his thing. She starts scanning around for minds, Wolverine adding that Gambit doesn’t trust anyone.

 

We cut to the old plantation where the Assassin’s make their home. Pierre warns Gambit that he might have been gone a while but he’s still a Thief to these guys. He introduces himself to the guards using his full name, Remy LeBeau, and he’s let inside. Bobby is being kept in the lower levels of the mansion. Gambit finds Bobby and basically yells at him for two minutes for pulling him back into this Assassin and Thieves game again. He says that the Assassins will let him deliver the tithe and asks who has it. It’s revealed to be the woman chosen one from years ago, Bella Donna. She shows off her dress to him, which as it turns out was the dress she was going to wear for their wedding. Gambit explains that they both knew it wouldn’t work, they wanted to bring the Guilds together with their wedding, but knew they’d actually be killed for that stunt if they went through with it. Bella points out that he could have brought her with him, Gambit says that he was young and scared, but ya know… copout. Belle says she’s still wearing his ring, and if he wears the ring that she has for him, she’ll let Bobby deliver the tithe. Gambit puts the ring on, and Bobby is released and given the tithe. He says he’s sorry as he goes. Once alone, Bella Donna reveals that the ring lets her cause Gambit pain and keep him from using his powers. She says he left her once and she’s not going to let him do it again.

 

And somewhere Rogue is suddenly extremely angry.

 

Rogue, Jean and Wolverine find Gambit’s old mansion. The mansion is like the Assassin’s plantation, old and derelict. They make it only a few feet inside before a trap door opens and they drop into a nest of Thieves. They ask what the X-Men are doing here, and a fight breaks out because, well, Wolverine is there. Pierre runs in before anyone is hurt and tells them that Bobby and Remy made the switch for the tithe. Pierre is unimpressed by the X-Men, until Wolverine grabs him and sticks his head between his first and third claw, saying that Gambit isn’t a piece of meat to be traded, and that they better bring them to Gambit. Bobby says that Bella Donna will bring Gambit to the Tithing.

 

Back at the Assassin mansion, Bella Donna makes Gambit model a suit for her, saying that he’ll wear it for their wedding. Gambit asks her why they’re pretending as the Thieves won’t let him stay with her. She uses her power to make his ring burn and reveals that she gave Bobby a fake tithe box. After tonight there will be no more Thieves Guild.

 

The X-Men and Thieves have already gathered at the Tithing site. Pierre wonders aloud where the Assassins are when the Tithing starts in five minutes. Wolverine asks why he cares, since if they don’t show up, the External will destroy them and the Thieves take over. Pierre says that he doesn’t trust Bella Donna and that he won’t be comfortable until this is over. The Assassins arrive, Gambit in tow. Bella Donna introduces Gambit as her husband, and you can see the knife twisting in Rogue’s heart. That is until Gambit immediately shoves her over and says that their Tithe is a fake. Bella starts hurting Gambit, but Rogue shoots over and knocks her away. Bella blasts Rogue back, calling her a seducer. Wolverine tries to peel the ring off Gambit, but Bella makes it red hot and burns his metal claws as well. The Thieves and Assassins all pull their various blasters on each other, but Jean takes them all away with her telekinesis, saying that she can’t make them stop hating each other but she can slow down their fight. The two groups start brawling. Rogue gets up and rushes Bella Donna, saying to hand over the Tithe box or she’ll take it. She says that Bella Donna can blast her back a thousand times or more, but Rogue will get her eventually. Bella Donna claims that Gambit is hers and that the Thieves Guild will soon be no more. Wolverine tries to jump her but gets blasted skyward. Jean pulls him back down, saying that fighting won’t solve anything, they need to find the tithing box. Wolverine admits he doesn’t care which Cajuns get blasted by the witch, he’s here to stop a wedding. The External arrives. She determines the Tithing is false and calls the Chosen to order. The Assassins have their tithe and thus have their powers increased. Bobby tries to explain that the Assassins interfered but the External doesn’t care. The X-Men jump the External, but she blasts them back, being an order of magnitude more powerful than them. The External begins to pronounce sentencing, but Jean interferes and telepathically shows the External how the Assassin’s cheated and dishonored the Tithing. The External is rightly upset by this and grabs Bella Donna with her powers. She asks the Thieves what they want the sentence to be. Bobby says kill them all, but Gambit shoves him aside and tells the External to take Bella Donna’s powers, not her life. The External does so and vanishes. Bella Donna begs Remy to not leave her again, but Remy says that this Bayou isn’t his home anymore. He’s not an Assassin or Thief, he’s an X-Man. The X-Men march off.

 

Back at the Mansion, Scott wonders why Gambit didn’t come to them for help in the first place. Jean says that they all have parts of their pasts they want to keep private. Scott says that being an X-Man means trust, to which Jean counters that Trust takes time and that with Charles gone the two of them need to be the ones to show Gambit they deserve trust. As they talk, Rogue joins Gambit on the front step and sits with him.

 

Meanwhile, in the Savage Land, Charles and Magneto are still walking. I have to imagine this is the most work Magneto’s gotten out of his legs since he’d figured out how to fly. They arrived at a deserted village, Magneto saying that the last time he was here the “Fall People” were living at this site peacefully. Both men lament that war seems to find it’s way to humankind regardless of where they live. They’re interrupted by a four armed man and two Pterosaur guards. The man, Barbarus, says that Magneto once taught them that the fight goes to the most powerful. Barbarus says that the Mutates follow a new Master now, and that they must surrender to him. Charles and Magneto run, the guards in pursuit. Charles knocks a guard from his Pterosaur, but Magneto is grabbed by Barbarus. Charles sees a beehive over them and throws a spear at it. As Barbarus is distracted by swatting bees, Charles and Magneto limp away.

 

It’s funny to me that this story is probably adapted from a 1992 comic book, since Gambit at time of the show’s writing he was so new. And boy did they stuff a lot of his backstory into this one episode. We learn of his history with these Louisiana cults, how he was a thief that loved an assassin until he got fed up with the lifestyle and ran. Apparently on his wedding day, which… dick move Remy. Despite not wanting to be part of this world anymore, he still has enough loyalty to his brother and friends he comes back to save them. Bella Donna is a very cliché jilted lover turned psychopath, but she has a nice flare to her. It takes a real crazy swamp lady to wear a wedding dress to a meeting that could end in her death with the most minimal of screwups. There was also a nice character moment here for Logan, as he spends most of the episode complaining about Gambit, but the moment he learns about the whole ‘married against his will’ thing, Logan’s animal fury was targeted at freeing Remy. The Cajun might not be his favorite person but he’s an X-Man to Logan. I will say that a cult of Assassins and Thieves paying tribute to some sort of swamp goddess for increase in their power is not the weirdest comic book origin I’ve ever heard but it’s at minimum in the top ten. The Savage Land plot is very simple but effective. It’s really just a repeat of last time, the Savage Land is pretty but dangerous, and Charles and Magneto are being hunted by former minions of his. I’m curious if they’ll distinguish the Mutates as Marvel comic’s Mutates or if these are all just Savage Land Mutants who got their X-Genes activated by Magneto’s experiments. … for those who don’t know, in Marvel Vernacular, Mutants refer to a specific subgroup of humans that gain superhuman powers due to the existence of the X (sometimes called Essex) Gene in their DNA. A Mutate refers to basically any otherwise normal human that was exposed to some substance that gave them powers. So Wolverine = Mutant, Spider-Man = Mutate, Iron Man = Dude in a suit. Get it? Got it? Good. We’ll see more of this next time. Have a good night. 

