Recap: "X-Men '97" Season Two Kicks Off with an Epic Futuristic Showdown
The X-Men are back. The highly anticipated second season of X-Men '97 has arrived on Disney+ and it wastes no time picking up where season one left off. After the team of mutants thwarted Bastion's plans to start a war and were left on an exploding asteroid, they were ripped through time. Now, half of the team finds themselves in the past while the other half is in the future. However, both teams find themselves at points in time that are key in the rise of Apocalypse.
This season two premiere opens with Bishop watching a news report, which details the alleged death of the X-Men. Bishop and Forge discuss a plan to time travel and rescue the X-Men by pulling them back to their proper place on the timeline. Bishop says he will be going to the past because Forge has his heart set on the future, as we see that Storm is among the team in the future. Remember, Forge and Storm began a romantic relationship in season one. Bishop also explains that the two points in time to which they will be traveling represent the rise of Apocalypse in the past and the height of his reign in the future.
They jump into a new time machine, built by Forge, and we follow him into the future, where he is immediately attacked by robots controlled by Apocalypse. Forge fights back but finds himself cornered before being rescued by Wolverine, who wields bone claws rather than his more familiar adamantium. That, of course, comes as a result of Magneto ripping his skeleton from his body in season one. Storm also arrives to join them and she a Forge embrace. Forge informs them that has come to bring them back home but he is met with resistance.
At the camp of Mother Askani, the woman who Cyclops and Jean met at the end of season one, Cyclops explains to Forge that they need to be a part of their son Nathan's life as long as they can. Nathan, of course, eventually becomes the mutant soldier known as Cable. Season one saw his birth before Mr. Sinister infected him with a technovirus, forcing Cyclops and Jean to make the impossible decision to allow Bishop to bring him to the future, where he could be treated and survive.
Forge argues that they can't stay in this point in the timeline and eventually agrees to allow them to stay with Nathan for just one more day. He points out that they don't know who pulled the X-Men through time or what their motivation was in doing so.
In Apocalypse's citadel, we see a mutant called Ozymandias approaching his master. In the comics, Ozymandias serves Apocalypse for thousands of years. We do not see Apocalypse though, as he is regenerating in his cradle. Ozymandias informs him they have found Nathan, who could be a new vessel for him and could remove the need to ever regenerate again. Apocalypse orders Ozymandias to take his four horsemen and capture Nathan.
Back at the camp, Jean tries to train Nathan to use his inherited telepathy in order to control his virus. Cyclops and Jean are seemingly ready to tell Nathan that they are his parents, but they're interrupted by Morph, who comes in with a baseball. Cyclops tells Nathan to go have fun. After he leaves, Cyclops and Jean debate the motives of Mother Askani. Jean convinces Cyclops to talk to her and try to get her to allow them to bring Nathan home.
Cyclops meets with Mother Askani to discuss Nathan and his prophecy. She explains that all anyone knows is that a child will rise and destroy Apocalypse's cradle, leading to his eventual death. Cyclops refutes this prophecy and questions Mother Askani on her true identity. While she shrugs it off here, we know from the comics that Mother Askani is actually Rachel Summers, another child of Cyclops and Jean Grey. Their meeting ends without Cyclops being able to convince her to let Nathan leave.
Forge and Storm sit together and discuss the idea of disturbing the timeline by allowing Cyclops and Jean to be with Nathan. The conversation shift to the complications of their relationship before they are interrupted by Morph, who does a lot of that in this episode. He asks if they've seen Nathan because he ran off with Cyclops and Jean.
Cyclops, Jean and Nathan travel on their own, away from the camp. Jean telepathically communicate with Cyclops and questions if they should really be raising Nathan on their own and what might happen to Cable if they do. Nathan breaks in though, informing them he can hear their thoughts and asking who Cable is. Their discussion is cut short though when they are attacked by Apocalypse's robots and eventually the four horsemen, led by Ozymandias. They are overpowered and taken as prisoners.
The rest of the team searches the site where they were taken and Mother Askani says things were not supposed to go this way. Storm argues that this still could be an important step in Nathan's journey. They all go over a plan to rescue the Summers family and Forge tells them he is going to need a lot of power to catch up to the train on which they're being held, en route to Apocalypse's citadel. Mother Askani tells him he will have the power he needs.
Outside, Storm meets with Mother Askani and questions where she will find the power. She tells Storm she will be able to conjure a solar storm, which baffles Storm as it sounds like something beyond her power to control the weather. Mother Askani explains that she comes from another timeline that makes this one look like heaven. In the comics, her home timeline is a dystopian future in which humans rule and mutants are enslaved or killed. She goes on to explain though that. in every timeline, Storm always leads the resistance. She also says she is the one who brought the X-Men through time and split them into two teams, hoping to stop Apocalypse in two different points in time.
On the train, Jean tries to talk Nathan through using his virus to break himself free from his inhibitor collar that stops his powers. When Nathan tries to quit, Cyclops and Jean finally reveal that he is their son. With this new information, Nathan is more motivated than ever and he manages to free all of them. Apocalypse's robots attack immediately, but Cyclops blasts through them.
Meanwhile, Forge gets the team's ship ready to launch and lets Storm know they're ready for that power. She summons the power of the sun and blasts the ship with all the power needed and they take off after the train.
On the train, the Summers continue to fight the robots and now the horsemen and Ozymandias. In true X-Men dramatic fashion, the rest of the team shows up just in time to join the fight. Storm freezes their enemies with an arctic wind and Morph transforms into Thor momentarily to smash one of them. The rest of the team makes short work of Apocalypse's horsemen and Ozymandias runs.
Mother Askani crashes the train into Apocalypse's citadel in an attempt to fulfill the prophecy. Ozymandias reaches Apocalypse and tells him about the arrival of the X-Men. Enraged, Apocalypse says he has to attack them where they are most vulnerable: in the 1990s. He takes off in his cradle, leaving Ozymandias and his citadel behind. Presumably, he arrives in Genosha, as we saw in the post-credits scene from season one.
The team climbs from the wreckage of the train and sees all of the slaves of Apocalypse emerge from the shadows of the citadel. Nathan uses his newly mastered telekinetic powers to move the crashed train, opening a pathway for all of them to leave the citadel. Then, inside, Nathan uses Apocalypse's own technology to forge his more familiar metal arm after a disembodied voice welcomes him.
Suddenly, we jump to a much older Nathan, flexing that same arm. He is now the weathered mutant we know as Cable and he speaks about his struggles to kill Apocalypse. We see he is speaking to two mutants: Archangel and Psylocke. He says it is now up to them to kill Apocalypse. Pyslocke says she has tracked down his last horseman and Archangel asks what their next move will be. Cable says it will be recruitment as he hands over a file on Jubilee and Sunspot.
Season two is picking up with all the drama and nostalgia we got in season one. Fair warning, X-Men stories tend to get very complicated. And with this time travel story line already seemingly splintering into three different points in time, it could quickly become difficult to follow. For now though, this second season is off to a great start and only seems to be raising the stakes.
The first episode of X-Men '97 season two is now streaming on Disney+.