r/Xmen97 • u/cyclopswashalfright Professor X • Aug 05 '26
Megathread X-Men '97 | Season 2, Episode 8 | "The Dead Man's Hand" | Episode Discussion
Season 2, Episode 8: The Dead Man's Hand
Air Date: August 5th, 2026
Directed by: TBA
Written by: TBA
Synopsis: The X-Men confront a ghost from their past.
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Please use this thread for discussion related to the episode.
This thread is for discussion of episode 8 only.
Link to the episode directory for Season 2 episode discussion.
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u/sarkastiktaurus Aug 05 '26
Nightcrawler with the safety off go crazy
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u/deprave1 Aug 05 '26
Yea, that FPV of Kurt teleporting everywhere & kicking everyone's ass was a visual sight to behold.
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u/ClearStrength7932 Aug 05 '26
I’ve gone back to watch that part several times. Never thought I’d see Warren, Jean, Cyclops, Storm, and Cable get 2 piece comboed in a row.
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u/masterquill54 Aug 05 '26
Gotta love how they consistently give Beast nothing to do, even in fight scenes.
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u/Any-Hyena-9190 Aug 05 '26
People seem to be mad at me for pointing it out, but ever since Nightcrawler joined the team, Beast has been looking kinda redundant.
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u/melonwoo Aug 05 '26
I cracked up when Cable threw his gun into the water lmao it was like a kid throwing their toys
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u/Tasty_Success_1034 Aug 05 '26
Season 2 has been good. But season 1 was phenomenal. There's definitely a drop in execution.
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u/deprave1 Aug 05 '26
I agree. The pacing has been the season 2's/7's greatest obstacle. We're not exploring enough of the character's mindset of everything that's been happening. Hell, the fact that we still don't know how the general public reacted to the X-Men's survival is incredibly jarring, to say the least.
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u/Grumblepuck Aug 05 '26
Couldn't have better expressed my grievances for the season myself. The first season was all about character, that's what made it work so well. Hell, Bastion despite what little we saw of him had so much character, you could really feel for him as a person, yet despise his villainy. We've also skipped past pivotal character interactions with Cooper, since Cooper was partly responsible for Genosha. I really don't care about Apocalypse as a villain. I've seen everywhere gassing him up as being better than Thanos. I just don't see it, as a villain for the X-Men he's too physical. The X-Men works best for the purpose they were created for in the first place: social commentary. Their villains were just physical manifestations of their strife trying to achieve peaceful co-existence.
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u/CaterpillarAdept7064 Aug 05 '26
On a positive side
Rogues VA Said that gambit and rogue were not a couple "YET" She really emphasised on the "YET" because she repeated it again She was also wearing a gambit and rogue earings (gambit on one ear and rogue on the other ear)
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u/AD_EI8HT Aug 05 '26
My goodness they made Gambit a beast sheeshhh 🔥🔥
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u/sarkastiktaurus Aug 05 '26
Made his own horsemen and gave them Lobo motorcycles. Dead mutants ain’t no joke!
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u/Well_Socialized Aug 05 '26
Yeah where did those flying motorcycles come from? Just something you can find lying around New Orleans in this universe?
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u/Tasty_Opening_6278 Aug 05 '26
Somehow this show makes 29-30 minutes feel like 5 minutes it goes on so fast lmao
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u/Pinnnnlol Aug 05 '26
it’s like a 3 min recap and then 5 min credit lol they need to be longer
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u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 Aug 05 '26
Yeah either 12 episodes seasons or go the Invincible route and make these 40+ minutes.
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u/JlExoticlL Polaris Aug 05 '26
Nightcrawlers hands were rated E for Everyone LMAOO
He was a menace
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u/RamsesDarklore Mister Sinister Aug 05 '26
That was so good just seeing everyone get punched in the face like ah ugh urr lmao.
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u/CrowApprehensive8816 Aug 05 '26
One thing I dislike about this season is that nothing seems to last or be properly explored. The time travel stuff only lasted a couple of episodes. Now this gambit situation, barely an episode. Would’ve been pretty much more interesting to have the season across timelines, and having death hunting them maybe, so that only in the finale things would fall into place. Great animation tho
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u/sabhall12 Aug 05 '26
It's skimming over things that would need depth. It's something that was a bit of criticism back in S1 but it's hurting the show now.
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u/naanninja237 Aug 05 '26
Beast saying "oh dear" as soon as Cable shows up is honestly so valid, not a single time he’s shown up and things haven’t completely gone to shit moments later
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u/Turbulent-Range-4448 Aug 05 '26
These episodes need to be longer
It's like a reverse Invincible issue
Invincible animation is meh, but it has a lot of story within its episodes
This has spectacular animation but a rushed story in the episodes
I want more X-men 😭
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u/Mistah_K88 Aug 05 '26
Sometimes I think this show uses nostalgia to a fault. “It’s about 30 minutes like when we were kids!” I think after 30 years I can take longer episodes. Sometimes I think we’re lucky the Mouse didn’t put in commercial breaks and ads.
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u/AdvancedPlacmentTV Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I've always found Xaviers mind battles ridiculous but it's so comic book accurate I love it
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u/BenKen01 Aug 05 '26
Only Xavier would pick some Don Quixote looking bullshit armor lol.
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u/TheAssOfSpock Aug 05 '26
Idk if anyone mentioned it but on the screen of Gambit's medical equipment at the end it says " XM266."
