X-Men ’97 Recap with Spoilers: “Tolerance Is Extinction — Part 1”

X-Men ’97 is racing towards its Season 1 finale, after taking Marvel fans on quite the proverbial roller coaster over the past few months. The first portion of the season’s final storyline, “Tolerance Is Extinction”, began with this week’s episode — and it definitely provided a major flashpoint for the team going forward. If you need help unpacking everything that just happened in the latest episode of X-Men ’97, we’re here to help.

Obviously, spoilers for Episode 8 of X-Men ’97, “Tolerance Is Extinction — Part 1”, below! Only look if you want to know!

What Happens in X-Men ’97: “Tolerance Is Extinction — Part 1”?

Cyclops worries about how to handle Cable’s arrival, and about whether or not he failed him as a father. Cable teaches the X-Men about Bastion, and how he created the Prime Sentinels with the Techno-Organic Virus in an attempt to create a new race. As Cable reveals, any surviving mutants in his future were put to work, and he is unable to stay in the time and place of the Genosha massacre long enough to stop it. Beast argues that the massacre is a fixed point in the timeline. Cable and Cyclops bicker about how to handle Bastion, but are interrupted by the news that Charles’ survival has been made public. 

Jean tries to help repair Rogue’s mind. Nightcrawler and Jean bond over Madelyne, as Jean argues that she and Madelyne share the emotions around each other’s memories. Nightcrawler tells her of his and Rogue’s relationship as siblings, and argues that family can be found outside of blood relatives. 

Val Cooper finds Mister Sinister, who is holding Magneto hostage. She apologizes for the role she had in the massacre. Bastion monologues to her about his role in Genosha, as he knew it would help topple humanity’s feelings towards mutants. From video screens, Doctor Doom and Zemo voice their opinions on Bastion’s launch of the Sentinel program. Bastion shows Val Operation Zero Tolerance — experiments that infect mutant-hating humans with the Techno-Organic Virus. While these humans are brainwashed not to remember their infection, they are able to be activated at a moment’s notice. 

Jean, Cyclops, and Cable travel to a town — more specifically, Bastion’s hometown. They visit his childhood home and are greeted by his mother. She praises her son’s art skills — including a rendering of the Sentinels attacking the X-Men. Jean is able to sense Bastion’s origin story — his dad was infected with Nimrod’s Sentinel technology, which led to his birth as a Sentinel-human hybrid. Bastion’s mom is activated as a Sentinel, as is the entire population of the town. They begin to flee, but the Blackbird is swarmed with them, so they crash the plane and use a car in the back of the ship to escape. Jean telepathically drives the car through the horde of Sentinels, as Gambit and Cyclops fend them off. 

Trish Tilby visits Beast to apologize, but is ultimately awoken as a Sentinel, along with numbers of civilians across the globe. She and a handful of other Sentinels begin destroying the X-Mansion, as Wolverine, Morph, and Nightcrawler (armed with swords) fight them off. 

Roberto and Jubilee stay with Roberto’s mom, who is throwing a benefit for Genosha, but still disagrees about the topic of mutants. At the mall, Jubilee suits up in a version of her black costume, before Roberto’s butler is activated as a Sentinel and they need to flee to escape. Roberto flies through the city as they try to outrun Sentinels. They crash into Roberto’s mom’s gala, where she instructs him to listen to the Sentinels.

Bastion visits the mansion, now ablaze, only to learn that Val let Magneto escape. He teleports back to his lair, where Val tells him the cultural apathy around Genosha helped her realize that Magneto is right. Magneto flies to the North Pole and uses his powers to send shockwaves throughout the world, disabling the Sentinels. Spider-Man, Silver Samurai, Omega Red, and more are shown reacting to the blackout. 

Charles finally arrives at the mansion and sends out a distress call to all of the X-Men.

New episodes of X-Men ’97 debut on Wednesdays exclusively on Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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