I know what you did this morning. You woke up bright and early, poured yourself a big bowl of sugar-coated tooth bombs, turned on Disney+, and watched X-Men ’97. Suddenly Wednesday morning feels a lot like Saturday morning — and we are not complaining! It was a hellish wait between episodes of Marvel’s smash hit series, and we were greeted with — well, a truly hellish episode! Maybe watching X-Men ’97 Episode 3 wasn’t the smartest way to start the day. I mean, I know I’ve had visions of Rogue and Magneto melting into each other in my head all day. Really hard to work with that hanging over me! Now we all know how Gambit feels.
Mental scars aside, X-Men ’97’s “Fire Made Flesh” was a wild romp unlike any we’ve seen in animated X-Men lore. They really compressed two major, major storylines into one 30 minute episode! And you know what that means: there’s a whole lot to unpack. Seriously. There’s a lot. I’m haunted by the sight of Roberto’s mom crawling out of a TV like a spider, and I’m now haunted by visions of green, glowing, Easter eggs.
Below you will find a whole bunch of X-Men Easter eggs from Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh.” SPOILER warning, obviously, but you knew that! What are you waiting for? Our deep dish — I mean deep dive into X-Men ’97 Episode 3 awaits you!
The Opening Credits
As was the case in the first two episodes, the opening credits change things up a bit and include more moments from the original series that have been re-animated. These moments include:
The X-Men’s first encounter with Magneto (1×3, “Enter, Magneto”)
Lilandra punching a control panel (3×17, “The Dark Phoenix Part IV: The Fate of the Phoenix”)
The death of the Phoenix (3×17, “The Dark Phoenix Part IV: The Fate of the Phoenix”)
Cyclops witnessing the death of Phoenix (3×17, “The Dark Phoenix Part IV: The Fate of the Phoenix”)
The credits also have a fun moment where they swap out Jubilee for Sunspot, a.k.a. Roberto Da Costa, a.k.a. the teen mutant that was rescued in this series’ premiere.
And one more moment: there’s what I could call a “deleted scene” from the first episode, a flirty moment on the basketball court between Rogue and Gambit.
What’s become clear is that X-Men ’97 is using the opening credits as a supplemental “previously on,” adding in moments of history that add context to the story we’re about to see unfold as well as little moments that remind us of what’s at stake even if it’s not the A-story (like Gambit and Rogue’s relationship).
Jean Grey: This is your life — sorta!
“Fire Made Flesh” is full of callbacks to Jean Grey’s life, via mental images, photos, and visions on the astral plane. It’s… good god, it’s a lot. But hey — X-Men ’97 doesn’t half ass nothin’, so neither do I! Let’s start with the murky, half-erased memories that Madelyne Pryor reads in Jean’s mind at the beginning of the episode. We have…
Jean in the Danger Room (1×5, “Captive Hearts”)
Jean and the X-Men preparing to face the Imperial Guard (3×17, “The Dark Phoenix Part IV: The Fate of the Phoenix”)
Jean and Cyclops kissing right in front of Wolverine, like real jerks (1×5, “Captive Hearts”)
Cyclops at Jean’s bedside following the Phoenix incident (3×4, “The Phoenix Saga, Part II: The Dark Shroud”)
The X-Men facing Dark Phoenix (3×16, “The Dark Phoenix, Part III: The Dark Phoenix”)
Jean and Cyclops’ fake wedding (2×1, “‘Til Death Do Us Part”)
There is another memory of Cyclops holding Jean Grey, both of them in uniform, but I can’t place it. It may be from the Season 1 finale, “The Final Decision,” but those two canoodled so much, it’s hard to pin down.
After that montage, Madelyne Pryor returns to the bedroom she shares (or shared) with Cyclops and smashes a few photos. Those photos are homages to…
X-Men #30 (1994)
X-Men #11 (1992)
There’s a third photo of Jean Grey with Professor Xavier that I personally can’t place. It may just be a generic photo — but knowing this show, probably not. Help me out, people!
