X-MEN ‘97 S2 Ep 7 Breakdown: Every Detail You Missed!

In the criminal justice system, the. people are represented by two separate. yet equally important groups. The X-Men. who investigate crime and Magneto's. acolytes who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. I'm Janet Varney though in episode 7 of. season 2 of X-Men '97 went full-blown. Law & Order Savage Land unit. I'm going. to break this baby down scene by scene. for all the Easter eggs, details, and. references you might have missed. Strap. in because there are a lot of nods to. the original series in this one, not to. mention about a billion background. mutants to know about. But before I get. into it, go over to nerd riot.shop to. check out our sweet merch. We've got a.

bunch of new designs over there. including a lot of X-Men designs and. buying some merch is the best way to. support the channel. >> Thanks to Fabletics for sponsoring this. video. More on them in a moment. >> Episode 7 Strange Land Savage Heart was. written by Brian Ford Sullivan and Bo. DeMayo and directed again by Emmett. Yumamura. The episode's title is a play. on the original series two-parter season. 3 episodes 12 and 13 Savage Land Strange. Heart. In those episodes, there was a. lot going on that has nothing to do with. this episode. But basically, years ago. there was a mutant named Garokk who. ruled over the Savage Land. But the High.

Evolutionary turned him into a statue. and he laid dormant for a while. worshipped as a sun god. Years later, he's awoken by Storm's elemental powers. She's been losing control of them lately. and her usual composure is out the. window. Garokk gets into a big kaiju. battle with a mutate Sauron who when he. doesn't look like a green pterodactyl is. actually a human by the name of Karl. Lykos. That explanation skips over a lot. but the important stuff is in there. I'll get more into the Savage Land later. on. The previously on is spoken by Rogue. who has the most skin in the game with. Gambit's inevitable return. Although. honestly, this is clearly more of a.

Nightcrawler episode. We see. Nightcrawler fighting Prime Sentinels. from last season's Tolerances Extinction. part one as he speaks his monologue from. that same episode when he was sitting by. Rogue's hospital bed and talking to. Jean. This serves to remind us that he. is a master fencer and swordsman since. he goes up against a fellow expert in. this episode. Then he greets Rogue on. Genosha with an enthusiastic hug from. remember it. I'll get more into Kurt's. backstory from the original series in a. minute. But as we see in this episode, he has a history of turning the other. cheek when it comes to family members. who are kind of dicks. The reason his. relationship with Rogue means so much to.

him is because she was the first family. member who fully embraced him. Kurt's. birth mother is Mystique, while Mystique. is Rogue's adoptive mother, so she and. Kurt don't actually have any blood. relation, unlike his relationship with. Creed, who is his half-brother. Nightcrawler was making the point to. Jean that family is what you make of it, and blood isn't always thicker than. water. Then we see Jubilee and Sunspot. sitting with his mom and watching rabid. anti-mutant Reverend Stryker on the news. talking about an inevitable mutant human. war. Also from Tolerance's Extinction. Part 1, over audio of Beast talking with. Trish Tilby on Genosha after the.

massacre in Bright Eyes. This shows that. even Beast can sometimes have doubts. about the best way to achieve. human-mutant coexistence. Then Morphin'. Weapon X lies and DVDs reminds us that. Sabretooth is Graydon Creed's father. I. went into this last week, but in the. show, Sabretooth's real name was changed. to Graydon Creed Sr. because the TV. execs wanted to make sure kids at the. time fully understand that he was. Graydon Creed Jr.'s father. Then there's. Charles announcing the formation of. X-Corp from the last episode, followed. by Cooper standing with X-Factor and. threatening to take legal action against. Charles and the X-Men for trying to.

skirt federal laws. And then we get into. the intro, and there's a ton of new. stuff this week. Honestly, kudos to the. animators for making a new intro for. every single episode. That is not easy. or quick work. The first new thing is. that Polaris gets her own intro. sequence. It shows her eyes, hair, and. powers glowing green with the. multicolored aurora borealis glowing. behind her. The aurora borealis occurs. when charged particles from the sun. combine with gases like oxygen and. nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, and. they're most visible near the magnetic. poles because Earth's magnetic field. directs them there. So this is why.

