X-MEN ‘97 S2 Ep 4 Breakdown: Every Detail You Missed!

Mutants are dropping like flies and. Apocalypse is loose in history. Is this. the darkest timeline? I'm Gina Ippolito. and episode 4 of season 2 of X-Men '97. just pulled off another major character. death in the most brutal way possible. And as usual, it was packed with Easter. eggs, details, and references to the. original animated series. So, I'm going. to break it down scene by scene for. everything you missed and talk about. what horsemen might be on their way. But. before I get started, head over to. nerdriot.shop and check out some of our. sweet merch. We've got a bunch of X-Men. designs on there and it's the best way. to support the channel. Episode 2, Rise. of Apocalypse Part 2, by Bo DeMayo, who.

also co-wrote part 1, and Anthony. Sellitti. And just like part 1, it was. directed by Chase Conley. Charles speaks. the previously on for this one, appropriate since he's the most. emotionally devastated by the events of. this episode. Since it's a two-parter, the recap is just everything from part. 1. I didn't point this out last week, but notice that Gambit is in the. Blackbird along with Wolverine, Jubilee, Morph, Beast, Bishop, Jean, and Scott. Bishop gets his own intro here right. after Nightcrawler. He charges up and. then releases a blast since he can. absorb and store energy that he releases. as energy blasts. There's a new scene. after Apocalypse marches through with.

his cyber hounds, which I accidentally. said were designed after T-1000s when I. meant T-800s. It cuts to En Sabah Nur. when the X-Men first encounter him. Then, like last week, Charles enters. Magneto's mind. This moment from last. season is the reason so many people. online think that they'll be introducing. the villain Onslaught this season. He's. an insanely powerful character that was. created when Charles and Magneto's. subconscious minds combined. Then. another new clip, Gambit and Rogue. heading to fight the giant bug sentinel. from [music] Remember It. The embers. from the burning wreckage float around. them like the embers from the campfire.

will later when Rogue talks to En Sabah. Nur after everyone else is asleep. Charles and Magneto work to take out an. army. They used this last season as well. and it's actually from the original. series season 1 episode Enter Magneto. when Charles and Erik revealed their. powers to one another for the first. time. This serves to remind the audience. of how much these two have been through. and how long they've been friends, so. the end death hits even harder. It's. also notable that it's a memory of them. working together instead of against each. other, which was way more common in that. original series. They started out just. as friends. Then we see Ship crashing. down into the water after expelling. Apocalypse. This is from the original.

series season 3 episode 9 Obsession. And. Beast crying is from that same episode. moments later because he befriended. Ship. Then the rest is the same as what. I broke down last week. The episode. picks up right after the last one with. En Sabah Nur's yell heard as the dust. settles around him after Rama-Tut's. energy beam hit its mark. He's cradling. a dead ball, the man who rescued him. from slavery and took him in as a. Sandstormer. So this death hits him. hard. The episode starts with the death. of En Sabah Nur's closest friend and. ends with the death of Charles's. And. both men are full of rage at what.

happened. Here En Sabah Nur snarls and. the camera focuses on his clenched teeth. and heavy breathing. Magneto saved the. team using his magnetic field bubble. A. running thing for Magneto lately has. been his depression at not being able to. save more individuals and how that. regret fuels all of his decisions. There's a parallel here given Eric's. Jewish heritage to be made with Oskar. Schindler and the scene from Schindler's. List where he wonders if he could have. done more, could have saved more. Magneto losing so many mutants on. Genosha, including the Morlocks who he. resettled there with the promise that. they'd be safe, made him fool himself.

into believing that he could help En. Sabah Nur avoid the fate of becoming. Apocalypse. And it's also what motivates. Eric to finally shove all the X-Men into. the timestream to avoid any more of them. dying because of his mistakes. Magneto. has always lived with regret and that. has always fueled his character choices. Regret over the fact that he couldn't. save his family and his loved ones from. the camps. Regret over not being able to. save his wife. This is also what will. motivate him to try and save the city. from Apocalypse later in this episode. even though it could kill him due to how. much energy he has to expend. And just. when he finally starts using his regrets. to make the right choices, he's snuffed.

