Marvel’s X-Men ’97 Series Premiere Review

Mutation drives a species forward. It’s how any living being evolves to survive. Not all mutations are welcome, however. The X-Men know this better than anyone.

After years of waiting, the X-Men have returned to Marvel media with X-Men ’97. Fans of X-Men: The Animated Series can finally rest easy. An updated intro sequence is nearly shot for shot, with a revamped version of the iconic X-Men TV theme song. The series brings back all the nostalgia — and all of the drama X-fans have come to expect. Here’s a breakdown of X-Men ’97 episodes 1 and 2.

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X-Men ’97 Episode 1: “To Me, My X-Men”

Previously on X-Men… Professor Charles Xavier left Earth for some Shi’ar healing with Lilandra, and Marvel’s merry band of mutants wasn’t feeling so merry. Without their leader, they felt lost in a world full of mutant-hating humans.

But a year later, things have changed. Jean Grey is pregnant, Cyclops is trying to step up into the hole left by Xavier, and humans seem to be tolerating mutants. Well, sort of. Fueled by Henry Gyrich’s attack against Xavier, a faction of extremists called the Friends of Humanity are still targeting mutants. Led by Carl Denti and armed with Sentinel technology, the FOH hunts down mutants. Their newest target is a young mutant named Roberto Da Costa. Fortunately, Storm, Bishop, and Cyclops rescue him and take him back to the mansion.

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Nature’s Favored Children

Once he wakes up, Roberto is skeptical of the X-Men. Jubilee takes him to the Danger Room to show him how the mansion is much more than a school. He says he’s not into video games, which is when Wolverine shows up with his claws. Suddenly, being an X-Man comes into razor-sharp focus.

Outside the Danger Room, Scott and Jean speak with government official Val Cooper. Scott is desperately trying to uphold Xavier’s mission and he doubts Val’s trustworthiness. After the tense call, Jean says she thinks it might be best if they left the X-Men. Although Scott has trouble with this shocking idea, he also can’t deny that the team isn’t what it used to be.

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“Tolerance Is Extinction.”

The majority of the X-Men track Roberto down at a dance club. While Jubilee dances with Roberto and questions his reluctance to stay at the school, the other mutants talk about their own problems. Rogue looks at all the dancing people and laments to Gambit her inability to join in. Elsewhere, Morph pushes Wolverine into acknowledging his fear of the team potentially growing apart.

Meanwhile, Cyclops, Storm, and Bishop confront Henry Gyrich in prison. Cyclops offers a reduction in Gyrich’s sentence if he tells them where the Friends of Humanity got their Sentinel weapons. But Gryich refuses. He insists that public perception of mutants is only temporary — “Tolerance is extinction.” Does he mean for humans or for mutants? Only time will tell. Back at the mansion, Jean attempts to use Cerebro to infiltrate Gyrich’s mind. She extracts the location of Bolivar Trask but she’s also taken down by a nightmarish vision of death, Master Mold, and a sinister laugh.

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Omega-Level Threat Detected

Apparently Bolivar Trask is hiding out in the Sahara with Sentinels and a Master Mold. The team descends in the X-Jet and a classic X-Men fight ensues. Each mutant is at their peak dishing out some well-deserved attacks against the Sentinels. However, they’re soon overpowered.

And that’s when Storm swoops in. The Sentinels detect an Omega-level threat and Storm delivers on that warning. She uses all of her majestic control over nature to send an entire fleet of Sentinels into a maelstrom of lightning-impacted sand and swirling winds. For now, it seems the production of Sentinel technology is over. Then, Val Cooper arrives to retrieve the Master Mold.

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Intruder Alert

Back at the mansion, Jubilee continues to try to win Roberto over. He’s having a tough time accepting his new power. Jubilee insists again that the mansion is more than a school, it’s a family. But Roberto remains distant. “Be an X-Man, Jubilee? I don’t even want to be myself.”

Down on the basketball court, the X-Men resume their pick-up game. During all the fun, Jean and Scott start to make their announcement about leaving the team. Suddenly an alarm sounds about an intruder in Professor Xavier’s office. Turns out Charles left Magneto in charge of the school … and the X-Men.

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Episode 2: “Mutant Liberation Begins”

All over the world, Magneto is spotted heroically saving humans. The news broadcasts, and Cyclops, are skeptical of Magneto’s new attitude. Could he have changed? Scott wonders why Charles didn’t entrust everything to him but Jean insists that it could be a good thing. This is their chance to move on, especially with the new baby on the way.

