‘X-Men ’97’ Brings Back ‘The Animated Series’ Best Line in a Brutal Way

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for X-Men '97 Episode 9.

The big picture

• Wolverine echoes Magneto's iconic line
  X-Men: The Animated Series
  emphasizing the deep story and nuanced dynamic between the two characters.
• X-Men '97
  targets the already mature audience of the original series with darker themes and more adult content.
• The show's darker tone is highlighted through the graphic violence of Wolverine's attack on Magneto in Renewed Conflict.

Along with the most amazing fight against Bastion (Theo James), the last episodes of X-Men '97's first season has brought the series full circle with a renewed focus on the conflict between the X-Men and one of their original enemies from the shows predecessor. X-Men: The Animated Series. After the destruction of the mutant nation Genosha, which was instigated by human prejudice, Erik “Magnus” Lehnsherr/Magneto (Matthew Waterson), has abandoned his attempt to follow that of his friend Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) pacifist ideologies and resumed his work as a ruthless mutant freedom fighter, launching his most potentially devastating attack on humanity.

The latest episode emphasizes the cyclical nature of the series' narratives when Logan/Wolverine (Cal Dodd) delivers a devastating blow against Erik, paraphrasing the latter's most iconic line from the original series as he does so. The moment stands out as X-Men '97 attends above all The Animated Series', the original audience, which has matured significantly in the years between both shows, and the complex dynamic between Logan and Erik, which is more nuanced than the typical superhero-supervillain rivalry.

Wolverine Calls Magneto's Line Again in 'X-Men: The Animated Series' Season 1 Finale

In The Animated SeriesIn the season one finale, “The Final Decision,” Erik (who was later voiced by David Hemblen), advises the X-Men against the fight against the rogue robot Master Mold (David Fox) and the army of Sentinels he commands, noting that Sentinels only exist because humans created them to hunt mutants. Despite the reluctance of some members of the team, the X-Men head into battle anyway, with Erik's disturbing statement: “You are all fools! Heroic fools. The brave are always the first to die,” alluding to his experiences in the Holocaust and his fear that mutants will suffer similar persecution. Despite these fears and his ideological disagreements with them, Erik ultimately proves to be one of the brave by helping the X-Men in battle, which they eventually win.

In X-Men '97“Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1”, Magneto unleashes a global electromagnetic pulse. While this neutralized the threat of Bastion's terrifying Prime Sentinels, who were on a campaign to exterminate mutants worldwide, as Logan predicted, it was also seen as a declaration of war between mutants and humans because the EMP disrupted Earth's natural magnetic field, threatening to end it. life on the planet In “Part 2,” Erik offers his space hideout, Asteroid M, as a haven for mutants as he plans to let the humans of the world die. Although Rogue (Lenore Zann) and Roberto Da Costa/Sunspot (Gui Augustini), both of whom have been particularly badly hurt by human prejudice, alongside Erik, the rest of the X-Men decide to oppose their former ally once more.

Hoping to convince Erik to reverse the EMP, Charles deploys with half the team to confront him while the other half sets out to neutralize Bastion and his ally, Mister Sinister (Christopher Britton). In the ensuing battle, Erik throws his own helmet at Charles' head, preventing Charles from using his telepathy to stop him. With time running out on the planet, Logan manages to catch Erik by surprise, stabbing him in the chest with his Adamantium claws. Logan notes, “He's been in a lot of wars, bub. The brave always die first.”

Wolverine and Magneto have a deep history in X-Men Media

Despite the brutality of their fight, which only becomes more severe when Erik later uses his powers to tear the Adamantium from Logan's bones, the encounter also highlights that the emotions Logan and Erik feel in the for each other they are not limited to hatred. By repeating his words, Logan shows that even though they've found themselves on opposite sides again, he still sees Erik as one of the brave, emphasizing the mutual respect they often show each other., which is rooted in his experiences in World War II and other horrific conflicts. This respect is demonstrated through various pieces of X-Men media.

In the live action movie X-Men: Days of Future PastEric (Sir Ian McKellen) and Charles (Sir Patrick Stewart) sends Logan (Hugh Jackman) in time to convince their younger selves to change the past and prevent their dystopian future from occurring. After an argument between young Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Michael Fassbender), Logan sarcastically remarks to the latter, “So you were always a jerk.” Erik says, “I take it we're going to be best friends in the future?” Logan explains, “I spent many years trying to bring you down.” Logan recognizes that he and Erik are similar: survivors. Although at the end of the film, Erik throws Logan into a river in hopes of drowning him, joking, “So much for being a survivor,” the previous exchange showed that Logan, at least , appreciated Erik's resilience.

Erik has reciprocated this understanding more often in comics. In Uncanny X-Force #9 of 2011, Erik, having discovered that Logan leads the covert mutant black ops unit, breaks into his base of operations. He hands Logan a file on an elderly Nazi who escaped to Rio de Janeiro, implying that he wants Logan to kill him. Logan backs off, noting that X-Force is “not a revenge team”, but agrees and carries out the hit when Erik asks Logan to “do it for me”. Erik's expressions in the theme suggest that he is afraid of the Nazi, which makes sense given that he was only a child during World War II and the Holocaust, while Logan, who ages very slowly due to his mutant healing powers , he was already an experienced. soldier The brevity of their exchange suggests that Logan may already be aware of any kind of disturbing history Erik has with Nazis, showing how the pair must come to trust and rely on each other, at least in certain situations, despite its own history of opposition. .

Wolverine and Magneto's fight highlights the darker tone of 'X-Men '97

Remembering the line about the brave dying first also draws attention to the tonal differences between them The Animated Series i X-Men '97. Although the line itself was one of many examples The Animated Series“Admirable willingness to tackle adult themes, ultimately the show was still primarily aimed at children, as were most superhero cartoons of the time. This restricted the series in its depiction of certain material, especially regarding Logan's character. Obviously, the series had to refrain from Logan using his claws on regular flesh-and-blood opponents, leading to some unintentionally funny and illogical moments during the action sequences.

The intended audience X-Men '97 they really seem to be fans of the original series that have grown up. As a result, it features much clearer adult content and has tackled the franchise's core themes of discrimination in greater depth. Although Logan stabbed some early Sentinels who were at least once human, in “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1”, his impaling of Magneto, during which blood is clearly shown gushing from the wound and of its claws, is graphically more violent than any other. of his previous scenes and accompanying the gory visuals with a line similar to one from the original series shows how the world and characters have matured along with the original audience..

X-Men '97 is available to stream on Disney+ in the US

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