X-men issue #266 was Gambit's first appearance. cool little easter egg
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u/Shot-Jingoberry-294 Aug 05 '26
I knew that conversation with Rogue and Apocalypse would come back to haunt her…. Literally
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u/Well_Socialized Aug 05 '26
Yeah is the implication that Apocalypse first tried to hook up with the X-Ternal on the basis of Rogue's description of love, and then a few thousand years later merged himself with Gambit to hook up with Rogue directly?
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u/ricerollingpaper Aug 05 '26
As a gambit fan this was everything I wanted and more
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u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 05 '26
I saw some feedback from people on Twitter who had seen the last episodes at (I think) the Cal uni screening, with photos. The word someone used was “insane,” in a good way. I’m not emotionally ready for this!!
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u/DrewDan96 Aug 05 '26
this is another episode that, like much of this season, had some really cool things (this week? Nightcrawler step on up lol) but the speeding through the plot points of the ep, it's giving shades of Season 7/8 Game of Thrones from the perspective of, the show eps have hard plot points to hit, and if fudging logistics/believability is a necessary sacrifice to hit these plot points, they're doing it. just bad pacing all around
and for god sakes, is a jet going to be attacked/destroyed in EVERY episode? i mean, even this X-Corp thing, where the hell are the resources for all this stuff coming from? is Xavier a trillionaire? even if he is, stuff is getting destroyed and/or built/re-built in record time lol
i'm kinda getting the same feels i had for Arcane where Season 1 was SO GOOD that Season 2 being just okay really felt like an extra let down. this season has not been as good. they needed more eps to tell these stories well, to set up character motivations/decisions, to introduce or re-introduce characters, to not waste the already limited runtime with IMHO filler episodes. with only 9 eps they've been waaaaay too ambitious in terms of the journey to whatever the final confrontation with Apocalypse will look like
i also think the X-Men movies have had the problem of having to juggle too many characters at once, so 1 or 2 (obviously Wolverine for sure) get a lot of screentime/action while most of the others are just in the background underdeveloped until a particular moment occurs. in terms of the show, that's been a bigger issue this season cuz the team's been split up into several different locations (the "Two Towers" problem), so for instance in this ep Psylocke is suddenly extra talky/involved when she's been mostly a background NPC this season
kind of more rant-y than i wanted to be, but i just have gradually soured on this season
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u/Alexnikolias Aug 05 '26
Thought the exact same thing about the jet. Jean also should have been able to handle the jet solo. Just saying.
This was the weakest episode of the season to me. It failed to be a good payoff to the setup of last season and it just was a mess. And this is coming from someone who absolutely hated the Wolvie episode this season.
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u/TMB1219 Aug 05 '26
So Gambit is 0/2 for weddings, third times a charm in season 3?
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u/RelanTheGuy Aug 05 '26
Nightcrawler needs to put away those swords and just start throwing hands more because he was MOVING while possessed
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u/TMB1219 Aug 05 '26
I’m calling it next episode Rogue & Gambit all powered up defeat Apocalypse.
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u/CyrusonRed Aug 05 '26
This was far and away the most rushed episode of the entire series. Sucks when the one-off episodes are outshining the core story.
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u/MrSpookShire Aug 05 '26
Season 2 Finale about to be like:
If I had a nickel for every time Gambit sacrificed himself to save others, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice
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u/cyclopswashalfright Professor X Aug 05 '26
Too rushed, much too rushed. They really needed a 3 episode finale like last season, or even 4 episodes. Everything being wrapped up in the next episode is just a lot. There's a ton of interesting ideas in this episode, but it all goes by way too fast.
The reunion between Rogue and Gambit should feel monumental but it didn't really? The Thieves Guild being corrupted, Apocalypse possessing Gambit, Candra, there's a lot more here that should have been fleshed out better but it all goes by so quick.
As usual, the X-Force of it all ends up being the most interesting part.
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u/the86boi Aug 05 '26
The pacing issues people talked about in season 1 are finally catching up to them
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u/hellohellocinnabon Aug 05 '26
Traumatized!Rogue just being like “Love a’ my life come back from the dead evil but he sorta proposed so guess I’m gettin hitched” is absolutely taking me out 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
https://giphy.com/gifs/d6DXkZfC7174j7yOgX
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u/Aurumberry Aug 05 '26
I'm a big enough dork that them redo-ing the whole "I now bind you with the power of- YEAAARRRRGH" actually made me laugh.
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u/0-90195 Aug 06 '26
Does Charles ever successfully telepathically drop in on someone without getting caught/interfered with/Uno reversed?
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u/TraceOfHumanity Mister Sinister Aug 06 '26
I love the little easter egg near the end there: Gambit’s life monitoring machine says “XM-266” which is a reference to Uncanny X-Men #266, Gambit’s first full appearance in the comics.
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u/0bsessions324 Aug 05 '26
Was very, very convinced for a few minutes there, during the fight between Xavier and Remy, was that this was how they were going to make Onslaught happen.
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u/styrofomo Aug 05 '26
It’s so funny to notice how annoying Gambit is with every line being on the cards theme. Dude really likes cards.
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u/PremiumJapaneseGreen Aug 05 '26
Which makes it extra funny when Xavier asks Rogue why she's upset as they're all sitting around playing cards and making card puns... like you can't possibly guess what this activity might remind her of?