Down in the city’s underground tunnels, Magneto rescues Callisto and the Morlocks from an FOH attack. His methods with the Friends of Humanity are a little more ruthless, a little closer to the former Magneto.

The X-Men remain divided on what to do with Magneto. Storm demands he prove himself trustworthy but Magneto respectfully refuses. He shares with the X-Men that his biggest takeaway is that even Charles Xavier can make mistakes. Does Magneto mean trusting him is a mistake or that Xavier’s dream is the mistake?

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Better Think Twice

After the team meeting, Jean and Storm share a moment together. Jean confides in her friend that she sometimes imagines whether life would be easier if her baby turned out to be human. Storm understands her friend’s fear, but reassures her that being a mutant is what created their family in the first place.

In another corner of the mansion, Rogue approaches Magneto. She expresses sympathy for someone who wants to overcome a dark past. Then Magneto alludes to a past that he and Rogue shared together. Before more of this shocking revelation can be discussed, Val Cooper arrives to charge Magneto with crimes against humanity.

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Monster’s Trial

With Magneto’s United Nations trial underway, the team follows their new leader — except for Jean and Logan, who stay behind. Outside of the UN building, the FOH leader Carl Denti rallies anti-mutant protestors. He dons the chilling mask of the X-Cutioner.

Inside, the UN judges allow Magneto a chance to make his own defense. He doesn’t deny his past. Instead, he appeals to the humans’ desire for peace, pointing out that they can end the cycle once and for all. History always plays the same sad song that causes the oppressed to become the oppressor. Magneto hopes for a different tune.

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“The Breeze Is Gone.”

X-Cutioner’s anti-mutant mob begins to break through UN security. Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men spread out to defend everyone at the trial. However, X-Cutioner cuts down every member of the team, even when Morph intervenes by shifting into Lady Deathstrike, Colossus, and Psylocke. At the same time, Jean goes into labor and Logan must race to the hospital as her telekinesis goes out of control.

Storm commands Rogue to fly Cyclops to the hospital while she and Magneto defend the courtroom. At the hospital, a bigoted doctor refuses to help Jean. Rogue reluctantly uses her power to siphon the doctor’s knowledge, only after Jean and Scott assure her that they trust her.

The High Road’s Destination

Magneto and Storm make a formidable duo yet X-Cutioner still sneaks in. He takes aim for Magneto but Storm swoops in to take the hit instead. With a devastating whisper, Storm says, “The breeze is gone.” X-Cutioner’s weapon depowered her. The sight of Ororo helpless on the ground, a human for all intents and purposes, is soul-shattering. In a heaving fury, Magneto ascends into the upper atmosphere, dragging X-Cutioner and the UN judges with him.

While he could have killed them all, and would have in the past, Magneto proves his word is good through action. He urges the judges to see who the truly hateful people are and what they’re willing to do. Mutants defend humans yet they’re still targets of violence. “What must we do to be good enough?” he asks. He demands that humans share the world with mutants.

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Mutant Nature

Miraculously, the UN pardons Magneto. Another miracle, Nathan Charles Summers, is born. But for every good thing that happens to the X-Men, something terrible must balance the scales. Beast reveals that Storm’s depowered condition is permanent.

Alone in her room, Ororo is frightened by a clap of thunder. With that, she decides to leave the X-Men. She’s no longer a mutant and, in her eyes, no longer family. In her goodbye letter, she writes, “It is human nature to crave connection, as it is also mutant nature to be heard, seen, to feel another soul finally seeing yours.”

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Knock Knock

Throughout the reading of Storm’s goodbye letter, we see the team in various scenes. Scott plays with baby Nathan and Morph tempts Wolverine out of his brooding with a six pack and a Sabretooth impersonation. Rogue also visits Magneto again, and they share a secret touch. It seems Rogue can touch Magneto without negative effects. Unfortunately, Gambit also sees this secret meeting.

After reading Storm’s letter, the team is distraught. But Morph is confident she’ll come back soon once she realizes life as a human is horrible. Just as they say this, the mansion’s doorbell rings. On the other side of the door is another Jean Grey, who collapses and says, “I need the X-Men.”

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From epic mutant-powered smackdowns to heart-wrenching speeches, X-Men ’97‘s double-episode premiere packed a powerful punch. And with eight more episodes, there’s no telling what else will happen. Stay tuned!

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