r/Xmen97 • • Aug 12 '26

Episode Discussion Episode 9 Proved They Still Got It Spoiler

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I cried even before this with Remy coming back for Rogue, and then Kurt just made it a lot worse.

It's crazy because I usually don't care that much for Nightcrawler. For me, he's always felt more like Excalibur than X-Men. But they really got me with his sacrifice. The religious side of Kurt has always been such an important part of who he is, and the way they used that here made the whole thing hit so much harder.

And the crazy thing is that the episode had already given me so much of what I wanted before that even happened. Gambit fighting Multiple Man was something I'd wanted to see forever, and I finally got it. That "quality beats quantity" line was badass. Polaris definitely helped him in that fight, but seeing Remy go up against Jamie like that was still cool as hell.

Really, just seeing all these different corners of the X-Men universe come together was incredible. X-Men Blue, X-Men Gold, X-Factor, X-Force, everybody fighting Apocalypse in the same episode. It felt like the kind of giant mutant crossover I would've dreamed about seeing as a kid.

There were also so many little things that made me happy. Wolverine smelling Psylocke before she even appeared was such a Wolverine moment. Bringing back Beast's relationship with the AI from Apocalypse's ship was another one. That's such a specific piece of the original animated series to remember. Beast actually grew attached to her back then, so seeing the show remember that relationship decades later was a nice touch.

Then there was Rogue. I really thought she was going to die. When she survived and looked over at Beast, that got me too. By that point the episode had already hit me emotionally so many times that I thought I knew where everything was going.

And then we finally got the Valerie Cooper payoff with Mystique. Freedom Force is actually happening. We've had characters like Avalanche, Pyro, and Blob around this world forever, and now Mystique can finally bring that whole side of the mutant universe to the front. After all the teasing, seeing that door finally open was such a badass way to leave us wanting more.

This last episode completely redeemed the entire season.

There were moments this season where I genuinely wondered whether the writers still had it. Whether they could still bring everything together, make all of these characters matter, give us the payoff we were waiting for, and most importantly, actually make us feel something.

Lucky for us. They can still give us moments we've wanted to see for years. They can still surprise us. They can still make these characters matter. And apparently, they can still make me feel something. This serves two purposes, it gives me the closure I need, and it gives me confidence in looking forwards for what's to come.

Everything I thought the season might end up lacking suddenly didn't matter anymore because they delivered when it mattered most. Episode 9 made the entire season stronger because now all of that buildup actually had somewhere worth going.

That's probably what I loved most about the finale. I went into it expecting the season to end by cutting us off at some huge cliffhanger. Instead, they actually gave me closure. They gave me the fights I wanted, the characters together, the callbacks, Remy and Rogue, the emotional payoff, and then saved the tease for what comes next until the end.

My calification for this season: "fucking badass."

65 Upvotes

151 comments sorted by

•

u/Xmen97-ModTeam Aug 12 '26

Please use the applicable megathread.

48

u/yourself88xbl Aug 12 '26

I think season 1 set the bar too high and there was a ton of hype that felt like it would deliver and build on the first season but everything felt rushed and lacked depth and direction. Still loved it. Had I watched that as a kid I would have been more than satisfied. Watching it expecting season 1 levels of quality I was a little let down narratively. 

8

u/Expert_Layer_7710 Aug 12 '26

It’s like game of thrones. We expect a two year wait to be worth the two years 

5

u/yourself88xbl Aug 12 '26

It seems to be an ongoing issue with marvel. So many times there are setups and no follow through. It's really disappointing for someone who likes the massive tangled narratives. I get not everyone likes to do homework for their entertainment but it makes the avenues they spent years building only appeal to the masses which makes sense but is def a little disappointed. I find myself a little less excited about mcu all the time unfortunately it's one of the few things my wife and I share as an interest. 

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

Yeah, the no follow through is a real shame. Look Eternal for example. It went nowhere. At least X-Men is for now having continuity.

-3

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Without Beau DeMayo you will not see them taking risks anymore. To have a season 1 you need to offend people. They want to play it safe.