Polaris's power often appears like this. She floats above crumpled wreckage of. Sentinels. I think this is on Genosha. Then her name splits in half and flies. towards the screen just like she did the. purifier ship last episode. Then we get. a bunch of clips that haven't shown up. in the intro this season. There's Karl. Lykos as the Executioner firing the. blast that took out Storm's powers from. the episode Mutant Liberation Begins, reminding us just how dangerous the. anti-mutant groups like the Friends of. Humanity actually are. Then Mystique. holds baby Nightcrawler over a. waterfall. This is from the original. series season 4 episode 14 Bloodlines,

written by my buddy Len Wein. That. episode opened with anti-mutant hate at. a peak. Graydon Creed had to testify. before Congress about a rash of hate. crimes against mutants. In his absence, the Friends of Humanity, which he. founded, elected a council to rule. instead of him. They're still pissed. about the revelation from season 2. episode 10 Beauty and the Beast when it. was revealed that Sabretooth was his. father. The council reveals to him that. Mystique is his mother and Nightcrawler. is his half-brother, and he's horrified. To get back in their good graces, he. offers to deliver up his whole family to. the Friends of Humanity. This is also. the episode where Mystique explains to.

Nightcrawler that his father was an. Austrian count who had no idea that she. was a mutant. When she gave birth to. Nightcrawler, he was shocked. Mystique. brought the baby to a waterfall and. abandoned him. Creed ultimately fails in. his mission to deliver his family, so. the Friends of Humanity tie him up and. drop him at Sabretooth's house as. punishment. Next, we see Dr. Cooper. being restrained by Bastion after he. found out that she released Magneto in. Tolerance's Extinction part 1. Then we. get another OG series clip, Graydon. Creed with a scientist who, unbeknownst. to Creed, is actually Apocalypse in. disguise. This is from season 2 episode.

7 and 8 Time Fugitives parts 1 and 2. In. that one, Creed and the. scientist/Apocalypse genetically. engineered a plague that they then. blamed on mutants to turn people against. them. This is brought up later on during. Creed's trial. The episode opens on. Genosha during the massacre with Magneto. flying through in his bubble and being. blasted away by the giant bug sentinel. But then we see a different view of the. action as Peter and Illyana Rasputin run. into frame dressed for the party. They. transform into their Colossus and Magik. forms, jumping into the fight without. hesitation. Colossus is voiced by Robert. Cait, the same voice actor from the.

original series. Also, I've seen some. comments from folks telling me to stop. naming the voice actors because you guys. don't care, and man, that sucks. But VO. actors on this show are killing it, and. I love that the show isn't casting. huge-name stars, but just really. excellent, accomplished VO folks. They. deserve to be shouted out, so I'm I'm to. keep telling you who they are. In the. original series, Colossus first showed. up in season 1 episode 8, The. Unstoppable Juggernaut. He helped the. X-Men rebuild the school after it was. destroyed by Juggernaut. The only other. episode he was heavily featured in was. season 2 episode 4, Red Dawn, when he. helped the X-Men defeat Omega Red, and.

that was the episode that Illyana. appeared in, much younger than she is. here, and seemingly not yet magic. >> Piotr. >> Illyana. [music] Illyana, you are safe. >> I hid when the soldiers came. >> In the timeline of the show, Genosha is. about 3 years after those events, given. that Jubilee was 15 then and turned 18. last season. But in the comics, Illyana. was kidnapped to Limbo by the demonic. sorcerer Belasco, and even though only a. few seconds passed on Earth, years. passed in Limbo. So, when she returned, she was noticeably older. I'm not saying. that that's the canon the show is going.

with, but it would make sense why she. looks so much older here. It would also. explain why she has the soul sword, since she created that while in Limbo. using some of her own life force. Also, side note, every time I see Magic, I. can't get over how perfectly cast Anya. Taylor-Joy was in that role in New. Mutants. I've said it before, but don't. sleep on that movie, it's super. underrated. Magic rescues three mutants. I think the woman with the markings on. her body and red hair is Loa, Alani. Ryan. I know some people in the comments. thought that the girl we've seen in a. few episodes, including last episode. during Charles's speech to the students.

in the danger room, was Loa, but aside. from having some markings on her skin, she looks nothing like any comics. iteration of that character. For one, Loa is always shown with more markings. on her arms, and her red hair is much. more similar to the style of the woman. on Genosha here. This woman also has a. red diamond on her headpiece in the same. spot where the red diamond is on her. forehead in the comics. And also, I. think we saw an image of Loa back in. season 1 on the cover of the Daily. Bugle, and that image looked more like. this woman here, and Loa in the comics. was sometimes depicted with these white.