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 18

 Oh, Canada, Logan's coming home. 

Last time on X-Men: The Animate Series, Omega Red rose again. Some USSR Generals defrosted their Super Soldier in an attempt to reunify the USSR. Omega Red, pissed at being frozen for over 20 years agrees to help but it’s clear he’s like one order away from declaring himself the new Soviet President from day one. Colossus, the Russian Mutant, seeks out the X-Men’s help to stop Omega Red. He arrives when most of them are out but gets Jubilee to help. They raid a prison that Omega Red set up, freeing Colossus’ parents in the process. Things might have gone badly when they faced off against Red himself, as he’s extremely powerful, but Logan found a note Jubilee left and rushed after them. They’re able to fall back and are quickly joined by Rogue, Storm and Gambit. The group rushed Omega Red and try to stop him. With help from Omega Red’s ally turned enemy Dark Star, they get the idea to freeze Omega Red in a blizzard to stop him. He’s frozen and put back into storage by the Russian government. Colossus is given another offer to join the X-Men but he declines in favor of helping to rebuild his family farm. All’s well that ends well. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens Wolverine looking for someone named Heather in the Canadian wilderness. We know it’s the Canadian wilderness as a moment later a man dressed in a white and red costume with a maple leaf on one side burst from the ground and attacks him. This is Vindicator, leader of Canada’s official Superhero team, Alpha Flight. Vindicator reveals that Heather didn’t ask Wolverine out here, he did. Vindicator says that it’s been a long time, Wolverine says it hasn’t been long enough, and Vindicator reveals he’s here to forcibly reclaim Wolverine as a member of Alpha Flight. Wolverine had quit the Canadian team a few years back to work for Xavier. Wolverine asks him “you and what army?” He’s then attacked by Puck, another member off Alpha Flight and learns that Vindicator brought the whole team to bring him in. Alpha Flight consists of Puck, Sasquatch, Northstar, Snowbird, Shaman and Aurora. Wolverine makes quick work of most of the team, being faster and more willing to injure himself (since he can recover so fast) that anyone on Alpha Flight. Siblings Northstar and Aurora try to take him in via flight, but he breaks free and disappears into the trees. Vindicator is furious at losing Wolverine again and tells the team to fan out. He says that the ‘lab’ is expecting them. Logan overhears that order and says he’s done with labs.

 

We flashback to when Logan was put through the Weapon X process. A pair of scientists, Dr. Cornelius and the Professor watch over the experiment. The Professor asks how his readings are looking, and Cornelius tells him that they’re fine, but Wolverine gave them trouble when he was picked up. But since the damage was minimal, they begin the process. Adamantium is forcibly infused into Wolverine’s body, turning his skeleton metal. Once the procedure is over, Wolverine wakes up and the Professor explains what was done to him. Ya know, nearly indestructible metal infused with his skeleton, bones are now unbreakable, that whole speech. Logan briefly loses focus, saying that his hands are inching.  His claws come out for the first time and visibly pain him. Pissed off, Wolverine cuts his way free and starts cutting up anything that gets in his way. He almost gets the professor but the old man makes it to the elevator first. Logan escapes out a hole in the wall just before the lab blows. In the present, Logan says no more labs.

 

… Oh, side note, I do believe this is the show’s first time confirming that Wolverine’s name is Logan. I’d been using it up to this point for convenience sake.

 

Meanwhile, Jean is using Cerebro to try to find Charles. In her mind’s eye we get a few cameos, Domino, Archangel, Nightcrawler, Cannonball, Psylocke, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch are all Mutant’s she’s brain scanned in the hope of finding Charles, but no luck. Gambit, Rogue, and Cyclops are watching. Gambit asks if she’s found anything, but Cyclops tells him to keep quite as Jean needs to concentrate.

 

Back in Canada, Wolverine is hunting his old team. Shaman detects him and uses his power over nature to cause the tree Logan was hiding in to throw him to the ground. Vindicator flies in and blasts him, and the twins hold him down with their blasts, Puck and Sasquatch hit him one more time each to knock him out. They get Wolverine into a straitjacket like device to hold him down. When he wakes up, he tells Vindicator that he won’t work for Alpha Flight again. Vindicator reveals that they don’t want him, but the secret inside him.

 

Logan wakes up shirtless and strapped to a table. He demands to be let go but Vindicator says he’s not authorized to do that. Logan demands to know who’s in charge, then, if not Vindicator. A woman scientist comes in and says she is, this being the Heather he was initially looking for. Logan is understandably infuriated by this, as he thought Heather was his friend. She says she had no choice in this situation of bringing him in, but Logan counters by saying she’s the one that taught him there’s always a choice.

 

We flashback again to Logan just after the procedure while he was wondering around the Canadian wilderness. He comes across Heather and James (Vindicator outside his costume) as they were tracking a Buck.  He sees their guns and freaks out, attacking them both. Heather shoots him with tranquilizer darts, knocking him out. They take him to their cabin, strapped down to a bed. Heather wants to talk to Logan, but he cuts himself free and menaces her with his claws. She talks him down, and he starts crying about what happened to him. Heather and James helped him recover and give him his taste for Flannel. Once he’s recovered, they suggest him to a group they think that could help him more, Department H. He meets with General Chasen, who explains about Department H and Alpha Flight, Canada’s superhero team. Logan agrees to work with them under two conditions, one, they help him find out who graphed adamantium to him and two, to not call him Weapon X. He’s Wolverine now.

 

In the present, he accuses Heather of betraying him. She says this is for national security, but he’s not buying it. Chasen arrives and reveals why Logan was brought in. Namely, they’ve been trying to repeat the bonding process since he left and haven’t had any success. So, they’re going to use him to figure out how he survived the process. Logan, irritated by this, says he survived it because he’s a Mutant and he regenerates. Chasen says they can’t know that for sure. … Bro, it’s worked ONE time and the ONE time it worked it was on a Mutant with healing powers. You can be fairly certain that’s a key factor. Heather cuts in saying she only agreed to help so long as she oversaw the experiment, she wants to make this as painless on Wolverine as it can. And he points out this didn’t have to be at all. Vindicator tells him to cut Heather slack, as he is the one that abandoned them. He claims all of Alpha Flight is still his friends. Vindicator asks why he left, but Logan’s not talking. Heather promises to try to be gentle, Chasen saying to not be too gentle.

