Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff

[00:00:00] friends! Welcome to Charlie and Steve Watch Stuff, and today we are watching X Men 97. You heard that right, we're taking a little bit of a break from Batman the Animated Series, and we're gonna switch gears into a show that is not airing in the early 1990s. It is airing right now. Right the frick now and Charlie and I are really, really excited to be diving into a little X Men 97 in your brain spaces.

So Charlie, I know that this is like a huge deal for you. The, I think if you could put X Men in like your top IPs of nerd culture, dumb, it's top two and an eight too, as certain hip hop artists would say. So I, I give the floor to you to tell us about why you love the X Men so much and why you're so excited to dig into the show.

Yeah, I was the right age for the X Men, and I say that as I hold my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers tea mug. Power Rangers came out in the early to mid 90s, X Men came out in the early to mid [00:01:00] 90s, and what I love about those things is that as soon as I hear that theme song, that da na na na na na na, I'm reminded of Saturday morning, eating a big bowl of cereal when life was super simple.

It really takes me back. But also, those franchises, particularly X Men, has such a rich history and depth to it that as an adult, I really appreciate, particularly as an adult who is in the storytelling industry, like, the cli The Chris Claremont era of those comic books with Jim Lee's art really, really did a lot for those characters.

And those are some stories that we're going to see woven into X Men 97 that I'm so, so excited to talk about. We, we had to switch over. It's only 10 episodes. We're doing it for you. We're doing it for the kids.

I was super excited to make this switch over. I also took in that old X Men animated series and, and we'll talk [00:02:00] about this down the line, but the vibes are just so fricking on point from the opening montage that the intro, I saw a great meme where it's like, Have you seen the Chick fil A sauce girl?

I know, fuck Chick fil A because they're homophobic pieces of shit. But have you, have you seen the, the, the meme of like the girl being like, like doing like the crazy looking like you're, you want what? You want no sauce face? It's like that when people skip the X Men 97 intro. It's like, you do what? You hit skip intro on that?

Why would you ever hit skip intro on that? It's iconic, we're excited to come back, and it's, it's absolutely firing on all cylinders right from the start. So I'm, I'm so happy to have some good X Men back in my life. It's been far too long. And so, I mean, unless there's anything else you want to talk about, let's Let's just jump right into the main event, the X Men 97 of it all.

We're going to get into this. We're going to do both episodes that have released that are currently available on Disney plus. We're going to cover to me, my X Men and Mutant Liberation Begins. And we're going to jump right in with that first episode to me, my X Men, the titular line of the show. From the old series.

And we get one of [00:03:00] those moments later on in, in the episode, which I guess spoilers, but if you're here, you've watched it, obviously it was released on March 20th, 2024, just a couple of days before we're recording this episode. It was written by Bo DiMaio and directed by Jake Castorena. And the plot of the episode is Cyclops races to find the source of new anti mutant technology that threatens to upset the world. Mutant human relations. His search leads them to an unexpected reunion with an old foe, even as the X Men welcome a new addition to the team. And Charlie, it's, it's all yours.

Take us through the plot, my friend.

Alright, and I'm not gonna skip intro to get to the plot. So we are gonna talk about this intro for a second because It's fundamentally the same with several changes to it. And what I like about it is that They've remained true to the animation, while at the same time, you can tell that the budget is higher.

And one of the biggest [00:04:00] tells that the budget is higher is, you know that moment in the credits where Rogue grabs a sentinel and flips it over onto the ground from the original show? So They actually pan in on her facial expression for this new intro and that's taken from the 1990s storyboard art of the show, but they couldn't afford to pan in on her facial expression back then.

But now they've taken something new, they've elevated it, and I think that that is the motto for X Men 97. Take what's old, elevate it, and just make it work for the audiences that grew up with it. A few And I know that we're not covering Batman right now, but I'm still gonna call them Riddler trophies because what have you.

A few Riddler trophies for everybody. In the original show, Morph and Bishop didn't have title cards in the sequence, but now Morph has a card between Rogue and Beast, [00:05:00] and Bishop has a card between Jubilee and Professor X. Bishop showed up in the original show in Season 1, he was coming back in time to stop Gambit, who he believed was going to Perform an assassination of a US official, but he turned out to be proven wrong, so that's how Bishop was brought into the world of the X Men.

Morph was allegedly assassinated in Night of the Sentinels, the first episode of Season 1. But that turned out to be this big ruse created by Mr. Sinister, who Morph was manipulated by behind the scenes. that image of Morph shooting at that figure in the darkness, that's Mr. Sinister, who I believe is going to be showing up later this season.

And Mr. Sinister is A very old mutant who's obsessed with the DNA of Cyclops in Jean Grey, and I don't think that it's accidental that Jean Grey is pregnant in this, and I will [00:06:00] leave that there. I'm not gonna get into the comic book art that I think that this is gonna go into, but I digress. Something else really interesting in this opening sequence is that the Brotherhood is composed of Juggernaut.

Emma Frost, Lady Deathstrike, Pyro, Mystique, Sabretooth, Avalanche, and Magneto. This was changed from the original series. I don't believe that Emma Frost was in the original lineup for the intro. Originally, it was War Warpath, who's the brother of Jon Proudstar, otherwise known as Thunderbird. Thunderbird first appeared in Giant Size X Men in the 1970s, which saw one of the first appearances of My Girl Storm.

It introduced Wolverine, Banji, Nightcrawler, Sunfire, so many classic X Men after Cyclops needed to get the new team to save the old team from being kidnapped. So, [00:07:00] Warpath was going to be part of the Brotherhood because his brother Thunderbird was going to be killed in one of the X Men's rescue missions for the original team.

So Warpath was going to be a villain, that's why he's in the intro. But what most people don't know is that they switched Warpath out for Morph, which I think was a great idea because Morph brings so much comic relief and so much lightness and so much personality and depth and Is just such a non binary badass, which I love that that's making people so upset.

We're gonna talk about that, Yeah, those are all those Riddler

who hates Woke needs to stay far away

Anyone who hates

they also forgot exactly what the old show was like, too. Or the fact that X Men was literally based in the Civil Rights Movement, so it's fine. Everything's fine for everybody,

Oh my god. The people who hate the term I just hate how the term woke has been co opted by the far right. It's so annoying. It I hate saying it now too. [00:08:00] It just feels like bleh, woke. so digging into the plot of the episode, we open on the skyline of New York City, and right away, Steve, I don't know if you noticed this, you see the Twin Towers in the skyline of New York City, and as a, yeah, did you catch

Yeah, I didn't catch it, but good call. I mean, 8 Tracks, 97. They'd still be there.

They'd still be there, and it was just like, oh shit, whoa, This is back in the 90s, but I feel like a lot of these themes we're seeing echoed in current events today. So this show, I have to constantly remind myself, oh yeah, this is the 90s, cause it could be today.

Particularly with the shoutout to the insurrection that happens in episode 2. But when we get there, we'll talk about that, cause I got shit to say! Alright!

stopped January 6th.

They did, they stopped 1 6. [00:09:00] Alright, so we open on a warehouse. An anti mutant group, the Friends of Humanity, kidnap Da Costa for an unknown boss.

This boss wants to use Roberto and other mutants for practice. Roberto says, name a price. Any price. I'm one of the good ones. This follows Roberto's comic book origin. He first appeared in New Mutants number 4 in September 1982. He's the son of a wealthy Afro Brazilian businessman, Emmanuel da Costa, who pushes him to excellence.

This could explain why Roberto is reluctant to challenge the status quo. Because he's part of the 1%. He's rich, bitch. Steve, what did you think of Roberto?

