X-Men '97 Season 2 Brings Back Apocalypse and Hints Magneto Might Be Wrong

Apocalypse is back, and I think we're all about to start saying Magneto was wrong. Season 2 of X-Men '97 launched on Disney Plus with its first three episodes, and they were packed with Easter eggs, details and references to the original animated series.

I'm breaking them down scene by scene: everything you might have missed and what it might mean for our favorite mutants. Later in this piece I'll also explain who I think the mysterious voice calling out to Charles really is.

The previously on recap revisits Madelyne Pryor, Cable and Asteroid M

In the Season 2 premiere, Days of Past Future, Jean delivers a previously on recap of the important moments of Season 1. It shows Nightcrawler telling Jean that it doesn't matter that it was Madelyne Pryor who gave birth to baby Nathan and not her, since she has all the memories of it happening as if it happened to her.

Then there's Cyclops and Jean saying goodbye to Cable, the adult Nathan, right before they went to take out Asteroid M and sacrifice themselves. We see the destruction of Asteroid M and the X-Men in the vicinity being pulled through time. One group lands in the future, meeting Mother Askani and young Nathan. Another lands in the past and meets En Sabah Nur, the first mutant, who will go on to become Apocalypse.

The Marvel Animation title card flips through Storm flying from Season 1 of '97 and Spider-Man swinging through. In the recap, Forge at the end of Season 1 assumes the X-Men didn't make it through the explosion, and Bishop reminds him that they've been here before, several times in the original series run, including in the Days of Future Past storyline.

A third new opening sequence puts Magneto first

Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast and Magneto land in the past and meet En Sabah Nur. Then we get our third new opening title sequence in as many episodes. These animators are really working hard. A lot of it is the same as last season or the original series, but since this is the group that went to the past, the new material shows Magneto first, then Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler and Professor X.

Long-haired Bishop swirls through time, which comes from Season 1, Episode 11 of the original series, Days of Future Past. Apocalypse marches through wreckage with his cyber hounds. Charles puts on Cerebro, Magneto puts on his helmet, and Charles enters Magneto's mind, which we saw last season in Tolerance Is Extinction Part 3. Rogue and Nightcrawler hug, from one of last season's episodes. Beast sweating at the computer is from Tolerance Is Extinction Part 3, Nightcrawler with his swords is from Part 1, and Magneto rising up is from Part 3 again. Then the past group flies through time.

This episode was co-written by Season 1 showrunner Beau DeMayo. DeMayo was let go from the series after a lot happened behind the scenes, which I don't have time to get into here.

In 3000 BCE, Magneto tries to guide En Sabah Nur away from becoming Apocalypse

We pick up at the dilapidated X-Mansion, with the team that went to the future back in the present, wondering where Bishop and the rest of the past team are and why they're not back yet. It cuts to 3000 BCE, where there's a ton of advanced tech that shouldn't exist in this time.

Magneto talks to En Sabah Nur. Magneto is voiced here by Matthew Waterson, after being voiced mainly by David Hemblen in the original series, with another voice actor sometimes filling in when Hemblen wasn't available. Hemblen passed away in 2020. En Sabah Nur is voiced by Adetokumboh M'Cormack.

Magneto tells En Sabah Nur that it's a heavy burden to be the first of your kind. When the original series was made, En Sabah Nur was still considered to be the first mutant in canon, although that has since been retconned a little bit. Either way, in the canon of this show, the characters still understand him to be the first.

It's clear Magneto has spent months trying to guide En Sabah Nur, hoping he can both sway how humankind feels about mutants in the future and make sure Nur never turns into Apocalypse. But Magneto also tells him he could become a god among insects, so I'm not sure he's the right one to guide this guy. In the original series, Apocalypse referred to others as insects a lot.

Rama-Tut, a Kang variant, is behind the anachronistic tech

The Sandstormers ride toward the futuristic city. They're a tribe of raiders who believed in survival of the fittest, an idea Apocalypse is very into. Rama-Tut was part of that tribe at one point, and they later took in En Sabah Nur as one of their own.