eyes. I'm fairly certain the girl people. thought was Loa last week was confirmed. as an original character created to fill. out the Genosha crowd scenes in Remember. It. I'm not entirely sure who these. other two guys are, though. There's one. with an eyepiece and this green glowing. energy, and another who looks like he. has blue skin. But then when we see him. a couple seconds later, he just looks. like a normal guy in a pink shirt and a. blazer. The visor guy is identified in. the subtitles simply as male mutant. So. maybe he was created just for the show. Magic is actually teleporting this group. using limbo as a midway point. So. they're probably a little freaked out. right now from all that business. The.

car Colossus hurdles at the bug sentinel. barely does anything to it because this. thing is huge. Illyana dies a hero right. in front of her brother and for a second. I assumed she just teleported, but then. we actually see her body. So she dead. She died a few times in the comics. though, so we'll see if this one. actually sticks. Off Illyana's death, it. cuts to Graydon Creed announcing his. candidacy for president promising he'll. be tougher on mutants than President. Kelly has been. Coming off of Magic's. death, this is an even harder slap in. the face. Creed is voiced by Ben Pronsky. who also voiced Garrison Kane a couple.

episodes ago. In the original series. before he was president, then Senator. Kelly announces his presidential bid on. an anti-mutant agenda in season 1. episode 4 Deadly Reunions. He was even. threatening to relocate all mutants to. internment camps. Then in the Days of. Future Past arc, Magneto kidnapped. Senator Kelly, but then some Sentinels. showed up and re-kidnapped Kelly. determined to replace his brain with a. computer. The X-Men rescued him and he. did a 180 on mutants in episode 13 The. Final Decision. He even pardoned Beast. and had him released from prison. And it. was this about-face that actually.

inspired Creed to create the Friends of. Humanity because he felt betrayed. In. season 2 episode 1 Till Death Do Us Part. Part 1, Kelly was sworn in as president. still pro-mutant and that was the first. appearance of the Friends of Humanity on. the show. So now Creed who lost. influence with his followers after all. the previous stuff I'd mentioned with. his lineage is running on a very similar. platform as Kelly was originally. Creed. has a new scar on his face here. Nightcrawler later identifies it as a. claw mark. So this is definitely thanks. to Sabretooth since Creed didn't have it. when the Friends of Humanity delivered.

him to his father. And that was the last. time we visually saw him in the series. We did hear his voice on the radio last. season. People in the crowd have Creed. and display signs and shirts that say. things like no muties and protect our. future. Creed is introduced with the. announcer saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, friends of humanity." And it's really. despicably bold of him to try and slip. in a reference to an actual hate group. like that. He's also announced as. Graydon Creed, not Graydon Creed Jr., since obviously he doesn't want any. association with Sabretooth. Again, they. changed Sabretooth's name for the. original series from his name in the.

comics. One of the men in the crowd. yells, "Humans were here first." In the. original series episode The Final. Decision, the one when Kelly got. kidnapped, Trask actually argues with. Master Mold. >> You can't make me do this. You were. designed to protect humans from mutants. >> That is not logical. Mutants are human. >> It was a real [clears throat] oh crap. moment for all involved. Creed's speech. is absolutely insane and his bigoted. audience is just eating it up. In the. comics, he also ran for president, although he's assassinated by a. time-traveling Mystique on the night of. the election. The roof opens up and a. big hand descends and for once on this.

show, it's not the Sentinels. It's the. Acolytes of Magneto. A version of this. group was seen in the original series. four sanctuary run being led by Fabian. Cortez. They were a resistance group on. Genosha when Genosha was still enslaving. mutants. Then they went to live on. Asteroid M. In the comics, there have. been a bunch of iterations of the. Acolytes, but here we get Joanna. Cargill, aka Frenzy. She's the one who. does a flying leap to chest kick the. security guy. She's super strong and. pretty much invulnerable and at one. point in the comics, she kind of teamed. up with Apocalypse. We saw her in the. original sanctuary two-parter. The woman.

who lowers herself with the giant green. energy hand and then uses the hand to. punch out a bunch of guys Unuscione. She. can manifest psionic energy, which. visually looks pretty similar to how. Green Lantern wields his power ring. She. was also in Sanctuary. The guy with the. red hood and the electric rope is. Senyaka. He can use his psionic whips to. drain bioenergy from others and then use. that energy to enhance himself. He was. also seen very briefly in the original. series season four episode seven Secrets. Not Long Buried. The big pale guy with. the sunglasses and red bandana whose arm.