I just spent my whole time just like wanting to know what his power was cause he holds it back until the very end of the episode. So I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, yes, you're rich. You're trying not to get involved. You just want to go back home to your comforts, whatever. Like, what can you do? And I think, and, and I love, [00:10:00] I'm already, I'm loving all of your comics, information codex stuff that you're, you're pulling out right here, cause it's just adding so much reference to all of this, where I'm not, It's not that I'm like, not a comics guy, but I just like, didn't take them in like a lot of people who love these shows do, like, I love these shows because I find these shows really great and really fun, so I was sitting here being like, okay, what can this kid do, and maybe let's see how he, like, decides to get involved with things but I, I'm, I'm loving all of this extra, like, oh yeah, this kid's existed before, we kind of already know what his arc is gonna be like, so, this is really cool to see the parallels, so, yeah, let's let's see what this kid can do.

Let's dig in, BB. Alright, so We hear lightning, the breath of a few of the guards starts to crystallize in front of their face, and we pop wide to reveal Storm, floating through the windows, she's calling the weather down, and honestly, Steve, when I was a kid, I thought that [00:11:00] Storm speaking The forecast was so corny, I thought it was so stupid, and I was so glad that other versions of the character didn't do it.

I just like when she kinda quietly throws the weather around without speaking it. But, from a fan perspective, I think that Storm has to say what she's gonna do weather wise, cause it helps her maintain control. And maybe that's her way of, this is a lot of awesome, overwhelming power, maybe if I tell it what to do, and if I speak to it like it's a friend, I'll have an easier time just moving things around.

But yeah, this, this entrance,

and this fight scene, what did you think of this fight scene? My boy Cyclops gets in there.

I, this is the part where I formally apologize to my friend Keith because he's a huge X Men fan and I constantly joke with him that, like, Cops is a bitch because of how he [00:12:00] went, because of how he went out sad in the movies, like in the live action movies where he just, like, Gets kissed to death by Jean Grey.

Spoilers for the X Men 3, I guess. Or X3, whatever the hell that one's called. The last, the last stand where

should've been,

it should've been the last stand. It should've been. Hehehehe.

alright, we don't have to get into the plastic guns of it all. But this is, I couldn't agree with you.

I'm gonna rewind quickly back to a point that you made earlier where this is, where I'm watching this kind of in awe, being like this somehow feels like the old show but with Little modern tweaks that takes the animation to, like, the next level. I just felt like they were and even in the next episode after this, I'll the beginning scene, just there are certain moments where you can tell, like, some of that shit just never would have happened in 97, the way that they showed it, the way that they animated it. Cyclops using the beam to slow his descent to the ground and to move himself around the room. That shit was crazy. So, like Apologies to Keith, apologies to Cyclops. [00:13:00] You're, you're good in this show. You've got it going on for sure. He can handle himself.

Yeah, yeah, and little known fact, so many people think that Cyclops is emitting blast of heat or plasma from his eyes. No, those are actually concussive blasts with the force of TNT behind them. and another consequence of Cyclops's powers is that he has an innate understanding of spatial mathematics.

So he'll look at a room and he'll know at which angle and to which degree to fire an optic blast to make it bounce off the wall and to hit people at a different angle. So for him to be able to use it to move himself around and for it to enhance his agility is genius and also shows that Bo DeMille did his homework and knows these characters.

So gonna lift a toast to the writing of this episode.

Lift a Power Rangers mug

Lift, lift a Power Rangers mug.

[00:14:00] And just to quickly bounce off of what you just said there, if you, if you don't stick around for the end credits. I highly recommend that you go back and watch the end credits because they break down each character with facts like that. The fact that he emits concussive blasts as

beams from that visor is what it says and it kind of goes through all of them like you're picking your character from that old X Men arcade game that you used to, you know, you know what I'm talking

Oh, for

side scrolling X Men arcade game.

The next time you come here, there's a bar in the castro that has it that we can go

Yes, I know which one you're talking about. I know

Yes, we're there. But yeah, so I 100 percent agree, and go back and definitely if you're going back to watch these episodes, make sure you stick around for the end credits, because you get that cool, like, again, retro, but feeling advanced.

Yeah I mean, it's it's killing it on every on every single angle

It's so good. It's so good. Even his little, I surrender, not, and just, which is so fucking 90s. Like, that took me back to, okay, I, I feel the 97. In [00:15:00] that line, but, but it's earned because Cyclops said something similar, and I believe Night of the Sentinels Part 1 or Part 2 back in 1992, the original series, where he said something to a similar effect to a sentinel before pulling off his glasses and blasting them back, so it's character work, it's paying homage, it's doing all the things, so we cut to The X Mansion.

Charles Xavier has been dead for, for a year the last episode of the show, Season 5, Graduation Day, shows Charles being taken off to be taken care of by one of his former loves, while Magneto makes a sacrifice to save Charles. He has a chance to start a world war, to really At the humans for how they've been treating mutants.

But the X-Men say, okay, you can do [00:16:00] that, or you can help us get Charles the care that he needs to be taken care of. You know? So Charles isn't dead per se. He's somewhere else getting treatment, but they're treating it as if he's already gone because that's as big of a hole as he makes in yak men's lives.

He's their leader. He's like, MLK. So, Scott's not handling it well, but Rogue, Gambit, and Morph are like, Hey, we gotta live our lives. That's what Charles would've wanted. Here is a Steve, what were they making? it Beignets. Yeah, they were making beignets.

bad news. Yeah.

Yeah.

getting that, that, Lou that down home Louisiana charm.

That

was terrible.

Ahahahahaha! Yeah, yeah. So they're making beignets, Gambit is looking hot in a crop top and is like, Hey,

Fucking, I love Gambit, dude.

He was my favorite when I was a kid. I wanted to be Gambit so bad.

He's the best. He's the best. You still can be. You are Gambit.

Get me a bit get me a bo staff right[00:17:00]

Absolutely. And grow the hair out again and just make it a ponytail and just make

Done and done. Wear this can I wear my, like, no shirt overalls? Like, show that as you said, from all of us strangers, show that V a little

Oh my

know, Gambit's showing that V, for sure.

I mean, if you're working overtime at the gym, I think you should show that V. Like, I'm trying to live my life like a 90's illustrator drew my body for a comic book. Like, that's how I want to live my life. That's why I have the wardrobe choices that I have.

Can we if we're gonna talk about animated hotness, can we talk about how fucking hot Jean Grey looked as a pregnant woman?

Really? Go in.

oh, dude. She can work She she was at one point, she was just like, belly was out, popping those hips, and dude. I I can I can hear shout out to Jomi Adinaron.

I I can already feel Jomi Adinaron from the Midnight Boys, like, keeling over in his seat, seeing a pregnant Jean Grey looking that hot. But, shit, man. That's I mean, shout out to the animation team. They knew what they were doing.

They knew what they were doing, oh [00:18:00] man, like, I also love

Everyone looks so

everyone looks hot, like, it's the X Men, you have to, it's pretty much a soap opera with a bunch of hormonal, chosen family that lives under the same roof with superpowers, I think it's great, they're struggling to figure out where they are without Charles, then we cut to the sub basement, Sunspot wakes up in the medbay of the subbasement. Beast's introduction here is great. He's always been a gentleman and a scholar. We get to see him hanging upside down, as it should be in the universe.

Jubilee's all up in Sunspot's face. She's like, what's your power? What's your d Deal what's good and I love this because it's jubilee having a full circle moment from how she first got started bringing in her youth and showing her as a more mature x man at this point. Yeah

the girl that asks you what your horoscope sign is at the bar, by the way. She 100 percent asks you what your sign is and takes it very [00:19:00] seriously.