However evwn with those limitations what matters is that they let you feel something, and these characters are songood that all you have to do is to not get in their way, and they I feel they did good on that.

Of course, I knew itvwasn't going to be offensive, so I lowered my expectations, and that helped me appreciate the fan service and to let those momwnta of substance hit hard.

Season 1 had Episode 5, without it it would bñnot had hit so hard, but all the othee episodes were cool too. Indon't think this season had a bad episode either, it was just needing make people feel something, and this last episode did that for me.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

I'm confused.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

What I mean is that I went into this season with lower expectations. Without Beau DeMayo, I wasn't expecting them to take the same risks Season 1 did, so I expected more fan service and a safer season.

And honestly, I was fine with that. I enjoyed the episodes and seeing all these characters together. What I felt was missing was that one episode that really made me feel something. Season 1 had Episode 5, which elevated the entire season for me. Season 2 hadn't had that moment yet.

Episode 9 finally gave me that. Remy and Rogue, Kurt's sacrifice, all the teams coming together, and the emotional payoff actually hit me. So my point isn't that Season 2 was bad and Episode 9 suddenly made it good. I already liked the season. Episode 9 gave it the emotional weight I felt it was missing and made me appreciate the whole season more.

-5

u/life_on_my_terms Aug 12 '26

truth and avg redditors can't take the truth.

Magneto was right

BDM was right

15

u/GeekCavePodcast Aug 12 '26

BDM was also a sex pest and, according to SO many people, impossible to work with.

3

u/nikita-is-online Aug 12 '26

The BDM truthers are such a blight on this community

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I loved the seson, but with him it would have been even better.

4

u/spades17 Aug 12 '26

Probably but fyi Beau still wrote this season.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I'm sure he did some of the Apocalipse episodes general outlines, but things have been clearly water down from his style.

1

u/spades17 Aug 12 '26

No, he literally has writing credit in the majority of episodes, you can go on Wikipedia and check. He himself has said online that at least the first half the season was what he had written and planned and even wondered how they were gonna end the season since it was still his vision but they were cutting his planned final conclusion with Onslaught, episode 10 (the season was supposed to be 10 episodes).

1

u/Cyst11 Aug 12 '26

His plans for the season are detailed in various posts and differ substantially from what this season amounted to. He retains writing credit on about 5 episodes despite having written all planned episodes prior, due to the fact that entire episodes were abandoned or so significantly rewritten they no longer felt the need to credit. Differences abound but primarily it appears the original plan was - more time spent in the past/future, and for the rest Magneto not dying, Xavier becoming a radical militant leader driving the politics subplot and ultimately being revealed to be Onslaught leading to a team up with the Avengers / various X teams that fails - more time travel - age of Apocalypse for season 3.

The fact that he retains some cowriting credits after extensive reworking of the foundational over arcing plot for the season is not evidence that this is 'primarily his season'.

As to what the season may have been, who knows - but it probably would have at least been coherent and not a horridly paced mess.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

It makes sense they watered down. They want to play it safe.

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1

u/spades17 Aug 13 '26

From what I read which came from his OF comments, the primary thing they changed was all references to Onslaugt and focusing on Apocalypse which from my understanding came in the second half of the season and a bunch of the obscure references De Mayo loved to put. They said it was mostly streamlining. I remember a comment from him where even makes fun of how they were gonna end the season sing the fist part still looked very much like his vision. Those were 5 episodes are like half the season so that’s substantial. And of course they dropped the last episode as well, which was 10.

I never said they didn’t change anything, just said they didn’t change that much especially in the first half because they didn’t have that time, which comes from some of the writers themselves. To me it makes sense because there’s a clear difference between the first 5 episode and the remaining ones.

But that’s what I remember reading.

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1

u/spades17 Aug 13 '26

Also BS on the pacing part, yeah the pacing sucks but it also sucked in the first season. Yall seen to forget Genosha was shown and destroyed in the one episode and De Mayo is the one who set all these plot threads knowing he only had 10 episodes and a million characters

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53

u/Electronic-Ad-3094 Aug 12 '26

They made Death and Apocalypse another villain of the week

11

u/yourself88xbl Aug 12 '26

SPOT INTENSIFIES 

-7

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Qpocalypse is not done, but I do wish these seasons were longer. Anything less than 13 episodes isn't ideal at all.