can turn into a gun is Marshall. Evanstone III, aka Random. His body is. made of a protoplasm, giving him the. ability to morph parts of his body into. pretty much any shape. Or he can also. fire hardened protoplasm at people. He. appeared in both Sanctuary and Secrets. Not Long Buried. The lady who looks like. a bat is Lavinia LeBlanc, aka Gargoyle. She's fast and has heightened senses. We. actually saw her in Remember It. The guy. with the white streak in his hair and. the pink energy coming out of his fists. is Alan Marc Yuricich, aka Chrome. He. can reconfigure molecules even in living.

beings. So he can kind of do the same. thing that Adam Eve can on Invincible. We saw him in Sanctuary. Then rounding. out the team for this mission is. Colossus, introduced with some very. Omega Red sounding Russiany music. And then the leader of this group, Bennet du Paris, aka Exodus. He's an. Omega-level mutant and he's much older. than he looks. He was actually a knight. in the Crusades, hence why Nightcrawler. later calls him Templar because he was a. Knight Templar. In the comics, he was at. one point turned into Apocalypse's.

Horseman Death, and he has a whole slew. of powers. He's telepathic, telekinetic, he can teleport. He also has something. called faith empowerment, which means. his powers are enhanced when people. around him have faith in his abilities. He can also heal and create force. fields. Seriously, this dude is like one. of the most powered-up mutants ever. We. saw him briefly on Genosha in Remember. It. Exodus is voiced by Beau. Billingslea, a very accomplished theater. actor, and he brings every ounce of that. theatricality and training to Exodus. here. In the news broadcast, which is on. WHIH, the In Universe Marvel News.

Network we've seen in a ton of stuff. We. also see Amelia Vote with the group. She. first popped up in the Sanctuary arc and. is an ex of Charles's. She can turn from. her solid form into like a kind of mist. We saw her last in Bright Eyes when she. was using her doctor skills to help the. injured on Genosha. It's interesting. that a lot of these acolytes were on. Genosha and witnessed the devastation. first hand. Amelia in particular was. crying when she was explaining. everything she'd seen to Beast in that. episode. Seeing what happened to mutants. and then watching the world react with, as Bastion put it, apathy in the face of. so much tragedy, radicalized them,

leaving them primed to join a group like. the Acolytes. I also love that when. Scott and Jean are in the bar watching. the news broadcast, Scott sighs, because. you know they're like, "Can we just get. one day without some crazy crap going. down?" These two just want to enjoy a. beer out on the town. There are more. Acolytes here with Exodus as he gives. his statement. Most of them we get. better looks at later on in the episode, so I'll get to them then. Dr. Cooper. watches Exodus' statement on the news. with President Kelly. Pyro and Avalanche. also watch. They're in the custody of. X-Factor and the government. These two. haven't shown up since the original.

series, unless you count every week in. the opening, since they're two of the. villains running up and crashing into. the X-Men. They're part of Mystique's. Brotherhood of Mutants and would. frequently show up and cause general. problems and mayhem. In the comics, Pyro. was actually an Acolyte at one point. Then we see more mutants in lockup. This. is obviously a different area than where. the mutant kids were being kept. One of. the people locked up is clearly. Barbarus, although we only see him in. shadow behind the glass. In the original. series, Barbarus showed up Savage Land. of Magneto's mutate. He also appeared on. Genosha in Bright Eyes helping to clean. up the mess, so he must have gotten.

nabbed by X-Factor sometime after that. Cooper preemptively warns Charles not to. get involved with Creed's kidnapping, because she knows him. But it's too. little, too late, since he already sent. some X-Men to where the Acolytes are. Since he established X-Corp on Genosha, where the US government has no. jurisdiction, he and the X-Men can once. again do things like this without fear. of losing the school's accreditation or. breaking laws. Beast, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Bishop, and Polaris fly to. the Savage Land. Beast says, >> Welcome [music] to the Savage Land. >> In the same way that John Hammond said,

>> Welcome. to Jurassic Park. >> We get a couple nods to JP in this. episode. In the original series, the. X-Men spent a bunch of episodes in the. Savage Land. Charles and Magneto were. actually trapped there for a lot of. season 2. It first popped up in season 2. episode 2, Till Death Us Part Part 2, season 2 episode 3, Whatever It Takes, and season 2 episode 4, Red Dawn. A. tortured Morph, under Sinister's. control, tricked Charles and Magneto. into going to Antarctica. When they got. there, they were ambushed and buried. under a falling avalanche, and when they. dug themselves out, they found. themselves in the Savage Land. Their.

