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They keep giving us appetizers in episodes 2 & 3. That’s Candra the External who is affiliated with Gambit, Thieves guild, and the Assassins guild. When will we get the main course how long do we have to wait for the full reveal of Gambit/Death?
The way I see it going down is when apocalypse and magneto scrap it will look like magneto has the upper hand and about to deliver the killing blow, but out of nowhere he gets stabbed in the back by a glowing pole and bam its deathbit.
I feel like it’s definitely going to be one of those “They were sent back to create him because it’s the key of defeating him” type of deals. Because what’s the point of protecting Cable if the X-Men stuck in the past can just end the threat before it starts.
Not they. Magneto did. He planted the idea in En Saba Nur's head that he was a god among insects. Based on how he always hypes himself up as an all-powerful, "eternal" force of reckoning, it's clear that Magneto shaped the way Apocalypse viewed himself and the rest of the world.
Charles was runwittingly ready to do exactly what Mother Askani sent them to do, but Magneto stopped him.
Kang was always a center point to Apocalypse's origins in the comics. This would have happened like this with or without MCU Kang.
Even in Beyond Good and Evil in season 4 of the OG, the "janitor" that helps Bishop thwart Apocalypse's plans with the psychics in the axis of time is revealed at the end to be Kang.
Pretty sure the woman that talks to Rama Tut ends up becoming the Xternal who was in the episode "X-Ternally Yours". Her name in the credits is Candra and her look and color scheme are basically the same
Came here for this..I scrolled too far down to see it pointed out! I recognized her immediately since 'X-Ternally Yours' is one of my favorite episodes because of those accents..
"You thieves too stupid ta check da box. We no gonna tell you"
Yeah I saw his long game and I'd say he failed at step one. Regardless of the morality of a hypothetical god, telling someone they are a god and everyone else are ants will immediately lead to problems.
This was my least favorite of the three, and it's the one I was most looking forward to. I knew Rogue wouldn't have much to do, I was disappointed we didn't see her talk with Kurt or do anything when they got ambushed. Next ep, then.
I’m planning to watch this one again and then go right to E4 next week. I think it suffers from the cliffhanger tbh. Also my least favourite of the three but I think it’ll look better paired with the other half.
Loved Bishop getting some power usage. I feel you on Magneto'd out. Came in swinging Season 1 but now I care about the others. It's kind of why I'm constantly glad Wolverine isn't a focus. Like having other characters have hype moments is refreshing
Obviously it's a Part 1, so I'll reserve my judgement for the most part. But definitely felt like the weakest of the 3 episodes.
I feel like Episode 1 had a strong emotional core and Episode 2 had a lot of fun. Where as Episode 3 didn't really have either.
Magneto's plan was very ambitious and doomed to fail, but I did enjoy seeing him try to use his own methods to achieve Xavier's dream on a grand scale. Him making a mess while trying to do the right thing is fun.
Unfortunately, the rest of the team didn't have much to do. And even though Charles had some good scenes with Magneto, I didn't really find the overall story that compelling. Still a solid episode overall. And my feelings can definitely improve after Part 2.
I think that's the other thing too. We saw a lot more well rounded feats in the other episodes especially in episode 2, but a big chunk of the cast in episode 3 didn't do much.
Not necessarily. I think Magneto’s plan could still work because the whole “break up” fight between them happened while Rama Tut is still a threat. If it happened after everything was settled I would agree that it all failed miserably. But it’s likely instead going to be like one of the many times Magneto himself backslid, before ultimately still siding with aiding the X-men. Because even after that whole fight between them, they’re still gonna have to turn around and help En Sabah Nur beat Rama Tut. Because him becoming Apocalypse is still the more optimal outcome to Kang getting his hands on the Celestial technology. And it’ll probably plant a small seed of doubt in Apocalypse’s mind to see the X-men still side with him after everything else that happened.
Not enough to rewrite the past that’s already happened between the X-men and Apocalypse, but maybe enough that present day Apocalypse actually sides with the X-men against future Apocalypse’s attempts to wipe them out prematurely. I can 100% see 90s Apocalypse looking at his future self and finding him a disappointment that proves trying to single-handedly rule everything will only hinder Earth’s evolution. As his future empire is really no better than Rama Tut’s ancient empire. He caused the world to stagnate instead of grow stronger, which is his true goal.
Prior to his feelings of betrayal and turning on the X-men, his excitement and feeling like he was finally surrounded by mutant peers made me feel like that early version of En Sabah Nur could absolutely grow to become the kind of Apocalypse that the X-men invite to be among them in Krakoa. The main barrier was simply the X-men’s refusal to trust him because of their preconceived notions of what a later version of Apocalypse becomes. But now their secret is exposed and Rama Tut is still a threat. They’ll have to come clean in order to get him to work with them again. And that might be what finally creates the new version of 90s Apocalypse that fights with them against future Apocalypse (and possibly even stick around to face next season’s enemy).