Oh, oh my god, she wants to know that yes, and she wants to know your entire chart she doesn't

wants to know your birth date and time. She's

the girl your mom says to run away from when you ask her that

ha ha ha ha She If you were Gambit, she'd be like, Steve, so when can I look at your birth certificate?

Alright, so Cyclops and Storm are worried that Sunspot's life is in danger. They're also concerned because the Friends of Humanity have Sentinel technology. And the last time that they encountered Sentinel Trask. Bolivar Trask appeared in the original 1960s run of X Men comics as the inventor of Sentinel.

Sentinels are anti mutant robots who go about detecting mutant DNA, they hunt them down, but now that mutant human relations have improved, the sentinel program has been discontinued. So to see these weapons out there kinda makes Cyclops go, Hmm, maybe things aren't as rosy as they appear. But yeah, what do you think [00:20:00] of all these character dynamics so far, Steve?

It was just humming on all cylinders, like, right away. I felt like it was so effortless, just to kind of And I mean, this is, once again, I feel like this is another situation where you've returned to the X Men animated series pretty often, and I haven't really since the 90s. But to somehow just kind of like, I'm all about vibes, man.

Like to just kind of get the vibes right, right from the start to get everyone's character, like in a place clearly defines and going in a direction for all of them. Literally all of them is really hard to do

Mhm.

And to like, kind of have it all sort of track and make sense and be compelling all at the same time with like a lot of webs to weave, that's kind of like, Masterclass level shit, in my opinion.

servicing every character, and every

Absolutely.

such a distinct voice. It's [00:21:00] so wild. Like, you could erase the name off the script and just see the dialogue and you'd be able to fill in the

You would know.

would fucking know. It's so great, it's so great. So, Sunspot is still so so on staying, then Wolverine scares the shit out of him in the Danger Room,

which I thought was a great introduction.

was so good. Yeah,

a perfect way to introduce him, honestly. And I knew it right away, I was like, oh no, that's actually him.

that's actually

And so he's like, okay, you can turn this off now, and then he's the only one there, and I was like, yeah, yeah it

is.

actually him. That's actually fucking him.

I want to know what you think about this. I've, I've, I guess I'm too online, but I've been seeing a lot of like retweets and discourse about the show. And I saw someone say something to the extent of watching Wolverine and X Men 97 is watching Beyonce and Destiny's Child.

Oh my god, I don't feel that way about watching Wolverine in X Men 97. I feel that way about [00:22:00] watching Storm in X Men 97 because Storm is definitely, I'm going to be real and the people who listen to this podcast might come for me. This isn't my favorite version of Wolverine. I wouldn't consider this my Wolverine.

My top Wolverine is the one in X Men Evolution. I am a huge

do love that

I love X Men Evolution so much, but if X Men 97 keeps going the way that it is, X Men Evolution is gonna be knocked off its throne, and X Men 97 is gonna be put on it, because

Great start.

Yeah, X Men 97 is just It's doing all of the great character work that Evolution did, but Evolution's character work can't touch 97 because 97, it's for adults.

It is for adults. Like, this show fucks, and it's clear that the characters, it totally is. It's for grown

yeah, Gene's pregnant.

I [00:23:00] know! It really does! It really does! It's such a, it's such a great, great reintroduction.

show fucks.

really does. It really does. It'll

the the ones who you expect the least are getting down. So,

they really

spoilers for the next episode.

But as we move on, Charles and Gene speak to one of their contacts at the UN, Valerie Cooper. She's on the treadmill. They're talking to her and Valerie says that Bulvertrask is nowhere to be found. They don't know where he is, but they also don't believe that the Sentinel program would be reinstated without them knowing anything about it.

Cyclops isn't too sure about the Sentinels no longer being on the streets, so he breaks the team up. One team goes after Sunspot because Wolverine scared the shit out of him, so Sunspot is no longer at the mansion. So, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Morph, and [00:24:00] Jubilee go after Sunspot. Cyclops, Bishop, and Storm go to interrogate Henry Gyrich, who is also from the first season of the animated series.

So, fun fact, Riddler Trophy about Henry Gyrich, he is the son of Sabretooth and Mystique. So he is a human son of two mutants. So him being a huge bigot has echoes of Adolf Hitler. In it, which I don't think was unintentional. I thought that that was Nice kind of way to show that sometimes people who hate themselves the most will project that hate out to other people.

He has this really really chilling monologue. He says, Mutants haven't been accepted. No, you're in vogue, Storm, a fad. Look at my mutant friend. But under all that fashionable sympathy, normal people know the more room we make for your kind, the less we have for ours. So we might wear tolerance on our sleeves, but we [00:25:00] know the naked truth.

Tolerance is extinction what did you think of that monologue?

I think it did a good job of like being like, yeah, there's still people who hate Newtons that are out there. And we got this obviously a little bit in the beginning as well. And so I took this part as more of like a, they have to talk to someone that they did. It was very much so like Thor needs Loki's help in order to like get the bad guys.

It's like, you're going to the, like, you're going to the guy that allegedly that shot Charles Xavier. Like you're, you're going to the person that you want to see the least. In order to get pointed in the quote unquote correct direction and then this person also re establishes that there's bigotry out there against the mutants and that there's this unadulterated hatred and fear which is also currently being militarized against them that we'll see build up even more in the second episode. So yeah, I think, I'm glad that you, like, Again, I didn't have that context for him beyond like, this is the guy that shot Charles. that's good extra layering, like to know that he is the son of two mutants who happen to be human, who has a lot of like, self hatred for [00:26:00] technically his kind that he came from. technically the three mutants standing in front of him are three of the stronger ones that the team has. So you get to see them sort of like react to that as well, which I know that you have in the notes next. Yeah,

that Bishop has no dialogue in this scene. He's just on the other side of the interrogation room, just watching quietly. Because Bishop is from the fucking future. He knows how grim things can get because of people like Guy Ritch, so even with no dialogue I'm sure that his wheels are turning like okay Is this something that I should be watching out for?

Is this gonna tip the scales? Is this gonna be the thing? And also we haven't been told why Bishop is back from the future Because this isn't his timeline so the show hasn't lampshaded at all for us. Oh, by the way You This is why Bishop came back in a time machine, like there's no explanation, but I'm okay with it because Bishop is a bad motherfucker, [00:27:00] and I just frankly love having another black person in the core team of X Men, so we'll give it a pass.

It's not even gonna affect my rating.

And they may even

address it, like, like you said in the, in the opening montage where you have Morph potentially dealing with Mr. Sinister, like maybe they have plans for Bishop that they have hidden away somewhere that we just haven't noticed yet.

maybe, we don't know, but Guyrich isn't cracking, and he says, Oh, should I be scared of you? Scott grins and he says, No, but have you met my wife? So we get this great moment, Yep, dude, dude, This great moment of Gene being a total HBIC, head bitch in charge, Digging into Guyrich's mind with Cerebro to amplify her powers, She gets the information that she needs, But then something happens.

She senses another presence in Gyritch's mind, and she gets knocked into a premonition of [00:28:00] the future. We see her holding her future baby. We see this figure made of sand rushing toward her, and this figure says, Oh no, not again, I'm so sorry. Not sure what that's about. And then we see Master Mold, who is the granddaddy of Sentinels, who pretty much, Spits them out, rise up from the dirt, before Gene tears off the helmet and says, I know where the sentinels are being made, y'all need to go handle this shit, ASAP.

What did you make of that vision that Gene had?

We never really figured out what happened, right?

No, no, it's just a lot of layered foreshadowing, but it was so compelling.

super compelling and obviously motivated her to, like, hustle into what we see at the end of this episode. I don't know, I think that a lot of stuff's gonna come back around in a lot of ways and we see some of it come back sooner than later and I think some of it's being planted for end of season stuff and this feels like end of season stuff [00:29:00] that maybe we're thinking is not as Big of a deal by the end of this episode, but we'll get there.