powers were gone, and Charles could walk. again. Then, in season 2 episode 5, Repo. Man, some of Magneto's Mutates find. them. I mentioned Mutates before, and. they're inhabitants of the Savage Land. who Magneto genetically altered. They're. technically different than mutants. >> Let us talk. We mean you no. >> The Mutates attack Charles and Magneto, telling them "We know. >> follow a new master.". >> In season 2 episode 10, Beauty and the. Beast, Charles and Magneto get captured. by Amphibious, another one of the. Mutates, but they manage to escape. There is a lot of getting captured and.

escaping during these episodes. >> Summers in Los Angeles are brutal. It. can be over 100° when you step out of. your house in the morning, which is why. you've got to make sure that your closet. is full of clothes that look good and. help keep you cool. It's why so many of. us have closets full of Fabletics. Fabletics makes clothes that are. lightweight, breathable, and. moisture-wicking. They've got sizes from. XS to 4X with bold colors and neutral. shades that go with everything. And. thanks to the Fabletics VIP program, you. don't have to break the bank to fill. your closet. The VIP program gives you.

up to 70 to 80% off your first order, plus up to 50% off all day, every day, on all products. Plus, every month you. can use your member credit to redeem a. two-piece set on any products up to. $100. It's very flexible. You can choose. to shop or skip each month between the. 1st and the 5th, and that's in addition. to access to VIP-only sales, personalized outfit recommendations, free access to the Fabletics Fit app, and monthly drops. Don't let the heat. keep you from enjoying yourself this. summer. Keep cool with Fabletics. To get. some Fabletics clothing of your own and.

sign up for their VIP program, just. click the link in the description below. >> In the two-part season 2 finale, Reunion. parts 1 and 2, the Savage Land Mutates. finally capture them again. And with the. help of Morph and Mr. Sinister, lure the. other X-Men there. Sinister created an. inhibitor tower that stopped mutants'. powers from working. He and the mutants. wore belts that canceled them out so. that they could still use theirs. We see. both the tower and the belts later in. this episode. The X-Men ultimately broke. free, destroyed the power dampening. device, and defeated Sinister. Then we. got the season 3 Savage Land Strange.

Heart episodes I talked about earlier, and that was the last time in the. original series that we saw the Savage. Land. Polaris runs through the dangers. listed in the file, prehistoric. wildlife, the Savage Land has dinosaurs, saber-tooth tigers, and a whole mess of. other creatures, ancient evil spirits, that's Garokk who I mentioned earlier, leftover experiments are Magneto and. Sinister's mutants. Polaris and Bishop. once again do their whole flirty banter. thing. The series is obviously setting. them up to be a thing. Nightcrawler. gives the thesis statement for his. character, which is that no one is above. salvation. This is part of the reason. he'll fight so hard to save Creed. When.

the jet gets close enough, the group. realizes that Sinister's power dampening. device is up and running again, and. since they've got missiles heading for. them, they're kind of screwed. Bishop. gets blown out the back. >> Bishop! and then Polaris does the most awesome. move that reminded me of when Ward saved. Simmons on Agents of Shield right after. she jumped out of the plane. And again, if Bishop and Polaris weren't already. going to bone, they're definitely going. to now. She, of course, lands smack-dab. on top of him in the jungle. There's a. Jurassic Park homage, ripples in the. water before this dino cutie comes. crashing through.

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be. the same T-Rex that chased Charles and. Magneto in Red Dawn. The inability to. use their powers has left Bishop power. constipated. He needs to expel that. power poop before it builds up too much. The others went down with the plane, and. luckily it's their old buddy Colossus. who finds them, because they have a long. history of working together. Rogue even. flirted with him a little bit in the. original run. >> Come on, big and pretty. Let's make. tracks. >> The acolytes all wear the devices on. their belt that allow them to be. unaffected by the power dampener. The. big guy that shows up with Frenzy and. Unuscione is Marco Delgado, also from.

the sanctuary episodes. He's super. strong and can make himself bigger. The. acolytes are holed up in the building. originally built by Magneto, but taken. over by Sinister after Magneto left. >> I've made a few changes since inheriting. this rather primitive installation. >> It's the same design as the original. series. It's looking a little worse for. wear here because of the events at the. end of reunion part two. As Colossus. gives the X-Men a tour, they pass by. these two acolytes who look really. similar. At first I thought maybe these. were two of the Cleinstock triplets, Sven, Harlan, and Eric were all acolytes.