 

We jump to the Savage Land where Charles and Magneto are crossing a rickety bridge. Charles says that he wishes Magneto would tell him more about the place, as it is a wonderland. They’re interrupted by a woman in a green dress, saying they’re trespassing. Charels asks who she is, and she says to ask Magneto. She claims all the Mutates of the Savage Land were his creations. She claims they serve a new master now. Charles wants to talk, but she throws up her hands aand fries off a mental blast that seems to disorientate them. Both men fall back to the bridge, cutting the line and dropping to a pass closer to the river. The woman, Vertigo, swears they’ll never leave the Savage Land alive.

 

Back in Canda, the procedure begins. Chasen is impatient to get things moving, but Heather says she was promised time to make sure they do this right. The machine powers up, and it starts to cause Wolverine pain. Jean suddenly senses his pain at the X-Mansion. Cyclops is concerned for Wolverine and asks Jean if she can find him. She can’t, saying he’s too far away. She asks Heaven to help him. The pain is getting more intense for Logan. Puck and Snowbird hear his screams and listen in. Heather decides that’s enough and powers down the machine. She gives him water, and Chasen insists they begin again. Heather says that she scanned as deeply as she could and got nothing. She now thinks this is a waste of time and worst of all they’re hurting Logan for no reason. Chasen decides they need to do this the hard way. Surgically removing his skeleton. Heather says he can’t do that, and Chasen says it’s Logan’s own fault. Him leaving weakened Department H. To which I say, bro, everyone loves Logan, but if he’s the lynchpin of your team you need better recruits. Logan draws his claws and says Chasen can come and take his bones. Heather agrees with Logan and quits. Vindicator tries to talk her out of quitting, but she says they both know this is wrong. Outside, Puck indicates the vent and Snowbird uses her shapeshifting power to turn into an owl to fly to it. She sees Vindicator and Chasen struggling to move Heather from the machine. Chasen slams the machine and gets water all over it. Wolverine swears to make Vindicator pay if Heather get’s hurt. Vindicator starts yelling at Logan, asking how he could leave them when he and Heather saved him. Logan asks if they saved him just to be his weapon. The rest of Alpha Flight bursts in, revealing that the team was under the impression that the long term goal was to get Wolverine back, not slice him up. Chasen calls in security to subdue Alpha Flight. Puck knocks into one, revealing that security are all a bunch of androids. Alpha Flight takes down robots, freeing Logan and he joins in the melee. A hole breaks in one of the walls and Logan runs for it. Vindicator gets in his way, saying Chasen was wrong, but Logan is staying. They fight, Logan actually disabling Vindicator’s force field, and getting a claw to his neck. Heather stops him, asking him to spare Vindicator as she still loves him. He agrees to, for her, but makes it clear that Alpha Flight should not try this again. If they come for him, for any reason, all bets are off. He runs off into the wilderness.

 

This was a fun look at Wolverine’s past. Most of the time when we get stories about Wolverine’s pre-X-Men, they focus on his time during World War II. While exciting, when a character has been alive for 200+years, focusing on just 6 years is a bit limiting. So knowing that he served on a different superhero team for a while before joining the X-Men is neat. Alpha Flight is one of those teams I know the general idea around but don’t know many details. Namely that it’s Canada’s main team, lead by Vindicator (sometimes he’s also gone by Guardian or Weapon Alpha), and they’ve got an on-again-off-again relationship with Wolverine. Seems like a good group, when not being lead by their crazed general, and when Vindicator isn’t still broken up about the break up. On the one hand, I did like that Vindicator was personally hurt by Wolverine leaving, ass that does suggest Logan was very close to these guys at one point, but damn does it almost seem like Vindicator was more in love with Logan than his wife. Basically, every other line was asking why did he leave. And, yeah, I can see why Logan had been close with these guys at one point. The Hudson’s helped him recover after the worst experience of his life, obviously there’d be some loyalty there. I think my one complaint is we didn’t get an answer as to why Logan left. Maybe he was tired of pining for Heather (unlikely given how much time this man spends pinning for red heads), maybe Charles offered him a better ideal to live up to with the Mutant rights angle, who knows? I did laugh at this idea that Logan leaving Alpha Flight actively weakened the team when they’ve got two other physical combatants (Puck and Sasquatch) and they’ve got a shapeshifter, three energy manipulators, and a damn shaman. I think they honestly didn’t need Wolverine, the General just wanted an excuse to cut him up. The Savage Land story here was short but does raise a lot of questions. Namely, how did Magneto make a bunch of Mutants in the middle of a dinosaur rainforest? Seems like something Charles should grill him on later. Not who their new boss is, though, as it’s obviously Mr. Sinister. So yeah, Wolverine has officially cut ties from his old team and Charles and Magneto are more lost than before. See you next time. 

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 17

 Moral of the story, don't free someone more powerful than you. 

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Storm and Wolverine were on the hunt. Storm learns from Jean’s Cerebro hunting of the professor that her godson Mjnari was in danger. She and Rogue traveled to Mt. Kilimanjaro where her village rested. Once there they learn that Mjnari has been possessed by the Shadow King, a powerful Psychic from Cairo that the Professor once beat and threw into the Astral Plane. In need of a new body, Shadow King told Storm to give up her body to him so he could start rebuilding his criminal empire. Storm agreed on the condition that her godson be freed. Shadow King briefly possessed her, but Storm proved strong enough to force him out again with a little help from Rogue and Mjnari. Mjnari lured Shadow King back to the rift he escaped from, trapping him in the Astral Plane again. Storm and Rogue pull Mjnari out at the last second. Meanwhile, Wolverine searched the Amazon for Morph. He tracked Morph down to a bar, but Morph ran. Wolverine wrestled with Morph, trying to force him to come home for treatment. Morph refused, though, saying that he needed to face this himself. Wolverine, unhappy about this but willing to accept it, told Morph that when he’s ready the X-Men will be waiting. And finally, Charles and Magneto dug themselves out of the avalanche they were buried in. They found themselves in the Savage Land, an area of Antarctica that houses a tropical forest and Dinosaurs. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to access their powers. They’re attacked by Pterodactyl riders, both men falling into a river and going over a waterfall. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We begin with Xavier dragging himself and Magneto from the river they fell into last time. Noting the huge waterfall they just went over, Charles notes that regardless of who or what brought them to the Savage Land, they won’t be able to go back the way they came.  Later, Magneto and Charles are trudging through the dino and pterosaur filled landscape of the Savage Land. Magneto points out that he’ll never understand Charles, as his life would be infinitely easier if Magneto were to die, and yet he still attempted to save him. Charles says that he wants a just life, not an easy one. They’re interrupted by a T-Rex stomping towards them. They head for a patch of geysers nearby. Magneto tells Charles to keep the geyser between them and the Rex. Magneto throws stone at the dinosaur, confusing Charles as the animal is already pissed off. Magneto says he doesn’t want it running away. What he means is revealed a moment later, when the geyser goes off in the T-Rex’s face, killing or stunning it. Magneto announces to Charles that he might not have his powers, but he won’t die easily.