Heh

Yeah, yeah. And just to keep in mind for our listeners, this show has three seasons that have been greenlit so far. So, first season is done, they're probably finishing up season two right now and in the process of making Writing season 3, so there could even be some stuff that's planted here that the seeds won't come to fruition until season 2, late season 2, early season 3.

I don't fucking know, but I'm here for it. I wanna backtrack to the other team of X Men who tracked down Roberto Sunspot to a nightclub with house music. This also made me realize that we were in the 90s. A lot of great things happen here. Nothing big plot wise really happens, it's just a bunch of character moments.

My favorite character moment is seeing Jubilee living her goddamn life on the dance floor and taking a bunch of fireworks [00:30:00] and being like, yasssss. Like, if that doesn't become a meme, Steve, I'm gonna start sending you that meme every time I go out.

ha ha. Just Friday night, getting a gif of Jubilee dancing with fireworks coming out of her hands. Honestly, I'm here for it.

I'm so here for

wonder if it's, I wonder if it's already in my gif bank. That'd be fun. No, it was a great one, and We get a little bit more sunspot development too, but I think that was more for a little bit of a shot into where all the other characters are at, especially with Gambit and Jubilee, and a little bit with Wolverine too.

Yeah, yeah, I love how Morph just isn't scared of Wolverine at all and will just morph into Jean Grey

Such an asshole.

Such an asshole, but I think that is what Wolverine needs in a friend because Wolverine is Pushing a hundred years old or so. He's seen everything. He's not easily offended He is the friend who would [00:31:00] be like, I don't get triggered, bub!

So, anyone who's friends with him needs to be able to just say, I'm not fucking scared of you. I think that's why he gets along really well with Jubilee. That's why he gets along really well with Morph. Even though he respects Cyclops, I think he is just annoyed at how straight laced Cyclops is. Do you think that deep down, Logan Respects the hell out of Cyclops and does like him, but doesn't want to show it.

What are your thoughts on that?

Listen,

Oh, no,

oh no

he likes them to the extent of like, He would much rather be him.

Oh

he would, yeah, like, he would, he wants to be the one putting the baby in Jean Grey. Like, whatever work he's done to move past that and be okay with it, like, you can only like him to the extent of like, if you were dead tomorrow, I would not [00:32:00] hesitate to get up in there.

So,

But gene has shown

maybe I'm just

yeah gene gene has shown zero

still doesn't mean that he wouldn't it's it still doesn't means that you wouldn't fucking hate her husband deep down But that's just I guess that's just my toxic straight man showing

No, no, no worries, I

it's what it is

I think this show is The original show at least overplayed the love triangle aspect of them so much to the point where I was like, even as a kid, what triangle? Wolverine, we don't want you here. Like there's no flirty energy from Jean. The movies did a better job at showing that Jean definitely was attracted to Wolverine.

They had that kiss in X2, but in the cartoon, Jean is like, Oh, hey friend, you know, it's giving, it's giving, hey [00:33:00] friend, hey buddy, hey pal, but here we are, he's still pining over somebody who clearly doesn't want him, it's pretty ridiculous to watch and I hope that they veer away from that.

Also, what's he doing when Storm is standing right there? That is my question.

don't know. Listen, man, we get tunnel vision. I feel like we get tunnel vision. That's all I can say about it.

Fun fact, in one of the more recent comic books, they're just a throuple.

I love

Which I was like, okay! Solves the problem, but also, Logan, go find other love interests.

He needs to, he needs to spread his wings a little. He needs to spread his claws a little bit, if you know what I'm saying.

He needs to spread something else, if you know what I'm saying.

He needs to get that, he needs to get that seventh claw working.

Jubilee gets Sunspot to come back to the mansion. That's a really nice moment. So we cut to this really great shot of everybody in the XJet.

They're suited up, they're booted up, they're ready to go fight Master [00:34:00] Mold and end fighting Master Mold. We get this incredible fight scene, the X Jet gets knocked out of the sky, Storm grabs some X Men, Rogue grabs some X Men, Cyclops, he doesn't even need a damn parachute, he uses the

y'all on the ground.

he uses all of his strength and his eyes just be like, ahhhh, and he softens his blow, then he says, to

Captain America has nothing on

Captain America has nothing on that. Dude, I think that the MCU is gonna do for Cyclops what it did for Captain America. It's gonna make Cyclops cool. Because I didn't think Captain America was cool until the MCU. Did you?

Honestly, Captain America was a fuckin bootlicker Up until

Yeah.

Up until the Winter Soldier. Even after the first Avengers in 2012. I was like, eh, I don't know.

he was a little, he was a little bit of a keener up until that point.

But, that's America's ass right

That's America's ass. Like, now when I see [00:35:00] America's ass, I'm just like, oh, Captain, whatever you need, whatever you need. Oh, we're gonna aim for the head to kill Thanos? Got it, got it, got it. Noted. we cut to this fight scene, and now, Steve, I just want us to nerd the fuck out. If you had to pick two favorite moments from this fight scene with the Sentinels, what would you pick? Hahahaha!

using it as his friend and like having a conversation with it, and the moment where the show told you that Storm is the strongest X Men and it's not even fucking close.

Yes!

This, the storm rolls up, like Cyclops doing, like, give them the forecast or whatever, but then the sentinels chirred and they go, Omega level threat detected. And if you know any, and if you know anything about the X Men, that means they went, that one's the strongest.

And they didn't say it for anybody else standing there, not even Jean Grey.

So that's the Omega, that's the big one, is [00:36:00] Storm.

That's Beyoncé. Yeah.

Beyonce, that's truly Beyonce, with Destiny's Child, yes, I

Yes, yes, Storm walking in might as well have been Beyonce's entrance at Coachella. That's how I felt

Whoo!

it. But her turning the sand into ice and just getting all of the sentinels swept up in a typhoon, then throwing them to the ground was such a level of badassery and witchcraft on a level that I have never experienced.

That was amazing. So, some of my favorite moments from the fight scene, definitely Rogue body slamming a Sentinel, then going heads up and throwing the Sentinel head back at it. I thought that was great. I

also love the team up of Wolverine, Gambit, and Morph. So Wolverine's charging at the Sentinel, Gambit jumps on his back, charges up his claws, then [00:37:00] gets his bowstaff, which I think might be made of something indestructible, like vibranium or something, but that's never been confirmed, throws it at the ground, and the blast propels Wolverine into the air, where he's hurtled toward Morph, who morphs into Blob, who's one of the original members of the Brotherhood, and who just has this Impenetrable, like, belly, and like, fatness to him.

He bounces off of Blob, jumps up to Master Mold, his claws explode, Master Mold's head falls down, and that's the end of the scene. I thought one of the best things about the X Men is seeing how they combine their moves together. Because when it comes to teamwork, I don't think that the X Men can be touched.

I don't even think that the Fantastic Four can touch the X Men, because the Fantastic Four I see them more as adventurers and people who explore space and they're celebrities. The [00:38:00] Avengers don't really have anything connecting them. The X Men are a family and Cyclops is consistently like, Oh, we got downtime?

Let's go to the danger room. Let's train. Oh, we're gonna play basketball? Let's do it with powers. How are we gonna you know, so, Cyclops is such a great tactical leader, that the X Men cannot be fucking touched. Like, Steve. pick your favorite football team, like, who who works the best in all of football, in your opinion, teamwork wise?

So, I mean, if you're going with like recently, you have to give it to the Kansas city chiefs because they're on the verge of winning their, if they win again next year, they're going to win their third super bowl in a row. So that's kind of like, you have your leader in Patrick homes.

