The fall of Asteroid M.
Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, Magneto unveiled his masterpiece. Having grown weary of life on
Earth, Magneto and several Russian Mutant scientists built Asteroid M. Asteroid
M will be a Mutant only nation that orbits the globe, and if anyone had a
problem with that, he’s more than willing to fire some stolen nuclear warheads
at them. He announced that the first nation that he would be gathering Mutants
would be Genosha. Charles, Beast and Gambit all went out to meet him. Magneto
brought them to the heart of Genosha’s Mutant detention camp and tried to free
the Mutants, but Genosha wasn’t willing to let it’s Mutant population go. They
pull out several Sentinels to try to keep their Mutants. They’re aided but a
man named Fabian Cortez and his Acolytes, the combined forces defeating the
Genoshans. Cortez uses his energy manipulating powers to revitalize Magneto and
heal his fatigue allowing them to escape. On Asteroid M, Gambit meets with his
friend Byron who is working for Magneto and has a look around. Cortez recharges
Magneto again, which makes Charles nervous. Oh, and an ex of Charles’ is also
part of the Acolytes. At a dinner where Magneto is hosting his guests,
including the stranded astronauts he’d kidnapped while stealing missiles,
missiles are fired on Asteroid M. Magneto destroys them and Cortez insists he
retaliate. Magneto doesn’t want to and Byron lets him know that was probably a
retaliation strike from Earth as someone fired a missile earlier at them.
Magneto has a private meeting with Cortez in his room where he accuses Cortez
of firing the missiles. Cortez admits it and says he renounces Magneto, saying
that he’s too weak to lead them against the ‘flat line’ humans. He reabsorbs
the energy he gave Magneto, saying that his power was the only thing that kept
Magneto going since Genosha. He claims Magneto doesn’t even have the power to
keep his atoms together for much longer. He jettisons Magento’s pod from
Asteroid M, saying he’ll make a better Martyr than Leader and then frames the
X-Men for assassinating Magneto. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.
We open with the Acolytes and other
Mutants trying to grab the ‘traitor’ X-Men. They run, and meet with the human
astronauts. Charles tells them that they need to make for the shuttles, now.
Gambit offers to stay behind to buy them time. Beast tells him that they might
not have time to wait for him, and Gambit just shrugs and says he’ll be the
first X-Man in Orbit then. He bunkers down and prepares to do some damage. He
uses his cards to hold them off, but Amelia uses her power to turn to mist to
sneak up behind him and distract him long enough for him to get grabbed. At the
shuttle, Charles says that they’ll wait if they can for Gambit, but Beast lets
him know the mob is on them and Gambit is nowhere to be seen. They take off.
Cortez vows ‘vengeance’ for Magneto, against the Charles, the X-Men, and the
Human tyrants on Earth. As they fall towards Earth, Charles sense Magneto’s
mind in his pod as it hurtles towards Earth. Magneto says that he lives but
he's clearly fading away into nothingness as we speak. Both shuttle and pod
head for the planet.
On Earth, Rogue is flying outside
the launch site and notes that they’re preparing for a crash. She sees the
shuttle coming in hot, and because she’s a badass, flies up and alters their
course just enough so they don’t crater at the launch site. They crash and fire
and rescue arrive to put out the flames. Rogue lands and rips the door from the
shuttle, asking where Gambit is. Charles tells her that he’s on Asteroid M, and
after she freaks out at the thought of him abandoning her, tells her that he
was captured by buying them time to flee. Hank promises that they’ll go back
for him as soon as they get the Blackbirds engines upgraded. A General pokes
his head into the shuttle and asks for Charles. Rogue wants to go after Remy,
now, but Charles tells her they need to delay at least a few hours to get the
world leaders up to speed. She starts tearing up at the thought of him behind
enemy lines.
On Asteroid M, Gambit is dubbed at
traitor. They stick him with a Genoshan power suppressing collar. Cortez is
going to spare him, saying that he’ll serve them well as a member of the
Acolytes. Gambit says that he’ll never do that, but Cortez swears that by the
end of the day he will.