who could generate plasma blasts and. join together to form a bigger stronger. individual, but then later on we see one. of these guys solo and I'm pretty sure. he's Zachary Williams, aka Projector. He. can project an energy force. And in that. case, I'm not sure who the other. dark-haired guy is here. Inside the. building there's a statue of Magneto. that has these very Exodus-y looking. circles around it. Since Exodus really. wants people to follow him as their. leader, there's also a pile of the gold. circle devices that the acolytes used to. travel around. There's a makeshift. memorial set up with candles and photos. of those who died on Genosha. There's a. picture of Marrow next to a handmade.

never forget sign, a couple of Magneto. posters with the word freedom on them, one of Gambit on the bottom right. There's a framed photo of Squid Boy in. his remember it party tuxedo. And. underneath him a handmade sign that. reads mutants matter. And a picture of. Madeline Pryor in the tan button-up. white tank top combo she wore when. greeting the group on Genosha at the. start of remember it. At the top. surrounded by a floral wreath is another. image of Magneto in the outfit he wore. in a few episodes last season including. mutant liberation begins and remember. it. And in the middle of it all is a. painting of magic that Colossus did. himself. In the comics, Colossus is a.

super gifted painter and he often turned. to painting as a form of therapy. >> Dating's Blazer. >> When they go to check on Creed, Colossus. and Rogue are disgusted at how he greets. his brother. Nightcrawler just looks. sad. I'm sure to Colossus, who's still. heartbroken over losing a sibling, this. kind of display cements the idea for him. that Creed is beyond redemption. Whereas. Nightcrawler is looking at the damage. that caused Creed to become who he is. Nightcrawler and Creed quote scripture, but whereas Nightcrawler understands the. meaning behind the words and walks the. walk, Creed is just reciting, stuck in.

his life full of hatred and loathing. Nightcrawler doesn't even hate the ones. who hate him. And Creed hates a whole. lot of folks. When Exodus shows up, he. tries to stir the pot even more, but. instead of taking the bait, Nightcrawler. convinces him that Creed should have a. trial among mutants for his crimes. Nightcrawler gives the condition that. Colossus will preside over the trial and. make the judgment. He knows that. Colossus is a good man who will vote. with his conscience instead of simply. going with what Exodus and the other. acolytes want. Exodus, who doesn't see. nearly as much as he thinks he does, smirks at this because he thinks there's. no way Colossus will rule against him.

When Polaris tells Bishop she's got a. fun idea for how to take out the. inhibitor tower, of pterodactyls flies. by overhead foreshadowing how she and. Bishop will ultimately pull it off. Once. the trial starts, there are a whole. bunch more acolytes watching. I'm going. to try my best to identify all of them. The green lizardy-looking dude is Seamus. Mellencamp. He has thick reptilian skin. and heightened senses, strength, and. agility. The woman in the yellow full. body armor is Heather Tucker, aka Tempo. She can kind of like manipulate time. Not in a time travel way, but in a. speed-herself-up or. slow-down-her-opponent's way. The guy.

lurking in the shadows by himself with. the red cowl-looking thing on his head. is Kamal El Alaoui. He's super strong. and can absorb the properties of any. physical object he touches. The pink. dude with the rocky bumps is Mortimer. Everett, aka Barnacle. He can turn. moisture into something solid, creating. a kind of crust around things, and he. can form crust-like projectiles. This. next one is kind of crazy. The woman. with the short blue hair is Anna Marie. Cortez. She can sense other people's. emotions and kind of use that to control. them. But the reason it's crazy is.

because her brother is Fabian Cortez. I. mentioned him briefly earlier, but in. that sanctuary arc, he was leading the. resistance on Genosha and was seemingly. the most devout of Magneto's followers. on Asteroid M. >> I pledge our allegiance to your. righteous cause. >> But then he felt Magneto wasn't being. ruthless enough to the humans, and he. tried to kill him and framed Gambit for. the murder. Eventually, he was defeated, but then he got picked up by Apocalypse, who later in season 5 used him as a. vessel to return. So basically, everyone. knows he tried to kill Magneto, and here. his sister is still a member of the. acolytes. If anyone understands.

