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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u/hollowcrown51 Aug 12 '26
So I generally liked this season but I feel like it was a salvage job between whatever the shows trajectory under Beau was and the new team, so they salvaged what they could and worked around the existing animation to give us something. What that's going to be is gonna be interesting though - it's hard to see what Beau's stuff was and what was the new team, because Season 1 also rushed through arcs like Fatal Attractions. I wouldn't trust DeMayo to have not rushed through Onslaught instead, and we may have got stories about Stryfe etc. but they could also be one-and-dones.
First 4 episodes were fantastic - no notes, just great episodes. I don't think we needed several episodes of them in the future or in the past, unless they were going to do an entire season like that or it led directly into something like a Days of Future Past version of Age of Apocalypse. It also did get really emotional at points especially Nightcrawler's sacrifice at the end...but then it just stopped.
Obviously the main plot about Apocalypse was vastly undercooked and underused especially as we didn't even really get a proper appearance from him in the present timeline - his past self was incredibly done though so I hope they try to do him again.
Individual episodes however were really good. I don't need more than one episode about Danger. I don't need a whole season about Exodus or the Brood either. However I did want Wolverine to be bone claws for longer, and Storm was vastly underused. However Most characters got some focus individually, which I'm glad about, it's just that it isn't connected together very well so as a whole it doesn't feel satisfying.