X-MEN 97 Episode 9 Breakdown | Marvel Easter Eggs, Ending Explained & Review

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Paul, and in this video, we’re breaking down X-Men.

Episode 9 is now here, and the penultimate entry sets up a lot. Throughout this video, we’re gonna go through the easter eggs, hidden details, and things you might have missed. We’ll also be talking about our predictions for the future and what stories we think may be coming down the line. From everything I can gather, Beau DeMayo has written season 2, and there are things that could be setting things up.

So smash that thumbs up and make sure you subscribe because you don’t wanna miss our breakdown next week. With that out the way, thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into X-Men 97.

X-MEN ’97 EPISODE 9 BREAKDOWN

One thing we didn’t point out in the intro of last week is that Professor X has finally returned. He, of course, crash-landed on Earth, and this was teased by his addition to the credits. I know he was just there for a second, but they haven’t really liked giving away spoilers. This is why Nightcrawler didn’t feature in his debut, and X wasn’t there when we saw him with the Shi’ar. It’s only once they’ve appeared where they appear in the next episode, and yeah, good to see the guy back. I also love how they do something different every week, and they really didn’t have to because it’s not like you were gonna skip this banger intro duhlul lulun.

We don’t get any additional shots that we haven’t seen before, but you might notice that as we get the scene with the two sides running at each other, the people in the middle look a little different. They are now prime sentinels, which was such a cool change-up.

After the title sequence, we cut to the dawn rising on a new day and Professor X waking up. His wheelchair is beside his bed, and we learn that the character can no longer walk. Guessing that the Shi’ar armour fixed it for him, and this is why he needs the chair for the rest of the video.

Magneto looks out over some ships, and we see Bastion walking through his hometown. Carrying his mother’s corpse, he starts to shed a tear because he views this as the sacrifice that he unfortunately had to make. It’s really haunting just seeing all the people standing there frozen, and the horror on their faces spells it all out. Though he’s promised people a path away from extinction and replacement, all it’s left is a cold, lonely death.

One detail we missed last week that Beau DeMayo brought up was how Bastion’s mother was from the original animated series. During the episode “One Man’s Worth,” we saw a woman working at a diner. Turns out this was Bastion’s mother, with that episode also featuring Nimrod. In case you missed our last breakdown, we did a big bit on all the episodes you need to watch for the final, which could be found at the end of the video. That discussed “Sanctuary,” “One Man’s Worth,” “Descent,” and “The Final Decision.” I’m not just gonna go over them all again because we’ve discussed them in-depth there, but “One Man’s Worth” explained more on Nimrod. Sent back in time alongside a villain named they’d been instructed to kill Professor X. Bishop ended up blowing up Nimrod, but he pieced himself back together. Was like the liquid metal terminator with the time travel assassination also riffing off of that. We now know that his programming entered Bishop’s father, and this is how Bastion was born. It is a big change-up from the comics as that had Nimrod being reborn as a human. This was after being passed through the siege perilous in which all life forms were judged by the higher powers of the universe. Bastion’s programming is what affected his subconscious, and this is what spurred on his hate for the mutants.

I also wonder if that Professor X assassination mission is gonna come back into it, and this is what we’re gonna get in the finale. Nimrod’s original programming is rooted deep within him, and having that as a driving force makes a lot of sense.

That list of episodes could also hint that Gambit’s still alive as he was thought dead during Sanctuary. He bought time for the X-Men to escape, and though they thought him gone, he returned at the end.

Now, as for Gambit, Rob at Comics Explained brought up how he may have become Death. Not the literal Grim Reaper but rather one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen. Professor X did see him as a skeleton, and I think that this would be a big way to take things.

We then cut to Jubilee and Roberto being chased into an alleyway. This is symbolic for the pair as it’s something that both have done during the intro. The original series had Jubilee getting stopped by a chain-link fence, whereas 97 switched it to Roberto. It’s such a clever way to bring these two iconic moments together with the Friends of Humanity bearing down on them. There are also regular people from all walks of life too, showing how this hate has spread into everyone.

At this point, Professor X literally dusts the dust off the old chair, which makes this a pretty iconic moment. Guy’s now able to walk, but the memory still remains, which we see summed up in this shot.

