The mourning for a fallen friend while the real villain’s plot takes shape.
SPOILER WARNING! The following contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Episode “Bright Eyes”! Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
MAJOR POINTS
- The X-Men had a funeral for Gambit
- Bastion killed Henry Gyrich
- Rogue killed Trask, only for him to be resurrected as a Prime Sentinel
- Magneto is alive and held captive by Bastion
Nightcrawler speaks at Gambit’s funeral. Members of Gambit’s family attend, but Rogue does not. Instead, she goes on a rampage trying to find Henry Gyrich. She goes to Thunderbolt Ross, then Captain America before finding Gyrich in Mexico. She tries to probe Gyrich’s memories, but is overwhelmed at what she sees and faints.
Scott pleads for President Kelly’s help in finding any additional survivors on Genosha. The President declines, saying the public is wary of a backlash after the massacre. The X-Men return to Genosha to help clean up. They find White Queen before heading to Madripoor to find Trask, picking up Rogue along the way.
Gyrich wakes up in a hospital bed. However, he is suffocated by none other than Bastion for nearly ruining his plan.
Trask warns The X-Men that something worse than Genosha is coming before jumping off a building in attempted suicide. Rogue catches him, but when he says he doesn’t know anything else, she coldly lets him fall to his death. However, Trask’s twisted body convulses back to life in the form of a Prime Sentinel. The zombie Prime Sentinel quickly lays waste to all The X-Men until Cable steps in and stops it with an EMP grenade. At this point, Scott finally realizes that Cable has been his son Nathan all along.
In the epilogue, Sinister and Bastion bicker over what to do next. Bastion reveals to Sinister that Charles Xavier is alive. He then tends to a subdued Magneto and shaves him while telling him to “listen and obey.”
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- How long has Bastion been around?
- What will he make Magneto do?
- Will we get crossovers with the rest of the animated Marvel universe?
FINAL GRADE: B+
I know I’ve said it often, but there is a lot of stuff on this show that wouldn’t have made the airwaves in the 1990s. Murder by suffocation is another one. Heck, even a funeral was probably too dark for Saturday morning TV.
We got a lot of hints and Easter eggs as well. Cameos from Captain America and General Thunderbolt Ross, a mention of The Hulk, and a hint at The Avengers. Having Bastion as the surprise villain is a very good twist since most of the attention was given to Sinister.