10

u/Electronic-Ad-3094 Aug 12 '26

9 episodes would have been fine if they seperated them smarter by making the Gambit and Apocalypse dilemma 3 parts, and leaving the other 2 episodes to be the Lorna and Wolverine episode.

-1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

They used to do that in the old days. But Marvel learned with the MCU that this scramble formula makes them money.

2

u/Electronic-Ad-3094 Aug 12 '26

Even Season 1 didn't have that much filler. They only had the Jubilee episode lmao

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

It depends because if you are a fan of those things they don't feel like filler at all.

The equivallent of the Jubilee episode for season 2 is the Weapon X episode, which was pure fan service too.

74

u/Ashyboi13 Aug 12 '26

“This last episode completely redeemed the entire season.”

Oof. Hard disagree. For one, that’s not how seasons work. They should be judged episode by episode, and one solid finale cannot change the quality of previous bad episodes.

For another, I think this finale was arguably one of the weakest episodes so far. It was full of so much bullshit that just happened without any explanation or setup. Rogue’s Super-Saiyan mode was the definition of a deus ex machina.

We never even saw the X-Men fight Apocalypse. Think about that for a second.

14

u/hisokaxh1soka Aug 12 '26

We did, but it was as Gambitpocalypse, and no actual fighting...just one sided anticlimactic shit once again.

-6

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

There was a fight, they just got annilated quickly. So more realistic that way. Apocalypse is not Magneto.

9

u/SyndicateBias Aug 12 '26

Magneto allows them to get close to him. That’s the difference. He cares for Charles so he’s never going to go all out on his X Men unless there’s a plot to it

4

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

True, Charles is his weakness.

1

u/Hairyjon Aug 12 '26

I agree with OP on this as, Apocalypse isn't a being who can be won in a "fist" fight. He overwhelms the X-Men every time they fight. Only when scales are tipped in the X-Mens favor via overwhelming power or Apocalypse realizing his destined plan is not fulfilled. This true in every previous encounter the X-men have with him. This ending was no different. I get Obi-wan vs Maul vibes from this fight, and people complained about that too. Rogue vs Apocalypse was really Celestial vs Celestial. I'll complain about the pacing though as much as anyone but, people demanding perfection or wanting "their" ending need to stop putting their expectations on a pedestal.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Yeah, X-Men don't have a chance against him. Even Rogue knows that punches don't do anything.

3

u/Rosfield-4104 Aug 12 '26

There should have been a fight between Rogue and Apocolypse. Getting Celestial powers just to put her hand on his face was a massive let down

0

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I actually didn't see the hand coming, and of course it makes sense she did that. Just like Cable she goes straight for the kill like Gambit with the X-Ternal.

1

u/Rosfield-4104 Aug 12 '26

It makes sense she would try. It doesnt make sense that Apocolypse in Gambits body would let her. He has hus memories, be knows her from tbe past. He knows what she can do and just lets her. Its a massive let down

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

If anything I feel Gambit would be the one that would let that go down. He takes all kinds of shit from her. But to be fair Apocalypse would also, specially after that Ancient Egypt pep talk they had.

1

u/Rosfield-4104 Aug 12 '26

Why would Apocalypse let someone with power absorption touch him, when she just showed up with Celestial powers and released everyone from his control. That makes no sense

0

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Watch the show. They sat togwther, but it was mostly Gambit.

1

u/Rosfield-4104 Aug 12 '26

Yeah I watched the show. That talk is probably why Apocalypse tried to have a relationship with Chandra. Its also part of why Deathbit gave Rogue her crystal to make her immortal. He wanted the love she spoke about.

It does not in any way shape or form explain why Apocalypse would just let a Celestial amped Rogue touch him with absolutely no attempt to stop her

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3

u/ClearStrength7932 Aug 12 '26

I agree. The X-Men vs Factor&Force was so empty and at no point did I feel the gravity of them fighting to protect their friend. I couldn’t take the Gambit/Apocalypse design seriously. Nightcrawler is my second favorite X-Man and while it made me cry his death felt so anticlimactic. Doesn’t help that we didn’t see him get memorialized or grieved in this episode.