You have your key role players that kind of come in and do their thing. Their defense is crazy. So they know how to keep the other team out of the end zone, as well as knowing how to score the ball. I would compare them closer to, like, the Miami Heat when they had LeBron and Wade and Bosh.

Where they were just kind of, like, they played [00:39:00] together so smoothly. They went on one of the longest winning streaks in NBA history. There's what, there's a famous photo of Dwayne Wade kind of, like, with his arms outstretched and LeBron catching one of his lobs for an alley oop. They were just so on the same page, and they knew where the other people were gonna be and stuff like that.

So I just think that, like, sort of, you know, Systematic teamwork is very emblematic. If we're going to use the sportsball reference, I appreciate you trying to appeal to those straights out there.

Yeah, yeah, I know some gays who are all about sports too. I'm not one

You're right. You're right. I shouldn't, I shouldn't silo. You're

Oh no, you're totally fine. Silo away. I mean, I don't care. But, yeah, it just, you heard it here first. Miami Heat, the X Men and also, the Chiefs? What, what team was

The Kansas City Chiefs.

The

City Chiefs.

Taylor Swift's boyfriend.

Okay. Who's Taylor Swift? I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. So moving on so Valerie Cooper, the X Men's liaison [00:40:00] from the UN, comes to the end of the fight and she gives Scott some words of encouragement. She says, you sound like Charles. He would have been proud of you today. End. You know what? I'm proud of Cyclops, because this version of Cyclops is cool.

He's not a total stick in the mud, and I respect the hell out of him, and I can't wait to see what they do with him. And this takes us to the last scene of the X Men. Premiere. Scott and Gene are about to announce that they are leaving because they want to raise their baby in a safe environment when Magneto breaks into Charles old study.

The X Men are ready to whoop this dude's ass before he says, The last will and testament of Charles Francis Xavier. As you will see, his future, his school, everything he built, everything he fought for, now belongs to me, my X Men. Dun dun dun.

So good, I just got goosebumps again when you said that. That was so good.

Yeah, [00:41:00] yeah,

Right when he started speechifying when he first walked in, I was like, oh this motherfucker's the new Professor X. Right when he was like, I've always, like, I've always thought he believed too much in our friendship. And the old, the old, maybe this was his one last attempt at salvaging it, and I was like, this motherfucker's the new leader! Like, as he was doing that, and then he sends over the book, and I was like, oh man, this is, I'm in. I'm just so in.

I think every episode's gonna end with a cliffhanger. Which I'm totally here for. 100%. Like, a thousand percent. But yeah, that brings us to the end of the episode. I think we can just jump to our rating before we jump to episode two. And we're not gonna do battering. But our Sentinel rating. Steve, you go first. Rate this episode 1 out of 5 Sentinels.

Charlie,

Steve?

off with a bang.

We're just starting off with a verified bang. Five Sentinels for me. [00:42:00] This was, I'm so stoked about this fucking show, man. I'm like, I, I seriously, I don't have one, I don't have one complaint. I truly don't. Maybe more Gambit. Fucking, it was so good. Five sentinels. Like, it's easy.

Same, 5 Sentinels. I have no notes. The only note that I have is that I want more, more, more. And we're gonna get more. Cause we got a

And more we

And more we get. Two episode premiere BB.

Alright, so we've got our sentinel ratings for that first episode to me, my X Men. Five sentinels across the board from both Charlie and myself. And we're gonna jump right into the first episode. The next episode titled Mutant Liberation Begins released also on March 20th, 2024 and written by Beau DeMaio and directed by Chase Conley. The plot of this episode is when Magneto is forced by the UN to stand trial, a group of anti [00:43:00] mutant rioters. Test his resolve. Charlie, let's get right into it. We're pretty much Jumping in right where we left off on that said important cliffhanger that we're getting every episode now.

Yeah, dude, and the intro reflects that. The intro reflects that, because the first title card before Cyclops is Magneto! And

that was so

that was so good, and I love that he uses two metallic beams to form an X to show that he's reformed. I'm like, okay, I hope That the show keeps this up and that every intro for every episode is slightly different in some way.

And even here we see different clips that are mentioned in the episode. Charles card is gone. Charles usually has the very last card. Which I think is interesting and shows how Charles leadership was different than how Magneto's leadership will be. Because In the original run of the show, Professor X was the very last [00:44:00] person that we saw, which shows that Professor X, at the end of the day, is a teacher.

He's a mentor. Is he the leader of the X Men? Not the field leader. He's more of the philosophical backbone of the X Men. He has the vision, and the X Men carry it out. The X Men carry out his vision. Magneto? I don't think that he's that kind of leader, because his philosophy just, fuck humans, mutants need to protect themselves, he's at a part of his growth where he knows that that no longer works, he's reached the end of his rope of just being angry all the time, he's like, alright, I gotta recognize that there should be, or there might be, some truth to what Charles was saying for all these years, so I'm gonna try to do that.

But Magneto is not the sit at home kind of leader that Charles is. Magneto's gonna be on the field, he's gonna be calling the shots. [00:45:00] He's too much of an alpha to be not doing that. He's also an omega level mutant like Storm is. So putting him in front of Cyclops is not only smart, it is showing just what the new group dynamic is gonna be, because Magneto is the new Cyclops.

Also, I really love that the different clips that we get to see, we see Storm fighting Callisto, who is the leader of the Morlocks in the sewers for leadership. We see Bishop being sucked through time with his longer hair to show that this was a while ago. We also show Gene being consumed by the Dark Phoenix, which is something that she also mentions, and something that we see come full circle at the very end of this episode in a very unexpected way.

So, we'll dig into the beginning, which starts not in Westchester, where the mansion is, but in Brooklyn. We at Coney Island, y'all. The Ferris wheel is about to topple over. [00:46:00] This little girl is being saved by a fighter fighter. It looks like they're both about to fall to their death, but the Ferris wheel stops and gets put back into place.

The cameras tilt up and we see Magneto levitating away into the night sky. Cut to the sewers and we see Magneto save a bunch of Morlocks and viewers, if you don't know, The Morlocks have a long history in X Men comics. Their first appearance was in Uncanny X Men number 169 in May 1983. Seeing them here is a really nice callback not just to the X Men's comic book roots but to the show and I think that it's to the show's writing's credit that we're seeing all of these elements woven together and seeing Magneto Bop from Brooklyn to the sewers shows that he's really all about business.

What did you think, Steve, of seeing Magneto just be heroic in this way?

So this is actually the scene that I was [00:47:00] referring to when I was giving the animation its flowers Where it feels like the old show but with like modern Abilities if that makes sense in terms of how the animation looks. I just felt like the Both the Magneto saving the Ferris wheel moment, and even the moments leading up to it, where like, the firefighter saves the kid, and the, the record, or the, the tape player crashes to the ground, and, the, they like, hug each other as the thing starts to tip over, and then you get it freezing over the, the reporter, and it going back into its place, I just like, It just felt so smooth and so, I mean, for lack of a better term, it didn't have any jank to it.

I just feel like with 90s animation, you're, you're, like, there's a little bit of jank but some of it looks really cool and, like, you get that combination, you get that. There's just no jank to this. It's so smooth and so on point. And then, with Magneto just kind of, like, snapping. Pipes up and getting Cuban stuck to the walls and the way he shut that lady up with the other [00:48:00] piece of metal like it's Just so smooth.

And so like the a plus plus on the animation so far for

A for short. Also, it's an extension of his character. Every bit of animation expresses character and personality in such a great way, and that takes us to our next scene, which is all of the X Men deliberating whether or not they trust Magneto and fuck with him or not. I love that everybody has a different response.

