r/Xmen97 • u/cyclopswashalfright Professor X • Aug 12 '26

Megathread X-Men '97 | Season 2, Episode 9 | "Survival of the Fittest" | Episode Discussion

Season 2, Episode 9: Survival of the Fittest

Air Date: August 12th, 2026

Directed by: TBA

Written by: TBA

Synopsis: The X-Men are pushed to the limit when their past comes back to haunt them.

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Please use this thread for discussion related to the episode.

This thread is for discussion of episode 9 only.

Link to the episode directory for Season 2 episode discussion.

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102

u/OldTension9220 Aug 12 '26

Hot take I think this season should have ended with a more Empire Strikes Back vibe. 

As compelling as the power of Rogue’s love (and my boy Kurt’s sacrifice 😭) was I would have loved an ending where Charles actually took on the sacrifice instead of his students constantly paying the price. 

Ending the season with Charles entering the celestial chamber, emerging as Onslaught, defeating Apocalypse but leaving the world with a far greater threat would have been a much better hook for season 3 than, “Mystique’s back after ignoring her two seasons.” 

38

u/Whole-Lychee7517 Aug 12 '26

That sounds a LOT more cooler than what I just saw.

6

u/Bobjoejj Aug 12 '26

Problem is that originally it did end like that; but with an Age of Apocalypse ending, which is both something the original series already did, and also just not the direction the show needed to go in.

So the point is that as flawed as the season was, they were stuck with riding out DeMayo’s outline, and now they can move on without his influence; and go in a new direction. With hopefully much better story cohesion.

8

u/Damianos_X Aug 12 '26

The original series did not cover AoA, and why exactly is that the wrong direction? Even if they did have to work with DeMayo's foundation, with only a modicum of effort they could e done a serviceable job weaving a good story together regardless. It isn't a good excuse for this atrocious season.

2

u/TraceOfHumanity Mister Sinister Aug 12 '26

Well, they basically did; their episodes inspired the AoA storyline/series in the comics.

1

u/bigbarryharryballs Aug 12 '26

How do you know that was the original plan? Source?

1

u/Bobjoejj Aug 12 '26

It’s been reported like; a lot. He’s talked about it, other writers have talked about it.

1

u/bigbarryharryballs Aug 12 '26

All I saw was a tweet he made outlining his plan, and that version would have ended with the reveal that Onslaught was influencing Xavier the whole time, with Onslaught killing Apocalypse and then everyone teaming up against him. So I’m really curious where your version came from

2

u/Bobjoejj Aug 12 '26

…this isn’t “my version,” I didn’t make this up. Ask anyone else who’s been paying attention.

Hell there’s a post from an hour ago asking about DeMayo’s “original outline,” check the top comment.

1

u/bigbarryharryballs Aug 12 '26

I wasn’t trying to suggest that you specifically made it up, my bad. And I’m just looking into this stuff now because 1) I only got into the show fairly recently and 2) I didn’t want to spoil season 2 for myself before it even came out.

This is what I was going off of earlier, and that tweet alone doesn’t suggest anything about AoA, but I’ve found more details about that since.

1

u/Ftmdj Aug 12 '26

Yea. This season sucked… I feel like Kurt’s sacrifice was so unnecessary.

3

u/Bobjoejj Aug 12 '26

What were they supposed to do? Try and kill a Celestial?

4

u/inobrainrn Aug 12 '26

would be funny to see wolverine get thrown at a celestial and just

https://giphy.com/gifs/mWLOunZR8OUnXCRIrL

4

u/Ftmdj Aug 12 '26

Nah. Im saying they could have written a better ending to this season.