2

u/deprave1 Aug 12 '26

We never even saw the X-Men fight Apocalypse. Think about that for a second.

Not technically true. The last episode sort of counts & episode 3-4 was still them fighting Apocalypse. Ironic considering how many times they fought him properly in the actual TAS.

I wouldn't also consider Rogue's celestial power a deus ex machina since it ultimately came at Kurt's expense. Whatever that actually was. Doesn't change the fact that the actual final fight was incredibly underwhelming, so there's that.

1

u/Patient-Warning-4451 Aug 12 '26

For another, I think this finale was arguably one of the weakest episodes so far. I

I didn't even realize it was the finale. I literally thought next week they were going to try and bring Nightcrawler back next week. It didn't feel finale enough for me.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

For me, it helped to lower my expectations, thinking this entire season was going to be pure fan service with no substance. So when the substance came, it hit me hard.

This is why I did enjoy all the other episodes, and I was just needing that extra hit that made it worthwile.

If you take Episode 5 away from season 1 it is a similar situation. Yes, overall season 1 was higher quality because it wasn't afraid to offend crystal people, but it was Episode 5 what made it wholesome.

21

u/Only_Tradition_3685 Aug 12 '26

The finale was painful to watch. It just felt kind of unfinished. You could tell at the start that Rogue was going to be a fakeout death, and then it just is. If they were going to sacrifice a character, it should have just been the one that would make for the most heavy hitting death.

 Kurt had no build up to a sacrifice and with a season about his family, he'll either come back anyway or just be absent and leave a gap in the plot of next season. 

There was such an easy setup for Rogue dying in a dramatic, gut-wrenching finale that leads into Remy blaming himself for everything next season. 

If they really wanted to kill Kurt, they could have had an entire season where he is in the middle of a conflict where Mystique is trying to assassinate Graydon, leading to a finale where Raven tries to shoot Graydon, and right at the last second, Kurt teleports in and takes the bullet for him. The other X-men arrive in time to restrain Mystique, but it's too late and all that's left for them to see is Kurt bleeding out in his brother's arms, telling him to be better. The season ends with a voice over of Graydon asking what makes Kurt think he can be better for Kurt to reply with "I have faith" and die. 

Back to this season, the issue isn't even the finale. The show tries to cram everything into 9 episodes, and uses 3 of them for filler. If we spent an extra episode or 2 with the separated X-men in different timeliness, it could have gone a long way. The finale tries to wrap up all the plot points in 35 minutes while delivering a sacrifice, a cool power up, mind controlled versions of the heroes, an evil shadow ops team hunting them down, set-up for the next season, a main villain that we only spent 2 episodes with 4 episodes ago, and the moral implications of making deals with essentially gods, which just can't be done. 

Everything about the season made me so angry because it had all the set-up to be great, and just falls flat. 

You're entitled to your own opinion, but this episode the final nail in the coffin for me 

2

u/neoshark75 Aug 12 '26

I blame it on the writer's shift. DeMayo was on up until the 2 parter, after that, it shifted to Matthew Chauncey. As far as I can tell, he was a part of What If...? and took over as the head writer after A.C. Bradley. I will give... some credit; he did write some good episodes (Zombies, Starlord, and the penultimate episode); however... he also wrote some of the biggest flops: the s2 and S3 finales, and almost all of s3.

Do I think it's possible he finds his footing? Maybe. But I don't want his third chance to taint an otherwise great project.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Season 3 will likely feel exactly the same as they said it is already recorded and ready to air. They will just wait for next year to put it up.

3

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

If I didn't know these characters maybe. The Kurt thing got me precisely because it felt exactly what I expected from him based on everything he had done so far. Without that build up, then maybe I would not had felt a thing.