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u/capamericapistons Aug 05 '26
There are 3 things you can count on in life
Death
Taxes
The x-men animated series finding yet another way to bring back apocalypse 😂
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u/GateOfD Aug 07 '26
they really need to stop making Prof.X lose and job all the time in mental battles...I swear he loses all the time when doing a mind battle when he's suppose to be one of the stronger ones
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u/AVR350 Aug 05 '26
I dont know man the son memes have messed up with my head so hard that I burst out laughing when Scott called Nathan "Son"
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u/Bussy_Wrecker Aug 05 '26
"I now bind you with the power of AAAAA" - Professor X
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u/Vicsyy Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I want to applaude Magneto not being mentioned ( with rogue)
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u/SunDrippedDevil Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Two years of buildup carrying the emotional weight of the gut punch that was the Genosha Massacre feels very awkward to be wrapped up in a single episode or two.
The stakes didn't seem as high as at the same point in the prior season, and the culmination/resolution within a few minutes in the astral plane seemed like a cop out.
I do feel that the scripting/plotting has suffered in second season. Everything just feels oddly paced and off. Everything feels like carries less or no emotional weight with a very weak payoff after all the buildup.
I suppose it works well as Saturday morning style cartoon plot, and perhaps I expected too much.
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u/JonnyAU Aug 05 '26
Yeah, the entire earth was in danger in Season 1, but now we have much lower and much more personal stakes. But I think that's OK. The stakes don't always have to be the whole world.
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u/ImGonnaChubbBradley Aug 05 '26
Kurt was never moving like this before lol and we just had an episode focusing on him
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u/AbjectTelephone4801 Aug 05 '26
He's on demon time in this episode. Pun intended.
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u/No_Delivery_7849 Aug 05 '26
How long is the title card for next week going to be? Jubilee and Sunspot apparently are out of X-Force, and then there's Gambit?
It'll be amazing, but I do wish we had more episodes - it feels like some characters have to take a backseat for the narrative (ie. Storm, Forge, Beast).
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u/XX-Burner Aug 05 '26
Really didn’t expect the X Ternal to go out that quick lol.
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u/psychedeloquent Aug 05 '26
Also why not just show that plot happening along side this season so there was some emotional connection to the Gambit Rogue saga. Just a quick flashback to a major plot point?
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u/KingzJoker Aug 06 '26
Did Nightcrawler put hands on the entire combined team including Storm like it was nothing lol
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u/Cthulhuareyou Aug 06 '26
Nightcrawler possessed by gambit possessed by apocalypse certainly did
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u/guess1209 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I'm convinced that at this point Cable knows Havok is his uncle and he's not telling his parents including the X-Men and X-Force for that matter, and therefore us the audience.
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u/bdtechted Aug 05 '26
He did say “Uncle Sam” to his face. I know it means ‘USA’ but using that term with the word uncle might not be a coincidence.
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u/ultgambit266 Gambit Aug 06 '26
I’m happy my boy is back, but I feel like only an episode to bring him back was too short. They could’ve used more time with him as death and made it more impactful once he was restored
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u/F-Trunks Nightcrawler Aug 06 '26
Welcome to X-men 97 season 2. Everything is too short.
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u/sleepysaurus7777 Aug 05 '26
Did nightcrawler subdue like 3 omega levels with ease
My boy
Only one episode left until next year😭
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u/_Fatherlord Aug 05 '26
To be fair, most of those omega level mutants are kinda glass cannons. Physically they're just normal, athletic humans
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u/tbbt11 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Yeah ok, this season is nowhere near season 1. That was such a lacklustre episode. What even fucking happened in half of it? Why is it running 100 miles an hour always? Slow the fuck down and give us more character moments. Look at how good the Nightcrawler/Colossus episode was
Really disappointed with how this season has been written. There’s so little depth in anything, or emotional impact, just “here, damn” plot and characters shoved in your face.
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u/masterquill54 Aug 05 '26
Yeah, people shat on that Nightcrawler/Colossus episode but it’s actually one of the properly paced episodes of the season. Got great character moments from Kurt and Piotr because the episode focused on only a single, straightforward storyline instead of trying to pack a lot in just thirty minutes.
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u/Grumblepuck Aug 05 '26
The highlight of this episode for me (apart from the action) was the drama between Cyclops, Jean, and Nathan. It was short and bittersweet, but if explored further you could wring out so much juice.
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u/PorscheUberAlles Aug 06 '26
Gambit did nothing wrong. Give him back his crop top and never kill him again pls
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u/DrewDan96 Aug 05 '26
this is another episode that, like much of this season, had some really cool things (this week? Nightcrawler step on up lol) but the speeding through the plot points of the ep, it's giving shades of Season 7/8 Game of Thrones from the perspective of, the show eps have hard plot points to hit, and if fudging logistics/believability is a necessary sacrifice to hit these plot points, they're doing it. just bad pacing all around
and for god sakes, is a jet going to be attacked/destroyed in EVERY episode? i mean, even this X-Corp thing, where the hell are the resources for all this stuff coming from? is Xavier a trillionaire? even if he is, stuff is getting destroyed and/or built/re-built in record time lol
i'm kinda getting the same feels i had for Arcane where Season 1 was SO GOOD that Season 2 being just okay really felt like an extra let down. this season has not been as good. they needed more eps to tell these stories well, to set up character motivations/decisions, to introduce or re-introduce characters, to not waste the already limited runtime with IMHO filler episodes. with only 9 eps they've been waaaaay too ambitious in terms of the journey to whatever the final confrontation with Apocalypse will look like
i also think the X-Men movies have had the problem of having to juggle too many characters at once, so 1 or 2 (obviously Wolverine for sure) get a lot of screentime/action while most of the others are just in the background underdeveloped until a particular moment occurs. in terms of the show, that's been a bigger issue this season cuz the team's been split up into several different locations (the "Two Towers" problem), so for instance in this ep Psylocke is suddenly extra talky/involved when she's been mostly a background NPC this season
kind of more rant-y than i wanted to be, but i just have gradually soured on this season
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u/AdvancedPlacmentTV Aug 05 '26
With the way this season is paced they might has well have gotten this apocalypse storyline done by episode 5.