 

We cut to Kumudski Valley, in the former Soviet Union. Remember, this season takes place in 1993, back when the Soviet Union had just fallen apart so such distinctions were important. A set of tanks roll into town. We enter into a secret facility where some Russian guards begin a procedure to wake something up. The tanks start firing, devastating Kumudski, as their soldiers roll in. The creature in the facility wakes up, announcing that the leaders were weak. They restrained him once and lost the empire. Now that he’s back, the empire will live but the leaders will die. Oh, Hi Omega Red. We cut over to a General asking what had gone wrong. A woman joins him, revealed to be someone named Dark Star, who tells the General that Omega Red has been freed.  We learn that this is all a ploy to use Omega Red to force the now independent nations of the Soviet Union back together. Dark Start tells him that she hope he’s right that they can control Omega Red this time.

 

Back in the states, Jubilee skateboards from the Mansion to a local gas station, complaining that the X-Men left her behind again but also didn’t leave her any food. She sees some graffiti that says “Destroy all Mutants” left by the FoH, which she uses her inconsistent powers to clean off. Inside the station, the FoH are harassing a clerk. They say they don’t want Mutant lovers in their town, so they’re moving the clerk out. And I’m sure the fact he’s a middle eastern man in a turban has nothing to do with their decision either. Jubilee steps in and tells them to pick on someone their own size. She uses her powers to blind a few of them but gets thrown over the counter towards the clerk. Thankfully, we’re shown a very large man running towards the store. It’s Colossus, who playfully says “Did I hear you desire to see Mutant?” as he armors up. Piotr makes quick work of the FoH, scaring the lot of them out the back door. Jubilee thanks him and says it was lucky he was passing by. Colossus tells her that he was in fact in the area to see the others at the Mansion, he needs the X-Men’s help.  

 

They head to the mansion and unload groceries. Jubilee tells Colossus that no one else is home right now. Charles is MIA, Jean and Scott are in DC testifying before congress about Mutants, assumedly Rogue, Storm and Wolverine are all on their way back from their missions last episode… no idea where Gambit or Beast could be though. Colossus tells her that he needs help, as there are armies rampaging across his homeland being led by a creature called Omega Red. Jubilee is sure the others will help when they get back, but Colossus can’t wait that long. Jubilee agrees to help, leaving a note for the others that she is headed to the Black Sea with Colossus to stop Omega Red. They take one of the X-Men’s smaller jets and fly off. There’s almost an accident where Jubilee almost hits a train, but she dodges around it. Turns out flying the real thing is different than a simulator.

 

They arrive in Kumudski Valley and see the city in ruins. Colossus says that this was his nation’s capital and that they were just recently freed from Soviet control. Colossus shouts that they need to find his family. At a press conference, the president Kumudski tries to make his people believe that they just need to hold out until help can arrive. Omega Red storms in and says no help is coming. He uses his whips to capture the president and drains his strength. Dark Star flies in and reminds him that they were ordered to banish the parliament, not kill them. Omega Red chafes under being ordered, saying that he only serves the people, and the people are crying out for an iron hand to rule them once again, his hand. Dude, you might be projecting slightly.

 

Piotr and Jubilee arrive at Colossus’ farm. The place has been wrecked, and no one is around. Colossus flashes back as he explains his home life to Jubilee. He lived on the farm with his family, life was hard but good back then. His life changed when his baby sister Illyana is almost run over by a tractor and his powers manifested for the first time. He armored up and saved her. This turns out to be bad, as back in those days the Government was suspicious of any damage done to it’s equipment. Rather then fess up that the tractor got out of control, the rest of the farmers blamed Colossus for the damage and he was driven from his home. Thankfully, as he comes out of the flashback it’s revealed his little sister Illyana was hiding in the wreckage of the farm house. Colossus promises to free their friends and family. And Jubilee hopes the others got her note.

 

Back at the Mansion, Wolverine returns from the Amazon. He sees the note and crumples it after reading the name Omega Red. He grabs another small craft and takes off. Oh, Logan’s really pissed off.

 

Illyana leads them to the prison camp that their family is being held at. Colossus and Jubilee cause some damage, but then Omega Red arrives, having Illyana tangled in his cables. He tells them to surrender or die. He starts draining Illyana’s strength and smiling evilly. Colossus rushes him but get’s pulled to the ground. Omega Red says that they can’t stop him. Wolverine comes out of the shadows, saying that he can, just like he did last time. The two battle, Omega Red dropping Illyana as he wants to reintroduce Wolverine to his cables. Omega Red throws him to the side and says that he’s too old to fight. Colossus uses Omega Red’s distraction to throw a tank at him. Jubilee leads the captives out, including Illyana and Colossus’ parents. Colossus grabs Wolverine, who says he doesn’t need help, but Colossus says as he’s a guest in Colossus’ country, it’s just good manners. Red gets out from under the tank and is pissed. He says they cannot prevent his nation’s destiny, as Dark Star flies above him looking concerned.

 

At his jet, Colossus asks Wolverine if he knows Omega Red. Wolverine confirms that he does, saying he tangled with Red a couple of times before they were born. He says that he Russians created him, but that he has his own plans for the country. There’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment of Captain America’s stats being displayed on the device that made Omega Red, heavily implying that this was Russia’s equivalent to Project Rebirth. Wolverine and his buddy Maverick fought Omega Red back in the day, Wolverine saying they didn’t beat him so much as slowed him down. He says beating him was mostly luck, Colossus says that they’ll just be lucky again. Which proves to be true when the Blackbird touches down a minute later. Storm, Rogue and Gambit are inside, Rogue saying they’d been there sooner if someone hadn’t trashed her note, looking at Logan. Storm starts scolding her, but Jubilee points out that Colossus said he needed help immediately. Logan agrees, saying that if they don’t stop Omega Red from snapping up the countries the Soviets let go of they might not have another chance.