Charles, Rogue, Hank and Logan hold
a brief memorial for Magneto, aka Magnus, aka Erik Magnus Lehnsherr. He tells
the story of how Magneto lost his family during the holocaust and how Charles
tried to help him but failed. He says that in his heart of heart, Magneto was
just focused on sparing future generations his pain and suffering. We’re shown him using his powers to lift a
chunk of rock from the Earth that would become Asteroid M. He bids his friend
farewell, saying that he has finally found peace. As they break up, Rogue
admits she’s more worried about Gambit than Magneto.
Back with Gambit, Cortez is trying
to torture a false confession out of Gambit. He uses his energy powers to cause
Gambit mind melting pain to get him to say he did it. Gambit refuses because he
is a badass. Amelia stops him from frying Gambit’s mind. Cortez warns her to
not interfere again or he promises to use their new Court system to look into
her helping an enemy of the state. Cortez sends a message to Earth, saying that
all Mutant prisoners shall be freed, and restitutions paid to the Mutants for the
crimes committed against them. If his demands aren’t met, he’ll start punishing
countries, starting with Genosha. We’re shown several groups watching the
address, including an Egyptian looking Pharoh, X-Factor, and the general
populace. Cortez promises that he’ll punish anyone who resists and that they
have four hours to comply. At the White House, Kelly is demanding action.
Charles wants to go back, to at least try, but the Genoshan representative is
being racist. Charles promises that they’re the best shot at stopping Nuclear
war and that this time his people won’t be going up to talk.
Cortez is whipping up a populist
mob on Genosha, promising retribution against Earth. Amelia calls him a
reckless fool and that she knows humanity would have left them alone if they
hadn’t kicked the hornet’s nest. In his cell Gambit it is tossing cards in a
hat. Amelia slips into his cell using her powers and asks why won’t he just
confess and get things over with. Gambit insists he’s innocent and asks her how
Cortez got to Magneto’s room so fast when his room is on the other side of the
station. She promises to find out. Two of the other Acolytes are talking about
Cortez in the security room, one is worried that Cortez is going full dictator
and the other is telling her to calm down. Amelia slips past them in smoke form
and gets to the security cameras, saying it’s time to see who is telling the
truth.
The Blackbird leaves Earth’s
atmosphere and uses its new tech to slip past Asteroid M’s defenses. Charles,
bedecked in a fancy space suit, quickly scans minds and determines that they
are so far undetected. They dock with the station and Rogue and Wolverine slip
into the station. Both are in kick ass space suits as well. Amelia searches the
record room and notes that the video of the time of Magneto’s assassination,
helpfully marked by number, is missing. She turns to smoke and slips away.
Beast meanwhile hopes the hatch to one of the nukes and begins to disarm them,
quickly ripping out the wiring. He does 2 of 250 in a few seconds, so a lot to
go.
Inside the station, Cortex is using
a hologram display to figure out what his king look should be. Amelia calls him
and says that he’s needed in the control room. He calls her a disrespectful
harridan and promises that she’ll be next. Ya know it’s bad when you’re
plotting political assassinations. She finds the tape and plays it, confirming
Cortez killed Magneto. Rogue flies Logan through the station so they can move
silently. They reach the control room just after Cortex does and a fight breaks
out. Rogue and Wolverine are tough but it’s four-on-one. They get thrown into a
monitor and knocked out. Cortez sentences them to be jettisoned into space.
On Earth in a desert, two men and
their camels are resting by a fire. They see Magneto’s pod crashed land and go
to investigate. As they arrive, we see Magneto begin to reconstitute himself
and announce that he lives!