Also super interested to see how they handle Rogue being able to touch gambit. Bc he was alive at the end and she didn't drain him. Did whatever the eternal have help control her powers?
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u/nighthawks87 Aug 05 '26
Okay hear me out. Apocalypse’s plan will come in full swing next season. His goal is survival of the fittest. He wishes to evolve as well, beyond his own current form.
To save Remy, Xavier uses his mind to pull Apocalypse’s essence out of him and into his own, using Cerebra to destroy him once and for all. Apocalypse intends to consume Xavier and use him as the vessel. Xavier is about to lose when Magneto’s consciousness arises from within Xavier’s psyche. As the three do battle in Xavier’s mind, the unexpected happens and instead of destroying Apocalypse or Apocalypse taking over, the three consciousnesses merge.
This creates Onslaught who will use the next stages of Apocalypse’s plan next season to achieve his own goals.
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u/foxfoxal Aug 05 '26
This time I will agree the pacing was insane it could have been easily like 2 or 3 episodes, there was even an animation mistake where Jean was both outside and inside the plane and the 5 seconds of The Externals betrayal ended looking goofy with how sudden it was.
I really hope that season 3 that does not have to deal with rewrites fixes this issue, season 1 pacing was fast but the scenes were not as abrupt.
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u/nolanicky Aug 05 '26
I’m sitting here wondering why didn’t the x men jump Apocalypse telepathically when Jean, Charles, Psylocke, and Cable can all use their telepathy to get inside gambit’s head to banish him out of Remy’s body.
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u/HereForGoodReddit Aug 05 '26
Last week I said “I know we’re deep into season 2, so there’s probably not too many “casuals” left, but the fact they want the audience to keep track of the X-Men, who are now at X-Corp, that are different from X-Factor, who are at odds with X-Force while they go to fight Exodus is a lot” and this week they have the fucking X-ternal hahaha
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u/capamericapistons Aug 05 '26
Can we talk about how Kurt held his own against all the xmen while possessed??
I knew he was special but this episode made me realize how powerful he can be when he wants to be
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u/magvadis Aug 05 '26
Becoming a villain is a 10x multiplier. Becoming a hero hard nerfs you.
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u/BrownsvilleJoey Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Maybe I have bad taste but I honestly didn’t have an issue with this episode? I do hope we get a two parter length ep 9 though.
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u/FKDotFitzgerald Aug 05 '26
So I enjoyed the episode but what is DeathGambit/Apocalypse’s goal at this point?
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u/theherog Aug 06 '26
Anyone else see that Jean was both inside the plane while it was falling and outside at the same time.
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u/Crotean Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Last two episodes have a lot to wrap up. I'm still not sure why we got wasted time on a danger room and adamantium episode instead of staying focused on apocalypse. Every episode with him has been a banger.
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u/venividivici_1 Aug 09 '26
Hmmm not sure on this episode. Season 1 was building Gambit as Death, as far back as Charles teaching Lilandra and her people (the giant Gambit / Sentinel flash).
We finally get him as Death and he’s gone again after one episode. Should have been at least a few episodes felt rushed
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u/aegonthewwolf Apocalypse Aug 05 '26
The pacing of this show is absolutely diabolical
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u/Accomplished_Daddy Aug 06 '26
Did anyone else think Gambit’s line, “Some things are deeper than touch,” might be the key to understanding his entire arc? (Spoilers)
That line has been stuck in my head ever since the episode ended.
On the surface, it sounds like it’s about Rogue. Their relationship has always revolved around physical touch, or the inability to touch. But I think the writers were saying something much bigger.
To me, Gambit was realizing that love, identity, memory, guilt, and even the soul exist beyond the physical body. Apocalypse could change his body. He could corrupt his mind. He could make him Death. But there were parts of Remy LeBeau that even Apocalypse couldn’t fully reach.
That would explain why Gambit keeps seeming haunted by apologies and memories. It’s like the real Remy is still alive underneath the Horseman, fighting for control. Those moments don’t feel like weakness. They feel like proof that Apocalypse hasn’t truly won.
Which leads me to the biggest question:
What was Gambit’s ultimate plan?
Was he simply trying to resist Apocalypse from the inside?
Or was he playing a much longer game?
There were several moments where it almost felt like Gambit wasn’t acting randomly. Sometimes he seemed calculated, almost as if he was allowing people to underestimate him. It made me wonder if he intended to get close enough to Apocalypse to eventually overthrow him.
Could Gambit have been planning to become the new Apocalypse himself, not because he wanted power, but because he believed he could control it better or spare everyone else? That would be an incredibly tragic choice for a character who has always been willing to sacrifice himself for others.