You have Bishop saying, I've seen a lot of futures, but Magneto leading the X Men? That's a new one. Which is so funny. I love him being just the audience. I love Cyclops trying to get Jean to probe Magneto's mind every minute of every day, and her being like, Boo boo, no! Like, no, I'm pregnant. Like, I'm not trying to be up this man's ass like that.

Oh my god,

my god. Yeah, that was funny. But then [00:49:00] Rogue comes out and says, you know what, we should give Eric a chance. Steve, so, Do you know where Rogue got the ability to fly and throw sentinels around like they're cat toys? AlrIght, so you know Brie Larson's character in the MCU, Captain Marvel, right?

Yes.

So Rogue absorbed some of Captain Marvel's powers. And she held onto Captain Marvel for so long, that not only did she suck some of Carol's heroic instincts and personality into her body, which it's left up for interpretation if that's why she's the hero we've come to know as Rogue on the X Men or not, but it It scarred her so badly that she put this hero into a coma, because in the comic books, Rogue used to work for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Because Rogue's stepmom is Mystique, which makes Nightcrawler her stepbrother. So Rogue and Nightcrawler [00:50:00] are twins. Kind of related, but I don't know if the show's gotten into that quite yet, or if the show did in the 90s, but I digress. I think a really cool thing is that Rogue does have this villainous past, and it wasn't until Uncanny X Men, number 171, in 1983 that she came to the X Men for help, and the X Men debated, do we trust her, do we not trust her?

Wolverine wasn't about it, And ShadowCat, KittyPride, the one who can phase through walls, definitely was giving her shit. But, Rogue came around and she actually led the team a few times in the 2000s.

Could she do all this stuff in the old show too? Did they let her have the flying and the super strength?

So she already had all this power set. This is just like, Background of why she has this power set versus In the movies where she's just like jealous that kitty pride gets to kiss her boyfriend.

ha! Yeah, the movies did her dirty. The movies really did her dirty. Very dirty. She's supposed to be one of the [00:51:00]

So this is the second time we've talked about shit about x3 today But my god,

do they do her dirty at x3? I think her and psycopps are potentially the two done the most dirty in those movies

Also Storm, because Storm wasn't getting epic entrances like she does here.

Justice for Halle and her wig.

Yeah, that's true.

Oh man, the X Men agree to let Magneto into the fold because it's what Charles would have wanted and it was also in his will. We get a scene of Rogue and Magneto in the study together and it seems to be seems to be a little sexual tension. What did you think of this, Steve?

Well, so I think the only thing you wonder is how Like, the whole point, and this is something we glossed over a little bit in the first episode, but it's gonna come back in a more meaningful way this time, is like, Gambit loves Rogue. Gambit is actively in love with Rogue. wants to have her touch his body and wants to also touch her body. [00:52:00] And so like, the whole thing is like, great sugar, but I can't, like, I literally, like, I can't have, like, it would kill you.

It would, it would, and all of a sudden I'd start blasting lasers out of my fingers too.

So like, there's reference here that they have enjoyed each, Magneto and Rogue have enjoyed each other's touch before.

And so you're like, how? So that's the only thing that I, like, I'm like, cool, like, interesting. And then she, they also use this connection for her message to really get through to him, which is, you have this here in the notes, just like her being like, I didn't go around demanding that everyone trust me.

Like I earned it and, and that, and I think whatever connection they have helps Magneto hear that in that moment.

Mm hmm.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna pull up the bootstraps a little bit, and I'm gonna go out there, and I'm gonna show it.

Yeah. Yeah. Rogue. I completely agree, Steve. 100%. 100%. Their connection is the reason [00:53:00] why when the UN comes and says, you're under arrest, Magneto goes, okay, cool. Let me go to trial. I think it's a great show of his character and the look that he gives Rogue before the helicopters lift off. Ooh, Lordy. I'm not sorry, sugar.

That shit was so good, and I love how they're like, we thought of everything, like, you can't manipulate our weapons, and they're like, what about your big fucking metal birds, you dummy? Like, what are you doing?

I would've been terrified. I would've been terrified. Also, kudos to Valerie for that not making her blink once. She held her ground and said, you're being put up for trial. She's such a badass. Also, I think she knew that the X Men wouldn't let anything happen to her. That shows her trust with the team and that relationship really well.

That she was able to stand there with total confidence that they wouldn't let her get chopped to bits. Also, the optics of that? Like, Are they really trying to have that impact human mutant relations? Come on.[00:54:00]

Yeah, it's, it was a good show. I think it's like a good flex,

Mm hmm.

it was, it was the only way it could have resolved for sure.

Oh, absolutely. It was nothing more than a flex. So, We get Magnetos.

January

Literally January 6th here. This is, this is nuts. But before January 6th happened, we get this incredible scene between Ji and Storm, which I saw this on Instagram before the show aired. I saw it last week or last weekend, maybe. What did you think of this scene?

And I think this is the sort of stuff that this show does really well. Just them wondering. What it would be like to be human. Did you connect to this?

You know, I just like, by the end of the episode, it made me go, I gotta start not paying attention, but it makes you [00:55:00] realize that every moment is very much so like an important, like they're not wasting any seconds in this show. I don't think. you think that this conversation is Jean expressing her anxiety about what her baby's life is gonna be like, but it's actually foreshadowing on how this is gonna happen to Storm, and

how she's gonna need to deal to grapple with it, and how she's very staunchly like, I could never imagine my life not like this.

Like, this is who I am, this is where I stand in my identity.

Yep

and so, I have learned my lesson to be a little bit more on my toes with Thinking a conversation means one thing, but it actually could mean something totally different for someone else.

for sure for sure for sure. I think this show the storytelling is so detailed and layered which the executive producers of this show keep shouting out Bo DeMaio's show Bible that he did and I think The show Bible which I would love to see at [00:56:00] some point Must have been so detailed Detailed and layered to the point where all of these interactions were braided throughout the episodes in such a way that no moment was wasted.

And every moment, even the quiet moments, were leading toward the finale or season 2 or season 3. So, huge kudos to this. Damn, I love this show. So,

they have that moment. We're at the UN. And at the UN, Magneto says everything that I did to protect mutant kind is nothing that you wouldn't have done to protect human kind.

So maybe what we're both missing is seeing each other's humanity, because what are mutants if not humans? Who are just the next stage of evolution? And it seems like what he's saying is landing, and I wonder how this would have played out if the Friends of Humanity didn't fucking Stage and insurrection [00:57:00] this Steve this I don't know if I was looking at this moment like oh cool.

I was genuinely On the edge of my seat and uncomfortable during this entire sequence it felt And for a cartoon to do this for a cartoon to hit too close to home And for me to just be like, oh shit, what's gonna happen? Is a huge show of what great storytelling can do. What did you think of this moment?

Yeah. I mean, it's, I think it leads into the action set piece. You get a lot of good anxiety with it. And I think in the last episode we were allotting them for their teamwork and this one, they felt overmatched.

Mm-Hmm?

They felt taken by surprise. And so I think, I think the fact that they were caught off guard and hit off kilter, and As we'll surely get to in a moment, like they weren't at full strength. Gene and Wolverine are off to the hospital. Also, can we just have a quick moment for Gene running downstairs and being like, [00:58:00] It's here! It's coming! And Wolverine goes, Apocalypse?! laughed so fucking hard when he did that. I laughed so hard when he did that. Like, for a good 30 seconds, I was like, he said Apocalypse.

He's like, who? Apocalypse? No, the baby.

Plus! It's so good, but, but like all of that, like, yes, their teamwork is so strong. Yes. When they're firing on all cylinders, they can take down master molds, but when they're caught off guard and when they're not at full strength, like it doesn't go as perfectly every time.

