This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 season 2 episode 4.
When Magneto first appeared in 1963’s Uncanny X-Men #1, he had one goal, which he declared in Stan Lee’s typically melodramatic dialogue: “To make homo sapiens bow to homo superior!” Throughout the Silver Age, Magneto pursued that goal like any other self-aggrandizing baddie of the era. But when writer Chris Claremont started his transformational 17-year run in 1974, he reimagined Magneto into a more complex person, capable of kindness and empathy as much as he is acts of violence.
That’s a lot harder to do with Apocalypse, the centuries-old first mutant who lives his whole life according to a survival of the fittest ethos. Even when receiving amnesty and joining the leadership of Krakoa in recent years, Apocalypse had the task of beating the ever-loving life out of depowered mutants, so that they could be resurrected with their powers intact. How do you make someone so alien, so single-minded and strange, relatable? That’s the task that X-Men ’97 attempts with its fourth episode, the conclusion of the two-parter, “Rise of Apocalypse Part II,” a task that it achieves with remarkable nuance for a 30-minute cartoon.
On a plot level, “Rise of Apocalypse Part II” continues the previous episode’s plot, focusing on Xavier, Magneto, and the other X-Men in Ancient Egypt. As we recently learned, Mother Askani pulled half the team into the distant past in hopes of preventing En Sabah Nur from ever becoming Apocalypse. Complicating matters is the presence of Rama-Tut, a warlord from the future who has come to conquer the past (before eventually becoming Avengers villain Kang the Conquerer, as seen here). Magneto and Xavier have been trying to En Sabah Nur a better way to use his powers, albeit each through his own conflicting perspective. With the death of his mentor Baal, En Sabah Nur arrives at the breaking point.
It’s no spoiler to say that En Sabah Nur rejects the entreaties of Magneto and Xavier and becomes Apocalypse. Nor is it much of a spoiler to say that he does so by embracing technology brought to him the Celestials, the godlike aliens who the general public knows from MCU entries Guardians of the Galaxy, Eternals, and Captain America: Brave New World. Other episodes from this season have showed us Apocalypse’s reign in the future, and his appearances on the original X-Men: The Animated Series were a highlight.
Yet, “Rise of Apocalypse Part II” works because of the tension it builds between the three central characters, all of whom possess great power and all of whom know that they can shape the world. The debates between them, both verbal and in the form of action set pieces, examine the central question driving every superhero story: who should have power and what should they do with it?
The action set-pieces are, of course, brilliant. X-Men ’97 continues to use its anime influences and Disney budget well, allowing a sequence of Magneto preventing the sentient Ship from destroying a nation feel appropriately epic. They have a fluidity and urgency that couldn’t be achieved on the comic book page, fully justifying the adaptation, even if the plots themselves draw directly from the comics.
Likewise, the series retains all the heightened language of Silver Age comics. Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse don’t have conversations like normal humans, nor do they even debate like philosophers at an academic conference. Instead, they shout mottos at one another, declarations that no regular person would ever say, because, of course, they aren’t regular people. Apocalypse’s speech from the original series, “I am the eternal shore; crash against me and be broken!” gets repurposed into both a visual metaphor and a statement of purpose, one that clashes with Xavier’s dream of coexistence and Magneto’s desire for domination. The heightened stakes of superheroes battling for control over history call for heightened language.
A lesser show would crumble under those stakes, which is why most series wouldn’t even attempt it. Part of the joy of X-Men ’97‘s first season came from the way it unabashedly showed the endless hatred that the ruling classes have for minorities, mirroring our real-world in vibrant, four-color fashion. The first episodes of the season seemed to lack that relevancy, but they’re back here in episode 4. Apocalypse’s belief that security comes through the rule of the strongest can be found on certain television news networks and YouTube channels, in language that isn’t so different from the supervillains here.
That relevance might be the most impressive part about “Rise of Apocalypse Part II.” As much as it shows us why Magneto wants to conquer the world, and shows us how a human being might embrace a “Survival of the Fittest” ethic, it also reminds us that only bad guys think that way, that only a villain would choose violence over kindness.
X-Tra Thoughts
- Although I acknowledged Gates McFadden voicing Mother Askani in the first batch of episodes, I neglected to praise her Star Trek: The Next Generation co-star John de Lancie’s work as Rama-Tut here. Yes, he’s once again playing a capricious trickster with seemingly endless power, but can you name anyone who does it better?
- I really love how cleanly drawn all the side characters are. Beast hasn’t had much to do in these first few episodes, but he makes his moments count. Shouting “Oh my heavens!” when he figures out that the temple is Ship was enough to tide us over until his next big scene.
- Conversely, I’d be glad if Rogue sits in the background for this season. She got a lot of screen time in season 1, and with good reason. But giving her space to mourn Gambit would also let the show pay attention to some of the other characters and give us a chance to miss her.
- Professor Xavier sure is a jerk in those last moments, huh? Yeah, he’s mad because Apocalypse just killed the love of his life, but even then, supporting infanticide? It’s almost like there’s an evil voice in his head… maybe fallout from his decision to strip the evil out of Magneto last season? Maybe something that could lead to an Onslaught?
X-Men ’97 season 2 streams new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.