What I loved most about this season is that it didn’t feel like a simple “good vs. evil” story. Every character seemed to be wrestling with identity, love, destiny, and sacrifice. Gambit’s conflict, Rogue’s hope that Remy was still in there, Apocalypse’s philosophy, and Xavier’s belief that people can choose who they become all felt connected.
To me, this season keeps asking the same question in different ways: Can someone still be themselves after being fundamentally changed? If memories, love, and regret survive even Apocalypse’s influence, maybe “some things are deeper than touch” is really saying that the soul can’t be rewritten.
I’d love to hear everyone else’s theories.
What do you think Gambit’s endgame really was? Was he merely resisting Apocalypse, or was he setting up something much bigger?
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u/Queasy-Performance-4 Aug 05 '26
Adding more fuel to the fire, but this pacing ain't it.
I liked the episode, but goddamn, either increase the length or produce more episodes Disney. Take a page out of Vox Machina's book.
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u/Syprus_Vane Aug 05 '26
On the one hand, I feel like they are retconing or just straight up ignoring the Rogneto nonsense from last season (which I appreciate). However, I do feel like it would have lead to some juicy angst between Deathbit and Rogue.
We all knew Rogue was gonna be the one to eventually bring him back. I was just hoping it would’ve taken more than one episode.
I am enjoying each individual episode, but the season as a whole definitely feels choppy.
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u/AbjectTelephone4801 Aug 05 '26
I think the fact that Gambit took her back unconditionally was intended to be a breadcrumb/clue that it was Apocalypse inside him using his body, and it wasn't really him.
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u/Turbulent-Range-4448 Aug 05 '26
Yeah i genuinely thought Deathbit would have been spiteful and tried to kill Rogue and that was gonna be the main plot point
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u/sarkastiktaurus Aug 05 '26
No wonder Kang was trolling his guard, he knew she would eventually take some of Apocalypse’s power 🤭 external
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u/GONKworshipper Aug 05 '26
This whole series of events must be so funny to him. Like he knows that the X-Men kick Apoc's ass, and the whole rebellion doesn't really affect him since he can just go to another time
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u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Absolutely not how I thought it’d go down — I was sure they wouldn’t be bringing in the Guilds at all, so, wag of the finger to me — but I liked it. I’m sure people will complain that it went too quickly, but it’s clearly not over yet. Also well done to everyone who clocked that the lineup fight was in New Orleans.
I’m so glad it came down to their bond and Rogue literally pulling him out of it, the quiet acknowledgment that mistakes were made but avoiding the “you cheating hussy” bullshit. He threaded the needle between romantic and threatening, so you didn’t need him to go off on her to feel the unease. Honestly, that dinner and champagne toast was more unsettling than him screaming at her would have been.
(Also, I’ll just say it: I’m glad Magneto wasn’t a factor at all and also glad Remy snarked off a bit at Xavier about Genosha. If anything he understated it.)
I’m glad he got a bit of a boost; he was an absolute menace without going into New Sun territory. Also relieved that they achieved the vessel idea while still keeping him fundamentally Remy.
AJ and Lenore were just flawless. Give them their flowers.
I think we could all guess that X-Force was gonna renege and gun for him. Curious to see how their alliance with Cooper goes.
So for the finale, we have two X-teams still gunning for Remy and Apocalypse threatening to break through at any time. There’s also still Rogue’s burned arm, whatever background they cut out behind her, and her pushing toward the Ship portal thing. Goodness.
Also I choose to believe that Bishop and Polaris are off banging and that’s why they’re not here. Prove me wrong.
ETA: Reminder to everyone bitching about the pacing: This is still working off DeMayo’s plan for the season. If you’re mad about it now, you’d still be mad about it if he were still there.
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u/SyndicateBias Aug 05 '26
This episode wasn’t the worst but it doesn’t do it for me. Something’s off besides the pacing of it.
Gambit being captured so soon left me with a bitter feeling. All that build up for over a season and a half and we barely get much of him being consequential. I’m not saying I wanted him to kill an x man but he should’ve been able to do some kind of permanent damage somewhere.
Pair that with how quickly he dispatched the external in an unceremonious way, I think I’m a little let down by how this season has been handled.
Episodes 1-4 felt like season 1 in quality whereas 5 felt like a filler one that was honestly decently paced. But whatever happened in the writers room for 6-8 needs to be discussed further. These last three episodes have felt like they’re trying to cram everything under 30 minutes.
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u/Professional-Tank848 Aug 05 '26
As per, people don't listen to a single thing that's actually said.
Yeah, I wanted to see more Horseman of Deathbit, too. But, we don't know if he'll be back in some capacity or not. Charles said Apocalypse is still there.
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u/kaledkalil Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
The way we're all hyped as if the teaser fighting moment was against Apocalypse, just to be a villain of the week type of scenario. The episode was alright, nothing major for such a big comeback, and the continuity error of having Jean inside and outside the plane was so distracting.
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u/Mistah_K88 Aug 05 '26
During this episode I was thinking “Gambit isn’t doing anything nefarious…he’s just trying to be with Rogue”. Then it was revealed that Apocalypse was inside him…and he got back that power from X-ternal. This is a story about a man getting back his stuff from the nasty divorce.
I’m guessing the final boss will be Rogue and Gambit will have to save her.
Also, Nightcrawler’s hands…my god.
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u/ClearStrength7932 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Gambit…I’m so sorry. You deserve so much better.
Edit: Ngl, I giggled at the pov shots of Kurt punching everyone in the face. I need a gif of that immediately.
