X-Men: The Animated Series Review – “Come The Apocalypse”
Previously on X-Men, we saw what X-Men: The Last Stand should have been: Dr. Adler’s “Cure” for mutants was just to brainwash mutants into being slaves of Apocalypse; Dr. Adler was actually just Mystique; and Cable showed up to mess up everyone’s lives and then disappear.
Not-So-Short Summary: We start where the last episode left off, with Dr. Adler and Angel talking about mutant-kind. Angel is excited to be normal; Dr. Adler mentions that his family has funded his study. As soon as Angel is strapped down and the “cure” is about to happen, Mystique reveals herself and laughs maniacally with Apocalypse showing up to see how things are going.
“I want to hear the cries of a future being born,” Apocalypse says as Angel screams.
We come into the bar from the last episode where dozens of impatient mutants wait for their cure. Brawls are starting, people are yelling, and Rogue wonders if she’ll ever get to drink a cup of coffee in peace. Professor X does his usual thing of explaining things, how these mutants have never learned how to live with their powers and react in a variety of ways.
All of the X-Men mull over how lucky they are until Angel bursts in, screaming how he’s been cured and showing everyone that he no longer has wings! Before a fight can break out between the X-Men and these needy mutants, the X-Men head home.
Of course, we come to find out this Warren Worthington claiming to be cured is just Mystique. Angel is now Archangel, one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse
(come on, Mister Sinister!)
. Apocalypse has a fun Jeff Winger-esque speech about purifying the world… it goes on for way too long, and the Horsemen are revealed–no Mister Sinister yet!
And we pan over to Gambit once again trying to get a kiss from Rogue. I’m starting to think he has a death wish. After all of the silly banter and pool games, we get news footage of peace talks in France. And then Apocalypse shows up to mess up everyone’s s#$t, throwing gargoyles at the crowd.
He takes on the army with his horsemen at his side (War has a Moe Howard haircut) and news cameras broadcasting everything to the world. Professor X claims his worst fears have been answered: it’s a mutant who has succumbed to the madness of his powers. It’s nothing like Magneto or the sentinels. He sends the X-Men to go counter Apocalypse while he sends Rogue to track down Archangel and see if the “cure” doesn’t have something to do with all this.
There’s a lot of “purification by fire” in the next montage. Rogue heads to Dr. Adler’s laboratory and when she doesn’t get answers out of him, she puts him in the contraption that will give him the cure until Mystique reveals herself.
She tells Rogue that there is no cure. It’s a brainwashing technique that makes the mutants hate everyone–mutants and humans–like Apocalypse does. And apparently, he has a secret command center buried under Stonehenge. As Rogue leaves to track it down, Mystique shoots her in the back and destroys the machine that brainwashed the mutants. Mystique runs. Rogue gets ticked.
The X-Men take on Pestilence in a crowded, very public square. The rest of the Horsemen show up to battle the X-Men. You know the drill–mutant fighting montage, epic music, all that jazz. In the meantime, Rogue makes it to Stonehenge where Apocalypse is waiting. He goads Rogue by saying she could have been the first, the best of his new breed, but now she’s just a weak mutant and corrupted by those who want peace.
It’s lucky for Rogue that the Horsemen show up claiming defeat by the X-Men… with the X-Men showing up just behind them, shooting Apocalypse in the chest. (It doesn’t really do anything.) There’s another fighting montage between the X-Men and the Horsemen; in the end, Rogue takes off her gloves and absorbs the evil, brainwashed part of Archangel’s mind.
Apocalypse retreats to his base underneath Stonehenge (which turns out to be a spaceship, so he flies off into oblivion) but not before telling the X-Men that they are merely delaying the inevitable.
Badass Moment of the Week: Apocalypse throwing gargoyles at the crowd at the World Peace Conference. Because when you’re a big baddie talking about the extinction of humans and mutants alike, you want to do something impressive like throwing gargoyles.
Best One-Liner: “Gambit, the term ‘rec room’ does not mean that you must wreck it,” says Storm as Gambit wants to explode things.
Follow-up One-Liner: “You can drain my energy anytime, Chere,” purrs Gambit. Man, I did not realize how innuendo-y and kind of creepy Gambit is.
If this week’s review seems a little jumbled, I apologize. I had to stream this one online because I was working remotely and the audio/video were definitely not in sync.
In case you couldn’t tell by now, I have a weird obsession with Apocalypse. Why? I really can’t tell you. Maybe it’s just because my brothers had one of those big action figures of him that we all used to play with (plus Gambit, Bishop, Venom, and a Sentinel as well).
Speaking of Apocalypse, he does a lot of monologues. Evil monologues. Is that a stipulation when you’re an all-powerful bad guy? Ronan has a couple different speeches like that, Loki tries his hand at it (though he lacks conviction), and let’s not even start on the Mandarin/Trevor Slattery. And that’s just focusing on the Marvel movies.
Cyclops has always been a bit of a jerk. There’s a line in Guardians of the Galaxy about not believing someone can be “one-hundred percent a dick,” but if it’s possible, I’m pretty sure it’s Scott Summers. Movies, TV shows, comics, he’s always got an attitude.
Come back next week when we get to start one of my favorite story arcs of this series: Days of Future Past! I’m sure it will be exactly like the film, right? …Right?