Later in the episode, Jean and Madelyne have a mental showdown wherein even more memories flash by. Those images are inspired by…
X-Men #136 (1980)
Classic X-Men #1 (1986)
And, most esoterically, a print by artist Michael Cho that was available as a print from Mondo.
All about Mister Sinister
You know him, you love him, you really wouldn’t want to stand anywhere near him because he definitely wants your blood — he’s Mr. Sinister! And, just like in the comics, he knows how to make an entrance.
Sinister: you are the father! That’s a reference that only ’90s kids will get.
Just like his splashy, comic-inspired intro, Sinister also leaves the episode with some curious words…
This is the first line of an old, old, old English nursery rhyme. The rhyme has a few variations, but the one that Sinister recites is…
Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home
Your house is on fire and your child all gone
Mr. Sinister, being vague as hell
What does that rhyme mean? Considering what happens to Nathan, Madelyne and Cyclops’ infant son, it seems like foreshadowing.
Rogue & Magneto, together again… like, really together
Gambit’s personal inferno involves walking in on an intimate moment between Rogue and Magneto. This nightmarish vision was inspired by the cover of Uncanny X-Men #274. Rogue’s wearing her tattered Savage Land getup, but Magneto, ever the exhibitionist, is completely nude in this children’s cartoon. Also the whole melting into each other thing, that’s not from the comics. Mercifully.
“Inferno” & “Endgame”
This episode essentially merges two massive storylines into one. They are…
- “Inferno” (1988): Uncanny X-Men #239-243, X-Factor #36-39 — and a lot of other tie-ins, but these are the issues of that saga that “Fire Made Flesh” pulls from.
- “Endgame” (1991): X-Factor #65-68
While that is, objectively, a whole lot of comics, it actually makes sense to combine them into one story. “Inferno” dealt with the revelation that Madelyne Pryor was a clone of Jean Grey created by Mr. Sinister in order to produce a child with enhanced genetic potential. Madelyne did not take kindly to that, made a literal deal with a literal demon, and unleashed literal Hell on Earth. The saga concluded with Madelyne’s death and Jean Grey acquiring her memories. We see a very truncated version of this play out in the episode, except X-Men ’97’s Madelyne manages to escape the story mostly intact.
“Endgame” is all about Nathan Christopher Summers, the infant son of Cyclops (still an infant even though he was born in 1986 — comics!). In the comics, it’s actually Apocalypse who infects Nathan with the techno-organic virus. And then, in order to save him, Cyclops and Jean Grey send Nathan to a far-flung future with a mysterious, time-traveling woman, a member of the clan Askani.
To editorialize: X-Men ’97 expertly streamlines all of this. In the comics, Mr. Sinister orchestrated Nathan’s creation to ultimately kill Apocalypse, but it was Apocalypse who infected him with a virus, and a random time traveler who saved him. In the cartoon, Sinister did the creating and infecting and Bishop — a time traveler we already know — saves Nathan. It’s pretty crafty!
This coda to “Fire Made Flesh” owes a lot to the Season 2 two-parter “Time Fugitives,” wherein Bishop goes back in time to stop a plague — and Cable, who’s from even further down the timeline, travels back to make sure the plague happens. In this episode, we see the same techno organic plague.
And — I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this yet — baby Nathan grows up to be Cable. So Bishop is saving the life of a baby who will grow up to be the guy he fights in “Time Fugitives.”
Ain’t the X-Men neat?
X-TRA FACTS
And lastly, a few X-TRA facts that don’t fit in all the facts above. First, let’s talk about Morph.
He morphs into Spiral (Mojo’s top enforcer), his dark self from X-Men Season 2, the New Mutant character Magik, and Magik’s evil alter-ego Darkchild (or Darkchylde, depending on how edgy you want to be).
And lastly but not leastly, in the flashback to Jean Grey’s childhood, we see her clutching a cyclops stuffed toy that we also saw in Jean’s childhood bedroom in the Season 3 episode “Dark Phoenix.”
I feel like a joke about Jean having always shared a bed with a cyclops would be distasteful?
X-Men ’97 returns with Episode 4, “Motendo/Lifedeath,” next Wednesday.