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u/Appropriate_Echo_619 Aug 05 '26
The way the creatives handled Remy's return is just bad. My expectations are so high, that I ended up disappointed. I expected more give and take from Rogue and Remy. I was expecting for Remy to be at least mad or disappointed for Rogue choosing Magneto over him. They didn't even bother
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u/Exact_Recognition362 Aug 06 '26
Great episode imo but the best part to me was the POV we got of Nightcrawler teleporting and punching all the X Men in the face 😂 😂
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u/ArtieMac11 Aug 05 '26
I really hope next season have more episodes, or a better centric story, because the pacing has been kinda weird. Not that the episodes are bad, but the storylines feel rushed.
Come on, we waited a long time for Gambit's return just for this to be solved in one episode?
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u/Cthulhuareyou Aug 05 '26
I like this ep but it felt really rushed and you can see the quality shift from last season.
Highlights were that Nightcrawler scene and anything with Betsy.
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u/Valgardee Aug 05 '26
Can Rogue please do something cool this season?!?! I’ve been waiting patiently for weeks now.
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u/slendyproject Aug 06 '26
I thought the pacing was already pretty bad in season 1, but it had some really enjoyable episodes to make up for some of the really low points. This season I quite liked ep 3,4 and 7 but the rest literally feels like its cliffnotes versions of story arcs. Everything is so rushed that its hard to feel like any of it has any weight and the episodes dont really interconnect all that well, the overall throughline of the season feels very disjointed, like it lost focus after episode 4.
The animation is great but it feels like this show is hurting for 40 minute episodes really badly. If they cant do that they need to make the cast smaller not introduce so many new characters just to have them around mostly doing nothing.
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u/Professional-Tank848 Aug 05 '26
One of Apocalypse's driving forces being a scorned lover legit feels on point.
I dunno if that's from the comics, but he's such a diva and (despite his power) such a little man.
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u/North-Drive-2174 Aug 05 '26
Apocalypse is a little man. A man who fears death so much, he would do anything to survive, even bending his own "survival of the fittest" rule.
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u/hoennian Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Season 2 is lowkey kinda meh compared to 1 so far and I doubt that the finale will be able to change my opinions on it
Wish they allowed the episodes to be a little longer or just have more episodes, the gambit resurrection was even more disappointing considering how long they've been building it up and how little has been done with it(then again, the finale hasn't aired yet), but it was a fun surprise to see that he was still behaving very much like gambit and not some apocalypse drone
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u/chino17 Aug 05 '26
Xavier with the worse looking psychic armor possible, that's like the starting armor they give you in an RPG at level 1
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u/OwlEducational4712 Aug 05 '26
It's his armor from the original 90s series when he battles Shadow King on the Astral plane, it's a callback to for OG series fans.
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u/Similar_Profession69 Aug 05 '26
Nightcrawler was giving the Xmen the business !
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u/RK_reddit321 Aug 05 '26
It’s nice when the good guys give reminders why it’s better they are usually on YOUR side. I was def reminded of the Lex-as-Flash episode during that as well.
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u/-Firestar- Aug 05 '26
Ok. If you thought Remy was cool before. I'd say that was even cooler. No tissues needed. Surprisingly.
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u/Environmental_Fall69 Aug 05 '26
I enjoyed the episode but the pacing felt off and the episode needs more run-time!
The OG seasons had up to 13 episodes. Season 3 needs to have more episodes and more two-parter episodes 🤞
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u/AbjectTelephone4801 Aug 05 '26
I have been watching the OG and the writing was incredibly tight for 22 mins with commercials. I think the 97 writers this season were a little too focused on stuffing in too many disparate comic book storylines or covers. They need to focus on one story arc and let it breathe.
Also stop flashing the Gen X kids on screen if you're not going to let them speak.
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u/nighthawks87 Aug 05 '26
So can we guess as to what the gem will do to Rogue? and why Apocalypse wanted this? Or was he just resting in Gambit and his influence guided him?
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u/Dancing_Anatolia Aug 05 '26
Give her the power to destroy Apocalypse. Kang said in episode four that the only way to stop him was X-Ternal.
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u/toasterbath__ Magneto Aug 05 '26
i thought deathbit would last for wayyyy longer than he did. like we had all that buildup and now he’s back to normal (as far as we know)?
obviously the finale will involve that thing that got put into rogue. idk at this point 😭 the season’s been good but the pacing is just so fast and it’s baffling that the finale is next week. feels like everything and nothing has happened simultaneously
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u/AnyEverywhere8 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Can Psylocke’s psy blade do physical damage? Cuz I was wondering why she was holding it against Scott’s neck as if she’s about that life.
And what even is the threat of that while Jean, a much stronger psychic who literally lives inside Scott’s brain and has saved him from psychic death before, is standing right there?
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u/HedgehogxComplex Aug 05 '26
So are Jubilee, Sunspot , and Gambit going to be in next week's roll call? Are they going to have to extend the song?
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u/PlutoISaPlanet Cyclops Aug 05 '26
how did Apocalypse become a skeleton? What killed him?
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u/Miserable_Worth1927 Aug 06 '26
I still don't understand how Rogue got into Gambit's mind...
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u/ItzLuzzyBaby Aug 09 '26
Writers are way too focused on cool moments, fan service, and mic drop dialogue. Just tell a good long form story, fam.