And I think this is the show being like, it's not always going to be like this first episode. Like they're going to take some licks. These enemies. aren't just gonna be satisfied with taking the L. these guys came back, they got in the lab, they got in the gym, they put up shots, they found new technology, new armor, and they got back in there, and they, they got a couple shots in. and I liked it just as much, it was a little bit of a, alright, let's wake [00:59:00] up. Like, they had, If we're gonna continue to, like, make sportsball references, this was a trap game a little bit. They were

feeling themselves a little bit too much. They were underestimating their opponent, and they got hit in the mouth.

did. They did. Or in Cyclops is. Perspective, and the visor, he, they got hit in the visor, got hit in the mouth. And the executioner, you can tell that he studied all the X Men's moves for him to know. That to knock off Cyclops's visor was his Achilles heel because Cyclops isn't going to open up his eyes when there's a bunch of bystanders around and just destroy the property.

So That's blinding him and when he was just punching him in the face It's like you just complain so much normal people have it easy. Why don't you just shut up? that tugged on my heartstrings because as a gay black person I I read comments like that online all the time and thank god I live in a place in L.

A. and I'm kind of in a bubble where I don't hear that in my [01:00:00] day to day life, you know, cause in some ways, even though I have only lived in big cities, I'm sheltered from a lot of that stuff because I have been around the kind of people that I've been around before. It, it just, god, even the voice acting during that part, it felt amazing.

So uncomfortably real then for this sequence to end With storm losing her powers and for her to be like the breeze It's gone. Oh

but that, the animation of the blast hitting her and you seeing her skeleton for a second, I was like, oh shit, they just fucking killed Storm in the second episode, but this is way more interesting.

is way more interesting. It's also a comic book story where storm gets to Show different sides of her leadership. So I'm very excited to see storm be a normie for a second, but What did you think of the writing, by the way, when she was [01:01:00] speaking about no longer feeling the moisture, or the air?

Fuck, man. I can only imagine that this is what it feels like when something you love the most passes

away or leaves you. and so It's like, Something that you have experienced as a normalcy that you identify so deeply with for so long and for it to all of a sudden be non existent, that just must be like such a, terrifying experience.

a disability.

asked, yeah, oh sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

she has been disabled! So this, to us, would be like Like if I were to lose my ability to read and write.

Yeah.

would feel that way, like, where are the words? I can't, I can't, how am I going to write, you know, so I

Losing one of your senses.

Mm hmm, mm hmm,

And it changes who you are inherently.

[01:02:00] It changes who you are,

I think she's suddenly grappling with too.

Oh, for sure, also her sense of self, Like, who is she, if she isn't able to Command the elements and the weather, that's so much a part of her confidence, You know, she's Storm, Storm. You know, this has been her entire life, but also, she did say that sometimes she fantasizes about what would it just be like, what would it be like to be normal, what would it be like to not feel these things, and now she's experiencing it.

And that's exactly why I want to start paying attention to what people are saying more closely.

Because the show told us what was going to happen about 20 minutes before it happened.

Oh, for sure, for sure. And also, this ain't the Batman Animated Series, baby. Where the Batman Animated Series episodes are like 24 minutes long. These are like 33 minute long episodes.

Give it to me.

Give it to me. Give it to me. Load me up. [01:03:00] The episode ends with Storm writing a goodbye letter and a neat detail is that her lightning shaped earrings are right next to the letter.

I thought that was cool because

That was good.

leaving that along with everything else. Another neat detail is that she hears thunder outside flinches back for the first time in her life probably.

I know, that was crazy, man.

Yeah.

so caught like, so storm being caught off guard by a storm

is such a crazy sentence to say.

That's probably the moment she decided to leave. She was like, oh, I can't

I think so. I think that's right.

can't do this, like, I didn't feel that coming. It just happened without me being aware of it. Now, I feel smaller than the thing that I used to command with just a, nah, I'm out of here. Gene reads the letter to everybody, and [01:04:00] We see Rogue and Magneto sharing a touch, and from that spark that appears on Magneto's hands, I think the key is manipulating electromagnetic fields in a way that Rogue can't touch his skin.

And you know, you know what? I love Gambit. I think he's awesome. If it were me writing it, this would have a very poly ending to it, but what have you? Rogue, Get

You gotta have the

triangles, man. You gotta have the triangles. I so, yeah, this is the again, like, Magneto told us how this works. At the beginning of the episode, he's like, I can work with magnetism.

I don't just manipulate metal. I essentially am a working magnet. Like I can, I can manipulate electromagnetism to my advantage. And so you clearly see him doing something with that electromagnetism that allows them to touch. And this is how it happened [01:05:00] the first time. And it's also Rogue admitting that, yes, like I do need human contact. We all need human

Let her have it. Let her have it. Ha ha

also we got to get my man Gambit some play and currently he's going to be, he's going to be blasting Marvin's room tonight, but tomorrow, tomorrow, maybe we can get him some play.

We'll figure it

Maybe we can give them some play. Hey, I Gambit, go find Logan. I think Logan who's pining after Jean, Gambit who's pining after Rogue, women they can't,

he already knows how to ride back there.

He does, he does. The first time, maybe not, maybe not, but also it says a lot about Logan and Gambit that they are going after, one, a woman they can't touch and a woman who's in a relationship.

They have weird attachment styles, they need to figure their shit out, like Gambit, stop chasing after Rogue like you're Peppa Le Pew. Logan, stop ripping up pictures [01:06:00] of Scott and Gene together. Just let them, let them be a boring white couple. Just let them do that thing. Just,

Yeah.

I, I, I can't. Steve, what did you think of the end of this episode?

Where a woman who looks like Gene Grey stumbles in and says, I need the X Men.

Yeah, I mean, fucking I think you're right that every episode is going to end on a cliffhanger.

Lack of remembrance of the old series, there's no chance that that's Mystique? There's no chance,

because she's dead? She dead? Mystique isn't dead, Wolverine would smell her.

Okay. So we're Do you have a lead on, like, in your immense X Men knowledge on who that could be?

I do, there's a huge comic book arc in the 80s, but that is for next episode. I'm not gonna

so we're gonna, you're gonna hold it and see if you're

right? hold it and see if I'm right, but I I think Alright, I can dig that. [01:07:00] this is going, particularly because Gene names their son Nathan Trolls Summers, and Nathan is the name of a character we've seen in this show before, Cable.

So, Gene just gave birth to Cable,

who also comes back from the future in a bunch of episodes in the original show. And in the comic books,

Oh my god!

yeah,

You just blew my mind, holy shit.

yeah, yeah, and in the comic books, let's just say,

let's just say that a version of Gene gives birth to Cable in the 1980s and a lot of drama unfolds when somebody comes back and is like, help me X Men.

So, this is following A lot of stuff from the comics to a tee. And Steve, if you want to go look this up to find out before we talk about it next week, you can! It's out there. I'm just saying for our listeners[01:08:00]

you're, I know, that's so interesting. I just, like, I've always for some reason, like, evaded comics, maybe because, like, they just take up too much physical space, and I just never had that much space to work

Mm hmm

But I know that's a dumb excuse now, because you can get everything digitally. I mean, the simple answer is that I'm just, I play too many video games.

Yeah

the, like, I just started reading books more. So maybe that'll evolve into me reading comics more, but who does, I mean, so that's my way of being like, I'm going to continue to take this as face value because I love hearing you give this context and then I can come at it from an angle of like, I'm taking this all as it's coming to me without any other background knowledge.

So hopefully we can like bring both sides of that to this conversation. So pardon my ignorance,

Oh, no, no, no. No, we're balancing the audience's perspective out. Like one of

try and yeah.

much and one of us, I think I envy you because you get to experience it fresh. You I know too much.

