X-Men ’97 Showrunner Confirms SPOILER Has Secretly Appeared in Nearly Every Episode

We’re nearing the final arc of the first season of X-Men ’97, and the Marvel Animation series absolutely isn’t pulling any punches. The final minutes of this week’s episode, “Bright Eyes”, finally pulled back the proverbial curtain on who the season’s main villain has been. As it turns out, Sebastion Gilberti / Bastion (Theo James) has been orchestrating a number of conflicts against the X-Men, including the deadly massacre on Genosha midway through the series. As showrunner Beau DeMayo confirmed on social media shortly after the episode aired, Bastion’s involvement on X-Men ’97 certainly wasn’t limited to Episode 7, as he has apparently been hiding in plain sight in nearly every installment of the show thus far.

“Bastion has been manipulating things all along, and thus has been in every episode except for Ep. 3,” DeMayo’s posts read. “Can you find him? Correction: except 3 (although he is HEAVILY referenced by Sinister) and Episode 6. I just had my morning coffee and can’t count.The real prize is who can find him in episode 1.”

Who Is Marvel’s Bastion?

Created by Scott Lobdell and Pascual Ferry, Bastion made his debut in 1996’s X-Men #52. Initially, Bastion was established as an anti-mutant businessman and entrepreneur, connected to the globe-spanning strike force Operation: Zero Tolerance (or OZT, as teased throughout “Bright Eyes”). The team eventually learns that Bastion was actually the human regeneration of the super-powerful Sentinels Master Mold and Nimrod, who was given a human body after stepping through the Siege Perilous in a fight with the X-Men. While that ordeal initially wiped his memories and his abilities, he eventually grew to hate mutants and begin the cycle of violence X-Men ’97 seems to be teasing.

In the years to follow, Bastion served under the moniker of Template, and became a major player in the X-Men: Second Coming and X-Men: Blue storylines.

What Is X-Men ’97 About?

Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.

The voice cast of X-Men ’97 includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler. Beau DeMayo served as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura, and the series is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo.

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.