Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘X-Men ‘97’ Episode 8.
The latter half of the first season ofX-Men ’97has done a great job making a terrifying villain out ofcyborg Sentinel leader Bastion (Theo James), who has never been featured in television or film before. But the first episode of the season’s three-part finale suggests that the ultimate antagonist might be someone more familiar. As Bastion coordinates a massive Sentinel attack on mutants throughout the world, Erik “Magnus” Lehnsherr/Magneto (Matthew Waterson), the X-Men’s most well-known enemy who recently repented and himself joined the team, escapes the mad cyborg’s clutches. In a sequence recalling a few different Marvel Comics stories,Erik interrupts Bastion’s attack, but this may only be a short respite for mutant and humankind, as the iconic anti-hero’s justified rage now threatens to exacerbate tensions between the two specieseven further.
A band of mutants use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them; they’re challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
Magneto Could Return to Villain Status in ‘X-Men ‘97’
In “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1,” Bastion initiatesOperation: Zero Tolerance, a global conspiracy in which various humans are transformed into Prime Sentinels, using Bastion’s future technology to seek out and attempt to kill all mutants. United Nations worker Valerie “Val” Cooper (Catherine Disher), who had posed as an ally to the X-Men and the greater mutant community, is revealed to be a part of Bastion’s organization. But, while she knew he and his compatriots were developing new Sentinels to combat new “mutant threats,” Val was unaware of the full, horrifying scope of his plans. Guilt-ridden over her role in the genocidal campaign, especiallythe attack on the mutant nation of Genosha, which itself had recently been admitted into the U.N., Val secretly releases Erik from his imprisonment in Bastion’s base. When she is captured after Bastion realizes what she’s done, Val points out how the recurrence of the kind of hate-fueled violence humanity is currently engaging in is a repetitive historical pattern. She argues that Erik knows humanity better than their pacifist mutant friend Professor Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) ever didand declares that “Magneto was right!”
Erik flies to the North Pole, where he uses his mutant power over magnetism to send out a kind of electromagnetic pulse that seems to encompass the whole planet, shutting down the Prime Sentinels. While recovering from an attack on their mansion home, X-ManLogan/Wolverine (Cal Dodd)remarks to his friend Morph (J.P. Karliak) that “Magneto actually did it,” prompting Morph to ask, “What, saved our hides?” to which Logan replies,“No, declared war,”implying that he believes the Master of Magnetism will pursue further retaliation against humanity.
As several other episodes have done, “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1” blends influences from a few different comic book arcs to create the sequence in which Erik strikes back. The Ultimate Marvel Universe was an imprint within Marvel Comics depicting stories set in an alternate reality fromMarvel’s main 616 universe. Launched in 2000 withUltimate Spider-Man,the Ultimate comics were meant to present modernized stories of Marvel’s flagship characters and franchises in the hopes of attracting new readers who may be overwhelmed by the decades of continuity and backstory involved in 616 stories. The imprint was also intended more for adolescent and older readers, and, as most Ultimate titles weren’t released until after 9/11, many of them ultimately wound up commenting on current events such as the War on Terror, withmany of the Ultimate Universe’s supervillains, including its version of Magneto, essentially portrayed as terrorists.
Ultimatumwas a 2009 crossover storyline consisting of a five-issue miniseries of the same name and tie-ins from various Ultimate Universe titles. In it, Erik, enraged by the deaths of his children, Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch and Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver, launches an apocalyptic attack on humanity.He uses his powers to offset Earth’s magnetic poles, inciting a series of natural disasters that quickly kill millions, after which his fellow supervillains in the Brotherhood of Mutants continue to wage war on the survivors. Only after many of the most prominent Ultimate Marvel heroes, including Logan and Charles, are killed, is Erik neutralized whenJean Greyand Nick Fury reveal to him that their universe’s mutants are not a natural advancement in evolution, as seems to be the case in most other worlds in the Marvel multiverse, but are instead the result of scientific experiments intended to create superhuman soldiers like Captain America. Upon learning this, Erik relents and restores the poles to their natural state before Scott Summers/Cyclops executes him.