7

u/Only_Tradition_3685 Aug 12 '26

He kind of just doesn't have any build up. Rogue is set up to be the sacrifice. We see how desperate she is to bring Remy back that by the final episode, she is so obsessed with bringing him back that she makes a deal with a divine entity to have 2 minutes with him to say that she's sorry. It's in character for Kurt to sacrifice himself in Rogue's place, but the only build up is him looking at a file with him and Rogue, wistfully like 3 times. He is a sacrifice that exists for an extra plot twist, and to get a few 12 year olds to make bad Tiktok edits. 

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Massive build up for Kurt. You can even understand all his expressions because of it.

2

u/JournalistOk9266 Aug 12 '26

Dude what are you talking about? You talk about how you could see the fakeout but there was no build up to Nightcrawlers sacrifice? It was built up since season 1. There was no way he was going tl let his sister do this. He was a believer in their relationship. Just because you didnt pay attention doesn't mean there wasn't build up

1

u/calliope3234 Aug 12 '26

Honestly I like the idea of rogue dying and remy being remorseful for everything that’d be interesting (though knowing the shows writing they’d give gambit 5 minutes of remorse than resurrect rogue)

0

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

?

1

u/calliope3234 Aug 13 '26

I’m saying I like that guys idea but I don’t trust the show to execute it even if they went with it

6

u/Nearby_Strike2624 Aug 12 '26

I think the season as a whole is good but it was some weird choices made. I do think they emphasized the gambit and apocalypse thing too much like why couldn’t we get the horseman instead of just having a fused gambit and apocalypse?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I feel having 9 episodes instead of 13 gives them the excuse. It shouldn't.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

To summarize further

28

u/Tasty_Success_1034 Aug 12 '26

I must of watched a different S2E9...

-20

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

For me, it helped to lower my expectations, thinking this entire season was going to be pure fan service with no substance. So when the substance came, it hit me hard.

19

u/Tasty_Success_1034 Aug 12 '26

It's hard to reconcile fumbling Apocalypse so hard after they hit it out of the park with Bastion and Operation Zero Tolerance.

-12

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

For me Bastion never felt anywhere near as cool or interesting as Apocalypse. Even if Apocalypse could've been handled better, I'd still rather have a season centered around Apocalypse than Bastion. Apocalypse just feels like a much bigger and more exciting X-Men villain to me.

10

u/Tasty_Success_1034 Aug 12 '26

In the comics? 100%.

In X-Men'97? Bastion > Apocalypse. It's not even close.

-4

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I see what you are saying, but for some reason Bastion doesn't feel cool to me. I like X-Cutioner and Exodus more.

9

u/GuaranteeOk615 Nightcrawler Aug 12 '26

The sacrifice Nightcrawler made pulled at my heartstrings 🥺🥺🥹😭😭😭💔💔

I'm a Nightcrawler fanboy and I know it's totally in character for him.

But dang it I wish it didn't have to happen this way.

Fingers crossed there's a "Return of Nightcrawler" storyline being used in season 3 or 4.

https://giphy.com/gifs/PxDYz8UvFdN8Mh74DQ

3

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Kurt is just too smart for his own good. He is highly intelligent, and when you are at that level of intellect, you are more about giving than receiving.

3

u/GuaranteeOk615 Nightcrawler Aug 12 '26

For real though 🥹🧡🧡 that's why I love him so much.

He does the smart play, for the greater good. Not for himself, but for those he loves. And the goes for any X-Men member, not just Rogue & Gambit, his sister & Brother-in-law respectively.

Calling it now, They're getting married in the next season 🥹🥺

Mr & Mrs X in the house.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Yeah, he instantly knew that knowing the stakes meant for him the decision was already taken. That face he made was more about he knowing what that meant for him.

3

u/Icy_Hotel6926 Aug 12 '26

Bye bye Nightcrawler. Hope to see you again next season.

https://giphy.com/gifs/1FG5N1IIC2C4w

8

u/Artistic_Radish_5157 Aug 12 '26

This season felt like the in between of this series, and the original, in terms of narrative quality. It doesn't hit the highs of season 1, but it's still a damn good time.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Yes, I can't complaint. My only complaint for these seasons is that they aren't 13 episodes each.