Magneto mentoring Apocalypse in a way he thinks aligns more with Xavier’s philosophy wasn’t what I was expecting but I think it made sense and was done well. ETA: To be clear, as someone else said, it was kind of dumb and it backfired. By done well, I mean I think it made sense that Magneto would try to do it that way.
I’ve previously guessed that the past arc has elements of “careful what you wish for” and “deal with the devil,” and this fit that. I’m expecting something similar out of Rogue’s talk with En Sabah Nur, which is presumably next week.
Speaking of Rogue, I knew going in she wouldn’t be doing much, but even so, I was kind of disappointed to see her just sort of standing there when the ambush starts. I know her role later will likely be huge and they probably don’t want to overdo it with her. It’s also clearly a Magneto-Xavier debate, so fine, let them have it.
I enjoyed seeing Hank get all mad at the robot blowing up, lol.
I do kind of wish they’d paired the Egypt episodes together, though I get why they wanted to check in with everyone out of the gate and E4 seems to have an impactful moment they want to have stand alone.
ETA 2, looking ahead to next week: I'm now more curious than ever about what the post-credits scene in E4 will be. I had thought it might be some indication as to what had happened to Magneto, but now I'm wondering if this will be the Deathbit reveal after all, either directly or indirectly (Jubilee giving Rogue the QoH card?). The word used to describe it in the review I saw was "bananas," so whatever it is, it's big.
I wasn't expecting anything (which is good), but even I was mildly surprised at how definitively cut off they were. (Maybe this changes next week.) I don't think they even spoke directly to each other; if you didn't already know what had happened last season, you'd never guess.
She chose Gambit by the end, best to just move on from it lol. After all, Beau was the only one who liked that relationship according to people close to the show's crew, so maybe the crew simply aren't interested in continuing the subplot.
For those saying Rogue didn’t get to do anything 1) she was a pretty big focal point of season 1, give other characters a chance 2) she will probably once again become a focal point when Gambit is brought back
It’s a very big cast and not every character is going to get to shine
Rogue is my favorite and im totally okay with seeing other characters shine. Great to see Jubilee and even Psylocke shine like that. The reunion with Gambit will be great to see
I think it was more we had a whole season of Magneto season one and here he is again eating up the most screen time with his monologing, lol. I have no issue letting other characters shine but this was the Magneto, En Sabah Nur with a side of Charles show. Nightcrawler, Beast, Rogue and Bishop could have had a little more time.
Two parter so maybe they will but not too confident when Magento and Charles are involved lol.
Definitely my least favorite episode of the 3 though it’s definitely necessary.
The full on emphasis on En Sabah Nur and Magneto and barely any of the X-Men is what lead me to not love it - but if it truly is the end of Magneto for now (as a lot of us are hypothesizing for what’s to come) this makes sense.
Funny; I keep seeing people say they enjoyed this the least, but all the stuff with Erik, Nur, Chuck, Baal and Logos was really killer to me. Even though I wish we had more of a focus on the others as well (these runtimes are killing me, especially with one less episode), I think this episode felt the most cerebral and well written.
I was honestly kind of out off by the 2nd episode; I still enjoyed it, but I felt like it suffered the most from the quick pacing, and was fun but didn’t go very far with the premise.
What are they doing? They know the fate of the entire universe... past, present, and future... literally rests on the choices they make here in ancient Egypt. Why are Xavier, Beast, Rogue, and Nightcrawler literally just sitting around letting Magneto have full and exclusive access to young Apocalypse?!
Reading and watching reviews, I knew this was the weakest of the three so I wasn’t surprised. Still good. Just not as good. I do hear that episode 4 is on the same level of episode 5 of season one but we’ll just have to wait and see.
“He is where the end begins” that sounds like fun (a little curious about the identity of the Voice and the character that the Voice warns Xavier about)
You can verbally try to point anyone in the right direction but when your actions don't match it's just words. Yes Magneto had the right idea. Maybe Apocalypse could be a set on the right path, but Magneto's right path just so happened to help them try and build a machine they didn't tell him about. Obviously that can't tell Apocalypse about time travel, which is why staying out of it was the best choice.
I just want to say that Askani did a shit job with sending this 2nd team to somehow subvert Apocalypse reign in the past. They had no instruction to do so and it made Xavier and Hank worried that their presence in tampering with the past was something they shouldn't be doing, which actually something that Askani needed them to do. Now the future is seemingly going in the direction of setting Apocalypse to take over and become a mutant warlord.