Now I do think we’re heading towards Storm being the leader, and that we might end up with Cyclops quitting. Would be interesting if he finally went off with Madelynne and then Jean hooked up with Logan. I dunno how likely that stuff is, but yeah, something that I definitely think is worth talking about.

He’s rebuilding from the rubble, which we also see in the case of Magneto, who lifts up the rocks. With Jubilee and Roberto, a storm rolls in, and this is what breaks things up.

Now we also get Forge in his classic costume too. In the original series, he debuted in “Days of Future Past,” where he was an older man. This elderly version next appeared in “Time Fugitives” parts 1 and 2, where he still worked sending Bishop back in time. It wasn’t until “Cold Comfort” where we’d see him as a younger man when Iceman brought him before the X-Men. That’s the suit he wears here, and yeah, it of course also popped up during the intros.

Cutting to Bastion taking his mother home, you can also see the tears on her face, showing it’s an agony. His picture from last week hangs above the bed, and it foreshadows what’s to come in the episode. I love it all being set up here, and yeah, such a creative way to take things.

Now, back with X, we see Magneto being put in charge hasn’t gone down well, and they berate Xavier for making him the heir. However, he said that he wanted the pair to have a life away from the X-Men, but Scott spells out fate always pulls him back in. In the comics, Scott becomes a sort of twisted leader, and yeah, I can’t wait to see the arc they do with him down the line.

It’s an incredible story… an incredible storiaverse you could say.

(STORIAVERSE AD)

Anyway, Storm and the gang return with Jean giving her a warm welcome. She’s been more Madelynne’s mate than yours though, so get out of my sight. Just want her back.

Feel like pure shit, mate.

They then bring up how they’re relocating to Muir Island, which was a small base off the coast of Scotland. This primarily featured in stories centred around Moira McTaggert, and it also played a big part in Messiah Complex. What we’re dealing with though is Magneto’s blackout, which has set the Earth back centuries.

Cyclops starts diving up the teams, and he splits them into blue and gold. This concept was first introduced in the 90s with two teams emerging from the groups.

Some are going after Bastion and the others after Magneto. Also, something you might notice in this scene is that Sunspot has his comic-accurate costume.

This is similar to the one the character first debuted in, with everyone kinda getting different looks throughout the series. Storm has had hers, Jubilee too, and I think that we’ll see the characters all be slightly different by the end of next week.

I know that they get their original ones, but I think we might get some more final upgrades before all things are said and done. We can also catch Rogue in her original look too, but she’s wearing Gambit’s jacket.

Now we learn that Xavier has some history with Professor X and that he tried to contact her as a kid. He was someone X tried to recruit, but his mother slammed the door in his face. The pair both featured together in “One Man’s Worth,” and I love how they’re kinda fleshing this all out. Described as a technopath, this means someone who can interact with all machines. This is probably why, as a kid, he kept hearing all those things in his head due to them becoming more and more prevalent. Beau DeMayo has said that Man of Steel was a big influence on him, and we of course saw that with Storm’s first flight. That classroom scene also reminded me a lot of the one from Man of Steel, and yeah, really love how they referenced it.

In the basement, we get Forge and Beast working on a scrambler, and the pair both wear goggles. Might be a reach, but it reminded me a lot of Tony. Storm doesn’t wanna go this route though because she’s seen first hand how damaging this can be.

It’s kind of an episode about rebuilding and going in a new direction, which we also see echoed in Rogue. Mourning Gambit, they talk about his past with the Thieves Guild, which was the group of thieves that recruited him in New Orleans. This comes from the comics, and we now know that Channing Tatum’s Gambit

movie was gonna explore his early life.

Anyway, we see Magneto’s asteroid descend from the sky, which first debuted all the way back in “Sanctuary.” This is Asteroid M, which Magneto wanted to make as a sanctuary for the mutants. They’d already been enslaved on Genosha, so being away from Earth was the only way to go.

Genosha was freed and made into a sanctuary, but it falling has made Magnus turn to old plans.