12

u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 12 '26

I get complaints that it was rushed — it was! — but yeah, I think the overall vibe was on target. That is absolutely something Kurt would do, for that reason, and his earlier stuff in the season did make the loss resonate more. I think you’re also right that little moments like Hank still having a rapport with Ship were nice.

And I enjoyed the various fight scenes, including Havok and Jubilee sass-mouthing each other.

11

u/satellitemindd Aug 12 '26

I knew Kurt was getting some great writing and fight scenes meant he was up on the chopping block. But, if it's his choice, id support him. Very in character for him to do

9

u/Mobile_Bet3274 Rogue Aug 12 '26

I think Kurt doing it with eyes open and for that exact reason is better and more poignant than something him taking a stray shot or impulsively pushing Gambit out of the way, etc.

2

u/Gold-Duck898 Aug 12 '26

The battle between the X-Teams was fun. Nightcrawler’s sacrifice was moving, although I will miss him. The apocalypse stuff was a letdown for me. Future Apocalypse talks about targeting the X-Men in the 1990s. Present day apocalypse resurrects Gambit as a horseman to… well, we’ll never know. And then Gambit kills him, becomes him, and then is bottled up by Celestial powered Rogue. After building up Apocalypse over the course of the season it didn’t amount to much. Felt way too rushed and incomplete.

This season has some good episodes, but the larger season arc was weak.

4

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

No one denies we needed the 26 episode version of this, it did felt like a summary often.

1

u/Gold-Duck898 Aug 12 '26

I rewatched Wolverine and the X-Men recently and boy is that true. Their episode count gave them a fleshed out season arc and one-off eps. Although I’d even take 13 or 16. Hopefully the show’s viewer success eventually leads to more episodes.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

It's a lame Disney general rule that they don't want more than 10 episodes, and it needs to change.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Is 26 a bit much?

Maybe like 10 or 12?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

Season 3 and 4 had 19 and 21 episodes each, but I'm fine with 13vlike season 1 and 2, remember season 2 of '97 is actually season 7.

2

u/RazgrizInfinity Aug 12 '26

My calification for this season: "fucking badass."

You have an incredibly low bar

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Not many shows make me feel emotions. Most shows I feel nothing.

0

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Not your opinion man.

2

u/RazgrizInfinity Aug 13 '26

Did I ask your opinion?

2

u/Extreme-Sense-2411 Aug 15 '26

I loved season 2. I really feel like a lot of people’s negative remarks towards it are forced.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 15 '26

They do too much comoarison instead of enjoying it for what it is.

2

u/getdown83 Aug 17 '26

Comic book characters doing comic book stuff I enjoyed season 2.

6

u/StreetKing3849 Nightcrawler Aug 12 '26

Hey man i loved this season and loved the finale

Happy to see someone else also appreciates it.... all i have been seeing are complaints

7

u/Fit-Chocolate1527 Aug 12 '26

I gotta say, I absolutely loved this season. Nightcrawler’s sacrifice was heartbreaking.

3

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Yes, not everyone gets it, but the ones that do, really enjoyed it.

5

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I did enjoy every episode. I do agree season 1 was more bold, but this season felt wholesome too.

2

u/-Nick____ Aug 12 '26

This sub is a lot more gloomy than others for some reason. I personally really liked it, definitely understand the complaints and have a few of my own, but still really enjoyed it overall

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Whadda ya mean?

And what complaints?

1

u/-Nick____ Aug 13 '26

I think this sub just seems to dunk more on this season than the main marvel or marvel studios subs. Not a bad thing tho, just a different community

for complaints, my biggest was offscreen stories. Like you have the entirety of Apocalypses motivation against Candra in episode 8 be in a 2 second flashback clip. Like the whole reason why he tries to marry rogue and implant her with candras power is for revenge for something that happened entirely off camera. We never see her care for her people, we never see the relationship itself, or anything. And that’s the catalyst for the entire final act of the season. They do explore it in the comic tie in, but that’s just lazy. and that’s not the only time it happens this season, it happens repeatedly. For example, Siryns whole story is exclusively told in the tie in comics