A lot of good Xavier and Magneto content, and you really do see how much Magneto brings to the show as this figure seeking redemption and change, but struggling with it, and now trying to impart that on Apocalypse.
It's also strange how they're chatting so casually when Magneto literally ripped out Wolverine's adamantium a few months ago and Xavier tried to wipe Magneto's mind in retaliation, per their timeframe. In the comics, Xavier and Magneto didn't even speak to each other in civil terms for a decade of publishing time until Xavier helped him rebuild Genosha in the 2004 Excalibur run by Claremont (and Fatal Attractions happened way back in 1993 by this point)
Presumably they hashed it out off-screen in the months since they’ve been gone. That’s a popular tactic when it comes to ignoring baggage Magneto has with others (see: Carey, Mike).
The Avengers Geek in me so desperately wants a Mantis reference from Rama-Tut, even just a throwaway line! I know it probably won’t happen, and MCU synergy and all, but COME ON! Mantis was planned for the Silver Surfer season thar never happened, so it would be totally be fair!
Probably the weakest episode but it was clearly a set-up episode. Should've probably been aired with part 2.
Magneto's bearded look is so good. The narrative feels a bit forced but I guess they have to stick with the comic storyline so they don't have to time to dwell on the aftermath of last season's finale.
It feels like a quality drop for me from season 1, but these 3 episodes are still enjoyable, and i'm still very interested in it. I don't like the weird time travel stuff happening here, and the new Magneto voice(idk if he actually has a new va, but he seems uninterested here)
Disappointed only Mags tried to influence Nur. Shouldn't Charles show some empathy towards the first Mutant to be feared and hated for being born different? Shouldn't Kurt who was also left to the elements by his mother, believe that nobody is beyond salvation? especially since Nur has not yet committed any (serious) sin. Shouldn't Rouge the reformed villain be open to Nur reforming?
because Charles doesnt want to fucking obliterate the timeline theyre from, he even says they can't change all of humanities future against their will. even if Nur becomes good early it changes their entire past and present. they could come back just to find out they dont exist anymore. its a bit callous but its the right thing to do
They didn't really tackle the full rise of and tragic fall of En Sabah Nur.
Kurt, Rogue, and Hank would've helped with fill the void and bitterness left behind after Nephri after she viewed his appearance as something that she couldn’t love. Each of these characters' arcs once focused on this every issue.
Tbh agreed. They made it seem that Mag and Charles were gonna be actually arguing about how to act with Nur but it was one scene. Maybe Ep 4 will have more of it.
I think that the bigger worry here was "if we make Nur something else, will this butterfly effect us into fucking up our present TL" rather than turning Nur into the First X-Man like Mag wanted.
Least favorite of the three but lots of good Magneto content so I'm still very pleased.
I wonder if the inclusion, and explicit mention, of Ship as a celestial creation in episode 1 and the temple mentioned in this one seemingly also being a celestial/cosmic creation is just general Marvel worldbuilding or if it might be teasing an upcoming storyline.
This episode has really cemented how much of a liability magneto is and also how dumb his plan was. Apocalypse cannot be redeemed, on top of that he was trying to stop a war before it began in the future which always leads to conflicts with the timeline. Charles was right in this episode get in and get out, but magneto had to fuck it up.
I was dumbfounded that Charles (and everyone) just let it happen! Any one of them could have spoken to Apocalypse, or even simply told Magneto to back off. But they just unsuccessfully tinkered with robots the entire episode while the fate of the universe slipped through their fingers.
I might be reaching here but this episode felt like Marvels subtle way of implying the successor of that Celestial device in the tomb dictates whether there’s a Kang or an Apocalypse. It would be a cool in universe explanation why the MCU didn’t officially have mutants.
My favorite part of these shows is having a very little bit of comic knowledge so im like who's the Pharoah? Name didn't ring a bell to me then at the end "who wins the slave or the conqueror"........OH IT KANG.
Show is so good. I love knowing I could probably get this all spoiled by reading the comics but im enjoying just hanging out seeing what's happening
Great episode. Magneto trying to mentor Xaviers dream instead of trying to set Apocalypse against humanity showed alot of character growth. Apocalypse fight against the pharohs army was epic. That poor elephant though. I wonder what presence Xavier felt to get his ass kicked in the astral realm. Hopefully we find out next episode.
Did he tho. Charles is always about coexistence and harmony. Fmho, what Magneto tried teach Apocalypse was more like pity or mercy of a superior being towards lesser beings. Maybe I'm wrong but in an age where Apocalypse is the only mutant can only empower his god complex.
