X-Men ’97 Just Redeemed the Worst X-Men Storyline of the 1990s

This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 season 2 episode 9.

As it wraps up with the finale “Survival of the Fittest,” X-Men ’97‘s second season falls a little bit short of its predecessor. Of course, it isn’t entirely fair to compare the two. X-Men ’97 initially seemed like little more than a nostalgia play, a revival series that would bring back good memories but wouldn’t tell an exciting story. Instead, what we got was a propulsive show that combined dynamic action scenes with sharp social commentary. All of that is still present in season 2 of the series, but it’s a little less sharp, a little less immediate.

Still, whatever one thinks about the season overall, there’s one thing that no one can dispute. “Survival of the Fittest,” in which Apocalypse takes over Gambit’s body to become some unholy mixture of the two, works a heck of a lot better than the last time En Sabah Nur melded with an X-Men. Last time, he mixed with Cyclops in an absolutely awful story called Apocalypse: The Twelve.

The Twelve ran across the final two issues of the two X-Men series in 1999, as well as issues of Wolverine, Cable, and X-Man (a comic about an alternate universe Nate Grey). The story saw the X-Men learn too late about a plan that Apocalypse had hatched to obtain ultimate power and eventually achieve godhood. Apocalypse has prepared a list of 12 uniquely qualified individuals, whose powers, when combined, would provide just the right combination for the first mutant to ascend.

Much of the storyline focuses on various X-Men looking for potential members of the Twelve. The potential suspects include obvious choices, like Wolverine (he was in everything in the ’90s) and Franklin Richards, son of Fantastic Four leaders Reed and Sue Richards, who was then still a near omnipotent mutant.

On just those grounds, The Twelve would be a solid X-Men story. Since the days of Chris Claremont, X-Men stories have been full of secret societies and hidden prophecies. Moreover, the storyline checks in on some fun, weird parts of X-Men lore, including Master Mold—the giant robot that poops out Sentinels—and Mystique’s wife Destiny, a soothsayer whose spooky diary drives the plot.

The problem with The Twelve wasn’t the concept. It was the execution. The story often feels aimless, as if the process of gathering 12 individuals wouldn’t provide enough material to fill 10 issues. It shoves in unnecessary distractions like a Skrull impersonating Wolverine, who was the Horseman of the Apocalypse Death, and revisiting Cyclop’s marriage to Madelyne Pryor. And then there’s the actual final line-up of the team, a grab-bag that feels at once obvious and haphazard: Bishop, Cable, Cyclops, Iceman, Living Monolith, Magneto, Phoenix, Polaris, Professor X, Mikhail Rasputin, Storm, and Sunfire.

As in “Survival of the Fittest,” The Twelve climaxes with Apocalypse melding with an X-Man, namely Cyclops instead of Gambit. Cycopalypse looked kind of cool, in a blobby sort of way. But it proved a disappointing big bad for the storyline, even if Cyclops died in the process of defeating him. Of course, Cyclops came back a year later, rendering the entire thing a waste of time.

Before this season of X-Men ’97, one might be forgiven for thinking that The Twelve might have been a victim of circumstance. Even though X-Men: The Animated Series and various video games made Marvel’s mutants a pop culture sensation, the actual quality of the comics suffered, especially as the cash-strapped Marvel Comics tried to exploit them for full profit potential. The X-Men crossovers that felt so electric in Claremont’s tenure now seemed cheap and underdeveloped, and readers in the late ’90s just got through the dismal Onslaught, which involved the entire Marvel Universe. Could any storyline come off well with so much stacked against it?

Turns out, the answer is “Yes.” X-Men ’97 streamlines The Twelve and makes it a sharp, character-focused story instead of a wild goose chase. “Survival of the Fittest” may not pack the same punch as season one’s climactic battle with Bastion, but at least it evolves from the original storyline.

X-Men ’97 season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.

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