X-Men: The Animated Series ran from 1992 to 1997, with five seasons following a sensible formula. Each season had multi-episode arcs adapting popular comic book storylines such as “The Phoenix Saga”, “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past” with character-driven episodes interspersed throughout. “Repo Man” shed light on Wolverine’s past with the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, “X-Ternally Yours” revealed Gambit’s backstory, and “Cold Comfort” revealed what original team member Iceman had been up to during the series. The first four seasons were known for great animation, and there’s a noticeable dip in quality and style when comparing the fifth season to the first four.
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Because of this, audiences are more likely to watch and rewatch seasons one through four more often than season five, leaving the episodes that aired in 1996 and 1997 in the dust. This wasn’t to say there weren’t any gems that season. The two-part “Phalanx Covenant” introduced the Phalanx and popular comic book character Warlock, “Descent” revealed the origin of Mr. Sinister, and “Old Soldiers” showed a team-up between Wolverine and Captain America during World War II. On September 21st, 1996, X-Men: The Animated Series aired an episode called “No Mutant is an Island”, an episode that centered around Cyclops.
“No Mutant is an Island”, when it originally aired, was jarring. The episode takes place right after Jean’s funeral, a character who was alive in season five, and shows Cyclops dealing with grief. The episode was meant to air two years earlier, when Jean was believed dead, and when Cyclops quitting the X-Men because of it would’ve made sense. Instead, the episode aired and created a huge continuity error.
“No Mutant is an Island”, but the Episode Sure Was
The bulk of Season 3 of X-Men: The Animated Series devoted itself to Jean Grey and the Phoenix. Out of the season’s 19 episodes, nine were part of the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Saga, and when counting “No Mutant is an Island” as part of Season 3, that number is brought up to ten.
In the intended ordering by the series’ creators, and as it stands for streaming, “No Mutant is an Island” follows the last part of the first Phoenix saga. To save the universe, Jean has to hide the M’Kraan crystal in the sun. While Xavier is certain that Phoenix will be reborn and come back to them, Cyclops is less sure. To him, Jean is dead, and it was the work with the X-Men that killed her. When placed as season 3, episode 8, the episode slots between “The Phoenix Saga, Part Five – Child of Light” and “Savage Land, Savage Heart: Part One”. This placement makes sense. It gives Jean a proper funeral — without the episode, it felt like the X-Men had moved on and didn’t care that a member of their team was dead — and gives Cyclops time to grieve.
Like most backstory and character-driven episodes, Cyclops is on his own for the most part. After falling out with Xavier and throwing his uniform at the man’s feet, Cyclops decides to return to the orphanage he grew up in. Contemporary audiences might ask why this orphanage had never been brought up previously, but the story was in line with other backstory episodes like “X-Ternally Yours” where the past didn’t exist until it was suddenly relevant again.
The orphanage Cyclops grew up in is near bankruptcy, run now by Zebediah Kilgrave — known to fans of Jessica Drew as the Purple Man. Kilgrave, in a dark inverse of Xavier’s role in the animated series, has adopted mutant teenagers and brainwashed them into anti-human soldiers, ready to incite a civil war between mutants and humans. Cyclops comes to the aid of Sarah and helps free the teenagers and regains his belief in the mutant cause by the end of the episode. As with most backstory episodes, the explored character is back with the X-Men by the end. Notably, “No Mutant is an Island” included the first appearances of New Mutants and X-Factor favorites such as Rusty Collins, Skids, Boom Boom, and Wiz Kid.
As far as X-Men backstory episodes go, “No Mutant is an Island” is a solid episode, worth the watch, especially in the right context. The animation is better than expected, given the decrease in animation quality between the fourth and fifth seasons. When looking at the fifth season as a whole, “No Mutant is an Island” is actually part of a larger trend. The fifth season was made up of episodes intended to air during season three or four, but that had to be redone by the animation studio. They then aired based on when they were completed, which was no doubt confusing to fans at the time. Imagine watching a funeral for Jean Grey when only two episodes before she was alive and well, acting as part of the team during the “Phalanx Covenant” two-parter.
Did you know about the late airing of certain X-Men: The Animated Series episodes? What other continuity errors have you come across in the series? Let us know in the comments below!