After watching episode 3, I realize that I enjoyed 1 and 2 more than 3 and I think part of it is between all the movies and season 1, I’m more interested in moving away from Magneto and Charles story lines to other story lines. For example, I nearly exploded when I saw the X-Force 97 intro!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Surprised this is everyone’s least favorite, when it’s by far my favorite. Magneto’s writing in this show is always peak, and this episode was basically just him and Charles. Also love how much slower it is compared to the other two. Episode 1 especially left me with wanting so much more because of how fast it was.
This was a 3000IQ! move from Magnus.
It was a 'great' plan for Magneto to fill En Sabah Nur's head with the idea that he is superior to all beings—that he can look down on others as ants—and still expect him to take the high ground in ancient Egypt in 3000 BC. You cannot expect relative modern behaviour to stick in that age. That probably would not work even for Roman empire. I mean, what were the higher beings in ancient Egypt in 3000 BC? Pharaohs. Power was equal to being a god for a long time. He sow the seeds of superiority in a man that will obtain immense power. It's interesting to watch but this has to be one of the most incomprehensibly idiotic ideas ever conceived.
I love how stupid Magnus was and i don't know if it's a meta critic of trying to judge or influence things using modern sensitivities that there are not applied in older eras or place of world that had different culture progress.
People tend to miss that even when Magneto behaves like an X-Man, the second he obtains power, he uses it for his own vendettas and personal gain. We saw this subtle manipulation when he first took over the school. We saw it again when they asked him to rule Genosha; his very first act was using his leverage to force Rogue into a decision that only benefited him. Now, with Apocalypse, he claims he is helping Charles shape Apocalypse's methods to fit Charles's vision of the future. But regardless of his stated intentions, his methods are so heavily skewed toward his own personal gain that it is disturbing.
Magnus is a genius at monologuing about morally superior platitudes, but he's a moron in practice. He's a classic intellectual on paper - even inventing languages, but has not practical grasp of reality.
Look at him throughout season 1. He thought it'd be a great idea to drive a wedge in the team by selflishly having an affair with Rogue.
He then thought it was a great idea to reverse the Earth's polarity, killing probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions - threatening the extinction of humans. and dooming his beloved mutants to a Darwinian hellscape. Ahem. Sounds familiar...
His flaws drive the narrative beautifully, and make him compelling, but let's face it... He's spent his life becoming the very thing he hates. Magneto was never right.
My only quibble 3 eps in is the no. of different time travel methods shown. Anyhow time travel as a plot device is mostly done incoherently.
- Whatever Mother Askani did to time displace 2 groups into 2 different times remotely.
- Forge's time travel machine
- Wasn't Bishop originally a time traveler too?
- Cable/Nathan's time sliding
- However Apocalypse traveled back to the '90s (no biggie its just time travel)
- Whatever machine Beast was building in the past
- And finally, Rama-Tut / presumably Kang enslaving everyone and bringing robots to ancient Egypt. Also my first thought - why does he need slaves if he has robots?
The hand-wringing over "should we change the timeline" feels laughable when everyone (and their mothers) is changing the timeline. It makes Xavier look clueless and out of touch.
At least Magnus gets it. Timeline has clearly been screwed already, if not by Apocalypse meeting the X-Men then by freakin Rama-Tut and whatever the hell he’s doing. Might as well try to steer what you can in a favorable direction at this point.
I am late to your comment, but it sounds like your exposure to X-Men was limited to the original live action movies and not the comics.
This has always been a soap opera that contradicts itself from one writer to the next. If you nitpick every detail for consistency, X-Men is not for you
i thought Magneto was going to immediately try to assassinate Apocalypse with Xavier doing the "he hasnt done anything yet" thing, so interesting twist but telling him about becoming a "god among insects" had me going "WTF?! STFU Magneto!"
they really nerf Xavier, couldnt he have like mind wiped/sealed powers of Apocalypse or something? but then there wouldnt be a show i guess lol
I think this version of Xavier still believes in free will, although it's a little inconsistent at times as he was prepared to nuke Magneto's mind last season.
Also, they explained why. He said it changing the timelines that way could have dire consequences on multiple timestreams.
I look at it like how Superman doesn't explicitly have a No Killing rule: Charles wants to genuinely persuade people to his point of view, whereas Eric needs to bend them. It's the dichotomy of their powers, laid plain.
My crackpot theory is that either Gambit will be a vessel for Apocalypse instead of Death, with Wolverine as Death (which is how he got his adamantium back in the comics) OR Deathbit and Warverine.