out. Bishop wants to high-tail it out of. there but Magneto tells him to wait. Charles probes En Sabah Nur's mind but. there's too much rage there. This is. similar to the times we saw him try to. probe Apocalypse's mind in the original. series, which usually caused telepathic. pain. So instead Charles tries to talk. to him, another skill he's known for. I. love how Bishop keeps his gun trained on. En Sabah Nur throughout this. conversation. Bishop hasn't spent the. past several months with N'Garai like. the others have, so he only has the. memories of the awful things Apocalypse. has done. And to him, it's obvious that. they should not be trusting this guy.

And Sabah Nur agrees to hear Charles out. only because them surviving the attack. proved their strength. Survival of the. fittest is this guy's whole deal, no. matter what time period he's in. But he. also warns Charles that if he lies. again, Nur won't hesitate to kill him, foreshadowing the end of the episode. Rogue, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Beast, and. Bishop debate the ethics of Magneto's. plan to rewrite history in favor of. mutants with a non-Apocalypse doubt and. Sabah Nur as an ambassador between. mutants and humans. This is some great. writing right here because each one of. them comes to a different conclusion for. their own reasons. Again, Magneto is.

motivated by his guilt and regret that. he couldn't do more to save people on. Genosha, and he's mourning the loss of. what he thought was a safe space for. mutantkind. Rogue is still deep in her. grief over Gambit's death, so she's. thinking with her heart of undoing what. happened on Genosha. While every one of. them was horribly affected by those. events, Magneto and Rogue were arguably. the most personally affected, so it. makes sense that they want to stay and. try and alter things. Nightcrawler is. guided more by his religion and his. beliefs. Messing with time on this scale. is playing God and altering fate, and. the road to hell is paved with good. intentions. So he wants to go back to.

their own time. Bishop is a realist, shaped by countless dystopian futures. that he's lived through, so he believes. they need to get back to their own time. before they make things even worse. And. Beast is logical and democratic, believing everyone deserves to be heard, so he's the one who proposes a vote. Put. more simply, Rogue is thinking. singularly, this might save the man I. love. Magneto is thinking globally, this. might help save mutants. Nightcrawler is. thinking religiously, we are messing. with fate. Bishop is thinking cynically, time travel always has consequences. And. Beast is thinking democratically, we. should hear everyone out. This scene.

does an amazing job of showing all their. personalities and belief systems, and. it's loaded as hell. Even when Rogue is. the only one to agree outright with. Magneto, he knows she's doing it out of. love for another man that isn't him. Magneto points out Bishop's hypocrisy, that he himself has time traveled many. times to avoid specific futures. And. he's not wrong. I think though that the. difference here will end up being that. En Sabah Nur becoming Apocalypse is a. fixed point in time, much like Beast. suggested Genosha was last season. The. X-Men being here is what causes that. future to come to pass. So, they're in a. causality loop. The act of time.

traveling makes the thing you were. trying to avoid come to pass. Magneto. empowered En Sabah Nur to become. Apocalypse, which led in turn to. Magneto's death. Magneto takes a hell of. a gamble here and breaks Bishop's time. band, saying the tech in the lost temple. can probably repair it and get them. home. Charles tells En Sabah Nur some. more of the truth, that they're from the. future, but he doesn't tell him the. whole truth, that in the future they. frequently fight the all-powerful mutant. Nur will become. And notably, that. exclusion of the truth seals their fate. Last episode, Magneto told Charles that. what happened on Genosha is both of. their faults, and here it's clear that.

