X-Men ’97 has never been afraid of big swings, but Episode 4 of Season 2 might be its most ambitious hour yet. In a single episode, the show untangles one of Marvel’s most convoluted villains, kills off one of its most iconic characters, and plants the seeds for a saga that could reshape the entire series. Somehow, it all works.
The centerpiece is Apocalypse. On paper, En Sabah Nur has always been a one-note heavy, the big bad the X-Men get to pile onto the way the Avengers pile onto Thanos. Decades of retcons and rotating writers have left his backstory a mess, and no screen adaptation has ever made him more than a gray-skinned obstacle. This episode changes that. Adapting the Rise of Apocalypse material, the show grounds him in genuine pain: a mother walking away, a childhood spent on slave blocks, a people who saw his strength as something monstrous. When he finally seizes power, you understand exactly why he would rather dominate the world than ever trust it. It is easily the best depiction of the character ever put on screen, and it does not soften him. Apocalypse is evil; he stays evil, and the show is better for it.
Then there is Magneto. His death lands hard, but this is comics, and the road back is already visible. All signs point to Onslaught, the psychic entity born from the darkest corners of Charles Xavier’s mind. The theory gaining traction is that Xavier absorbed Magneto’s consciousness in his final moments, setting the stage for the classic storyline that pulled in the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. An Onslaught arc would also give the X-Men something they rarely get: a chance to save humanity in full view of the world that fears them.
The episode also quietly devastates Rogue, who has now lost Gambit and Magneto in the span of two seasons. Lenore Zann continues to deliver the show’s most theatrical dialogue with total conviction, including a chilling “I’ve heard that line before” before knocking out a young Apocalypse. That willingness to embrace comic book melodrama is exactly what makes this series sing.
Add in John de Lancie clearly having a blast as Kang, visual nods to the Eternals and the TVA that tie the show closer to the MCU than many fans realize, and another loaded chess conversation between Charles and Magneto, and you have an episode that rewards longtime readers without losing anyone else. The chess scenes remain the show’s best recurring visual, two men who love and respect each other playing out their opposing philosophies one sacrificed pawn at a time.
Four episodes in, Season 2 is proving that X-Men ’97 was no nostalgia fluke. If Onslaught really is on the horizon, the best may still be ahead.
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