 

We cut to Omega Red standing in the center of Parliament, announcing he will restore the greatest empire in the world to it’s rightful glory. Dark Star flies in and says that wasn’t part of the deal. With the villages burned and the survivors fleeing, this is very much a hollow victory. Omega Red says that he’s fighting for the empire that they gave away. He will give people the order they’re crying out for. Dark Star flies off, asking herself what she helped unleash.

 

Soldiers raid the Black bird landing sight. They start firing on the civilians, but Dark Star arrives and uses her powers to shield them and then take out a tank. The X-men take out the rest. Once things called down, Dark Star tells the others that she’s switching sides, Omega Red must be stopped.

 

The X-Men raid Omega Red’s base. Their powers overwhelm the regular guards and tanks, but Red proves stronger. He captures Gambit and Jubilee and tries to drain them, but Rogue flies in and knocks him aside. He tangles her in his tentacles and drains her. Wolverine tries to stop him, but his adamantium claws can’t get through Omega Red Carbonadium armor. It’s a weaker but more malleable super metal. Omega Red coils up Wolverine and drains him as well. Colossus rushes him, saying Russia is done with Empires. Red starts draining him too. Colossus tells him that he will be stopped. Dark Star flies in and asks if Storm can control cold as well. She says she can and Dark Star says that freezing him is the best option. Storm calls on a blizzard. Omega Red, realizing the plan, knocks her down, but Colossus grabs him and tells her to try again. She summons a huge blizzard to freeze him. Colossus has every intention to freeze along with Omega Red to keep him still, but Dark Star uses her powers to pull him free at the last moment. Storm and Dark Star keep him still long enough to freeze him solid. Colossus says they’ve stopped him, for now.

 

The USSR Generals say that things will soon be as they were, just before Dark Star bursts in and corrects this line of thought. Their army is beaten, and Omega Red captured, a new day is dawning. She captures them and flies off.

 

Wolverine once again offers to have Colossus join the team, but he says he wants to stay and help rebuild his village for now. Jubilee asks that he still visits if he can, to which Colossus agrees. As they fly off, Illyana asks if it’s really over, to which he says yes, thanks to help from the X-Men.

 

This was a nice introduction to Omega Red. He’s an extremely tough opponent and seeing him more or less single handedly topple a government was a good way to show it off. Pitting him against Colossus was also smart. It was a war of ideals between these men, the ironfisted USSR rule vs. the common Russian citizen. This was also a good way to show off more of Logan’s backstory. We don’t get a lot about him, just that he fought Omega Red over 20 years ago, that he and his team won but it was a close thing. The best Logan stories are the ones that feed you just a few bits here and there. It also fed into Omega Red’s rep, as someone so powerful that Logan had trouble beating him is saying something. Having Dark Star beat him was also nice, a way to redeem herself for helping to free him. I doubt the X-Men would have through to try to freeze him without the tip. And Charles and Magneto’s plot is thickening. Trapping two of the most powerful mutants in a place where they can’t access their powers is a solid plot. Having Magneto kill a T-Rex using just his intelligence and strategy was a solid example of how his desire to live. See you next time, have a good night.

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 16

 To Kilimanjaro we will go. 

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, Morph continued his rampage through the X-Mansion. Jubilee was held hostage by the Friends of Humanity and was going to be executed as part of that rampage, but she’s saved by Logan. Jubilee and Wolverine return to the mansion just as Morph attempts to impersonate Charles. Wolverine sniffs him out and tries to unmask him. The other’s initially believe Morph’s lie that Wolverine is being controlled by a neural disrupter, but Gambit decides to trust Wolverine’s hunch and throws a card at him. The card was just charged enough to make it glow and freak Morph out and make him leap to his feet. Which would be somewhat hard for Charle’s to do as a paraplegic. Morph escapes the group and steals the Blackbird. Meanwhile, Scott and Jean’s honeymoon is interrupted by Mr. Sinister and his Nasty Boys. They’re captured and Sinister reveals his plan to use their children to make a master race of Mutants. Morph arrives to get revenge on Scott for abandoning him, leading the X-Men right to the island base. It’s revealed here that Mr. Sinister saved Morph after he was attacked by the Sentinels last season, restoring his body and implanting a mind control device into Morph’s brain. A brawl breaks out, Morph is able to get enough control of himself to destroy Sinister’s controller and a freed Scott takes out his frustration on Sinister. His eyebeam seems to liquify Sinister’s body, forcing Sinister and his team to fall back. Morph also flees. Wolverine tries to go after him but can’t reach him in time. He vows to not leave Morph behind again and plans to go after him. And finally, we see Charles meet up with Magneto in the Antarctic, both men shocked to see the other in perfect health. Why? Morph took on their forms and lied that they were dying to draw them to this location. And then a bomb goes off, burying Charles and Magneto in an avalanche. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We begin at Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. A young man in a jersey and headband is racing around the slopes of the dormant volcano at superhuman speeds. He races by, scaring some wildlife before joining a soccer game in progress with some friends. The fun is ended, however, when the boy sees an energy rip forming in the sky near Kilimanjaro. He says that the sky is ripping apart, but his friends don’t see it. We see the energy rip shape into a sneering face. We pan out to find that Jean has detected this weird occurrence with Cerebro and let Beast know. Rogue comes in with Storm. She’s still cradling her ribs, indicating she’s still hurt from being shot down two episodes ago, but is recovering. Rogue notices the blinking light and asks what’s up. Jean explains that she was using Cerebro to try to scan the whole planet for any sign of the professor. She didn’t find him, just this weird anomaly. They describe it as a temporal or astral tear in reality. Beast theories that Bishop’s time traveling might have caused it but can’t be sure. Jean says that the tear is shrinking, so it might just be fixing itself. Storm gets a better look at the map, realizes it’s of Tanzania and is terrified for someone named Mjnari. We cut back to the village in Tanzania. A horrid monster pulls itself out of the tear and attacks the boy, confirmed to be Mjnari. The boy is possessed by the creature. That can’t be good.

 

Shifting focus, we end up on the Upper part of the Amazon river in Brazil. A crusty sea captain is laughing at hearing how his passenger is looking for someone that he can’t recognize because he can look like anyone. Yes, the passenger is Logan. Not sure why he’s wearing his heavy jacket in the tropics, but he’s a weird guy. The captain says he doesn’t believe he’s seen Morph, but Logan smells his scent on the wind. He runs off, much to the captain’s shock.

 

We jump to Dodoma, in Tanzania as a storm cloud rolls in. Said cloud is revealed to be Rogue and Storm flying in. They sweep by Dodoma and head toward the volcano. We learn that just after Jean detected the Tear, Storm’s village contacted her and said they needed her help. They fly over Kilimanjaro and see the villages around the volcano are burning. They use their powers to help put out the fires and save some cattle, and then touch down.  Storm is greeted by her friend, Shani. The two hug as Rogue walks over and says that a boy with an attitude problem is causing this mess. Shani confirms that the boy is Mjnari. Rogue isn’t concerned, having somehow missed Storm’s gasp, and says that she and Storm will put the fear of Storm into that kid. Storm grabs her before she can fly off and says that Mjnari is her son.