Cortez uses Asteroid M’s technology
to broadcast the execution of Rogue and Wolverine. He’s clearly super high on
being the undisputed ruler here, saying that his people demand retribution be
delivered. Amelia says that all he’s been delivering lately is lies and plays
the tape of him draining Magneto. Cortez says it’s a trick, but the crowd turn
on him. Wolverine says that he’s pretty sure he’ll enjoy this. Cortez throws a
grenade at them, saying their new world will live. While they stop the grenade,
he drops through an emergency chute. Rogue says she’s sure he won’t fire more
missiles, but Amelia says that he can through the secondary controls. Cortez
goes to Byron and tells him that Asteroid M has been infiltrated and they need
to check the missiles. They find Beast has disabled 40 of them, but there’s 210
left. Cortez order him to fire them. Byron isn’t insane, though and says
that if he did that, they’d wipe out most of life on Earth. Cortez pulls a gun
on him and orders him to do it, Gambit comes in and says Cortez has lost his
mind. Cortez tries to shoot him, but Byron melts his gun. He throws Byron off
and activates Gambit’s collar. Or tries to, Amelia turns it to smoke and steals
it, freeing Gambit. Cortez says he won’t be stopped and activates the Missiles.
He launches them towards Earth. Charles and Beast use the Blackbird to shoot a
bunch down but there are too many. Suddenly, Magneto arrives and stops the
missiles. He says that the Earth’s magnetic field healed him, like a mother
nourishing her son. (Again, not sure that sciences but whatever) He’s here for
revenge. He uses his power to shift Asteroid M. Rogue and Wolverine rush to try
to find Gambit. They radio to him and find that he’s with Amelia escorting
Cortez. Magneto bursts in and demands vengeance. Cortez tries to beg for
forgiveness, but Magneto wraps him in metal and gags him. They all fall back to
the Blackbird and it takes off. Gambit playfully whines about having to hold
the fort all by his lonesome and Rogue says next time she’ll come with to watch
his bad.
Charles reaches out to Magneto and
tells him that he needs to come with them. Magneto refuses, determined to see
his dream to it’s end. He laments what was lost, thinking that humanity may
have come to trust them with time but that is impossible now. He says that
he’ll survive the destruction of Asteroid M and to not worry. He drops it to
Earth, making sure it crashes into the ocean.
On Earth, Amelia asks why he tried
to save Magneto. She asks what he has to live for with his dream dead. He says
that he hopes Magneto could help Charles see his dream fulfilled. And offers a
spot for Amelia as well. She thanks him, but says she’d tried to follow another
man’s dream, and it failed, so it’s now time for her to find her own.
Sometime later, Cortez finds
himself strapped down and with his head hooked up to some machines. He asks
what happened to him and where he is. A familiar robotic voice says that he was
spared from Asteroid M because he was determined to be potentially useful. From
the shadows steps Apocalypse. And the Shi’ar royal family member Deathbird for
some reason. Not sure what she’s doing there.
Overall, a solid two parter. I
think that having Magneto just met Fabian Cortez just before Cortez’s attempted
coup weakens the story ever so slightly, though. Like, the dude was on Asteroid
M for like three days, but he’s figured out secret passageways, defense
protocols, and gained access to the security system? If he’d been Magneto’s
number 2 for a while, maybe say that he’d been sent ahead to prepare Genoshan
Mutants to leave to explain why he was on the island and then this flows a
little better. I want to give props to Fabian Cortez’s voice actor Jeffery Max
Nicholls. The dude just has a voice that works well with screamed lines and
moments of pure delusional grandeur. From a character standpoint, Cortez also
works as a betraying successor, leveraging the ‘tragedy’ of Magneto’s death to
whip his followers into a frenzy and keep them too hyper fixated on vengeance
to ask important questions. Like how come you were near Magneto’s room? The
episode also highlights Gambit’s strong strength of character and will. The
energy Cortez uses looks extremely painful, so the fact Gambit was able to
withstand it and keep firm to his innocence is impressive. Magneto recovering
because he landed on Earth is a bit weird but fits with how his powers are
often depicted. He’s able to generate his own magnetic fields, but his most
impressive feats just about always show him merging his field with the planets
to make the big, big effects. His dedication to his vision being so strong that
he had to destroy Asteroid M since it was no longer a viable idea was pretty
good too. Magneto is often on the wrong side in situations, but it seems clear
that despite any bravado to the contrary he honestly thought that Asteroid M
was as peaceful a solution as he was able to make. Yes, the nukes were overkill
but I do understand his belief that he needed a deterrent bigger than his
perfect defense. At least so long as they don’t make plastic missiles, that is.
Next time, Charles vs. the Shadow King.
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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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