complicated familial ties, it's this. woman. The guy with the white eyes and. his arms crossed is Simon Hall, aka. Neophyte. He can phase through solid. objects. He's actually one of the less. violent acolytes. He doesn't believe in. harming humans and prefers to take a. pacifist approach. I don't think we. actually see him actively involved in. the fight later on. I'm honestly really. impressed that the animators managed to. cram in pretty much every character from. the comics who was ever associated with. the acolytes. Like even showing Pyro in. the jail since he was at one point an. acolyte. They covered their bases here. The guy with the long white hair and.

white mustache is Byron Calley, aka. Burner. He's one of the ones that met. the X-Men when they first touched down. in the Savage Land earlier. He's from. the Sanctuary arc. He was a scientist. and an old friend of Gambit's. Magneto. kidnapped him so he could help build. Asteroid M, but then Magneto released. him, but he decided he wanted to stay. He's not an acolyte in the comics, but. he is part of the Brotherhood of. Mutants. He can shoot flames out of his. hands. The jacked dude with a long white. beard and mechanical arms is Cat 2 Cat. His arms actually got ripped off by. Omega Red. He can cause disruptions in. the Earth's electromagnetic field by.

siphoning it off and converting it into. projectiles. He can also kind of mess up. the weather. His power set was rarely. shown in the comics because they. honestly weren't sure how to depict what. he does. The guy with the reddish hair. who's wearing a different uniform from. the others is Rusty Collins, aka. Firefist. He actually appeared in the. original run of the show as a kid in. season 3 episode 8, No Mutant Is an. Island. Also, he was a kid in Deadpool 2. that Cable was trying to kill. He can. control fire. The woman with the blonde. hair and the markings on her face is. Sarah Ryall, aka Scanner. She can. project herself in an astral form to.

scout ahead for the rest of the. acolytes. The blonde wearing the blue. blazer is Sally Blevins, aka Skids. She. can create a protective force field. around herself that protects her and. also makes her very hard to hang on to. since she's so slippery. You know, Skids. The guy with the long blue hair. is Francisco Milan. He can physically. put images onto TV and computers and. other tech. The guy with the gold. headpiece who gives a sympathetic look. when Nightcrawler is making his case is. Marcus Andrews, aka Rem-Ram. And as. someone who recently did a breakdown of. the Masters of the Universe movie, which. is great, by the way, his name is giving.

me distinct He-Man vibes. Remram can. influence people's dreams. The woman. next to him is Gia Carina Esperanza, aka. Static. She can blast people with these. neuro blasts that basically temporarily. deactivates their brain. It is a gnarly. power. Then there are two people that. I'm not totally sure about, but the. woman with the long brown hair might be. Nance Winters, and the guy with the. dreads and the red headpiece could be an. alternate design for the character. Vindaloo. Since he had that same. headpiece, they're both acolytes, but. honestly, both of these are a little bit. of a stretch, and I don't feel confident.

calling either of them for certain. During the trial, Exodus makes his case. by exploiting the anger that everyone. feels towards Creed, pointing out all. the awful things he's done because of. his hatred of mutants. But Nightcrawler. looks to the why. What made Creed the. way he is? Exodus' scope is very narrow, which might explain why Nightcrawler. ultimately beats him in the fight later, despite Exodus being way more powerful. than he is. Nightcrawler tries to look. at everything, the whole picture. When. Nightcrawler asks Creed why he hates. mutants, he says this. >> Because you were born.

>> This is the same answer he gave to. Jubilee back in season 2, episode 2 of. the original series. >> You were born. >> Now, this is a fun bit of writing. The. original series was awesome, but it was. still a very much a kids show. And that. answer back then would suffice to show. that a villain is a villain, black and. white. But now, with the more nuanced, more adult X-Men '97, the writers can. dive deeper into the nature of evil, the. shades of gray, and again, what makes. someone the way they are. Nightcrawler. examines it here. Instead of just. leaving it there, he asks Creed. questions about his childhood until he.

gets to the root of it all. He was. abandoned by his mother, abused by his. father, and he took all that hate, hurt, and anger and directed it outward to all. mutants. When Nightcrawler makes his. final argument that Creed is letting his. parents control him just so he can. continue hating them, quote, "When all. you need to do is forgive yourself for. thinking you weren't strong enough," he. looks at Colossus. Because in this. moment, he's also speaking directly to. Colossus about his guilt over the death. of his sister. He's showing him both. that her death wasn't his fault and that. he has more in common with Creed than he. thinks. Exodus can sense the room's.

shifting attitudes and he doesn't want. to lose his control over the acolytes, so he forces a judgement. When Colossus. hesitates, Exodus punishes him. Remember, like I said before, among his. many powers, Exodus is telepathic and. his powers are enhanced when people. around him have faith in his abilities. So, even though later on Colossus tells. Nightcrawler that he wasn't convinced, Exodus knows he's already lost some of. the room and even Colossus' hesitation. is seen as betrayal. When everyone. springs into action, we see even more. acolytes. The guy that kind of looks. like Bigfoot is Andrew Hamish Grave, aka.