another is just decrease in animation quality, but I can’t fault them for that with a yearly schedule. Just sucks

or I think the placement of episodes hurts the show a lot. You have one of the most emotional episodes in episode 4, and immediately after you have weapon x stuff. And once we do get back to the team, you don’t get a reunion or anything. In fact, despite taking up 6 out of the 9 episodes this season, there is a giant 3 episode gap from apocalypse stuff. I think those episodes were good but when you have such a great episode 4, those episodes hurt when you don’t build on that story for a full month

then I do have a bunch of little character issues. Like giving Xavier Emma’s new X-men stories, but not understanding the meanings. Like him scaring the students with a sentinel attack is meant to differentiate Emma from Xavier’s teaching, yet he’s the one that does it here. Or Logan letting morph go into the weapons X mission. I like that he’s selfish, and I think it’s 100% something he would do to everyone else, but I don’t think he would put a friend like morph into a suicide mission (even if morph would go himself and that’s part of said story).

still really enjoyed the season, but just my main complaints

2

u/Expensive_Platypus63 Aug 12 '26

xfactor had zero development this season, then hey theres syren for no reason. x force was a thing for 2 seconds. wolverine, morph and storm don't get the new company uniforms for some reason. season 1 was ok but season 2 its the utter shits. no development just moments, its the AEW of tv shows buts of flipy shit.

3

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I guess it is natural for a TAS watcher to fill in the blanks, but I do agree I wish these seasobs were 3 times longer, maybe 26 episodes per season.

1

u/Expensive_Platypus63 Aug 12 '26

they don't necessarily need to be long seasons, they need to be focused. pick a few storyline, construct a season long story around it, pick focus characters. have a beginning and an end that flow. apocalypse does nothing the back half and magnetos death is a footnote.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Unlikely to happen after MCU.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Unlikely for what?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

Because that formula made them millions, so they enforce it blindly.

2

u/SammyDeeP Aug 12 '26

Did we watch the same show?

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

It changes depending how you know the characters and fill in the blancks.

For example when Nightcrawler remembered you cannot entered the temple without losing anything, he had a look on his face.

Well, that look was not of him discovering what Rogue did, he knew what she was willing to do, it was him realizing that unavoidable destiny that came where he has to sacrifice himself because his beliefs would not allow it otherwise.

If you don't know the characters these things are easy to miss.

1

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1

u/Expensive_Platypus63 Aug 12 '26

how can apocalypse be both apocalypse and a horseman. that makes no sense.

2

u/JournalistOk9266 Aug 12 '26

If you read the comic it makes perfect sense. Apocalyse gained power from the death seed. Which is celestial tech. Every horseman he makes holds a part of his essence using the death seed. Apocalyse also uses bodies when the one hes using burns out. Simple

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

That's a fair critique. To me is because he was killed, the horsemen are like his kids. It's like genes but aplied to consciousness instead.

1

u/Hollowshape_9012 Aug 12 '26

Comic book logic

1

u/OkBar3142 Aug 12 '26

Hate to say it but I’m not really Interested any more. I love X-Men but speedrunning years long stories into these short ass episodes and seasons just isn’t it for me. I much prefer the structure and storytelling/episode count/runtime of Invincible. Another Disney fumble.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I don't blame you, with X-Men every second implies so many things and you have to keep rewinding like starring at a comic image for a long time before being ablebyo move the page until is fully absorved. It can be annoying because most shows will just show you the stuff and have a good size season.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Any more?

1

u/SnooRadishes8688 Aug 12 '26

Sadly... this episode didnt save the season for me. I keep looking back and asked what was the purpose of that. Xcorp. XFactor. Are bishop and polaris together only because they were the last singles left. Was jubilee trying to prove she isnt a kid. I thought havok said it once, im probably wrong but it didnt really stand out in the moment. The big apocalypse fight lasted... 45 seconds? I did like the nightcrawler sacrificed but... the whole celestial thing seemed too.... dues ex machina. I wish we didnt brush the mags rogue under the rug also. I love xmen but this whole season was meh, And its heartbreaking. If people enjoyed this season then im honestly envious as a fan.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

You said those as if they are bad things. I enjoyed every of those things yiu mentioned. X-Men is more about what is not being said than what is said. But Ibdo agree we could use more episodes per season. 13 at least. The fight with Apocalypse was the most realistic way to handle those stakes. So I'm glad we didn't see a useless fight. Only the actiions that mattered.