He brings up how much Leech was affected by him with him saving him back in episode 2. Episode 5 was where he saw him die, and he talks about how the mutants can’t work with the humans. Tolerance is Extinction, and it gives you the feeling that Xavier’s way might not be the future. I always watch these episodes and think….are we the baddies… and yeah… such a good way to take things.

Xavier slumps down, and what you need to realise is that he can hear everybody’s thoughts. So it’s probably worse, and he already knows the doubt in them, which we see reflected in Sunspot and Rogue.

Now from here we cut to Muir Island, and you can tell it’s in Scotland, mate..cos…cos they play little bagpipes over the top.

In the hanger, we see several of the vehicles from the comics with the older versions of the Blackbird and the original 60s cars.

This was the Wolverine Toy Biz bike, mate, which I had as a kid, and I loved seeing it here. Building off the back of last week, we see Cyclops and Cable having a father and son moment. We then get what’s the height of the show for me with some big shots getting fired at Fox.

We all remember this scene from the first X-Men movie.

X-MEN 97 Episode 9 Breakdown | Marvel Easter Eggs, Ending Explained & Review

That was basically belittling the comics and saying all them chumps looked stupid.

Here though we’ve flipped it around and said, actually mate, them costumes are better. Look at how much comic accuracy matters these days and ey, great little line to throw into the mix.

Now President Kelly finally appears in the flesh after initially showing up as a hologram. He’s a character you might recognise if you’re a fan of the show. If you’re not, then you probably know him from the movie, which sort of leaned into his original comic run. That had Senator Kelly being an anti-mutant hater who eventually came around to the other side. This cost him his life, but this arc of his eyes being opened up is also something that we saw in the cartoon. Senator Kelly was originally against the mutants and started a presidential campaign.

However, he was captured and taken before Master Mold, who revealed his diabolical plan. Master Mold was gonna replace his brain with a computer along with several other world leaders. It’s kinda like how Bastion is making prime sentinels with Bastion having a direct connection to him. The comics explained his brain was a mould between Nimrod and Master Mold, so this plan is kinda like the next logical step.

Eventually, Kelly was saved by the X-Men, and this is when he changed up his stance.

Kelly brings up the Magneto protocols, and no prizes for guessing who that’s about. I love how you can tell this is a psychic connection too cos of the space floating around them. So he doesn’t really appear in the flesh here, but you know what I mean, however, it helps to highlight the tension with the mutants. Kelly can’t be seen talking publicly with Xavier and thus he has to resort to doing this.

At this point, we really see why Xavier’s the leader cos we get a rousing speech to some slo-mo. Amongst this, we catch the original costumes and get confirmation that Jean, Storm and Rogue wear wigs, mate.

Nah, obviously this is to make the outfits look better, and it was so cool seeing these here. You have the one Storm formed in Life Death, but this is something she also rocked early on in the comics. Cyclops has the headpiece on his, which is how the original costume was designed. Even have a figure with that, kids, that comes all the way from 1991. This was one of the first action figures I ever got before the big redesign in X-Men 1. Still got it, mate, and if you don’t own figures from 1991, you’re not a real fan, mate, not a true fan.

Then we get Marvel Girl’s, which has popped up throughout the series.

Next, we have Wolverine’s Fortnite costume. Nah, it’s the classic brown one from X-Men 139, which I think is one of the best designs. We then have Professor X’s and lastly Rogue’s, and yeah, what a standout scene. That latter has appeared in the series before with it being used in flashbacks.

Also, I love a little bit of attention to detail here as when Cyclops slips down his visor, you can see that his eyes are closed.

EASTER EGGS IN X-MEN ’97 EPISODE 9

Everyone kinda looks at the things that mean the most to them with Nightcrawler clutching some rosary beads. The character is a Catholic with him often hiding out in churches. Jubilee also looks at the Roberto da Costa card which he gave to her earlier in the series.

Kelly talks about how his hand will be forced, which kinda plays off Operation Zero Tolerance. There they carried out a false flag attack to get things going, which sort of builds off Bastion’s plan.

Also, I just realised that we never see Morph suiting up cos ey, shapeshifter…makes sense.

