‘X-Men ‘97’ Episode Nine Recap: “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 2”

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for episode nine of X-Men ‘97. 

Man, oh, man, how does X-Men ’97 keep getting better with each episode? It’s crazy how good this show is, and it continues its momentum with the second part of its finale, Tolerance is Extinction. And after so many twists and turns (and incredible cameos) no one saw coming, director Emi-Emmett Yonemura and writer Anthony Sellitti have far more in store this week that will blow all of our minds before it gets obliterated next week.

After Magneto (Matthew Waterson) shut down Bastion’s (Theo James) Prime Sentinels, the former X-Men leader is waging war against mutants and humans and begins establishing his homeworld on Asteroid M again. Magneto has been (once again) disillusioned by the idea of mutant/human coexistence, which Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) supports and wants to continue fighting for, and invites the X-Men to join him on his quest for mutant domination.

While most of the X-Men refuse and would rather take their side with Xavier, despite him faking his death to elope with Lilandra and the Sh’iar, Rogue (Lenore Zann) and Roberto (Gui Augustini) join Magneto in the hopes they will prevent another event like the attack on Genosha from ever occurring again. The remaining X-Men form a plan to take down both Bastion and Magneto, who threaten mutant/human existence, with Cyclops (Ray Chase) and his blue team directly going to Asteroid M while Jean (Jennifer Hale) and her gold team taking down Bastion in the Galapagos Islands.

Meanwhile, Beast (George Buza) and Forge (Gil Birmingham) attempt to create a collar that will block Bastion’s technopathic powers, just as Forge’s body can’t be controlled by Bastion or shut down by anyone else. The rest of the episode is a parallel montage of both teams attempting their plan and unsuccessfully completing it.

Of course, this was expected since a cliffhanger is necessary to get audiences to watch the third part, but the extent to which they fail is astonishing. Before that, Morph (JP Karliak) surprisingly transforms into the Hulk, leading the episode’s incredibly fast-paced climax with a totally unexpected appearance from a Marvel veteran. It makes total sense because it’s Morph, but the character has traditionally (only) transformed into other mutants in The Animated Series and in ’97…until now.

Since Marvel Studios now owns the X-Men, they can do whatever they want! This is a brilliant example of how the sandbox is utilized in a way that never feels egregious but incredibly exciting for the viewer to have their minds blown at the sight of a character who’s never had their time to shine in the original series completely stealing the show.

On Bastion’s lair, Jean attempts to take down Bastion’s sentinels, but Cable (Chris Potter) becomes possessed by Mister Sinister’s (Christopher Britton) body and seemingly overpowers her before the episode cuts to a rough fight between Wolverine (Cal Dodd) and Magneto, as the X-Men’s allegiances are more tested than ever. After throwing a punch, Roberto apologizes to Jubilee (Holly Chou), but she doesn’t forgive him for switching sides.

Xavier tells Logan to grab Magneto’s helmet so he can control his mind but fails to do so, as Xavier attempts to overpower him before he gets trapped in a device Magneto creates with his powers. Wolverine then stabs Magneto in the heart, thinking that he’s won the battle…until Erik rips Logan’s adamantium claws out of him, finishing the episode with one of the most potent images this franchise has seen in a very long time.

What will happen now? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. And as much as I’ve theorized plenty of stuff for various shows since the time I’ve been doing recaps for this website, I couldn’t for the life of me attempt to speculate what’ll happen and wonder who died and who’s alive since the showrunners have been subverting initial expectations since its first episode. Only one is left, which I’m sure will be one of X-Men‘s greatest-ever storylines coming to a close before season two eventually releases.

The ninth episode of X-Men ’97 is now available to stream on Disney+.