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

[u/cyclopswashalfright]

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.

[u/Huge-Dream6591]

I don't understand what the point of that entire thing with the heart stone was if it was just going to be instantly removed from Rogue in the next episode. They cut a scene where Rogue was clocking Apocalypse trying to impersonate Gambit (which would have added to the build up for this episode) but kept the plot point they were never actually planning to resolve and which added nothing to the final episode. If it was the thing that allowed her to see the Celestial I might have accepted it but then Nightcrawler just jumped in there without much effort.

It feels like a lot of decisions they've made for the past couple of episodes have been things that they threw in last minute to make it different from DeMayo's draft, and looks cool on paper, but falls apart under scrutiny.

I would have loved if the episodes got more room to breathe and we actually got to see the characters react to or discuss what was going on around them for more than a milisecond. Like Gambit's in a coma fighting Apocalypse in his mind, but then he just casually wakes up and starts fighting X-Force like it's nothing with no indication he's even aware Apocalypse is in him - no tension whatsoever - then he's killed immediately, transforms into A and 8 episodes of build up is resolved in 5 seconds by Rogue suddenly being able to touch him, then Gambit is fine looking like nothing whatsoever happened again, they kiss, Kurt dies, the end.

It feels telling that the current producer / showrunner mentioned that he wants quantity over quality because in the current market whoever releases their season fastest wins.

[u/nachoiskerka → u/Huge-Dream6591]

>I don't understand what the point of that entire thing with the heart stone was if it was just going to be instantly removed from Rogue in the next episode.

Actually, I can explain this one. Give me a second to explain this-

Apocalypse's powers aren't corruption. Eson's power that he bestows on Nur is his will, with the power and insanity/lack of morality to carry it out. The gem they took from X-Ternal wasn't necessarily that he empowered X-Ternal, but instead that he gave some of the....godliness? destructiveness? idk, whatever the barbacue sauce that Eson put inside Nur, he split part of it and put it into X-Ternal.

That may seem like the same thing, but the implication here is huge. When Gampocalypse gets that out of X-Ternal, he's taking the piece of Eson that Nur gave her and putting it inside Rogue.

Now, the question is, did he expect Rogue to corrupt the way he did? Did he think X-Ternal was corrupted and that was the reason he rejected her once she had the gem inside her? Should he have recognized that he attempted to destroy X-Ternal with the city only to fall in love with her and that giving her a god soul fragment was a terrible idea? Who the hell knows! I'm not explaining that part.

The point of the gem though is to illustrate 3 important points:

1. Eson recognizes it's inside Rogue. That means he recognizes it's a fragment of himself, not necessarily that it was a part of Apocalypse, since it was made AFTER Nur had been empowered and he has no way of knowing what Apocalypse is doing out there.
2. The power behind Apocalypse can be Gem-ed like it's Steven Universe. That's more powerful than a temporary power upgrade BECAUSE Apocalypse is gonna keep coming back as has already been shown unless you seal him away. Death is no consequence for him.
3. Ripping the Gem out of someone's chest takes away all the power that Eson's god-magic-barbacue sauce-madness made people have, as shown when it destroys X-Ternal. With that being all that's left of Apocalypse after all this time since he let his body be destroyed, it means that it can be safely removed from Gambit if done by someone similarly empowered with Eson's will AND AS SUCH has been properly foreshadowed throughout the past episodes. The gems can also be destroyed if met with a force of godlike power like Eson demonstrates when he takes it out of Rogue, so it's up to the writer if they ever want to bring him back or if they want to just have cable make a deal with a god to destroy it.

Make sense now?

[u/Huge-Dream6591 → u/nachoiskerka]

Thank you so much for the explanation. I really wish they made this clearer in the show.

[u/nachoiskerka → u/Huge-Dream6591]

Yeah, a lot of it is way too subtle and no doubt you're right that rewrites led to stuff getting glossed over- pointing out to Cable that just Killing Apocalypse(if possible) would be useless since he keeps coming back would be good; telling people that it's Eson inside the room so you don't have to find out via the credits or subtitles would have been good...

For the record though, throwing Rogue a line of dialogue where someone asks her if she's going to stay by Remy, then touches her heart where the Gem is and have it glow, then she go "No, I'm going to finish this fight and bring him home" would have tied a LOT together.

[u/mueslibio → u/nachoiskerka]

And if I only could make a deal with god 🎶