the rise of Apocalypse will also be. something for which they share the. blame. Nur is depressed over the death. of his people and believes that there's. no better world to look forward to. And. in the original series, one of. Apocalypse's goals had always been to. forge a new world. Charles tells Nur of. the temple and probes his mind to find. out more about it. In his mind, he sees. Nur as a baby being abandoned in the. desert by his mother. He reaches out for. her as he cries. His mother wears a. golden scarab beetle as a cloak pin, and. the scarab was the name of Apocalypse's. sword in the comics. Then, an adolescent. Nur stands on the slave block as the.

auctioneer tells the horrified onlookers. not to mind what color he is. Then, Nur. after he was sold into slavery breaking. bricks. As he swings the hammer down, the cracking cuts to the crack of. lightning. And we see the other slaves. sleeping together in the rain for warmth. while Nur huddles by himself, unable to. sleep. He'll later tell Rogue that he's. never able to sleep. Then, he. single-handedly raises a statue. The. crowd now cheers for him because of his. strength. In this moment, he's realizing. that his strength can be his salvation. as he goes from a crowd of horrified. onlookers to a crowd of cheering. onlookers. It makes sense why he'd adopt.

the sandstorm or survival of the fittest. belief system since his strength is the. only thing that kind of saved him. Also. note that the statue he's raising is of. Khonshu, the moon god. Lots of Egyptian. deities have a bird head, but this one. has a half-moon symbol on its headpiece. Khonshu, of course, we saw in Moon. Knight. Then it cuts to N lying awake, cold, and alone at night. Even though. the others cheered for him, he's still. alone and angry, and that's when he. hears the voice. The Celestial Eson. calls out to him. We've seen Eson in the. MCU before in the first Guardians of the. Galaxy movie. He wielded the power stone. and destroyed an entire planet with it.

Also, we obviously saw Celestials in the. Eternals. The stars in the sky form the. six eyes of the Celestial, which then. reflect in N's eyes. The artists this. season are focusing on eyes a lot to. link people to their destiny. We saw the. Phoenix Force in Mother Askani's eye. The man on the slave block told the. crowd to look at his eyes when selling. N. Later, the temple N will use to. transform into Apocalypse is reflected. in his eyes, and in the end Magneto's. death is shown reflected in Charles's. eyes. One's true identity and fate is. shown in the eyes. Charles stops probing. N's mind and says that he saw the same.

constellation in General Logos' mind. N. identifies it as the Gardener's gaze. Celestials were known as gardeners since. they seeded life across the planets. Celestials were mentioned only once in. the original X-Men animated series when. Beast located Ship and saw on her info. pad that she was of Celestial origin, but they don't really know of Celestials. as a people or what they are other than. beings from the on the stars. N and the. X-Men head for the temple together. Everyone rides horses except for N and. Beast who ride camels. Camels can carry. about double the weight a horse can and. Beast supposedly weighs between 400 and.

500 lb, which would be significantly. more than the others. I assume N in all. his muscly beefcake glory weighs a lot. as well, so hence the need for camels. As they walk under the Gardener's Gaze. constellation, the temple comes into. view. The group camps for the night and. Rogue and N talk about love, something. he believes to be a weakness and she. believes is the only thing that makes. life worth living. She says she hopes he. gets to experience it for all of their. sakes. In the Age of Apocalypse comic. storyline, he did indeed fall in love. with Nephy, Apocalypse's sister, but she. ultimately rejected him. Rogue and. Apocalypse is an interesting duo, and.

I'm so glad the writers chose to include. this. In the original series episode The. Cure, Rogue was actually supposed to be. the. first horseman. She came seeking a cure. for being a mutant, and Apocalypse. referred to her as a fool and ordered. Mystique to turn her into one of his. slaves. [music]. Rogue changed her mind, and instead. Warren Worthington was transformed. Because Rogue drained Worthington and. snapped him out of Apocalypse's control, she has memories of the hate and anger. that comes along with being under. Apocalypse's control despite never being. under it herself. And no doubt she's. thinking of all of that right now. It's. also in that episode that Apocalypse. said this.