 

We cut to the top of the volcano. Mjnari puts his hand out and gathers rainwater in his hand. The thing controlling him realizes what this means, that she has returned. He goes outside and announces that Storm, godmother of the body he possesses and a slave to it, will soon return to her rightful place, as servant to the Shadow King! Oh, crap, this guy.

 

Here’s some background context that the show doesn’t include. The Shadow King was a Mutant from Cairo named Amahl Farouk. He’s an extremely powerful telepath that ran a criminal empire in Cairo, one small part of which was using a young orphan named Ororo Munroe as a pickpocket for him. He was eventually tracked down and faced off against Charles Xavier. Charles was able to defeat Farouk and cast his mind into the Astral Plane, an extra-dimensional space psychics can tap into. Charles took Storm in and brought here back with him to join the X-Men. And now, obviously, he’s back.

 

Back in Brazil, Logan has found Morph. He’s tending a bar in the middle of nowhere. Logan tells him that Morph is coming along whether he likes it or not. Morph turns into his sickly form. Logan says that he’s been where Morph’s been before. The professor saved him and so he’s going to save Morph. Morph flips the bar table on him and runs. Logan cuts himself free and grabs him. Morph takes on Jean’s form for some psychological torture, to make Logan let him go and then run off into the jungle. Wolverine screams in rage and runs after him.

 

We cut back to Tanzania, where we get some context about Mjnari. The boy is Shani’s son, the birth was difficult, and they almost died. The midwife saved Shani, but Storm was the one to breathe life into Mjnari. No, not with her powers, but with gentle CPR to get his lungs working. Shani explains further that Storm looked after Mjnari while she recovered, and this caused a strong bond to form between them. Storm was adopted into their village after wandering in as an orphan, but Shani says she left the village as one of them and a surrogate mother to Mjnari. And that a year ago, Mjnari began developing his Mutant powers, namely his superspeed. The group is interrupted by Mjnari’s arrival. He speaks and Storm recognizes the voice of the Shadow King. He’s an opponent the X-Men battle at some point before the show, as Rogue recognizes him too and say that the professor already beat this guy and hurled him into the Astral plane. Shadow King says that he’ll wait for Storm on the Mountain, and he’ll let the boy go. Storm tells Rogue to stay behind as she deals with this. She’s worried that Rogue might hurt Mjnari… but Rogue decides to follow anyway as Shadow King was a tough fight even for Charles.

 

Storm meets with Shadow King and demands he leave her son. Shadow King promises that he will, provided that Storm agrees to a few conditions. Rogue drops in and goes to fight him, but Storm stops her. Shadow King explains that now that he’s back from the living death that he needs a host body in order to restart his criminal empire. He tells Storm that if she agrees to be that body, giving him access to her delicious powers in the bargain, he’ll free Mjnari. Storm agrees, so long as he leaves Mjnari unharmed. Rogue tries to stop her, but Storm throws her aside before agreeing. The Shadow King spills out of Mjnari’s mouth and into Storm’s. Once possessed, Shadow King declares to the absent Xavier that he’s finally won. He announces that with these new powers, that he will rule Cairo like he never had before, as with Storm’s powers plus his own, every criminal in the city will have to obey him. Dude is in control of a weather goddess and yet is dreaming so very small. Rogue tells Mjnari to stay behind and flies after Storm-Shadow King.

 

She tries to grab Storm-Shadow King but is thrown off. Rogue takes her gloves off to try and grab and absorb Shadow King out of her. Storm comes to for a moment to warn Storm to stay away as Shadow King will destroy her. Shadow King takes over again and summons a tornado to throw Rogue away. Rogue nearly hits the ground, but Mjnari races over and catches her. Rogue tells him to go but Mjnari refuses. Rogue says he doesn’t know Shadow King, but Mjnari counters with “He has my mother. That’s all I need to know.”

 

Back in Brazil, Wolverine is still chasing after Morph. He falls into a mind shaft and he and Morph face off. Morph says that Wolverine’s body can heal fast but when he’s done, Wolverine’s mind will never recover. To prove that point he quickly shifts between some characters that you might recognize, namely Deadpool, Omega Red, and Maverick. If you don’t recognize those names, they’re all important people from his past. Wolverine says he’ll risk it. Morph takes on Wolverine’s form and they fight claw to claw. Wolverine bests him, and Morph turns into a panther to fight him and then a Rhino. Logan tells him that the X-Men can help him. Morph takes on Sabretooth’s form and says without Xavier there are no X-Men. Logan shrieks that he’s wrong. Morph tosses him to the ground before returning to normal, telling Wolverine that he needs to get through this by himself. He runs off and this time Wolverine is too injured to follow. He instead says that when Morph is ready, the X-Men will be waiting.

 

Back in Tanzania, Storm is fighting Shadow King’s control, flashing back to when she was a pickpocket for him in Cairo. She refuses to be used by him again. Storm announces that she might not be able to stop Shadow King but she can destroy him by destroying them both. Rogue tells her not too but Storm keeps flying upward. She flies until the air is too thin to breathe. The Shadow King bails out of her body and she drops. Rogue catches her and they land by Mjnari. Storm recovers and tells him to run, as she and Rogue will battle the Shadow King. Mjnari tells them about the opening in the Astral Plane and that the Shadow King came out of it. They figure they need to force the Shadow King back into the gap before it seals itself. The women try to tell Mjnari to go and they’ll handle it, but he’s the only one who can see the breech so he’s not leaving. Mjnari races towards the mountain, while Storm calls up rain to try to reduce the destruction the Shadow King can cause. He lures the Shadow King back into the void. He’s briefly possessed by the Shadow King again, but they both realize that they need to get back out again fast. The Shadow King flies and Mjnari races back towards the portal.

 

Outside, Storm is literally clawing at the side of the mountain to try to get Mjnari back. Rogue joins in and tries to punch through. Mjnari races past the Shadow King and sticks his hand through the rift. Storm and Rogue grab him and pull him through. The portal seals at the last moment, sealing the Shadow King inside. Rogue and Storm fly off after returning Mjnari home, Rogue wondering if the others had found the professor yet. Storm isn’t sure but is sure the professor’s thoughts were with them.