Now Patricia Tilby ends up resting, but her condition is a bit… bit touch and go, mate. In the comics, Rogue actually absorbed a prime sentinel, and she realised that there was nothing there. It’s very very very very very rare for someone to come back from this, and once the programme activates, there’s normally no return.

Now there have been a couple of things leaning in a bit to Operation Zero Tolerance. For example, Professor X was captured and put into a Hulkbuster base with us seeing General Ross at one earlier in the show. There was a focus on Jubilee too with Bastion capturing her during Generation X. In fact, he captured all of the X-Men, and this was purely a power play. After stealing the Xavier files, these were contingency plans laid down by the Professor to take out Rogue X-Men. He captured them purely to show he could do it, and one of the main characteristics of Bastion is that he’s arrogant. I think that Genosha and destroying the X-Mansion, that was all down to show that he could do it. Casting Theo James as well, mate, the guy can play arrogant, so I do like how it’s leaned into the source material.

Anyway, as the teams split up, Jean and Cyclops hug it out, and we then see Bastion charging up. There’s a crucifixion pose here, but I kinda feel like it’s playing off him being the antichrist. Just in the same way Master Mold used to create and control sentinels, we see how his brain is doing the same thing. We get a great transition between his eyes and a sentinel’s, which I think holds a deeper meaning. Earlier in the series when Rogue absorbed Gyrich, we got a flash of Nimrod and Bastion. This eye effect is kinda repeated here, only this time it leans in with Master Mold.

It leads to a massive battle in the sky with Storm talking about how the Phoenix inspired her. Storm is someone who rose from the ashes too, and this image of her in her head supported her.

Now if you wanna support the channel and get something out of it that makes you look good for the Scott Summers, then definitely check out our merch store right below the video. For the series, we’ve been running an X-Men 97 inspired T-shirt that builds off the back of our favourite moment from episode 1. The Boys and House of the Dragon are right around the corner too, and we’ve got stuff for that as well. Huge thank you to everyone who’s picked one up, and I hope you guys have a bloody great summer, shabow.

Now at this point, the ground team sneaks in, and I love how they see the sentinel head looking over all. Reminds me a lot of Skull Island and kinda plays into the terror that living here would bring. Morph then transforms into the Hulk and does a Morph smash, which leads to him smashing a sentinel into DeMayo’s diner. Beau DeMayo… obviously the showrunner, so ey. Great little detail that.

It also makes me get a theory time theory time theory time that the ultimate goal is Avengers Vs X-Men, as they are definitely fleshing out the world.

Captain America and Spider-Man appeared, and we also had mention of the Hulk. Doctor Doom could signify the Fantastic Four cartoon, and the opening Marvel animation logo has lots of links to the shows.

So potentially, they could be building their own Marvel universe based off cartoons from the 90s. I believe that Messiah Complex will come next, and that would set up Hope Summers.

They have teased her quite heavily with lines like this appearing throughout the show.

Could have a double meaning to it and be setting up for what’s to come.

In case you don’t know, basically what happened is that Wanda wiped out the mutants, and they ended up going from millions to hundreds.

After a number of years, a new one was born, and she was seen as being the mutant messiah. That was Hope, with her birth starting a war in which several factions vied

for control. Sinister was a major player in that, and Cable also took Hope at the end. There they travelled into the future before returning when she was much older. This led into the Phoenix Force coming looking for her, which kick-started Avengers Vs X-Men. They basically didn’t wanna risk that coming for her, whereas the mutants refused to hand her over. I think that would be a great way to go down the line and something we could explore in another season. We know that season 2 has been written, so yeah, they definitely could end up going that direction.

Either way, we get some big moments in the battle with Beast again dropping some crazy one-liners. It seems pretty one-sided until Sinister shows up, and it’s way more personal than just smashing robots. Sinister offers to tell them when they switched, and the fact is we just don’t know. It could be when he kidnapped her and Cyclops on their honeymoon, but the fact is we just don’t know.

Travelling into space, we see Sunspot and Rogue, and yeah, I think I kinda messed up and worded it badly before in regards to her suit. This one is the one she wore originally, with it showing she’s gone back to her darker side. I do wonder if absorbing Gyrich made her slightly more twisted as she’s clearly not the one we know. This sugah ain’t as sweet as she used to be, and it leads to a massive battle. I really dunno why they sent Wolverine cos eh… guy ain’t that good against Magneto, and we’ll talk about what happens later on.

