Another villain from the original series returns in this love letter to 16-bit gaming. Plus soap opera drama with Storm and Forge.
SPOILER WARNING! The following contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Episode 4! Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
MAJOR POINTS
- Mojo is back to his TV show craziness
- Forge confessed that he was behind the gun that stole Storm’s powers
- Storm is captured by a giant demonic crow
Jubilee and the other X-Men want to go to the video arcade for her birthday, but Magneto forbids it. However, Mojo somehow planted a trap into Mojo World in the form of a gaming console shaped like a first generation Sega Genesis and called a “Motendo”. She and Sunspot are forced to battle for their lives in what looks to viewers like a classic 16-bit home video game. A future version of Jubilee hacks the game and rescues the two. Their combined powers are able to beat Mojo and seemingly kick him out of the server.
Meanwhile, Storm and Forge are in a cabin in the woods. Forge keeps trying and failing to regain Storm’s powers. When Storm presses why he is so consumed with helping her, Forge confesses that his plans led to making the gun that robbed her powers. Storm, seeing this as Forge trying to redeem himself, slaps him and turns to leave. However, a large bird creature knocks Forge out and captures Storm.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- Will these two story episodes continue? Or is this just an experiment?
- Where are Longshot and Dazzler?
FINAL GRADE: B-
Seeing two separate stories in the same episode was a little weird. That said, it’s not uncommon in comics, especially with special edition issues. I’m not sure why they did it because it easily could have been one story that just jumped between locations. But on the list of things to complain about, this is VERY low on the list.