Then the camera pans to Rama-Tut himself, a Kang variant. In the original show's Beyond Good and Evil arc, we saw Immortus, another Kang variant, guarding the Axis of Time, although he was disguised as Bender for most of those episodes. Rama-Tut is clearly the reason all this anachronistic tech is here. He's voiced by John de Lancie, whom a lot of Star Trek fans know.

The woman who speaks to him is Candra. She appeared in the original series, and we saw her in Cable's intel folder. The original series never said her real name; she was only known as the External, in the Season 2 episode Externally Yours. At that point she was a powerful entity accepting tithes from the Guild of Assassins and the Guild of Thieves, which Gambit was once a member of. In the comics, Candra was one of the Externals, a group of powerful immortal mutants who can only be killed by another External.

Rama-Tut seems unsurprised to hear the Sandstormers are being led by En Sabah Nur, which makes sense since he and his variants know about things that happen in the past, the future and other timelines. He doesn't want En Sabah Nur to reach the temple and the power he seeks before he does.

General Logos, an elephant and a city full of robots

Rama-Tut tasks General Logos with stopping En Sabah Nur. In the comics, Logos was Rama-Tut's right-hand man in this time period. He's voiced by Christopher Britton, the voice of Mr. Sinister in both the original and the new series.

We see gold robots with power whips that Rama-Tut uses for enforcement and security. He created a few different android robots, including ones that looked like mummies and others modeled after Egyptian gods, and we see almost all of them here at some point. Slaves erect statues around the city, and Logos rides in on an elephant. I was about to feel very bad for this poor elephant.

Michael Dorn's Baal and a role reversal for Charles and Magneto

En Sabah Nur plans his attack outside the city with Baal, who's voiced by Michael Dorn. Michael Dorn is the greatest. He played Worf in Star Trek, but he's also done voices in pretty much any animated show you can imagine, and it's always awesome to hear him show up. Baal is the one who welcomed En Sabah Nur into the Sandstormers.

Magneto observes this along with an astral projected Charles, who argues that Magneto is risking their fate on a mutant who can't be trusted. This is kind of an interesting twist on their usual debates, since Magneto is trying to guide Nur while Charles has too much history with Apocalypse to go along with it. In the original series' Beyond Good and Evil arc, when Apocalypse had all the psychics kidnapped, including Charles, Magneto actually helped Apocalypse because he'd promised to resurrect Magneto's dead wife. But Apocalypse double crossed him.

In Season 1 we got all the Magneto was right moments, and this season I think Charles is going to be the one who ends up being right when En Sabah Nur turns into Apocalypse. But it's cool to see Magneto being the optimist for once.

Nur gives his people an inspirational speech, and seeing the mutant who will become Apocalypse with more depth is very nice. We get shades of what he'll become when he says, "The future belongs to the strong." When they all start chanting "Survival of the fittest," both Charles and Magneto exchange looks.

En Sabah Nur's shadow becomes Apocalypse's in the battle

The Sandstormers attack, but Rama-Tut has a lot of robot surprises for them. En Sabah Nur almost single handedly fights his way through. I love how Logos has jawbones adorning his outfit, as if the elephant wasn't terrifying enough. Then Nur grabs that poor elephant, who probably wants nothing to do with any of this, swings him around and flings him into one of the structures.

Nur walks up on a struggling Logos, and for a brief moment Nur's shadow is Apocalypse's shadow. The broken androids end up with Beast, who's trying to build the team a way home. He's a genius, but he doesn't have Forge's abilities or access to as much power and tech, and so far it hasn't worked. The team hopes Logos will have some information on the tech they need.

Nightcrawler says he wasn't seen, although the locals might not have been surprised to see a demon among them. Calling himself a demon is a callback to his introduction in the original series episode Nightcrawler, where German locals and even some of the monks who sheltered him assumed he actually was a demon. Nightcrawler is voiced by Adrian Hough, who also voiced him in the original series. George Buza, who voices Beast, and Lenore Zann, who voices Rogue, are also the original actors.

Magneto preaches mercy, and the rest of the team isn't on board

When the urge to crush Logos like an insect comes up, Magneto responds with this: "Only a coward feels mighty when stepping on ants." If that doesn't come back in some way or another, I'll eat my hat.

