X-MEN 97 Explained: Every Time Bastion Was In The Background Of A Scene

Ok, so Bastion’s now been revealed as the big bad of X-Men 97. The evil villain’s been working in the background and conniving and scheming towards his evil plans. The season’s showing so far that X marks the spot and I was blown away when I learned this little detail.Well, Showrunner Beau DeMayo announced that Bastion’s in every episode except three. He said Bastion has been manipulating things all along, and thus has been in every episode except for Episode 3. Can you find him?

So guess what, I went back through the season and here’s every time that he appears in an episode.

X-MEN ’97: BASTION APPEARANCES EXPLAINED

The first of these comes when Jean… sorry, Madelyn enters Gyrich’s mind and she starts to uncover the secrets of his past.

Now, this includes the key three characters for Bastion’s existence, which are Gyrich, Trask, Mastermold, and Nimrod. Bastion was fused from the latter two and at this moment we get such a cool detail. You can see Nimrod’s eyes, which then change into Bastion’s.

That’s why a lot of the show intro scenes have had Bastion and Mastermold because they were trying to hint to us that Bastion’s behind it.

Beau then confirmed the purple crayon we see next is also a nod to what’s happening with the character. This is a nod to when Bastion was younger after Nimrod was forced through the Siege Perilous. That’s a pan-dimensional portal in which the figure that enters it is judged by the universe’s higher powers. Nimrod was thrown out the other side, which is where he was a half-human sentinel hybrid. Found by Rose Gilberti, he was given the name Sebastion, which was then… as you can guess, mate, shortened down to Bastion. You’re smart mate, you get it.

This explains why it’s a child’s hands we see and that purple crayon shows it’s all connected.

Seeing Bastion in Gyrich’s mind is also something that happened in episode 7. Upon entering it, we saw Nimrod changing into him, which is such a cool way to build off the back of this.

Now, though this isn’t a cameo, we do get some more connections. Beau’s confirmed that Bastion’s the buyer. In the first episode, the Friends Of Humanity brought a mysterious figure up, with us now knowing for definite that this is indeed him.

So, looking at that with some new context, he was the one who made the Xecutioner.

Jumping to episode 2, we also see the government sat in the war room. If you look at who’s sat next to Val, you’ll notice that there’s a Bastion-shaped figure.

Beau’s actually confirmed that this is in fact the character, which is such a cool detail to hide in plain sight. It also makes me question what the hell Val’s up to. That takes us into theory time, theory time, theory time.

So, I actually think that Val might be Mystique, which I think would be a pretty big twist. So far she’s not appeared in the show, but she was a pretty big part of that original series. So it’s been weird she’s absent, and she’s also part of Messiah Complex, which is a book that the series seems to be leading to.

Now, the fact that Bastion’s with the government here’s another big clue. Not leaving theory time just yet, because I think they might use Magneto for a false flag attack, and that will make people turn on the mutants.

When you think about it, it’s truly a master stroke, as he’s someone who’s playing both sides. He’s working with people inside the UN but also using Xecutioner to go out and attack it. It’s all building towards his goal of taking down the mutants, with the creation of division being the best way to do it.

Taking us into Episode 4, that makes a lot of sense too, as we see Forge rubbing shoulders with the character. I think this was the first one that everybody noticed, with Ryan Arey first pointing it out.

This makes it seem like he’s the one who contracted Forge, and as we know, he’s built anti-mutant weapons. So, I think these connections to the government and Forge kinda give away the MO and also explain what it is he’s up to. That is operation zero tolerance which, as you can guess… isn’t that good, mate.

The guy has zero tolerance towards mutants and also people who don’t hit the thumbs up. Also just realised I haven’t introduced myself, so if this is your first time here, then welcome to Heavy Spoilers. I’m your host Paul, and we break down movies and TV shows every single week. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, then hit subscribe and come to me… my spoiler men.

