Warning: Spoilers for X-Men '97 episode 8 ahead!
It looks like the beginning of the end for our beloved X-Men: It's them against the world – and there's not an ally left in sight.
We've reached Part 1 of the three-part season finale, which bears the almost comically ominous title, 'Tolerance is Extinction.' After every human, including Captain America, turned their back on the mutants in Episode 7...it only gets worse. As it turns out, everyone is a disappointment – even Professor Charles Xavier. Everyone's also, uh, a Sentinel...but we'll get to that.
Last week, I admittedly scoffed when Bolivar Trask jumped off a building and turned into a creepy, Sentinel-infused version dubbed by the subtitles as 'Prime Trask.' It seemed like a rather annoying end to an already dull episode. But wouldn't you know it, I was wrong. Episode 8 begins with Cable (aka Nathan Summers) explaining that these Prime Sentinels are humans who have had their DNA rewritten with the same virus that Mister Sinister infected Cable with when he was a baby.
Cable arrived from the future to warn the X-Men (though a bit too late) about the genocide that was about to take place in Genosha, and he knows what's in store for the rest of humanity for hundreds of years to come. It's a utopia for humans, who Bastion, creator of these creepy Prime Sentinels, has 'upgraded' using the same kind of technology. Everyone lives happily ever after while the mutants are "put to work," meaning they serve as slaves whose purpose is to continue building this utopia and perfecting it for humankind. Sounds like (mutant) hell, if you ask me.
Something odd happens right after Cable's revelation, and I couldn't stop thinking about it for the remainder of the episode. A news broadcast reveals to the human public that Charles Xavier is alive and taking up residency on another planet – and the mutants react as if they already knew this. In fact, they hardly react at all. This happens again when another newscast shows the broadcasters positing the theory that the X-Men faked Xavier's death in order to garner sympathy from the general public – neither Jubilee, nor Sunspot react to this. In fact, Jubilee says to Sunspot's mother than they were "trying to protect him from people like you." Xavier is back from the dead, we watched the X-Men mourn him in episode 1, why is no one freaking out over this? But I digress.
Remember when I said everyone was a disappointment? Turns out Dr. Cooper has been working with Bastion and Mr. Sinister. Trish Tilby, who Beast had quite the crush on, is a Prime Sentinel. Sunspot's butler is a Prime Sentinel – and his mother sells him and Julibee out to another pair of Prime Sentinels, who are no doubt bringing them back to Bastion. Almost every human being the X-Men come into contact with in this episode is a Sentinel, so now who can they trust?
Weirdly enough, it's Magneto who saves the day. Dr. Cooper says it herself, and it's chilling: Magneto was right. War is the only way to achieve equality for the mutant race. And after all the Prime Sentinels have been killed, thanks to Magnus, good ol' Xavier just pops down to earth at the very end to say, "Huh, I hope I'm not too late.:
The X-Men have always served as a powerful metaphor for hatred and bigotry – and this episode truly drives that home. "Because we always end up in the same ugly place," Dr Cooper Says."Most of us experience tragedies like Genosha as a bit of Deja vu before getting on with our day." Hatred and intolerance is so ingrained in human society that nothing is surprising anymore, and it's a truly sobering ending to a deeply sad episode. Oh, and Spider-Man shows up for a second at the end.
With two episodes left in the season and hope running out at a rapid pace, I'm afraid we're headed for one of the most devastating season finales we've seen in a Marvel show, or a superhero show period, in a really long time. I hope there's some positivity in the end, some kind of takeaway that a segregated society between the humans and mutants isn't the answer and won't create a utopia – and I'll be crossing my fingers until then.
The first eight episodes of X-Men '97 are available on now on Disney Plus, with the remaining episodes set to drop weekly. For more, check out all the X-Men '97 Easter eggs you might have missed, our list of all of 2024's new X-Men comics, and our guide on how to watch the X-Men movies in order.