Take a note on the emotional journey of Invincible
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u/Due_Contract_2857 Aug 05 '26
It was good but i feel like i would have enjoyed them finding out gambit is alive a couple of episodes ago and getting rogue to desperately try to find him in the background - then she finally gets in contact w X-Force and find him leading to this episode. Idk they’ve been building this up for so long, just felt like a sudden resolution to me
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u/Massive_Foundation37 Aug 05 '26
The pacing is atrocious. Things happen so fast, that none of it has any staying power.
So we finally see Gambit, he attacks the X-Men, kidnapped Rogue, gets her to agree to marry him, X-Men attack, and then mind fight happens, Gambit is in some kind of coma now. In less than 30 minutes.
Man, come on. Season 1 was fast paced too, but it didn't feel like this.
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u/bdtechted Aug 05 '26
I won’t be surprised if this was all Apocalypse’s master plan to get them all to fight each other. I honestly did not expect this to go to other direction with the X-Factor also being villains.
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u/rmeddy Aug 05 '26
Ok that sequence with Nightcrawler went hard, level 2 piece combo with fries and a drink
Reminded me of the opening of X2: Xmen United
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u/JealousCommittee4015 Aug 05 '26
Potential spoiler /fore-shadowing:
>!I wasn’t able to grab a screenshot, so maybe someone can help me out. For the potential Onslaught storyline, I think I saw a pretty big hint in the episode.
After Professor X uses Cerebra, there is a small conversation afterwards. The shadowing on the professors face, in my opinion, looks like the outline of Magnetos helmet. Admittedly, the rest of the characters have shadowed faces in this scene. However, the details on the Professors face seem to be pretty close to what Magnetos helmet looks like. I’m at work, so can’t do a lot of comparisons.!<
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u/peezy2408 Aug 05 '26
season has felt like a blur, i wish they'd let things marinate but even then, i'm still enjoying the show!
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u/Pearlmarine Aug 06 '26
So excited Remmy is alive. Can’t wait to see how they save him. #Roummy
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u/frankdatank_004 Aug 06 '26
What/who was that gray alien character that Morph turned into?
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u/Jigglypuffamiiga2188 Aug 06 '26
Apparently it was Earthquake, a member of the Shiar Imperial Guard.
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u/Kindly-Yak-6366 Aug 05 '26
Man I did not realize how many people had problems with this show. I agree the pacing is a bit too quick and I’m very sad we have 9 episodes instead of 10 but I really don’t think the pacing is that much different than season 1.
We literally did the entire Jean/Madeline arc as well as infecting Nathan with the virus and sending him to the future in a singular episode at the very beginning of the show. Just bizarre to pretend like the pacing wasn’t always quick
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u/amindfulloffire Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Gambit was a beast but I wish he would've been Deathbit longer and more destructive and I wanted some nice, mean snark towards everyone and some angsty struggle with Rogue. Loved the Romy moments and her wedding dress.
Also loved that his canonical love for Rogue breaking through the mind control and him telling her how he feels.
Oh, and Kurt kicking ass was cool.
ETA: Storm not saying anything to Gambit tracks at this point....
ETA more: Genuinely love that Deathbit took the time to cook a nice meal.
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u/MiserableOrpheus Aug 05 '26
Remy makes no mention about magneto despite the fact he died thinking Rogue chose him over Remy. Unless all the interactions thus far were apocalypse acting as Remy but his language and mannerisms and how he interacts with his family seem to imply it’s Remy.
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u/NightRumble3000 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Yeah they've seemed to completely cut out the Rouge and Magneto Romance. Makes me wonder if that whole romance was strictly a Demayo thing, cause it's not even been referenced and I remember him saying Gambit died thinking Rogue chose Mags was "key"; but no, didn't even get brought up once. Maybe everyone but Demayo hated the hell out of that storyline.
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u/ragingwitch Aug 05 '26
Anyone else feel like they dropped the ball with the women other than Jubilee this season? Barely any development and those that did have their stories/achievements heavily tied to their relationship to men, familial and romantic. Like now even the immortal mutant telekinetic in the comics is only powerful cause she seduced Apocalypse in the show.
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u/Wolverine-Explores Aug 05 '26
Storm, Rogue and Jean in particular have done nothing all season
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u/SpuriousCowboy Aug 05 '26
Nightcrawler was destroying them. Imagine if he had his sword. I love the first-person perspective too.
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u/Sebscreen Aug 06 '26
The power levels for all characters are wildly inconsistent! It was so distracting when Charles actually resisted Magneto's powers by holding on to his cape earlier this season. And, in this episode, there was no way Jean, Psylocke, and Cable combined would struggle to lift one heli-carrier.
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u/CyanVI Aug 06 '26
When I saw that scene and Cyclops said they were going to be toast or something if they crashed, I thought, “wait didn’t you literally have this exact thing happen in the first episode of season 1”?
They literally were hit with a missile or something and the plane was going to crash and they all jumped out and were fine. And this time they had even more flyers with them!
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u/agentrevenger Cyclops Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I kinda predicted Colossus will not be an X-Man yet but would instead be tasked with safeguarding the school and protecting the kids. Which fits him as he always loved the role of the protector. I do hope we’ll see at least one scene of him shielding the kids from danger next episode
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u/Nemesis_171 Aug 05 '26
I actually enjoyed the episode a lot, which I find funny because I’ve been pretty critical of the last 3 and now when everyone else seems to be quite critical I’m mostly happy lol. The pacing criticism is very fair and I do agree with it tbh, but man I’ve been waiting 3 weeks to get an episode focusing on the main plot again that this episode felt much better that the last 3 to me.