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by the fire to Kendra putting a. headpiece that's similar to Cerebro on. Rama-Tut's head. The headpiece is green. and gold, Loki colors. Rama-Tut uses it. to communicate with Charles and offers. to tell him the secrets of the temple. We see another hourglass just like last. episode, then water drips into a pool. and ripples out reflecting an image of. the temple. Over the imagery we hear. three different versions of the same. voice. The first is Rama-Tut. The second. is identified by the subtitles as. mischievous voice, which reminds me a. lot of Bender in Mortis's disguise in. the original series. Then there's one.

identified as assertive voice. I had. thought that this was Kang the. Conqueror, but there's some imagery. later in the episode that makes me think. this is Immortus, different from Bender, because later we see Rama-Tut, Bender, and Immortus in a drawing. The assertive. voice tells the mischievous one that he. pedals a dangerous history as Charles. falls through an MC Escher-esque. setting. Charles reaches a giant. Rama-Tut who says this. >> I have so many names, Nathaniel, Victor, Kang. Finding oneself can get addicting. Where do I end and me begin?

>> Notice on the last part he breaks the. fourth wall and looks directly out at. the audience as he asks this. This was. something that He Who Remains also did. at one point in Loki, giving us the. impression that Kang and all his. variants are aware of who's watching. them. He's speaking here of his. different variants, Nathaniel Richards, Victor Timely, obviously Kang. So comic. storylines are usually kind of sprawling. and convoluted and a lot of stuff gets. added to and retconned over the years. And since the canon of the show is. mostly following the canon of the. original series as opposed to being. beholden to any one comic storyline, I'm. going to assume for briefly sum up Kang,

Rama-Tut, Immortus, and the others. Rama-Tut was introduced in the comics in. Fantastic Four number 19 in 1963 and was. later retconned to be Kang. At that. point Kang was time traveling, went back. to ancient Egypt, and set himself up as. Rama-Tut. So these different versions. were all the same man just at different. points in history. Then later it was. retconned again to be Kang variants, not. the actual Kang just in different time. points. And this is what we saw in Loki. I think in the show they're going with. the idea that he's a Kang variant and. also a time traveler. Like I said, it's. complicated and sprawling, and I don't.

want to get too bogged down by it before. it's clear what the show is going with. Charles becomes aware that all three. voices are the man he's speaking with. An eyeball that clearly belongs to a. variant, since it's the same golden. color, opens and gazes upon Charles. As. Rama-Tut explains that they're echoes of. who he was and could be, a golden web of. crisscrossing lines appears behind him. And since he says that this is an axis. around which the past, present, and. future all dance, I assume this. represents the axis of time. The first. place we saw Mortis in the original. series, which exists outside time and. normal reality. Rama-Tut came to this. time period and enslaved En Sabah Nur.

and his people to both try and stop Nur. from becoming Apocalypse, and so he. could get his own hands on the power. that lies in the temple. Charles is. really stuck between a rock and a hard. place here, because really neither of. these dudes should have that kind of. unlimited power. A lot of these Rama-Tut. poses he makes on his throne are taken. directly from the comics. Charles. refuses to help Rama-Tut, and Tut says. this. >> Then you shall see for yourself. You. cannot stop him. You never stop him. >> Charles echoes this at the very end of. the episode. Last season, Jean /. Madeline's terrifying vision in the.

first episode made sense and came true. throughout the season. And here we see. the elements of Charles's vision from. last episode. The water crashes against. the base of the temple as the temple. looms above them. And later, Magneto's. cracked helmet as Charles lies in the. sand. Inside the temple, Beast says that. there are trace levels of gamma. particles. This is because Celestials. bleed cosmic energy. They pass under a. window that looks exactly like the one. in Loki. The group comes upon the head. of Esau, and they split into two teams. to locate the source of the power. Beast, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Magneto. head one way, and Charles, En Sabah Nur, and a very wary Bishop head another.