And I, and I get to ask you questions that [01:09:00] you can answer without blinking. So that's amazing.

Oh, totally. Totally. Shall we move on to our sentinel ratings?

Let's, I'm excited.

All right. So just like last episode banger If I could give it more than five, I would five sentinels for this episode, I think it's just So good if we give Every we got to give at least one episode three and a half at least like they can't all be bangers But if they are i'm not gonna try and bullshit the show for being great Yeah,

out of five Sentinels for me. And I actually think that if they keep going in this direction, we need to start considering going over five. I think we need to consider giving an epi like, if all of these episodes are five level, I think we need to go back and decide which one is a six. And, and I think, and I think we need to maybe, this is our opportunity to establish the 6 out of 5. Where this is like an earth moving , [01:10:00] absolute game changer of a rating.

yeah, also something to do with this show that I think will be great moving forward. I want to get your take on two things. So

Okay?

in episode one and episode two, I want you to answer two questions.

Who did you want to bang the most in Episode 1? Who did you want to bang the most in Episode 2? Also, in Episode 1 and Episode 2, which were the most badass moment? Which character had the most badass moment? Answer me those two questions across the two episodes, and at the end of this first season, we'll rank all of them.

Okay, listen. I wanna fuck pregnant Jean

Okay.

I just, I just, I just, I just, I don't care.

I just

Tension between the two characters. Like, which characters you want it to bang. [01:11:00] Hahahahaha. Way to tell on yourself. That's so funny.

thought that's what we were doing! That was like, that seems like on track for Charlie.

Does. It does.

alright. Episode 1, Gambit and Rogue. Just cause I want that for my guy.

Mhmm.

Episode 2, Wolverine and Morph.

Interesting, Wolverine and Morph. Why Wolverine and Morph?

we didn't cover that very end of it, where Wolverine's looking all sad out in the tree, and Morph comes over with a six pack and some chips and just starts throwing shit at him and then turns into Sabretooth and they start playfighting.

Oh. Yeah. That could be a thing. All right, so for me, and I didn't expect this, Jubilee it.

cutting that first part, by the

Oh, Please don't baby. Please don't. Please don't baby. Literally, cuz there's a bit. So, so, Da na na na na na na [01:12:00] so, So, for episode one, Characters who I want to bang, I would want, Weirdly, Jubilee and Sunspot. I think this show is doing so much for me to like Jubilee, because I did not in the original show.

I found her so annoying. But in this show,

she's fun, she's free. Jubilee would be out during Pride. Like, I would be friends with her. She would be like,

totally.

friend. And also I think Sunspot

just so you know, and just so you know, those GIFs already exist. There's plenty that you can grab

already, so don't you worry. Jubilee Dancing with Fireworks is already very much on the internet.

It's for the gays. I knew that was for the gays. For episode 2, characters I'd want to see get together. Hmm.

I am gonna go an unconventional route because I feel like Rogue and Magneto would be too easy. I,[01:13:00]

it, it literally happened and I think we're gonna get more of that. I'm gonna give it to Storm and Magneto.

Cuz

Magneto was like, and you're the closest thing to a goddess we'll ever see on this earth.

That's true. That conversation was very good. I liked that. So are you saying be with Power Storm or without Power

Why not both?

You got Try all flavors.

Gotta try all flavors. I think but all I

such degenerates

are but the X Men is such a horny book. It is such a

It is It's super fucking

hornier than Batman the Animated Series like

Oh, without a doubt.

Batman would never. He's too focused. I actually

Is this the horniest superhero cartoon,

Oh! Without a doubt, the X Men are

Yeah, it's gotta be.

Like, the fanfiction is filthy. I know because I've written some, and I've read tons of [01:14:00] it.

I go into my notes app and read you this section. two hours Wolverine slowly grows his claw

Oh my god, we must be His veiny claw,

girthy his girthy claws. All right before before we let our audience go most badass They make me god. Oh, no what are the most

most badass moment I think episode one it has to be storm rolling up and the sentinels going Omega level threat

I'm

moment of being like yeah, everyone's been doing cool shit, but this is the one So that would be it for me in episode one. What about you?

cyclops's entrance where he bounces his optic blast off the ground

That shit was fucking cool, too.

You're right There were a lot of I mean everyone came in firing at all the cylinders on that first episode

Like the spatial mathematics. Writ large. Just so [01:15:00] good.

For episode two, I'm actually going to give it to Magneto's standoff with the UN.

Mmmmmm.

the helicopters up against everybody and that sort of like, tension moment. And then also the talk down, I thought was also super badass. And be like, okay, yeah, I can go prove my innocence. Let's do it.

That was great. Yes, AND! Morph fighting the Executioner and transforming into not just Lady Deathstrike, not just Colossus, but also one of my personal favorites, Psylocke. Morph is that character. You forget that he's there? Like, cause I forgot that Morph was there, cause he's not really one of my favorites.

This show might change that. But him coming back in and transforming into a bunch of X Men and He's the only one, aside from Magneto, that had Executioner on the ropes. Everybody else, Executioner, knew how to fight. But Morph is such a wild card, because he can be anyone.

That I thought [01:16:00] if he was left alone by himself, I think he could have taken care of Executioner.

And it's also just to give the show more flowers. It's also an opportunity for them to throw Easter eggs at

Mm hmm,

Like, you get the opportunity to see your favorite X Men for a moment via, like, when I saw, I had a lot, I got a huge kick out of him turning into Colossus

and stuff like that. and and his transformation into the Blob in the last episode, it's just like, okay, what else are we going to pull out of the vault?

Like, who else is he going to be? And the fact that he has this deep encyclopedia of all these X Men, which is really just the writer showing that they have a deep encyclopedia of all the X Men and when they can be brought out for a moment, I think is, that's the kind of fan service I really love.

Absolutely, absolutely. That's amazing. I'll end us on one last Riddler trophy. So, did you know that the animated Marvel Universe is kind of a huge precursor to the MCU? Because during the time X Men was airing, [01:17:00] Spider Man was airing, Fantastic Four was airing, Iron Man was airing, The Incredible Hulk was airing, And a Silver Surfer cartoon were also airing at the same time, and they were all interconnected.

There was an episode of Spider Man where he was scared that he was a mutant, and he seeks out Charles Xavier, but he comes into the danger room. Where the X Men think that he's an intruder, and their theme music comes on, and Rogue looks at Wolverine, and she's like, How's a girl ever supposed to get a date if you scare all these potential suitors away, sugar?

You know so,

That's so,

the X Men know who Spider Man is, they fought with him on his own show. Also, in the beginning of the first episode, To Me My X Men, we see a newspaper article, blink and you miss it, and the question on the newspaper is, Spider Man, is he a [01:18:00] mutant? Question mark.

I don't think we'll get Spider Man just because they're already doing Spider Man Freshman Year. A Spider Man show.

this is technically MCU, correct?

technically,

It's in the multiverse

Like it like

that leaves the door open for there to be a Spider Man.

I think they

if they're doing freshman year. I'm talking like as

a cameo

a

Like, maybe he like sw yeah.

but I think what the way that the mcu is with planning out everything meticulously With spider man, I think if we see him, they would want to give him his entire show. Like I don't think with spider man

People go nuts.

They would go nuts. Like, people Steve, read the internet. People are already, like, salivating

I try not to, honestly.

but I can't help

to read The internet.

The in the internet is my coke. Like, I just Like, inhaling all of Newsarama. But, That brings us to [01:19:00] a close, listeners. Thank you so much for joining us and listening to us nerd out about X Men 97. We will be dropping these episodes as it airs. We're so excited. We want to hear your thoughts and more to come.

Can't wait to keep watching this show with you. Thanks for coming out, everybody. We will see you on the next one.

Bye.