Mutant Liberation Begins
If I want to catch up to X-Men ’97 before the final episodes, I gotta churn out these posts. So surprise! After months of radio silence, I’m aiming to cover 5 episodes this week! Let’s gooooooo! Dialing it back a bit, the second episode, “Mutant Liberation Begins,” features an adaptation of the trial of Magneto, a real turning point in X-Men comics. So let’s see whether Magneto can really lead the X-Men.
Did you know that for just about every episode of X-Men ’97, the title sequence changes? Very noticeably we have a title card for Magneto, right front and center, wearing a very… interesting purple costume with long, dark magenta gloves. It’s his look from the 80’s, specifically from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #200 (1985), which is a comic I’m gonna go into later on in this post. Then it’s a montage of X-Men moments, notably reminding us of the Dark Phoenix Saga, which the show deviated from the comics by having Jean survive and give up her near unlimited cosmic powers.
The episode opens with a disaster at a Ferris wheel that almost kills several people–including reporter Trish Tilby (Ms. Donna J Fulks)–but the day is saved by… Magneto?! Oh, right, he was at the end of episode 1 claiming to be the new leader of the X-Men, but the world doesn’t know that yet. He even saves the Morlocks–mutants with visible mutations who live in the sewers–from the Friends of Humanity. Magneto tells a Morlock named Leech that the boy shall never be afraid again, something which… look, we’ll get to episode 5 when we get to it, okay? Meanwhile, the X-Men discuss what to do with Magneto with Rogue standing up for Erik. Ooh, they’re on first name basis? Gambit’s not a fan. The former mutant terrorist–I mean Magneto in this case, although that does also apply to Rogue–reveals he invited the Morlocks to travel to the island nation of Genosha, where nothing bad has ever happened to mutants. Erik even reveals he’s going along with Xavier’s dream of human/mutant coexistence by not killing the FoH, although the man does sneer at the word “coexistence.” It’s a tense meeting and Cyclops is not a fan of the situation. Later, Jean and Storm talk about it all and how Jean is not only afraid that Scott won’t leave with Magneto in charge, but that’s she’s unsure how to tell her baby that, if he is a mutant, he’ll not only be different but that the world will be against him. Did you know most of season 1 was written by a gay black man? It comes through in moments like this. Storm asks if Jean wants her child to be human, musing that she herself has thought about what it would be like to not have powers. Oh, girl… We’re referencing X-Men stories from the 80’s–be careful speaking something like that into existence. Privately, Rogue meets up with Magneto who talks about how much he misses Xavier. It’s a little weird that the series keeps acting like the X-Men have forgotten that Charles isn’t actually dead, but whatever. We also learn that Erik and Rogue have a history, and a romantic one at that. They’re interrupted by the UN and Val Cooper helicoptering in, demanding Magneto turn himself in for crimes against humanity. Surprisingly, Erik agrees. The trial at the UN headquarters is contentious on all sides, and Jean is surprised to find out that Cyclops took most of the X-Men to watch over it all without telling her. But it’s probably good the X-Men are there since a Friends of Humanity member is gearing up as the X-Cutioner (Lawrence Bayne), ready to shoot Magneto with a very special, single shot gun. Magneto gives a great speech in his defense about his troubled past as a persecuted minority and how he’s now trying to walk Xavier’s path of harmony. While the UN argues they have a right to protect humanity, Erik points out that their “protection” usually ends up with things like mutant-killing robots, threatening the entire existence of mutants. An insurrection breaks out–they literally use the word “insurrection” later on as protestors and the Friends of Humanity storm the building and I cackled watching it the first time–threatening the lives of both Magneto and the judges who gave a “monster” a trial. Meanwhile, Jean’s water breaks! The baby’s on his way! Wolverine races her to a hospital as contractions are messing with her powers. Back at the UN, the X-Cutioner uses a combination of energy-resistant armor and power inhibiting collars to kick the team’s ass, which isn’t helped when Cyclops is informed that Jean’s in labor. Storm steps up, ordering Magneto to be freed of his own collar and sending Rogue to deliver Cyclops to his wife. At the hospital, a doctor refuses to help Jean due to being a bigot, forcing Cyclops and Jean to ask Rogue to absorb the doctor’s knowledge to help with the birth. Elsewhere, Storm and Magneto’s synergistic powers stop most of the rioters, but Storm takes the X-Cutioner’s shot meant for Magneto. She lives, but has seemingly lost her powers. I warned her! This obviously enrages Magneto, who starts to question whether humans are actually worth working with. He abducts the UN judges, seemingly ready to kill them, but instead relents and recognizes that he’s trying to be a better person. It’s a shared world with a common future, after all. For saving their lives and stopping the insurrection, the UN pardons Magneto. They even are prepared to induct Genosha as a UN nation! Over at the hospital, a healthy baby Nathan Summers is born, and I’m sure no comic book bullshit will endanger the child’s life at all. Scott trusts Xavier’s decisions enough that he’s ready for Magneto to lead the team while he and Jean leave for a more quiet life. But in a dark turn, Beast’s analysis of Storm reveals that her powers are most likely permanently gone. Jean swears she’ll stay with her soul sister, but Storm quietly leaves to find her new place in the world. Meanwhile, we learn that Magneto’s powers allow him and Rogue to touch skin-to-skin without her absorbing his powers and memories, only for Gambit to detect something between the two. And if that’s not enough drama, suddenly a woman shows up at the X-Men’s door, asking for their help. And it’s… Jean (Jennifer Hale)?! That’s one too many Jean Greys!
I’m going to save the history of Jean Grey and cloning for episode 3’s post, so let’s dive into the trial of Magneto. The master of magnetism was arrested in Uncanny X-Men #199 (1985) by the newly created Freedom Force, which was just Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants getting the government’s stamp of approval to apprehend dangerous mutants. Magneto surrenders, leading to the aforementioned issue #200 and the actual trial. Prosecution is led by Jim Jaspers–he’s a whole can of multiversal worms I don’t want to get into today–while defense are two of Magneto’s oldest friends, Gabrielle Haller (mother of Legion) and Charles Xavier, long before the world knew he was Professor X. Also involved are the Fenris twins–Andreas and Andrea Strucker, children of the Nazi Baron von Strucker–who want to kill Magneto, Haller, and Xavier to avenge their father. They’re also white supremacists and kind of incestuous, so there’s a lot going on there. While that’s happening, the X-Men and New Mutants had just come back from an adventure in Asgard and find themselves in Paris, which just so happens to be the location of the trial. Xavier tries to hide his ailing health from his students and orders the X-Men to protect the trial, which works out since mutant terrorists are trying to disrupt the whole thing. Some technical shenanigans involving Magneto having been deaged previously led to a reduction of the charges against him, but the main accusation is Magneto destroying a Soviet sub back in Uncanny X-Men #150 (1981). And like in this episode, Magneto is let off for saving the UN from the villains. Meanwhile, Madelyne Pryor gave birth in the X-Men kitchen, alone and with no help from her husband. Who the hell is Madelyne? Oh, we will absolutely talk about her next time.
Not as many overt Easter eggs, although Morph’s selections of forms is always a treat. This time he portrayed Lady Deathstrike, Colossus, and Psylocke to fight the X-Cutioner, and later Sabretooth to try and cheer up Wolverine by offering a friendly fight. Not as much worth mentioning this episode, but so it goes sometimes.
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Next: Episode 3
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