'The Gifted' Promo Finally Reveals Classic X-Men Villains

The latest episode of The Gifted dropped some major hints and teases about its connections to the X-Men, and next week it will go even further.

The promo for the eighth episode of the season, called "threat of eXtinction," shows a meeting between Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) and his mysterious father, recently revealed to be a former employee of Trask Industries.

Reed confronts his father Otto (guest star Raymond J. Barry), but the two end up talking about twins Andy and Lauren. After Otto learns what their abilities are, he shows his sons photos of his own father and aunt, hinting that they are descendants of Fenris. Check out the clip above.

Fenris is the comic book name of Andrea and Andreas von Strucker, who appear in the cast list on IMDB for the episode to be played by Paul Cooper and Caitlin Mehner, respectively. Those actors appear in the photos Otto shows Reed.

Otto tells Reed that Andy and Lauren have the same abilities as their grand grandfather and his sister, hinting that their powers are extremely dangerous.

"Protect them, son," Otto tells Reed. "Protect the world from them."

When Roderick Campbell debuted on the show earlier in the season, he heard of Andy and Lauren's abilities and immediately researched an old newspaper describing an attack by terrorist mutants who were twins.

Coupled with the last name "Strucker," these aren't mere coincidences. The Gifted is clearly going somewhere with these references, and it looks like it might pay off in a big way in this next episode.

Of course, they have some leeway with how faithful they remain to the comic books considering FOX probably cannot use Hydra or Baron von Strucker on the series. Both Hydra and Baron von Strucker were featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, showing up in both Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Agents of SHIELD.

The Gifted airs Mondays on FOX.