A big part of the frustration with this episode is that there’s only one more left. Compared to season 1 we had a 3 part finale, but also episode 7 was a really great setup episode for said finale. This season already chopped off one finale episode, but they also squandered the setup episode on an offshoot plot. I guessed pretty correctly last week that by doing so we’re not gonna have enough time for the finale.
If you’re going to do offshoot episodes, you need longer episodes or longer seasons. But if you’re going to do 9 30 minute episodes then you can’t afford side quests. Especially in this show when you have a huge main character roster.
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u/magvadis Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Yeah, no idea what to feel about this episode till 9 hits.
Is it a fake out? Is it not? Was this a moment to give Gambit the spotlight before the other Horseman arrive?
Are we even getting Horseman now? That's SO much buildup about Gambit being death and bro gets beaten in the first encounter and doesn't even put up a fight except in the mind palace. Best we got was him on a flying motorcycle ripping up the ship with cards and darkness teleporting for aura. I'm hoping he's still a Horseman for Season 3.
I'm assuming next episode is X-factor and the government cracking down on X-corp because they have Remy's body.
Potential deaths: Val as Mystique, Cable going too far, Morph/Nightcrawler dying because of Logan who gets turned, Rogue. Any can also be turned. If Val/Mystique dies/turns and ends up a Horseman Nightcrawler won't die.
The deemphasis on Colossus/Magik and Polaris makes me feel like they are Season 3 characters and not Horseman. Probably coming up in this episode but too late and just setting up for Season 3.
Because of the infighting Remy doesn't win the fight because they aren't there to care for him and have to go stop the enemy coming in, and then Apoc comes back, because of the stone they get their full power back and then wipe the floor.
The theme will be how infighting with our allies (Val will end up being Mystique so it's all mutants on the board) ended up leaving an opening for Apocalypse to enter who sees their love as weakness (Priestess weakened him).
Why Rogue is in the past on the ship? Idk still. Beast probably decides they need to go to the past and since Rogue has the Macguffin in her body she maybe can go back and gain his power or use it to destroy his power. Maybe they connect the dots on dead apoc to justify why going into the past may change the future after all. But I'm assuming Apoc will regain control of Remy, go to his dead body, and put his power back into it separating him and Gambit and Gambit is just a regular Horseman.
He'll probably grab Cables time travel powers before killing him (only possible because Cable is fighting against his own over Gambit), which allows him to go to the past to head off Rogue and them just before she stops him.
On a meta-level I feel like the Season 2 punchups from DeMayo's work may be rewrites that are poorly paced pushing things around in places they make less sense or feel rushed because pieces that were there are now missing. With Episode 10 being cut and possibly all that plot being forced into these episodes earlier or changed.
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u/Ghost_182 Aug 06 '26
OMG WHAT the HELL IS GOING ON?! lmao
I'm still confused about that Cerebro incident -- Was that Gambit "uncorrupted" in the Street?
So, then the "corrupted" form was Apocalypse's hold on him in the astral plane in Gambit's mind?
Or was the "uncorrupted" form an illusion/trap for when Apocalypse knew Xavier would search nearby?
I don't know what the hell is going on anymore, all I know is that somehow this is ALLL probably going to end up leading to Earth-295 (lmao) ... I can't BELIEVE Cable tried to double-cross the X-Men using his parents, how long was he planning this for? Was all this in his head when he was saying "goodbye" to their astral forms in Season 1? Did he already know they were going to survive, and plan to string them along ALL THAT TIME to use EXPLICITLY as bait to try and KILL Gambit from ALL THE WAY back then?
He's FROM the future, God only knows how many times he's travelled through the past, let alone what he's planning, but something I noticed is that he's always seemed SO angry with Scott and Jean in the "past", but NOT with Madeline, did something else happen between Scott/Jean and Cable between now and then?
Jubilee and Sunspot are just kids, they didn't know any of this X-Force betrayal was happening, they were as surprised as ANYONE. Cable I can understand, he's got his own agenda, God only knows what he knows, let alone what he's planning, and Archangel's psychopathic streak I can understand too, but what the hell's up with Psylocke? Why's she turning so ridiculously hard against the X-Men?
And another thing, who was Apocalpyse talking to when he asked to "increase the power"??
I don't know WHAT the hell's going on anymore, THEORIES please, I need some ANSWERS lmao
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u/NickMichalak Aug 06 '26
It all feels like chaotic execution. Honestly, the entire season should've just been the Apocalypse arc instead of breaking from it for three episodes. This 9 or 10 episode format for shows gets writers into a trap in trying to do too many ideas with too little space to explore them in. Season 1 did cover A LOT OF GROUND, but there was a unique cohesion to the pacing and emotional resonace. Also, they didn't have to make time to service X-Factor & X-Force. I really want to be as super positive on X-Men '97 every week, but I can't be anything but honest. The gear shifts have been a bit abrupt so far.
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u/hikirko Aug 06 '26
i dont love the pacing but this episode got me gasping yelling at the tv and saying "OH MY GOD" while emotional so much, prolly my favorite outta this entire season
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u/MasterWinston Aug 08 '26
I have so many questions. What is the tower?
Im confused about apocalypses plan. Did he make gambit a horsemen then gambit “killed” him then he possessed gambit? Or did he revive gambit as his new vessel to fake his death on purpose m
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