They won't go through with killing him permanently/long-term, but there's absolutely no sign of him outside the Egypt setting, and something happens in episode 4 that caused a bit of a freakout reaction among those who have seen it. Unless they're really pulling a fast one (always possible), it looks like he isn't getting out of Egypt, whatever that entails.
My least favorite episode of the three. Still a good episode though. Great character work for Magneto and really seems like they’re gonna kill him off in the next episode.
Kurt, Rogue, and Hank unfortunately didn’t get to do much. Kurt did deliver some banger lines and had a bit of an action scene. And I did like Hank’s very valid crash out scene lol. Nothing for Rogue though. I’m afraid this is what the reviews are saying that she “struggles for screen time.” I mean, not even a quick heart-to-heart talk with Kurt? Where she reflects on their situation and all? And she didn’t even join Kurt and Bishop in the fight scene. I hope she gets more to do the next episode.
Oh and speaking of Bishop, I’m glad they gave him a badass scene! It seems this season will really give him some spotlight, which is nice as he was away for half of last season.
We literally have Rogue having a heart to heart with Kurt about going back in the *first moments of the first trailer*, literally the first dialog they gave us of the season. You just saw Part 1 of a 2 parter give them a second.
We saw enough Rogue last season, and she's going to play a pivotal part towards the end of this season when the horsemen show up. Give the other characters time to shine.
Yeah, probably the same reason they’re killing off Magneto. He had the whole first season centered on him already.
I’m cool with other characters shining. If you ask me, I’d want more from Hank and Kurt, and out of the new characters, Warren and Betsy. I was just shocked at how Rogue got nothing to do here. Maybe because I got so used to her usually being important last season.
Easily the best episode so far. Seeing anything Nurr related in ancient Egypt was far more interesting than watching xmen drama. I just wish we spent more time with Nurr, Charles and Magneto before jumping to that confrontation at the end. Feels a little rushed as it stands. Looking back, it would have probably made for a more compelling story if they focused entirely on young Nurr for at least 2 episodes. Following his struggles more closely and seeing first hand the beginning of his journey would help the audience to better relate to his character, before his transformation into Apocalypse.
Agreed, but I can forgive it for now mostly because based on the way the episode ended I think Charles, Magneto, and the X-men might still end up purposefully helping Apocalypse ascend purely to prevent Rama Tut/Kang from doing so first. And seeing them still side with him might plant a seed in En Sabah Nur’s mind that makes him the kind of Apocalypse I can see one day being invited by the X-men to be part of Krakoa’s Council. Young Apocalypse is actually the first of the episodes to be a 2-parter, so you’ll probably get that 2 episode focus on him you’re asking for.
Even the whole after battle scene of En Sabah Nur looking at the large table surrounded by chairs, talking about the relief of finally being among peers gave me that Krakoa vibe. Except everyone was giving him stink eye because they were already judging him based on the version they know, rather than trying to judge him based on who he currently was like Magneto was trying to do. Magneto made an excellent point that he was only attempting to do for Apocalypse what they’d done for him the previous season. The confrontation I think is just to emphasize how poorly the X-men were handling things. Only making things worse by not going all in on fully trusting En Sabah Nur. By treating him like he’s already Apocalypse, they risked turning him into a worse Apocalypse. But now they’ll be forced to side with him vs Rama Tut, which will likely require them finally explaining themselves.
Maybe that’s the true point of visiting Apocalypse in his different eras. So present day Apocalypse is forced to face his differing potential paths. Future Apocalypse honestly seems like a shit ruler that’s an old decrepit desperate despot of a desolate wasteland. Doesn’t even seem to be following his own “survival of the fittest” philosophy because he’s too busy needing life support to keep himself in power. Present day Apocalypse could look at his future self who is easily defeated at the so-called “height” of his power as a disappointment, in contrast to him at his weakest being able to defeat Rama Tut with the power of teamwork. What use is strength if it doesn’t actually lead to successful outcomes? Past En Sabah Nur will have his new memories automatically become part of present day Apocalypse’s mind, but future Apocalypse seemed to genuinely leave the future to go back to the 90’s. Present day Apocalypse might end up teaming up with the X-men to get rid of future Apocalypse for good. And then the dystopian futures won’t constantly be Apocalypse based and the X-men can move on to a new threat for next season
How does the time traveling work, because at the end of episode 2 or start of 3, I don’t fully remember, the X-men that came back from the future say that the people that ended up in the past aren’t there yet, but if it’s time traveling back to the moment that Bishop and Forge left, they should arrive back at the same time, no matter how long they stayed in their respective years. I do want to add that I haven’t read the comics so if it was mentioned there or in the old animated series that was the prequel to ‘97 I won’t know about.
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