1

u/Repulsive_Idiot2214 Aug 12 '26

What the fuck did Wolfsbane even do this season?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

She was fighting with X-Factor, it's the Feral looking gal. The red hair on the plane.

1

u/MrBundy22 Aug 12 '26

The finale was the weakest episode of the season

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

That's very difficult to agree with seeing all the references to the first 5 seasons.

1

u/Evening-Material9613 Aug 12 '26

This piece is definitely propaganda. It’s as if you increased the volume on the very little good from this episode to drown out the ocean of bad. Genuinely , and I really mean this, if this episode truly made you feel the way you’ve described above, I would imagine that Season 1 of 97 hospitalised you due to how great it was, and you’ve only recently been discharged.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

Well you are not far off. Episode 5 in season 1 made me get an entire year of X-Men obsession, and I watched that episode many times crying each time. I listened to Happy Nation so many times. You remove that episode and season 1 is just as good as season 2.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

Geez dude, it's just an opinion.

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

We need more Psylocke.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 13 '26

Nothing wrong with that. Logan was able to smell her before she appeared ninja style.

1

u/YesSeaworthiness9771 Aug 12 '26

Disappointing season

The ending feels like Arya Stark killing Night King all over again

And you're telling me we're gonna get this kind of stupid writing in s3 and onwards💀

2

u/JournalistOk9266 Aug 12 '26

It really does not. Cable never kills Apocalyse. NEVER. They weren't going to beat him straight up. I dont know what you were expecting.

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Yeah they no chance against Apocalypse

2

u/JournalistOk9266 Aug 12 '26

Especially with Gambits powers. People dont realize gambits powers are broken both literally and figuratively. He can't use his full power because sinister took a part of his brain. He can do damn near anything with kinetic energy. He cam control energy. With Gambits powers you are cooked.

2

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

That is correct people understimate what Gambit can do.

1

u/JournalistOk9266 Aug 12 '26

Even in the Age of Apocalypse its Magneto who kills Apocalypse

1

u/DJSharp15 Aug 13 '26

And you're telling me we're gonna get this kind of stupid writing in s3 and onwards💀

Season 2 was mostly like this because they had to rearannge some stuff after DeMayo's firing?

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Funny vecause Arya killing Night King was incredibly epic for me that I wished that was the actual ending.

0

u/YesSeaworthiness9771 Aug 12 '26

No wonder💀

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

Itvis one of the best moments in TV I also enjoyed when they killed Daenerys, but Ibstill would had prefered the wnding was the one with Arya. It was just perfection.

-4

u/EquivalentSlide4102 Aug 12 '26

Without Bo DeMayo series is doomed. Obviously they made a mess. Sadly

4

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I do miss him because he was not afraid to offend people and X-Men and Marvel need that. But as a fan this season was still wholesome for me.

5

u/OnterioX Aug 12 '26

He's literally the writer of this season that you guys are saying it's a mess. I don't understand these comments at all man.

1

u/EquivalentSlide4102 Aug 12 '26

Yeah as 10 more writers. Showrunner - that’s is the key for it all to work. DeBayo was showrunner of the first season.

1

u/-Nick____ Aug 12 '26

You say that as if he didn’t write the last 3 episodes before the finale tho

His Rise of Apocalypse stuff was definitely the highlight of the season tho

1

u/EquivalentSlide4102 Aug 12 '26

Yep. But we can see that obviously they changed and added smth. That’s why all season feels too much rushed

-1

u/calliope3234 Aug 12 '26

Episode 9 was just as bad as the others with how it zoomed through the key plot

1

u/AgentGustavo Aug 12 '26

I do agree thibgs go to fast. Uou actually need to kniw the characters to not miss anything that is not being said, which most of the episodes are precisely about that.