The following week, Scott addresses the world’s media, arguing against a proposed piece of U.S. government legislation that would decree that mutants must surrender themselves to the government or be hunted down and killed. While speaking, Scott himself is assassinated by Quicksilver, who survived his own shooting and has taken over leadership of the Brotherhood.Fantastic Four member Ben Grimm/The Thinghunts down and kills Doctor Doom, who was discovered to be behind the whole tragedy, having orchestrated Wanda’s death to incite Erik’s attack as part of an ill-conceived plot for world domination. Although the concept of Erik fighting an entire universe worth of heroes excited fans, leading to high sales for its initial issues,Ultimatumreceived scathing reviews and is still considered one of the worst major superhero comics of all time. Criticism was directed at the film’s immature approach to violence and other adult content, which resulted in unnecessarily disturbing sequences, the most infamous of which feature beloved Marvel characters Fred Dukes/the Blob and Hank Pym/Yellowjacket engaging in cannibalism. So, while Erik’s EMP being initiated at the North Pole and Doom’s (Marquand) involvement brings the story to mind,it would be best if those are the only aspects of the crossoverX-Men ’97draws from.
‘X-Men ‘97’ May Have Paid Homage to House of M
House of Mwas a 2005 crossover in the main Marvel Universe in which Erik and his family played significant roles.As Wanda goes through a mental breakdown, hher reality-altering powers spin out of control. Fearing that the Avengers and X-Men will decide to kill her to prevent her abilities from threatening the public, Pietro secretly urges her to make all their superhuman acquaintances happy so they won’t do so. Following this idea, Wanda creates an alternate timeline in which most of the major superheroes have something close to their ideal lives. The most major alteration is to the world’s power structure, with the mutant community prospering and non-powered humans being treated as second-class citizens, as Wanda believes Erik always wanted. Logan and a mutant girl named Layla Miller remember the world as it should be and are able to use the latter’s abilities to restore the true memories of many superheroes. When Erik learns the truth, he attacks and seemingly kills Pietro. Seeking to punish her father, a heartbroken Wanda says, “No more mutants.” Normal history is restored, but the heroes soon discover that all but a few hundred of the world’s mutants have lost access to their powers, including Erik himself. This led to an era of comics in which the mutant race was considered an endangered species.
Although controversial for its portrayal of Wanda,House of Mis an iconic part of Marvel history. The story continues to influence stories in various media to this day, including the MCU, in which Wanda is played byElizabeth Olsen. In “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1”, as he launches the EMP, Erik says, “No more.” This may be a subtle reference to his daughter’s most well-known comic arc,with a possible implication being that he intends to make a world without humans. However, the common nature of the language means it could also be a more general declaration of his intent not to allow more tragedy to befall his fellow mutants, similar to his usual mantra of “Never again,” which recalls his experiences in the Holocaust.
The animated Erik’s counterattack also has subtler connections to some other pieces of comic canon. Being presumed dead in Genosha only to return with one of his most vicious plots ever is the trajectory the character follows inGrant Morrison’sNew X-Men, although later retcons made it so that the person participating in later issues of that series wasn’t the real Erik. Butdespite this and the more obvious allusions toUltimatumandHouse of M, it still seems likely “Tolerance is Extinction” will put its own spin on familiar themes and material, asX-Men ‘97has done all season. Crucially, there is more reason to hope that, in the series, Erik will stop short of committing the same kind of atrocities as some of his comic counterparts. Erik’s character development all season has revolved around him attempting to atone for his violent past and honor Charles’ wishes by following his more peaceful ideology. Although having him ultimately fail to do so and the mutant/human dynamic continues to deteriorate may, unfortunately, be accurate to how these situations play out in real life, especially lately, it wouldn’t make for the most enjoyable television series.
WithCharles having returned to Earth, the X-Men may have a chance to reason with their former enemy and stop him from going down a dark path. That said, there’s also Bastion’s treatment of Erik to consider. When he had the latter prisoner, Bastion was shown shaving Erik for unknown reasons, and one has to assume Erik is a big part of his plan, or else Bastion wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of faking his death and kidnapping him. It’s possible that what seems like at least a temporary victory for Erik and the mutants might be just another part of Bastion’s scheme. Whatever the case,the X-Men definitely still have a difficult fight ahead of them.
‘X-Men ‘97’ is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
