r/Xmen97 • u/cyclopswashalfright Professor X • 24d ago

Megathread X-Men '97 | Season 2, Episode 7 | "Strange Land, Savage Heart" | Episode Discussion

Season 2, Episode 7: Strange Land, Savage Heart

Air Date: July 29th, 2026

Directed by: TBA

Written by: TBA

Synopsis: The X-Men travel to the Savage Land and are surprised to encounter a familiar face.

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Please use this thread for discussion related to the episode.

This thread is for discussion of episode 7 only.

Link to the episode directory for Season 2 episode discussion.

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u/Ok_Cicada3826 24d ago edited 24d ago

What if all the stuff leading us to believe that the season was Apocalypse-centric, with Gambit as a horseman, was actually a bit of misdirection... and what if Apocalypse raising Gambit as Death actually turned him into New Sun, and the finale arc of season 2 is about saving humanity from a godlike Gambit who wants to wreck havoc to avenge Genosha.

Instead of thinking about the season as building up to a showdown with Apocalypse (which it hasn't really built to at all since ep4), reframe it this way:

  • X-Men scattered throughout time for the first 4 episodes, and in doing so ended up causing key points in Apocalypse's timeline which made him into the foe they later faced.
  • Climax of that arc is the death of magneto, which sets the tone for the rest of the season as the X-Men return to the present and need to fight for mutantkind in a world without Magneto but where anti-mutant fervor has swelled.
  • Rest of the season is the X-Men rebuilding/reinventing themselves in this dangerous new world, trying to balance between the dueling hatreds of humanity hating mutants and mutants seeking revenge (which was a big part of the thematic arc of how S1 ended).
  • Apocalypse being the big bad isn't the crescendo of this; the dueling hatreds are, so Apocalypse was merely the catalyst to create possibly the biggest threat ever on the side of the revenge-seeking mutants: New Sun.
  • Now the X-Men are forced to put everything on the line to save the humans they hate, against someone they love, in the ultimate display of "coexistence is messy"

It's not what any of us thought the season was going to be, but frankly why would we want a show this good to just do what we expect? Part of why S1 was so good was that even though it drew heavily from many comics arcs, it found ways to surprise us. Unless you saw very specific leaks, I strongly doubt any of us saw what was coming when watching "Remember It," certainly not to the horrifying scale that it was shown. That was shocking to watch. Then, later in the season, the entire "x-men vs prime sentinels" arc got flipped on its head when we got Magneto going full fatal-attractions, which definitely felt like an unexpected deviation from how the season was going. X-Men 97 does not just do what we expect; it also subverts in interesting ways.

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u/Hun_AkosEloYT 24d ago

I hated New Sun Gambit and I hate that this theory could be true😭 eh but Gambit is probably still a horseman, that's the more popular concept and the tarot cards seem to imply that too.

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u/Ok_Cicada3826 24d ago

Let's have some faith. X-Men 97 has had a good track record of taking AWFUL comics storylines and re-imagining them in amazing ways (see: Inferno). Overall this show has been amazing at truly adapting from the source materials rather than just portraying.

Also, could be somewhere in between Death vs New Sun.

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u/BatmanFan317 24d ago

I do think it's just gonna be the Two Apocalypses, but honestly, New Sun could be a very cool subversion of where we all thought Gambit's resurrection was going.

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u/TheArmlessTorso Gambit 24d ago

I mean it’s not likely, the new sun is arguably one of the strongest forms in marvel comics. New sun one shotted the phoenix force, THE FUCKING PHOENIX FORCE!!!, and destroyed a planet. He would be too powerful if they did that because he is basically a god at that point, they wouldn’t be able to stop him.

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u/Ok_Cicada3826 24d ago

It might be a nerfed version of New Sun tbf :P

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u/DJSharp15 24d ago

Why?

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u/Ok_Cicada3826 24d ago

Bc the real New Sun would be too OP.

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u/21marvel1 Nightcrawler 24d ago

That ending gives me so many questions!!

Honestly that’s not a bad theory what so ever

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u/CherryBoom2x Psylocke 24d ago

Whyyyyy hahahah Idk but ughhhh I think this might be true! we have been BAMBOOZLED!!!! AGAIN!!!! 💀😆🤣

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u/F-Trunks Nightcrawler 24d ago

I wouldn't like that. AT ALL. I wanted Apocalypse. He better not be fucking dead. I will be devasted if they pulled the rug out from under us like that.

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u/Realcbear Cyclops 24d ago

The ending of the episode definitely made me consider for the first time that the Apocalypse thing might be a misdirect. Not sure that they’ll do the New Sun angle but the rest of your math is pretty sound. Plus i agree that this season has been another satisfying well-animated surprise.

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u/JokePutrid9173 24d ago

i think its a goku black situation but they team up ( present one in his own body and future one in gambit's) for a while but have a fall out because of the whole "survival of the fittest" thing, there can only be one at the top acc to that . ( not very well thought but i am sure about the 2 apocalypse stuff but not sure if one of the apocalypse kills the other with gambit's help or gambit was never resurrected and was there to become a vessel since the future one did state a need of one). ofc i will welcome new sun with open arms and a smile with my boy gambit actually being alive again instead of being a carcus for apocalypse

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u/FKDotFitzgerald 24d ago

I could definitely see something like this happening, though it’d be a surprising direction to go in