Seen from above, their paths form an X. Both groups quickly have some pretty big. oh revelations. Beast realizes that. the temple they're in is actually a. ship, which he knows will eventually. become a sentient weapon of Apocalypse. The layout and control here are the same. as in the episode Obsession. The other. group walks into a room with symbols on. the wall spelling out exactly what has. happened and what will happen. And. Charles realizes that they've all just. fulfilled a horrible destiny. On the. wall, you can see Apocalypse's machine. that turns people into Horsemen from the. Cure and Come the Apocalypse. Underneath. the machine are his first Horsemen from. those episodes. Warren Worthington as.

Archangel, Abraham Kieros as War, Plague. as Pestilence, and Autumn Rolfson as. Famine. There's also En Sabah Nur rising. to become Apocalypse, and he's flanked. by Bishop, Beast, Charles, Magneto, Rogue, and Nightcrawler. There's Nur. fighting alongside Ball, a large image. of Apocalypse standing, and one of him. sitting on a throne flanked by skulls. Underneath the throne is what appears to. be a baby. There's an image of Esau with. a figure in front of him. I assume this. is Nur or maybe an Eternal since we hear. him say, "Come, be Eternal." again here. Then there's that image of Rama-Tut with. Immortus on one side and Bender on the. other and a shackled slave in front of.

them. As the group walks by these. images, they light up with Celestial. tech. As En Sabah Nur realizes what's. happening, that Charles and the others. were trying to keep him from his. destiny, a panicked Charles psychically. reaches out to Magneto to tell him to. get there fast. From this point on, all. hell breaks loose. Nur is pissed and. Bishop fires at him but gets thrown over. the edge. Nur chokes Charles, pulling. him up from his chair, and then walks up. the ramp to a chamber that forms in the. shape of Apocalypse's head. The others. get there and try to fight, but even. before he's Apocalypse, they stand no. chance. At one point, it looks like he. straight-up breaks Nightcrawler's arm.

Despite their efforts, En Sabah Nur. enters the shrine and transforms into. Apocalypse, becoming the rocks of the. Eternal Shore that all things must crash. against, repeating the words we first. heard him speak way back in the original. series in season 3. The group debates. staying and trying to stop Apocalypse or. fleeing back to their time. And Bishop. is me here because I absolutely would be. like, "What the hell are you nutballs. talking about?" Magneto once again. chooses for them like he did earlier. when he broke the time band. He decides. that since this is his mess, he's the. only one who should stay behind to clean. it up. He doesn't want to lose any more.

mutants. Before he can force them all. through the time stream though, he and. Charles are both blown away from it by. Apocalypse. Right as the blast flashes, there's another image visible on the. wall that looks like someone with a. skull for a head, and I'd wager this is. supposed to be Gambit as the Horseman. Death, given the face coverings on the. side of the skull's cheeks. If we could. get a full 360 view of this room in. detail, it might show all of. Apocalypse's horsemen throughout. history. Apocalypse sizes himself up, one of his abilities we saw him do a lot. in the original run. He uses Magneto's. own words against him. >> Now, who is the god and who is the.

insect? >> Again, Apocalypse loves nothing more. than calling people insects. >> Annoying. insects. Who. is insects? >> Apocalypse orders Ship to attack. Rama-Tut's kingdom and Tut hightails it. out of there to a different time, putting on his Kang the Conqueror garb. before he leaves. He also says this to. Candra. >> You're not. Your destiny starts today, [music] for his power can only be. challenged by a force that is external. >> At some point between now and the. X-Men's current time, Candra will become.

