If I had a mutant power, it would be the ability to cry at almost anything I watch on TV, which means it’s unlikely Professor X would assign me front-line X-Men duties.
Yet, while this may seem like a weakness – although I genuinely believe I’d still be a more useful member of the team than Angel (the man’s part bird! How is having hollow bones useful in combat?) – this emotional vulnerability does have some benefits.
Specifically, it’s equipped me with a sort of televisual Cerebro (Editor: you’re literally describing empathy. It’s not a superpower), which allows me to state with the utmost confidence that out of all shows released in 2024, X-Men ‘97 was the saddest.
Yes, I know John Dutton got assassinated by his son, Richard Gadd’s ordeal was harrowing, and the less said about Victor’s heartbreaking fate in The Penguin finale, the better. Yet X-Men ‘97 was the most moving of them all, but probably not for the reasons you think.
No more mutants
If you watched X-Men ‘97 (if you didn’t, why are you reading this? Go watch it now), you probably think I’m talking about the Sentinel’s genocidal attack on Genosha and the subsequent death of Gambit.
I agree with you those moments are horrific; the Sentinel’s surprise massacre was genuinely distressing and deliberately reminiscent of real-life terror attacks like 9/11.
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Yet the true gut punch wasn’t watching the newly born nation being killed in the cradle: it was, of course, Gambit’s death. As the old saying goes, a million deaths is a statistic, but one is a tragedy, and it was Remy’s heroic sacrifice that shifted the devastation from abstract to heartbreakingly personal.
But, as sad as this scene was (I watched it on a train and openly wept), it’s what comes next that makes X-Men ‘97 such a tragic show.
The dream dies
Following the attack on Genosha, the X-Men are in shock, and Magneto, who had agreed to join the team, turns his back on Charles Xavier’s dream and attacks humanity by causing a worldwide blackout.
This inevitably brings him into conflict with the X-Men, ultimately ending with Xavier being forced to use his powers to break Magneto’s mind to fix things. It’s devastating that the Genoshan attack, which should have brought mutantkind together, ultimately only served to tear these people apart when they needed each other most.
When Xavier broke his friend’s brain, then it felt like an admission on the part of Charles that peaceful co-existence, the very dream that the X-Men are founded on, was as dead as the mutants of Genosha. If you want to now more about the future of the MCU check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies including Captain America 4, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four. We’ve also broken down everything you need to know about X-Men ’97 Season 2.