Spore. His backstory is actually super. tragic. His father was terribly abusive. and murdered his mother by making her. drink paint thinner. I'm sure hearing. Creed's own abusive upbringing might. have brought up some feelings for him at. this trial. He can produce pheromones. that control people and their moods. Bishop and Polaris fly in to save the. day in the nick of time and Bishop pays. her back for her earlier air rescue by. grabbing her while she's falling. Then. he lets out what's probably the most. satisfying power poop of his life. And. then just like that, Colossus is back on. team X-Men fighting alongside them. And. then we get the moment I was waiting for.

when I saw these two swordsmen were in. the same episode. Man, I love. Nightcrawler in this series. I'm glad. this dude is finally getting his due. He. gives us this banger line about Exodus. clamoring for his 15 minutes of faith, an awesome play on 15 minutes of fame. And then that son of a Creed. shoots Exodus and threatens. Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler made a great. argument, but ultimately this dude is. still a piece of crap, whatever his. motivations. Nightcrawler teleports him. out of there into a snowstorm because. remember, the Savage Land is somewhere. in or near Antarctica. Then Nightcrawler. says this,

>> Cannot conceive, [screaming] nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the. mercy of God. >> This is a quote by Graham Greene from. his 1938 novel Brighton Rock. President. Bartlett also quoted this in a famous. episode of The West Wing. >> You can't conceive, nor can I, of the. appalling strangeness of the mercy of. God, says Graham Greene. >> In the novel, it's spoken by a priest to. a grieving woman. It's said to basically. underscore the fact that God often takes. mercy on those who other people might. think don't deserve it. And in fact, it's those people that God desires to. reach and take mercy on the most. And.

Nightcrawler is basically saying here. that as odious as he finds Creed, as. undeserving as he might be of. Nightcrawler's mercy, or of the mercy of. the mutants he has consistently wronged, even he can hope for mercy from God. And. Nightcrawler won't stand in the way of. that divine mercy. Although this is. clearly a struggle for him. He. ultimately leaves Creed in the snow. mostly unharmed. Cooper gives Charles. another warning about not crossing the. line, and then Nightcrawler welcomes. Colossus back to the X-Mansion. I'm. hoping we get a Colossus intro card in. next week's opening now that he's. officially back. Colossus says that.

while Nightcrawler didn't convince him. during the trial, he would have. convinced his sister. And I love this. detail. Not since the battle started on. Genosha have we seen Peter not in his. Colossus form. But after he says this. line about Illyana, he puts his hand on. Kurt's shoulder and looks at the mansion. and changes back. A visual. representation of him finally letting go. of the hurt and letting his guard down. And then we get another banger of an. ending scene. We're back in Athens. X-Force has found Apocalypse's hideout. where he converted Gambit into Death. But what they find there is a husk of. Apocalypse's corpse and one of Gambit's.

charred playing cards, the Queen of. Hearts. You know he's coming for Rogue. Cable can't believe it since he's the. one destined to destroy Apocalypse. Now, remember Apocalypse can use people as. vessels like he did with Fabian Cortez. Or in the movie when he was like, "Yo, put me inside Oscar Isaac because I want. to be cool like that guy." So this. doesn't necessarily mean Apocalypse is. dead and gone, but this is definitely a. cool twist that implies that this story. isn't quite as straightforward as we. first thought it was going to be. We've. got two episodes left to find out what's. up. So that's it for this breakdown of. episode 7 of X-Men '97. Let me know what.

you thought about it and if I missed any. of the 1 million Acolyte cameos in the. comments. And a special thanks to Jeremy. Dunham who supports us at the executive. producer level. Big thanks to studio. tech Brian Kim and New Rockstars editors. Josh Hurd and Abby Freel and all the. supporting editors. Follow me everywhere. at Gina Itty, subscribe to all channels. in the New Rockstars Network for. breakdowns and news coverage of. everything you love. Thanks for. watching. Bye. >> [music].

[music].