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- What happens in X-Men ’97 Episode 10?
- How Does X-Men ’97 Episode 10 end?
This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 episode 10
X-Men ’97 season 1 has come to its thrilling conclusion. The season finale, “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3” wraps up every major storyline, while also raising some big questions for the future of the team and all of life on planet Earth.
X-Men ’97 episode 10 packs in as much action, heart, and excitement as possible into its extended runtime. Despite being longer than a standard episode, “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3” barely stops to take a breath, letting all of its propulsive action carry the story.
What happens in X-Men ’97 Episode 10?
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X-Men ’97 Episode 10 |
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Title |
“Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3” |
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Written By |
Beau DeMayo and Anthony Sellitti |
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Directed By |
Chase Conley |
The episode begins with a flashback to the early days of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, drinking together, discussing the existence of mutants, and revealing their powers to one another. However, the sudden appearance of an ocean outside the window reveals the truth: Xavier is inside Magneto’s mind. Xavier means to control Magneto’s powers to restore power to Earth, but first tries to reason with him. When that fails, Charles establishes a powerful psychic link and forces Magneto to turn the lights back on.
However, in doing so, power is also restored to Bastion’s army of Prime Sentinels. Bastion himself lords over the defeated X-Men as he destroys the inhibiting device meant to stop him. The team is trapped by Sentinels, and Jean Grey sinks in a lake after her fight with Cable. As Bastion preaches his hatred toward mutants, the Prime Sentinels fly back into action, spreading across the world once again.
Bastion attempts to make an example out of Cable, but before he can, Jean rises from the water with the aid of the Phoenix Force. She uses her incredible psychic powers to reassemble the inhibiting device and place it on Bastion, which shuts down all of the Prime Sentinels. She also pulls the stolen mutant DNA out of Mister Sinister’s body, leaving him old and frail.
The team only has a short moment to revel in their victory, as Bastion re-emerges and tears Cable’s left arm from his body. He then combines the arm’s technology with himself, turning into a powerful, winged adversary. He flies off toward Asteroid M, hoping to crash it into Earth and kill everyone, humans and mutants alike.
Meanwhile, back in space, Xavier tries to help Magneto remember who he is, and the rest of the team looks after Logan, who is still recovering from the brutal attack in X-Men ’97 episode 9. Jean warns Cyclops of Bastion’s approach, while Xavier tells them that he must repair Magneto’s psyche.
The team has almost no time to prepare as Bastion arrives. Rogue lands the first blow, with Roberto, now embracing his identity as Sunspot, helping out. However, a heavy decision is made on Earth, as President Kelly enacts the Magneto protocols (much to the chagrin of Captain America and King T’Chaka, aka Black Panther).
Xavier continues trying to connect with Magneto and make him remember, but Magneto’s despair only grows. Meanwhile, the team continues their attack against Bastion, with the rest of the X-Men arriving from Earth in a hijacked Sentinel. As the team finally gets the upper hand on Bastion, Cyclops substitutes compassion for violence. Just as the Professor taught him, Cyclops tries to reason with Bastion and appeal to his humanity.
Unfortunately, the compassionate approach is cut short by approaching missiles that destroy the asteroid’s gravity core and send it plummeting toward Earth. Bastion takes this as proof that he was right: humanity would rather destroy itself than live with mutants. Rather than be saved by the team, Bastion allows himself to die.
How Does X-Men ’97 Episode 10 end?
The X-Men team works together to avert disaster
With Asteroid M heading toward Earth, the team makes a plan to keep the planet safe, knowing that it may cost them their own lives. Scott and Jean use the latter’s psychic powers to say goodbye to Cable, who is given the gift of looking into his father’s eyes. It’s potentially the episode’s most emotional moment, and it lands perfectly. The team utilizes all of their collective powers to slow the descent of the asteroid.
Meanwhile, Xavier finally breaks through to Magneto. The moment encapsulates the major themes of this season, as Xavier tells Magneto the X-Men are a family, and that even if Magneto cannot remember his parents’ faces, he still has people who are like him, and who care about his future. As Magneto remembers who he is, he awakens and utilizes his powers to help the team. However
The X-Men Go Missing… Or Do They?
At X-Mansion, Forge is confronted by Bishop, who hints that they know each other in the future (Forge’s board of missing mutants is a nice nod to Days of Future Past, by the way). Although Forge does not know where any of the X-Men or the asteroid are, Bishop hints that the team has been scattered through time.
He is correct in that assumption, as Magneto, Xavier, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Beast emerge in ancient Egypt, in the year 3000 BC. On the other end of the spectrum, Cyclops and Jean Grey find themselves in the far future, in the year 3960 AD. Both teams have fateful encounters, as Jean and Cyclops come face to face with the Askani tribe, and the teenage version of Cable. Meanwhile, in ancinet Egypt, the rest of the mutants save someone from attacking soldiers. He reveals himself as En Sabah Nur, the mutant who will eventually become Apocalypse.
All of the cameos in X-Men ’97 episode 10
- Silver Samurai
- Captain America
- Iron Man
- Daredevil
- Doctor Strange
- Black Panther
- Cloak and Dagger
- Omega Red, Crimson Dynamo, and Darkstar
- Psylocke, Northstar, Aurora, Puck, and Frenzy
- Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Polaris
- Peter Parker, Mary Jane, and Flash Thompson
X-Men 97’s Post-Credits scene explained
In a post-credits sequence, Apocalypse digs through the remnants of the ruined Genosha in the present day. He finds one of Gambit’s playing cards, lamenting “so much pain, my children. So much death.” Is this a hint that Apocalypse will revive Gambit as one of his four horsemen? Fans will have to wait until the next season of X-Men ’97 to find out. As far as cliffhanger endings go, this is a big one.All of X-Men ’97 season 1 is available to stream on Disney Plus
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