Family trees are complicated.
Last time on X-Men: The Animated
Series, Magneto was confronted by his past. We learn that the master of
magnetism has a tradition of traveling to a graveyard in the Balkan Mountains
to pay respect to his late wife Magda. At the same time, Wanda and Pietro
Maximoff learn that their father adopted them. He and their late mother got the
twins when a cow-lady named Bova dropped them off. They headed to Wundargore,
the mythical mountain that the woman is said to have come from. They find Bova
there, and her maker the High Evolutionary. They tell the twins that their
mother came to their mountain several months pregnant. She stayed long enough to
give birth to them, but once she’d recovered, she ran off. She feared a
powerful Mutant was following her. The High Evolutionary told them that the
murderer was Magneto. The twins attacked Magneto along with some of the High
Evolutionary’s animal-human minions. Wolverine, who’d been following him on
Charles’ orders, tries to save him but all four get captured when the High
Evolutionary backstabbed them. We learn that the twins are Magneto’s children,
their mother being Magda. The High Evolutionary lured them all here to use in
part of his experiments. He wants to use Wanda’s probability warping power to
increase the odds of making discoveries and Pietro’s to speed up the process.
The key to the plan, though, was taking Magneto’s DNA to enhance his children’s
power. He used his tech to transform Wolverine into an actual Wolverine.
Magneto freed himself and the twins and they battled the High Evolutionary and
his minions with Beast and Charles who came to help when Wolverine was
captured. They made the High Evolutionary flee, causing the valley’s ecosystem
to collapse immediately. And Wolverine turned back to normal. Magneto and the
twins parted on not great terms, but Magneto gave them the option to talk to
him if they wanted to learn more about him and their mother. Enough recapping.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
The story begins with the return of
Graydon Creed. The former leader of the FoH had had such a severe reaction to
his secret about being the son of Sabretooth left him catatonic. He’s better
now and testified to congress that, while he doesn’t admit to connections to a
raise in hate crimes against Mutants, claims that human patriots are doing the
work. Later, he goes to the FoH high command and assumes he’ll be taking back
control of the group. Unfortunately for him, the Council have taken over in his
absence and aren’t giving up their power willingly, especially given the
skeletons in his closet. Turns out, Sabretooth isn’t the only Mutant in his
family tree. They give him some documents that we don’t see but the information
makes him sweat with fear. He begs for a chance to prove his loyalty. They
agree to allow it, but if Graydon wants back in the club, he’s got to prune the
family tree.
We cut to the X-Mansion on
Halloween. Logan uses a Beast Mask to scare off some kids, Jubilee comes in and
scolds him for using Beast’s face like that. Jubilee asks what’s eating him and
Logan admits he’s annoyed that kids get to spend one night dressing up as
monsters and Mutants before just going back to normal. Jubilee tells him to lighten
up. Another door bell ring draws Jubilee away, though it’s not a
tick-or-treater, but good ol’ Nightcrawler. He says he needs help.
We cut to the rec room with Kurt,
Logan, Jubilee, and Rogue who I guess was hanging out in back. Kurt explains
that he received a letter at the monastery, saying that if he doesn’t come to a
certain location tonight, they’ll hurt his mother. This is sort of a mixed
threat for him as he wants to actually meet his biological mother. He claims
that the letter’s handwriting matches the note he was left with. He begs for
help, and everyone is willing to give it. Kurt is a bit worried as the note
says he needs to go alone, but Logan insists he’ll look alone without being
alone. They walk off and Jubilee notes that Nightcrawler is blue and furry like
Beast and wonders if they’re related. Rogue laughs at this and says that’s
about as likely as her and Nightcrawler being kin. … That, children, is called foreshadowing.
They take the Blackbird and head to
the coordinates. On the flight, Jubilee goes to talk to Nightcrawler. She says
that Logan talks a lot about their time together and that talking to Kurt means
a lot to him. Kurt agrees that he also enjoyed his brief time with Logan. Jubilee
admits that she doesn’t know her biological parents either, and spent years in
the foster system shuffling between different families because they all
eventually grew tired or her blowing stuff up. She says that she used to wonder
if she’d fit in anywhere before meeting the X-Men. Kurt tells her that friends
do help with that loneliness a lot, but pain can often make people forget we’re
all part of a greater family under God. Jubilee says that sounds nice, but then
gets to the meat of her question, what is Kurt going to do if he meets the
woman that abandoned him. Kurt, the ever-forgiving monk, says that while he
might be mad he can’t rightly hold that anger against her. He prays for his
sins to be forgiven as well as for those who’ve sinned against him. He looks to
God for guidance and must follow that forgiveness. He says God gives him the
strength to forgive. And Jubilee says that religion can be intense.