Baal is clearly not happy that someone else has his prize mutant's ear and is using that influence to preach mercy. Magneto really took the lessons he learned last season to heart, arguing that mutants need to resist their darker impulses so they can help humanity. The rest of the team isn't on board after everything they've suffered at the hands of Apocalypse. Even Beast is frustrated, and the death glare they all give at the friendly greeting and credit for the day's victory is amazing.

Magneto and Baal play angel and devil, going back and forth about the day's battle, and when talk of destiny comes up, Charles is not happy. Magneto still blames himself for bringing the mutants to Genosha, but he also blames Charles, since everything Magneto was doing was to carry out Charles's dream. Magneto argues that if they play their cards right, they can return to a future that's better for mutantkind.

Logos reveals his part in En Sabah Nur's past

Charles is hesitant to use his powers on Logos to get the information he needs, in case it alters the past too much. Nur tries to get him to talk, but Logos gets in his head, revealing that he was the one who took baby Nur from the desert after his mother had abandoned him and turned him into a slave.

If there's one mutant who understands being filled with rage from an unjust past, it's Magneto. He passes on to Nur a bit of the lesson he learned last season when Charles entered his mind to help him release some of his anger: "You are not your past, En Sabah Nur. You are our future."

Logos tells Charles and Magneto that Rama-Tut is looking for a lost temple of divine beings from the stars that has the means to turn him into a god.

Inside Logos's mind, a voice twists an Apocalypse line from Obsession

Charles realizes he has no other option than to go fishing in some scary waters, and he enters Logos's mind by force. He floats through a night sky filled with pyramids, approaches one and bangs at it with his fist, ordering Logos to surrender his mind. He pries a brick free and reaches into the darkness, but a blue glow emanates and Charles is pulled inside.

A cracked red moon or planet hovers above desert sands as Charles stands on his own two legs. There seems to be the outline of a form on the red orb. Charles gasps as he's pulled down into what turns out to be the sand in an hourglass. Ever since Loki, hourglasses are sure to make any MCU fan think of the TVA, the Time Keepers and Kang variants.

As Charles floats in space surrounded by debris, a voice says, "I am the tide that carries all to the rocks of the eternal shore. Crash against them and be broken." A variation of this was famously spoken by Apocalypse in Obsession: "I am the rocks of the eternal shore. Crash against me and be broken." Then something that seems distinctly like a black hole starts sucking everything toward it, including Charles. He's in a wave that crashes against rocks, standing in front of a temple as the voice says everything finds its way here. When Charles urges the voice to reveal itself, it says, "In time all will see. He is where the end begins." Then Charles is suddenly out of Logos's mind.

I think the voice is the Celestial Eson, and Ship is the destination

In the end credits, the voice calling to Charles is identified as Eson. In the most basic terms, Eson was a Celestial who helped shatter the cosmos to form the multiverse. I think that shadow on the red moon was Eson.

We know Ship was created by the Celestials, and the language Mother Askani used to explain where Ship came from is very similar to what Logos said Rama-Tut is looking for. So I think Eson is attempting to bring En Sabah Nur to Ship so he can be turned into Apocalypse. Rama-Tut is also searching for Ship so he can be made immortal and given the gifts for his own reasons, but also probably, to some extent, to stop Apocalypse from coming into being. I think Magneto is going to find out in the following episodes that he grossly miscalculated, and that Nur is in fact going to make it to Ship.

Logos falls and Rama-Tut strikes in the cliffhanger

Charles tells the others what he saw in Logos's mind, and when they return to the hidden room where they've been trying to figure out how to get home, they find Baal, Nur and the Sandstormers waiting. Magneto tries to explain, but Nur is having none of it. He beheads Logos right then and there and orders the Sandstormers to destroy them.

Luckily, Bishop gets there just in time, disguised as a Sandstormer, and busts out his big gun to aid in the fight. Logos's death alerts Rama-Tut to En Sabah Nur's location, and there's some very Celestial looking tech and architecture in Rama-Tut's lair. He shoots a beam at Nur's location as Bishop tries to convince the others to return with him to the present. The beam hits its mark, Rama-Tut laughs maniacally, and that's where the episode ends.

Do you think Charles or Magneto will turn out to be right about En Sabah Nur?