‘X-Men 97’ Ending Explained: Who Were Those New Mutants We Meet in the Season 1 Finale?

X-Men ’97, the long-anticipated sequel series to the X-Men animated series that aired on Saturday mornings in the 1990s, has completed its ten-episode first season with a characteristic bang. In the fine tradition of X-Men comics, Marvel movies, and pretty much any kind of mutant-related storytelling, a satisfying ending only gives way to beginnings of more sci-fi soap-opera storylines. So what does this mean for the story this season was supposed to be wrapping up, and for whatever the show might be up to in its already-in-production second season?

First, let’s catch up with what went down.

X-MEN ’97 EPISODE 10 – PLOT SUMMARY

In the finale, the X-Men are fighting battles on two fronts: Bastion, the season’s designated supervillain, is using his Prime Sentinels (essentially humans zombified into organic versions of the anti-mutant robots) to kickstart a centuries-long war that will end with mutant enslavement. Meanwhile, Magneto, in one of his trademark fits of pique, has attacked Earth with an EMP that threatens to destroy the planet if it’s not reversed (and has ripped out Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton when everyone’s favorite gruff cigar-chomper attempted to stop him; he remains out of commission for the entire finale).

Professor X takes charge of the Magneto situation; the episode begins with what looks like a flashback to the early days of their friendship, as they cautiously reveal their respective powers to each other. It turns out that this is happening within Magneto’s mind, which Xavier is hoping to control so that he can restore power to Earth. Meanwhile, the rest of the X-Men take on Bastion (though not before he monologues a bit about his goals); the Phoenix force emerges from Jean and is able to de-power the sentinels, freeing the possessed humans, and also dismantle Bastion’s lackey Mr. Sinister, “burning away” his stolen mutant DNA.

The two stories converge when Bastion decides to crash Magneto’s Asteroid M space station into Earth, which will cause an extinction-level event. In response, the U.S. government (with the tacit approval of the Avengers!) launches the “Magneto protocols,” sending missiles up toward Asteroid M, which naturally only makes things worse. But Professor X, having broken Magneto’s psyche in order to restore Earth’s power, revives his friend, who promptly does… something… that blips the whole space station out of the sky, averting disaster. Unfortunately, the X-Men seem to disappear with it.

Six months later, everyone on Asteroid M – Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Jubilee, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and the enfeebled Wolverine – remains missing. We see time-traveling Bishop visit Forge, undeterred by the thought that the core X-Men are dead. “This ain’t the first time at the ‘X-Men are dead’ rodeo,” he notes, theorizing that the group has been “yanked through time.” And he’s right: We see Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Xavier, and Magneto wake up in Egypt in 3,000 B.C., where they meet a mutant whose name, En Sabah Nur, seems to fill them with recognition and concern. (To quote Beast: “Oh, dear.”) Meanwhile, Cyclops and Jean have landed in 3960 A.D., and meet their own li’l time traveler: Nathan, also known as Cable, as a child, under care of someone known as Mother Askani.

So what the hell does all of this mean?

X-MEN ’97 – SEASON 1: ENDING EXPLAINED

In true superhero-lore fashion, the mic-drop effect of this finale depends on viewers passing a series of nerd tests. The X-Men lost in time does make for a compelling storyline on its own, of course, but the appearance of En Sabah Nur will make more sense to fans who recognize him as… Apocalypse, who did appear in the original X-Men run (as well as the underrated live-action film X-Men: Apocalypse). Though he’s not referred to as such here, there’s a double dose of the big bad ur-mutant in the finale; his more familiar, bulked-up form appears in present-day Genosha, picking through the ruins to retrieve one of Gambit’s playing cards, lamentning that “his children” have seen “so much pain… so much… death.” This refers to Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen, his personally arranged (and usually physically/mentally/genetically altered) superteam, with mutants standing in for Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War. So the implication is that Gambit’s coming back, baby! But, unfortunately, at the behest of Apocalypse and his appropriately apocalyptic scheming.

The other key name here is Mother Askani. In the comics, Askani is another name for Rachel Anne Summers, an alternate-future daughter of Cyclops and Jean. She hasn’t figured into the X-Men animated series before (though apparently she’s made a few wordless cameos in both the original animated series and earlier this season. So, it’s a Summers family reunion of sorts, a couple of thousand years into the future. (Unlike Apocalypse, who has been an animated-series character before, there’s really no way to intuit Askani’s role without knowing the comics, or looking something up – to the point where the series may be saving this reveal for deeper into season 2.)

Maybe this means, thanks to various time-traveling shenanigans, it’s actually the Summers clan who represent the “future incarnate,” which is what Bastion is dubbed when he briefly absorbs Cable’s bionic arm (and techno-virus) back in 1997 during that climactic battle. Though X-Men stories sometimes feel like they’re prioritizing soap-opera eventfulness over more patient, detailed characterization, this does offer a potentially interesting season-two flipside to all of the speechifying about the extended X-Men family from the last few episodes of season one. It’s all well and good for Jean and Cyclops to display such loyalty to their non-blood family, but how does the fallout from their life of X-Men soldiering affect their actual offspring? Apocalypse, too, considers mutants his “children,” as he’s been depicted as the first or one of the first mutants in existence – a dark version of the paternal “my X-Men” Xavier vibes. In other words, X-Men ’97 may no longer be competing directly with other superhero media; in elaborate family soap opera augmented with outlandish action, it may be chasing Fast & Furious cars now.

Jesse Hassenger (@rockmarooned) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com, too.