Sitting atop a sentinel throne, we see Jubilee is scorned by Roberto.

Rogue fights Wolverine, and Xavier tries to talk it out with Magneto.

I love seeing some X-Men on X-Men action, and the end goal becomes grabbing his helmet.

On Earth, Morph pretends to be Sinister, which ey, have to admit, it fooled me. He says that Sinister wouldn’t risk his life to help others, and later Jean touches upon this when they’re fighting.

It all becomes about putting the collar on him while they try and remove Magneto’s blocker, and I loved how they had these two sort of opposites here.

Things aren’t easy, though, with Cable fighting against Jean. Bursting out his bright eyes, she psychically reaches out to Scott before getting clapped. I do think she will rise like the Phoenix, though, and this could lead further into Avengers Vs X-Men.

Magneto’s helmet is finally removed, and Xavier dips into his mind. Cyclops refuses to let it happen though and ey… what a bloody ball fumble, mate.

I love how Magneto put the helmet on X, and this completely dampens his power.

Wolverine stabs him in the back, and we then get what’s a massive, massive moment from the comics.

Anyone and I mean anyone who’s read X-Men 25 will instantly recognise this moment. I think it’s one of the things that is burned into so many people’s minds, and yeah, what an incredible way to end the entry.

Now what it does is also tease Onslaught, who is basically the consciousness of Professor X and Magneto combined.

X-MEN ’97 EPISODE 9 ENDING EXPLAINED

A big bad of the 90s, he first appeared in X-Men 53. It came off the back of Magneto ripping out Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton, which caused Professor X to go absolutely mental. Psychically blasting Magneto, he ended up absorbing all of Magneto’s darkest parts into his mind, and it built itself up from his subconscious. Breaking forth, Onslaught was a vastly powered being that eventually ended up breaking free from him. There was a big plot with Franklin Richards, but I think that if they bring him in, they might end up simplifying it. Either way, he can possess characters, and I think it would be a big way to take things. I feel like Onslaught may be a bit too overpowered to do him as an ongoing threat for a season, but maybe we’ll see.

Now, as for next week, we don’t have anything to really talk about in regards to the finale since the synopsis just says:

“The X-Men’s dream is put to the test as mutant-human relations reach a tipping point.”

Now, if you’ve been checking out the scum, the scum of YouTube, the biggest piece of s**t on YouTube, our friends over at Screen Crush, they put out a theory talking about what they think could happen. Austin Verse hit me up with a similar one as well, and boiled down to its basics, they think that Deadpool and Wolverine might connect to this. As we know, that one failed his universe, and we’ve seen graves of the X-Men.

They think that Wolverine may have reversed Genosha, and this could have caused an issue in the universe.

Wolverine even asked Cable why he didn’t stop Genosha, and I don’t think he necessarily cares about the whole canon event thing.

Canon events were explained in “Across the Spider-Verse,” and there it had disastrous effects. I do feel like Miles will save his dad, mate, and then they’ll realise that isn’t the case and that like, Spider-Man 2099’s universe was destroyed cos he did something else but like….going off on a big tangent there.

We also saw them in “What If” Episode 4 when Supreme Strange tried to save Christine. He was unable to do this, and his actions ended up breaking his reality.

Anyway, let’s say it does destroy the universe like we were told, then I think that there is the possibility it could happen here.

This would mean that Deadpool and Wolverine would bring across the show into live action. The costumes look pretty similar as well, and we could be witnessing an X-Men 2024 or whatever.

Now, Beau DeMayo has teased the ending of the show is massive, and tying it in the movies would be a big way to go. I might be overhyping it, and look, mate, I won’t be disappointed if that doesn’t happen. I’m enjoying the show so much I really don’t mind, and yeah, I can’t wait to see what happens next week.

I hope you join me as well, and make sure you drop your thoughts on the episode in the comments.

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With that out the way, huge thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been your host, and I’ll see you next time. Take care, peace.