the entity known to the Guild of Thieves. and the Guild of Assassins as the. External. Externals are immortal mutants. who can only be killed by another. External. In Earth-295, Candra at one. point served as one of Apocalypse's. horsemen. When Ship begins the attack, we see the black hole-like thing from. Charles's vision last episode. Apocalypse tells Charles he won't make. him a horseman because he lacks a spine. In X-Men Evolution, both Charles and. Magneto were turned into horsemen. Magneto was also a horseman in the. live-action movie. An injured Magneto. encases Apocalypse in metal and shoots. him off into the desert. Then he goes to. work binding the debris surrounding the.

black hole to try and save the city. He. does it and manages to survive, crashing. down near Charles, and for a minute, we. think everything might be okay. But. then, as Charles drags himself towards. his oldest friend, Apocalypse comes into. view, a shadow with the sun behind him. Charles and Magneto know what's about to. happen, and each man apologizes to the. other. Apocalypse picks up Magneto, puts. his gun against his back, and absolutely. obliterates him. And we see the death in. the reflection of Charles's eyes. Afterwards, there's nothing left but. Magneto's helmet, and this is. heartbreaking. The whole scene is.

insane, not least of all because of the. fact that both Apocalypse and Charles. are voiced by the same actor, Ross. Marquand, and the man is killing it here. on both fronts. Charles clearly no. longer cares if he he or dies, and trash. talks Apocalypse like he's never trash. talked before. >> If only Baal had left you to bake. What. a better world. >> But Apocalypse doesn't grant him death, repeating the lesson Magneto imparted on. him last episode. >> Alas, only a coward feels mighty when. stepping on ants.

>> Time passes and Charles cries into the. sand. Bishop comes back for him and. Charles realizes that what Rama-Tut said. is true. >> We'll never stop him. >> Hopefully you didn't click away after. that horrible death because this episode. has a post-credit scene. And it's both a callback to the original. series episode Old Soldiers and a. promise that the next episode is going. to be a follow-up to the original series. episode Weapon X Lies and Videotape. Wolverine is on a roof in Paris wearing. the same thing he was in Old Soldiers. In that episode, Wolverine thinks back. to the time he was fighting Nazis and. was sent on a mission with Captain. America to find a scientist working for.

Red Skull. Here, Cap says it's been a. long time and Wolverine says about 50. years. So it seems they haven't seen. each other since around the time of the. events of that episode. That was back. before Wolverine had his adamantium. skeleton. He instead grapping claws, which was a nod to his first comic. appearance. Cap is voiced here by Josh. Keaton who voiced him last season in. Bright Eyes and Tolerances Extinction. Part 3 and also voiced him in What If. Cap is joined by Black Widow voiced by. Lake Bell, same as in What If. Wolverine. tells Cap that he's easy staying. inconspicuous. In Old Soldiers, he asked. Cap where he got his star-spangled. monkey suit saying fatigues would be a.

lot less obvious and that you wouldn't. catch me in something like that because. it's got to itch. Cap hands Wolverine a. Weapon X folder and warns him that he. can't go after these guys alone. Wolverine tells him not to worry, he's. got a crew and he's getting the old band. back together. The title of the next. episode is Weapon X Lies and DVDs and. like I said, it's most definitely going. to be a follow-up to the original season. 4 episode [music] 16 Weapon X Lies and. Videotape. In that episode, violent. delusions and flashbacks lead Wolverine. back to the Weapon X facility where he. meets up with Sabretooth, Silver Fox and. Maverick. So I'm assuming that's the. band Wolverine is talking about. I'll. talk more about that original episode in.

the next breakdown. [music] But that's. it for this breakdown of episode 4 of. X-Men '97. How crushed do we think Rogue. is going to be when she finds out about. this death? Let me know what you think. in the comments. And a special thanks to. Rick Denman who supports us at the. executive producer level. Big thanks to. studio tech Brian Kim and New Rockstars. editors Josh Hurd and Abby Friel and all. the supporting editors. Follow me. everywhere at Gina Ippolito. Subscribe. to [music] all channels in the New. Rockstars network for breakdowns and. news coverage of everything you love. Thanks for watching. Bye.