 

In the Antarctic, Charles digs himself out of a snowbank. Magneto digs himself out too and he helps Charles to his feet. Charles is shocked to see a rainforest in the distance in the middle of Antarctica. Magento explains that this is The Savage Land, a place created by unknown forces eons ago. Alien technology protects the rainforest from the cold or being detected by outsiders. They’re shocked to realize that Charles can walk, but even more disturbed to learn that neither of them can access their powers. Charles points out that Magento seems to know this place. Magneto says he thought he knew it, but nothing about this place affected Mutant powers before. As they talk, they’re being monitored by Mr. Sinister. You don’t see his face but you do see his distinctive black armor, so I don’t count this as a spoiler. Sinister summons some Pterosaur guards to try to grab them. The Pterosaurs get Magneto, but Charles gets one of their boomerangs and knocks him free, then diving into a river after him. The last we see of both men is them tumbling over a waterfall. Damn.

 

My only real complaint about this episode is that it doesn’t really properly explain who the Shadow King is. Like, imagine I didn’t include my blurb about who he used to be and how he was connected to Storm. You’d be confused and weirded out as to how this horrid thing apparently used an otherwise normal orphan girl to pickpockets for him. The episode implies he used to be a normal Mutant, but we never see it or have them out and out confirm it, so it feels weird. But Shadow King is a powerful opponent of the X-Men, and him trying to possess Storm as a double revenge against Xavier for sealing him away years ago fits his MO. Farouk is a simple man, really. I’d still have preferred to see a flashback of Charles vs. the Shadow King for full context, but I guess Rogue being scared because she knows that was a hard fight for Charles was okay. In retrospect, it’s funny that Storm’s godson is a boy with Superspeed, as X-Men: Evolution’s version of the character is given a nephew whose biggest rival is a speedster. Just a fun thing to think about. I liked Wolverine’s B-plot of hunting Morph. Both because it starts with Wolverine’s usual unwillingness to let things go, only for it to end with Wolverine accepting his friend needs to bare this weight on his own. Nice character moment for Wolverine when he lets Morph go. And finally, the C-Plot. Most of the episodes this season, unless the Savage Land is the whole plot of the episode, will end with a showing us how Charles and Magneto are doing. They’re stuck in a tropical lost world with no supplies, maps or powers, so you can probably imagine how well this trip is going to go for them. But more on that when we get there. Have a good night everyone. 

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Viewer Log: X-Men: TAS ep 15

 Things are getting... Malevolent. No wait, Baleful. No wait... Menacing... No! Wait! Sinister! Things are getting Sinister!

Last time on X-Men: The Animated Series, season 2 kicked off with a bang. Scott and Jean got married, and Logan sulked by fighting Sentinels in the Danger Room. The happiness of Scott and Jean, though, almost immediately takes a sinister turn when it’s revealed the priest that married them was in fact Morph in disguise. We also learn that Beast got a pardon from now President Robert Kelly. Which is good. But we also see the raise of a Mutant hating human supremacists group called the Friends of Humanity lead by a fella named Creed. Morph causes chaos at the Mansion, luring Charles to the Antarctic by pretending to be Magneto in distress, and then infiltrating the mansion. He takes on Rogue’s form and tricks Gambit into thinking they can touch; he then kisses the real Rogue and gets his power drained and is put into a coma; he turns into Storm and sends Jubilee to the Friends Of Humanity; and just sneaks into the Danger Room and turns the settings to high before locking Beast inside. With Scott and Jean on their honeymoon, Wolverine is out venting his frustration at life, Gambit comatose, Charles rushing to save “Magneto,” and Beast “going to catch up” (Morph in disguise, it’s up to Storm and Rogue to save Jubilee from the FoH. It doesn’t go well, as they’re able to stop a near riot, but Storm is shot down by police being ordered by Morph. The final scene of the episode is of a pale skinned man in black called Mr. Sinister saying that he hopes Morph is enjoying his revenge as much as he is. Creepy. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We open on a plane touching down near a small island. Scott and Jean are on a sailboat and are looking forward to reaching that island. Their idyllic moment is immediately ruined as we cut to Beast racing around Danger Room traps. He knows that this is a much harder work out than when he programmed into the computer. To escape, he uses the Danger Rooms own heavy weaponry to blow the door, slipping out while panting.

 

Outside, a police car pulls up. The cop inside gets out and is revealed to be Morph. He seems to be coming out of whatever haze he’s been in, saying that this is Xavier’s School and he used to belong here. He’s joined by Mr. Sinister, his new boss, who is here to make sure Morph is still committed to the cause of destroying the X-Men. Morph says that he doesn’t want to, shape shifting into Storm, Wolverine and Gambit as he calls them his friends. Sinister tells him Friends don’t abandon Friends. This seems to reactivate whatever he’s done to Morph, as he returns to the sickly, dark eye circle form. Morph agrees but says two are missing. Sinister reminds him he sent them somewhere very romantic but makes it clear Cyclops and Jean Grey belong to him.

 

Scott and Jean are on their sailboat, enjoying each other’s company and the solitude they’ll enjoy. Supposedly there’s no other person for a hundred miles. They’re interrupted by a man with Pink hair leaping from the island towards them over rocks. The man, Ruckus, says he has a message for them. When Scott asks to hear it, Ruckus lets out a powerful scream that causes a tidal wave that capsizes their boat. They wash up on shore and are jumped by Hairbag, Slab, and Gorgeous George, all under the leadership of Mr. Sinister. Ruckus, Gorgeous George, Hairbag and Slab are Mr. Sinister’s personal strike force, the Nasty Boys. Ruckus has a super sonic scream, Hairbag is basically Beast, Slab is a strong man and Gorgeous George has a body made of a purple puddy like substance that he can stretch, shift or mold. Gorgeous George and Hairbag snap inhibitor collars on Scott and Jean, disabling their powers. Mr. Sinister tells them to just go along with what he wants, and it’ll be less dangerous before introducing himself.

 

We jump over to Beast and Rogue breaking into the hospital to see Storm, to avoid the media and police outside. They get into her room and Beast looks at her chart, confirming that she’ll recover but with time. Rogue is upset at herself, and then Beast at not being there to help Storm. Beast says that he wasn’t told about a mission, but Rogue refuses to believe that as he saw him when Storm called. Before they can discuss it further, a doctor comes in and calls for the police. They bid a hasty retreat.

 

We cut across town to a FoH meeting. The, mostly white, members of this hate group are chanting for their leader, Graydon Creed. He tells his people that they’ve given a warning to Mutantkind that the Future belongs to Humanity. They bring out Jubilee and he asks the crowd what to do with her, and they order her execution. They start leading her away, Jubilee promising they wouldn’t be talking so tough if her hands weren’t tied, when a feral scream comes from above. Wolverine crashes down into their midst and does his best to mess some stuff up. He’s the best at it, after all. Wolverine frees her, Jubilee telling him that Storm sent her to one off the FoH bases, and Wolverine complaining about how much bubblegum he had to sniff to find her.  They escape the theater and make a run for it.

