Probably one of the best virtues of the original animated series was how it mimicked the sprawling, storytelling style of Chris Claremont’s game changing story arcs. While a huge, overarching story may have been brewing, that didn’t stop the influential author from taking time out here and there to ensure every little corner of the X-Men universe was being addressed. Just because the uncanny mutants had barely gotten back from Battleworld, it didn’t mean that the author couldn’t throw in a little side story involving Colossus and Juggernaut getting into a little impromptu bar fight thanks to a mischevious Wolverine.
Yes, it meant that you had to wait a little longer to get the big picture, but it also created a world that was full, vibrant and had many different shades beyond simply thwarting Magneto for the fifteenth time. Well, with it’s second episode, X-Men ’97 second season once again does a little story hopping and temporary ditches the time traveling shenanigans the previous episode had already set up. Who could possibly justify such a switch? Try X-Force, bub.
Leaving the rest of the main X-Men team still stuck in their respective, Apocalypse-ruled, time periods, we take a quick time-slide to the present (aka. the 90s) to see what’s shaking after the world thought that the X-Men X-pired on the exploding Asteroid M. In the absence of the uncanny ones, Val Cooper now calls the shots with the government-sanctioned team of mutants named X-Factor who include Havok (Cyclops’ brother, Alex), Polaris (magnetic spawn of Magneto), the multiplying Multiple Man, were-girl Wolfsbane and the rather self explanatory Strong Guy.
Angered at the government once again trying to round up runaway mutants and incensed that former friends have signed up to do it, Jubilee ends up taking an offer from Cable to join X-Force, a mutant strike team that’s gearing up to take the fight to Apocalypse wherever he decides to show up next. Joining Jubilee in this team of determined ass-kickers is boyfriend Sunspot, sword swinging telepath Psylocke and former X-Man/former Horseman Archangel and after they manage to capture one of Apocalypse’s other acolytes, War, Jubilee gets a jarring example of how hard hitting X-Force is when they execute the henchman after the interrogation.
After a lead brings them to Emma Frost, the newly formed group finds themselves walking into a trap set by X-Factor, which allows Jubilee to angrily demand to know from Polaris why she’d turn on her own kind with government back up. Can her words sway her captor and can her new team manage to aid her escape and continue their mission? And in regards to the mutants still stuck in 3960 AD, isn’t time that they got their colourful butts back to the 90s and let Nathan Summers get back to becoming Cable?
While you could argue that “A Force To Be Reckoned With” cheekily disrupts the “A-plot” (A standing for Apocalypse, of course) by catching us up with the status quo of the 90s, the fact that the episode temporarily sidelines all the time travel stuff and takes the show back to it’s basics proves to be just what the doctor ordered thanks to the future shock of episode one. There’s no convoluted timelines here, no need to remember who is stuck in what timeline and why, and no grappling with the Summers impressively messy family tree; all you have to worry about is that once again there’s a team of badass mutants running around trying to save a world that hates and fears them. As palete cleansers go, it’s pretty great and I probably wouldn’t have minded it if this had actually been the first episode of the season (3960 AD coda excluded of course).
Not only is it the X-Men universe going back to its core mission, but we also let a few heavy hitters take a belated turn at the plate such as Psylocke (the visuals of her butterfly shaped telepath abilities are sublime) and the long suffering Archangel. However, arguably the most fun is how much the episode doubles down on making X-Force the main team by awesomely changing the entire opening credits sequence to feature them rather than the classic cast right down to including revamped greatest hits moments from the original series to truly sweeten the deal.
However, as awesome as this all is, it’s actually a kickass cover for us to get another Jubilee-themed episode. Before some of you roll your eyes at the news, it turns out to be a fantastically paced episode that sees her continue on her journey from moderately annoying Wolverine sidekick to a full-fledged hero, who can not only take on an entire team of armed guards on her own, but can stand up to injustice within her own team, even if it’s being instigated by someone as imposing as Cable. In fact, the callous execution of War is one of those frequent moments where X-Men ’97 springboards out of merely being colourful nostalgia and shows that it’s dead set on tackling far weightier themes. Even Archangel, a man who is living (albeit blue) proof that the influence of Apocalypse can be broken, is perfectly OK with the acolytes of their nemesis getting put down like dogs – it isn’t even in self-defence, the bowl-haired henchman is tied to a tree while he’s double-tapped by a rifle the size of a microwave.
Of course, from here, Jubilee eventually ends up on her own after some expected jiggery pokery from a double-dealing Emma Frost leads her to get captured by X-Factor, and it’s here that the character gets some major opportunities to show how much she’s truly grown. Obviously, her extended fight sequence is fantastic as the show once again displays its talents for making mutant abilities look awesomely fresh on-screen by taking those firework powers and finding innovative, offensive uses for them (having it set to “Volcano Girls” by Veruca Salt is a great touch), but the real meat here is having her talk Polaris round using the other lessons learnt during her time as an X-Man. Using reason, empathy and just outright goodness, she does Charles Xavier’s dream proud by appealing for decency before rescuing her fellow prisoners and bringing them into the moderately safe arms of an attacking X-Force.
While we end on a coda that sees Nathan Summers agree that it’s time to send his time-displaced parents (plus Wolverine, Storm and Morph) back to the 90s in order to combat the growing threat of Apocalypse, there’s a sizable gap in the story that still needs addressing – the 3000 BC adventures of Professor X, Magneto, Beast, Rogue and Nightcrawler. However, it’s testament to the storytelling and character work of the show that this detour concerning the maturing attitude of a teenage girl who can make flashy lights, proves to be just as exciting as a dystopian future ruled by an immortal Egyptian despot.
While other shows often tend to struggle with such potentially jarring story jumps that prioritise “smaller” arcs in favour of big ones, X-Men ’97 reminds us that in the world of mutants, there are no smaller arcs – not when they’re as well handled as this. With the next episode undoubtedly hurtling us back to 3000 BC to pick up that final, dangling thread, any answers we’ve been still yearning for will soon be addressed; but it’s to the show’s credit that waiting for it has been incredibly cool.
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