They land and arrive at a damn.
They scout out the area, they don’t see anything but that puts Logan’s dander
up. Kurt worries that he shouldn’t have brought them and worries something will
happen to his mother. Rogue tells him not to worry and that she and Logan have
to help him given the help he’s given them. They head in. Jubilee pretends to
be a trick-or-treater, distracting the guard long enough for Kurt to bamf
behind him and then knock him out. Logan is disgusted to see that this is a
Friends of Humanity base. They fill Kurt in on the group and then they head
inside. Logan says he and Jubilee will distract the guards while Kurt and Rogue
find his mom and get out of there. Kurt says he wants to take a moment to thank
Logan for all he’s doing for him. Logan says it’s no problem, both for helping
Kurt and because he enjoys fighting the FoH.
They split up and Jubilee and Logan
find an armory stacked with weapons. In crates, obviously, can’t show the
kiddies guns and bombs. Jubilee jokes they must have gotten a new credit card.
Logan radios into Rogue for an update and she says their section is as quite as
a church on Saturday… and then quickly apologizes to Kurt for that turn of
phrase. They hear a woman calling for help and Kurt rushes in to help. This
makes Rogue panic as she recognizes the voice… it’s Mystique. Rogue demands to
know what her mama is trying to pull. Mystique doesn’t answer, instead she
accuses Rogue of ruining everything as the FoH said they just want her brother.
Ya, if you didn’t read my X-Men: Evolution reviews, or haven’t followed
along with Marvel Comics since like the 80s, ya, Rogue and Kurt are siblings by
adoption. Kurt’s moms Mystique and Destiny adopted Rogue when she was a
teenager. Kurt begs for answers, while Rogue insists they need to go. Mystique
admits to having always wondered what happened to Kurt. She tells him that
Rogue was adopted, but she herself had borne two children, one would be Kurt
Wagner, and the other, I’m sure you’ve guessed, is Graydon Creed jr. Graydon
bursts in at that point to face his mother, half-brother and adopted sister.
He’s disgusted to learn his family has even more Mutants in it than he’d
thought. Kurt asks if Graydon is in fact his brother, but that infuriates
Graydon, he tells Kurt to never use that word around him again. Kurt, the
biggest forgiver since Jesus himself, says that he will pray for his wayward
half-brother to find the strength to let go of his hate. Rogue demands to know
why Mystique is willing to turn Kurt over to Graydon and the FoH. Mystique says
that she did it because Graydon promised to only hurt Kurt, leaving the two of
them alone. Graydon, the only one that seems to have the real measure of their
mom, tells her to not sugarcoat it. She wanted to protect herself and no one
else. He hits them with a chlorine gas. Kurt teleports into the control room
and wrestles with his brother, trying to talk him down. Graydon admits that
because she bore him, all Mutants must suffer. While he and Kurt fight, Logan
and Jubilee burst in and break the jets. Kurt’s patience begins to break, and he
asks Graydon what sort of madman is he. Graydon says he’s starting a war
between humans and Mutants. Rogue updates them on the parental status of
everyone. Kurt tricks Graydon into punching a wall and joins the others.
Mystique ran in the confusion and everyone else agrees to bail.
Mystique disguises herself as an
FoH member and lead the guards towards her children so she can escape. Rogue
breaks them a way out through a wall. Kurt sees Mystique running across the
damn and chases after her. Rogue tries to follow but gets shot down. Graydon
gets into a helicopter and Jubilee rightly predicts that they probably won’t be
allowed to leave. Kurt cuts off his mother and begs her for the truth. Mystique
explains her lifestyle to her son. She claims to have been many women in her
time, some rich, some poor, but rich was what she preferred. She was married to
an Austrian Count for a time. She didn’t love him, but his money made up for a
lot. She lived a life of luxury until she gave birth to a blue child. She ran,
ultimately choosing to abandon Kurt at a waterfall. She said she had to start over,
and he was an inconvenience. She asks if he hates her, and Kurt says he
doesn’t. He feels sad for her. This seems to infuriate her more, she yells at
him that as a shapeshifter she’s not even trusted among other Mutants. She doesn’t
have a ‘real’ life, she steals bits and pieces of it from the identities she
steals or creates. It’s not a pretty life but it's how she survives. She says
that this is the truth, she didn’t want him. She asks if he still feels sad for
her. He says that he’s going to pray for the strength to forgive her, and for
God to give her the strength to forgive herself. The man is a saint.