Now, episode 5 is when his big plan goes down, and we see that wild sentinel unleash hell. Bastion appears at the start of the scene and we watch him brush by the camera. Just as Magneto enters the party, he stops at the staircase to take a look around. This happens at roughly the 21-minute mark if you wanna jump into the episode. This is an extreme close-up in which you can’t fully make him out, but that purple skin and white hair give it away.

I also wonder if that’s what triggered Madelyn, as we do see a blast of purple light hitting her forehead. Also, Val’s pretty suspicious at the party as she seems to be ushering mutants towards the danger.

Rather than trying to help them escape, she wants to push them into the path of death.

Again, something fishy is going on with her, and I think that there’s more than meets the eye with the character.

DID BASTION APPEAR IN EVERY X-MEN ’97 EPISODE?

Now, Beau stated that episode 6 is a sort of cameo, so instead I think it’s more of a tease towards the character. Rather than having him fully appear, we do sort of get hints towards him throughout. We did learn in episode 7 that he’s been spying on the Shi’ar, and Professor X gives a history lesson at one point. This sees the globe on his desk start to spin, and we watch as it then erupts into purple flames. So, I feel like that might be the character, though he could also be at the start of the entry. That has the montage with Nimrod, so yeah… again, it’s that sort of cameo thing.

Either way, he’s starting up OZT, which is his anti-mutant strike team.

First introduced in 1997, this major run was a big crossover. Ey, 1997, X-Men 97… it all makes sense now.

As Bastion says, Sinister’s been failing to beat them since ’92, which is also when the cartoon started. So, as we head to this new era, they’re clearly looking at what comics were popular then, and this is why it’s all coming together now.

Now, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, OZT stands for Operation Zero Tolerance, so give yourself a thumbs up, mate, you’ve bloody earned it. The final three-parter is called Tolerance is Extinction, playing into two major storylines. The second of this is probably E for Extinction, which is the run that introduced Cassandra Nova. They’ve even been playing off bits of her arc with her wild sentinel attacking Genosha. Thus, I think they’re combining the stories in order to give us two that play off each other.

Zero Tolerance came off several years of failures and the anti-mutant groups being at their lowest points.

Sentinels just don’t seem to work, and thus they need to come up with something better. To do this though, they’re gonna need funding, and thus I think that’s where Magneto comes in. Again, I feel like it could be a false flag attack and then they use that to turn people against them.

Zero Tolerance involved him basically creating sleeper agents out of ordinary people that had nanotechnology fused in their blood. Labeled Prime Sentinels, these turned into machines upon being activated.

I feel like this was teased with Trask, who upon death became a killer machine.

He alluded to what happened with Sinister, and it makes sense that Bastion would need him. Sinister could provide him with the tech to do it as he’s experimented on mutants since his early life.

They might even have Magneto controlled that way and then use him to attack the UN. This would build off the back of episode 2 when we’ve already seen what he’s able to accomplish.

Gonna be honest, mate, if I was lifted into space, I’d be a bit nervous, so any reason to get him back for that, I think the UN’s gonna take it. Guided by Bastion, this could lead to mutants being wiped out or, at the very least, stripped of their powers. Now, I think that’s then gonna lead into Messiah Complex.

This sees mutants at their lowest point, and it comes directly off the House of M event. There, Wanda said the phrase “no more mutants” and wiped out most of them on Earth. A new mutant was then born in the form of Hope, and this started a political war in which everyone duked it out for her. I don’t think the stuff with Scarlet Witch will happen, but we could lead into the mutants losing out. This show doesn’t seem like it’s interested in doing happy endings, and we could close things out with the mutants at their lowest point. This could then set up hope as we go to Season 2 and then finally lead into Messiah Complex. This in itself then leads into Avengers Vs X-Men, which ey, that Captain America arrival could even be teasing too. Now, these are of course theories, so if you’re watching this video in the future, then do a Cable and write below what we should’ve said.

In the meantime, if you’re living in the present, then please drop your own thoughts on where things could go.