 

Back at the Mansion, Rogue is still chastising Beast for missing the mission and he keeps telling her he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. As they enter the War Room, Gambit wakes up, saying they scream loud enough to wake the half dead. Rogue is happy to see him awake, but he then accuses her of lying about the kiss not hurting. She tells him he snuck a kiss on her and got what was coming to her, and Gambit angrily counters by saying Gambit don’t never go where he’s not invited. Beast tries to calm the situation, just as Charles floats in. He tells the group that they’re under attack by a ‘neural disrupter’ that may cause it’s victims to behave in unusual or irrational ways. This story might have worked, if Wolverine and Jubilee hadn’t entered and Wolverine caught Morph’s scent. Morph, as Xavier, tells the others to grab Wolverine as he’s being affected by the disrupter. Beast grabs him, telling him to calm down, but Wolverine throws him off, knocking Morph to the ground. Morph screams for the others to destroy Wolverine. Gambit, not recalling the professor ever saying anything remotely like that, charges a card and drops it in front of the splayed man. Morph leaps up and covers his head, only for it to be revealed that Gambit just put enough energy to make the card glow. Outed, Morph returns to his normal form and throws a grenade before running. Beast activates the Mansions defensive perimeter to try to keep him contained.

 

Morph makes for the Blackbird to try to escape, but Wolverine and Jubilee cut him off. Wolverine tries to talk Morph down, saying that he didn’t agree with Scott leaving him behind but that he made the call to save everyone else. Morph asks if he’s trying to convince Morph or himself and takes on Wolverine’s form. Jubilee, wanting to help, can’t decide which Wolverine to blast. One tells her to shoot them both as it’s the only way to be sure, so she shoots the other one. She went off on the ‘only the real one would say shoot us both” logic but gets it wrong as Morph uses his own voice to compliment her shot. She helps Wolverine up as Morph gets on the jet. Morph takes off and just barely escapes Wolverine clawing the wing of the Blackbird. The other’s join him as the Blackbird disappears into the horizon. Jubilee asks where he’s going to go now, and Beast theorizes he’s going to go after the X-Man he has the most reason to hate.

 

We shift back to the island. Scott and Jean are hooked not some kind of machine, the inhibitor collars still on their necks. Mr. Sinister reveals that he’s been stalking Scott and Jean since they were children, using footage of them as kids, teens and adults to prove his point. He says that the two of them are the precursors to the future of mankind, a future Sinister will control via their offspring. Scott tries to make Sinister let Jean go, but… like, his plans need both of them. Sinister uses his power to make a blood sucking tentacle. He takes a blood sample from Scott, saying that through the master race of Mutants he creates from their DNA, he will rule the world.

 

Back at the hospital, the Jubilee tells Storm about Morph attacking them. She’s happy about the news, focusing on the friend not being dead part, not the friend actively trying to kill them part. Jubilee says that it feels like everyone is against them lately. Storm says to not give up hope, as for every person that hates Mutants there’s another who’s willing to embrace them. Jubilee says that Morph used to believe that but now all he wants is revenge.

 

Morph takes the Blackbird to the island and touches down. He starts searching the island for Cyclops. He finds him and Jean in the lab. Scott is obviously shocked at seeing Morph alive, but even more so when Morph reveals he’s the one that married them. Morph holds Scott at gunpoint and asks if he likes feeling his life tick away. Jean wakes up and tries to convince Morph that Scott did what he had to for the good of the team. Morph doesn’t want to believe it and goes to shoot Scott but is interrupted by Sinister and the Nasty Boys. Morph can’t seem to remember who Sinister is. Sinister uses whatever implant he put into Morph’s brain to make him remember the Night of the Sentinels, how he was shot and left for dead. How Sinister found him and repaired his body. He claims that Morph’s mind had been broken by the experience, he became two people, the real Morph and the version of him that wanted to kill his friends for revenge. We’re shown Sinister implanting a literal bug into Morph’s brain before he first takes on his angry form, so I’m not sure I believe this. They’re interrupted by the X-Men’s arrival.

 

The X-Men and the Nasty Boys face off. The Nasty Boys are tough combatants, with Ruckus keeping everyone off balance with his screams, Hairbag and Slab being strong and agile, and Gorgeous George being all but untouchable with his gooey body, but the X-Men are able to take them down. Sinister then comes out and starts blasting, saying they won’t interfere with his experiment. Cyclops tells Morph to help, as he’s still an X-Man. This seems to rally Morph, who gets up and shoots Sinister’s side, breaking a device at his hip. He turns to Morph, regenerating, and saying he should have let Morph die. Scott is able to free himself and he starts blasting Sinister. For some reason, Scott’s eye beam seems to do extra damage to Sinister, making his body melt. Scott shouts at Sinister to stay away from his friends. Sinister and the Nasty Boys fall back and escape on their plane. Jean follows Scott and asks if he’s alright. He says he won’t be until Sinister pays. Scott is disappointed that they won’t be married, but Jean says they’ll be married in their hearts and by law again. The team sees Morph take off in a jet. Beast tells Wolverine to stand down, as he’s sure Morph is worried about what he’ll do right now. Wolverine says he’s not going to abandon Morph this time and goes after him.

 

In the Antarctic, Charles meets with Magneto and says that he looks well for a dying man. Magneto says that he could say the same for Charles. Apparently Morph sent him a similar message, disguised as Charles. Charles senses the lingering presence of something… sinister, just as a bomb goes off and they get buried in an avalanche. Oh no!

 

This was a solid finale to this opening two parter. We got more of Morph’s shenanigans and how an ability as simple as shape shifting can cause a LOT of damage if applied properly. I remember Morph’s PTSD/Mind Controlled state being particularly freaky when I was a kid. Being forced to fight your friends just seems like a rough time. This was also a solid intro to Mr. Sinister. If you haven’t come across him before, this episode basically covers all the main points. He’s a Geneticist obsessed with making the ultimate Mutant. He believes for a variety of convoluted self-determining reasons that we might get into later that the key to his ultimate Mutant lies in the potential progeny of Scott Summers and Jean Gray. And seeing how many timelines have a Nathan Summers, the ultimate time traveling psychic Mutant, he’s not exactly wrong with this assumption. It was also fun to see the Nasty Boys. To my knowledge, this is the one series outside the comics that they appear in. Their combination of super strength, sonic screams, and tar body just make for interesting fights. Particularly Gorgeous George, who is just a pain for physical fighters like Rogue, Wolverine and Beast to deal with. Morph has freed himself from Mr. Sinister, but it’s not going to be smooth sailing for him after this, just a fair warning. Oh, and Magneto and Charles have been attacked. Yeah, this is going to be a long season for them as this is just the first in a long line of bad days they’re going to have. Mr. Sinister is here and he’s significantly more threatening than his name implies. But more on that later. Have a good night!

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