The FoH mobilize, Rogue takes off
and distracts the copters while Logan and Jubilee try to distract the ground
troops. Rogue tricks one to shoot down another and then grabs the tail of
another to make it drop. Graydon compliments his sister but says she can’t be
in two places at once. He flies to his other family. Mystique demands to know
why he’s still willing to forgive her, and Kurt just says that he’s doing his
best to live a godly life. This seems to strike a chord with Mystique, who says
she doesn’t deserve this from him, but they’re interrupted by Graydon shooting
at them. She pushes Kurt out of the way and gets hit in the arm. We get a
flashback to when she abandoned Kurt and we see she was sobbing when she did.
Graydon swears he’s next. Kurt cries and says “God help you, brother.” He
teleports out of the way of Graydon’s missile strike. The damn breaks and the
water surges, destroying the copter. Kurt teleports to the river and tries to
save Mystique but can’t find her. Rogue saves him and says she’s getting him
home. Logan and Jubilee check out the wreckage, Jubilee saying that the FoH are
getting arrested for wrecking the damn, not attacking them. Kurt asks why
Mystique risked herself for him. Rogue says that his faith has a way of
affecting people and that maybe his words got through to her. Neither of them
see Mystique getting out of the water and running off, tears in her eyes.
Jubilee asks what happened to Creed. Logan asks ‘what didn’t?’
We cut to Graydon being held by the
FoH Council. They’re going to punish Graydon for messing up so badly with this.
They say they’re giving him one more chance, starting with him cleaning up the
part of the mess he wasn’t willing to face. They throw him from the copter and
pull the ripcord on his shoot. So he can drop slowly down to his fate. We see an
old cabin in the woods and a man waiting on the porch. Graydon begs “Not that.”
On the porch is Graydon Creed senior. He smiles viciously at getting to see his
boy, the famous slayer of Mutants, again. Graydon begs for him to understand,
but Sabretooth is clearly not listening to his cries. The last we see of
Graydon Creed jr. is him screaming “No!” as Graydon Creed sr. says, “Come to
papa.”
This episode made my jaw drop back
when I saw it in the 90s. It was my first bit of X-Men content back in the day,
so while I know now of the complex web that is Mystique’s progeny, then I just
learned that she’s parented multiple important characters. Don’t let anyone
tell you otherwise, comics were always soap operas. I should not in the current
canon, Mystique is actually the father of Kurt Wager, her lover Destiny
being the one that bore him. This had aways been what the writers had wanted to
do, but was… not the direction Marvel wanted to take it back in the 80s. The
explanation is that Mystique used her powers to cobble together a Y chromosome
to give their son, which is why Kurt’s father is Mystique, and yet he shares
traits with his other potential fathers, namely the Mutant-Demon Azazel. Comics
are screwy like that. Seeing Graydon come back was fun in a frustrating way as
we got to see the root of his intense hatred for Mutants be spelled out
plainly. We don’t get the details of his relationship to Mystique, but one can
assume she left him at some point with Graydon sr. At the end of the day, and I
believe I put it so in his villain profile years ago, he’s angry at mommy and
daddy for not loving him or giving him powers, so ALL Mutants must suffer. It
was way better to see Kurt again. He’s such a sweet and kind man, and I enjoy
seeing this version of him. A pious preacher that’s willing to admit follow the
teachings of God is hard but he’s always willing to do it in order to bring
people peace. He risked his life for the woman that abandoned him and was
strong enough to try to find it in his heart to forgive her. He’s what all good
Catholics should try to be. It’s a shame this is the last episode he’ll play a
major role in. But he’s hugely important in X-Men: 97, so there’s that
to look forward to. Good night, everyone!
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132938930/
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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