Marvel’s new X-Men ’97 prelude confirms a major X-Men supervillain team ahead of Season 2. The X-Men ’97 Season 2 trailer confirmed the show’s epic scale, with an expanding roster of mutants (and even a few non-mutants, too). The X-Men have been scattered across time and space, and other mutant teams are desperately trying to pick up the slack. But new threats loom as well; the trailer showed Nightcrawler dueling with Exodus, a powerful mutant who is tied to Magneto in the comics.
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Marvel Comics has published an official prologue to this next season; X-Men ’97 Season 2 #1, by Steve Foxe and Salva Espin. Set between the two seasons, this explores the ’90s without the X-Men; think of it like a game of chess, with this being the story of how the pieces were put in place for the game. Most excitingly, the comic confirms Exodus is performing a similar role to the comics; he’s reforming a group known as the Acolytes. That could easily turn them into some of the X-Men’s most horrific foes.
Who Are the Acolytes, Magneto’s Most Dangerous Supervillain Team?
Introduced in the ’90s (when else?), the Acolytes were essentially a more brutal version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. A first wave formed in X-Men ’97 Season 1, but this second genesis – involving Exodus – is far more dangerous. These Acolytes followed Magneto’s dream of mutant supremacy to the most horrific extreme, launching attacks on “flatscan” (non-mutant) targets. In one, they attacked a schoolbus to retrieve what they thought was a new mutant; discovering it was a person with a disability, they lost all interest and tried to kill all the children. The Acolytes are essentially Magneto followers who have pushed his teachings to the most evil extremes imaginable.
They’re also deeply religious, considering Magneto a Messiah and Exodus – an Omega level telepath and telekinetic – to be his prophet. The X-Men ’97 Season 2 trailer confirmed Exodus’ role, setting up a battle of faith between Exodus and Nightcrawler; both are Catholics by background, but Kurt Wagner believes in the X-Men rather than Magneto. It looks as though Exodus will play a major role in X-Men ’97 Season 2, likely making one of the show’s most important mutant characters.
Marvel is riffing on the comics in the best possible way. In the original comics, Exodus became leader of the Acolytes after Magneto was believed dead; he subsequently wound up caring for the comatose Magneto after his mind was wiped by Professor X in “Fatal Attractions.” X-Men ’97 Season 1 gave its own version of “Fatal Attractions” (complete with Magneto tearing the adamantium from Wolverine’s skeleton), and now Magneto is lost, believed dead. The symmetry is absolutely perfect, and the time is ripe for Exodus’ rise to power.
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