Jonathan Dobres

Season 4, Episode 6. Air date: September 23, 1995.

X-Men: The Animated Series did a lot of things that no other Saturday morning cartoon had ever done before, like permanently kill off a main character. Or at least, that was the original intent with Morph: demonstrate that this show had real stakes and that no one was safe. The idea was that Morph would die in “Night of the Sentinels” and stay that way. Attempting to square the circle between the show’s desire to kill off a character and the comics’ tradition of almost never doing that, the writers settled on sacrificing a new character loosely based on Changeling, an obscure villain-turned-hero who himself had died in the line of duty shortly after being introduced in 1967.¹

Unexpectedly, test audiences liked Morph a whole lot. The writers liked them, too, so Morph ended up joining the ranks of characters like Jesse Pinkman instead of Jesse McNally. The writers eventually brought Morph back as Mister Sinister’s tormented minion, but there wasn’t much room for them beyond that. The X-Men rarely ever had a shapeshifter in their ranks, and the show primarily adapted stories from the comics, so there just weren’t many stories where such a character would fit.

“Courage” will be Morph’s only substantive appearance until the series finale, so at least it’s a good outing! Master Mold, last seen exploding in the season 1 finale, is putting himself back together (somehow) and wants revenge on Charles Xavier while he’s at it. That we’re watching a Sentinels/Master Mold story is already remarkable. I had started to give up hope that the show would ever trust its audience enough to revisit old plot lines, though season 4 is exceeding expectations on that front.

Where the episode really shines is in its treatment of Morph and their PTSD. I can’t think of another character who’s gotten it quite as bad as Morph has, at least on the show. Their trauma is extensive, and the writers not only trust the audience to remember most of the reasons why,² they also portray the issue rather well for a Saturday morning cartoon. When Wolverine and Morph investigate a materials plant that the Sentinels had raided earlier, Wolverine notices signs of the big robots and immediately hurries to get Morph away from the place. Too late, though, as Morph spots a telltale giant footprint on the way out and has a panic attack. Later, when the Sentinels descend on the X-Mansion to capture Xavier, Morph can only freeze in panic. Cyclops insists that Morph stay behind while the rest of the team dashes halfway around the world searching for Xavier. It’s obvious to everyone, Morph included, that they’re being handled delicately. This creates some justifiable angst, but it also gives Morph the spare time to figure out Xavier’s location (from a recovered Sentinel head that Beast had been hacking), rejoin the team during the obligatory third act brawl, and save the day. The action is fine. It’s the portrayal of Morph’s mental state and the team’s genuine concern for their friend that makes this story a keeper.

Outside of the fights, the episode goes out of its way to convey how happy everyone is to see Morph again. You get the sense that they really like this person, which makes Morph’s departure at the end of the story hit that much harder. The special friendship between Morph and Wolverine also stands out, maybe more than the writers had intended. During a particularly tender moment, Morph jokingly asks Wolverine if he’s “going soft”. In a notable bit of definitely-not-gay overcompensation, Wolverine temporarily demonstrates super strength and casually demolishes a concrete wall the two are trying to get past. Watching these brief scenes, it’s little wonder that the X-Men ‘97 team decided to make Morph’s feelings for Wolverine more explicit thirty years later.

The action pieces are fine, if a little repetitive. The X-Men fight the Sentinels three separate times in this half hour. The second fight is made a little more interesting by the presence of Henry Gyrich and Bolivar Trask, last seen at the end of season 1. Master Mold has been after them, too, and the X-Men followed the Sentinels to the isolated tropical island where they’ve been hiding. The brief scene we get of Gyrich and Trask bickering with each other reads like a mashup of Gilligan’s Island and The Odd Couple, but with more genuine hatred. Between that and the Wolverine/Morph stuff, this might be the queerest episode in the whole series.

This being the series’s only truly Morph-centric episode, they get to be the lynchpin of the third Sentinel fight. It’s quick but decisive. Morph transforms into Omega Red, Sasquatch, and Longshot (none of whom Morph has ever met, I must note), and the Sentinels just can’t keep up. Ultimately, Morph shoots down a stalactite above Master Mold’s head, crushing their former nemesis once and for all.

As is the tradition with all guest stars, Morph decides they’re not ready to rejoin the team and exits for parts unknown. It’s not an especially teary goodbye, but it feels sad nonetheless, which I think is a testament to how well this episode rounds out Morph’s character and gives them a little closure. It’s also a good representation of the sometimes halting journey of mental health, consistent with the way the show has handled Storm’s claustrophobia and Rogue’s loneliness.

Now That’s What I Call ’90s: Beast saves the coordinates he downloaded off the Sentinel to a 3.5” floppy disk.

Stray observations:

• In addition to clobbering a cement wall more easily than Rogue can, Wolverine also jumps about 100 feet in the air during the first Sentinel fight. Let’s just chalk these up to Wolverine caring very deeply about Morph.

• Master Mold is voiced very differently in this episode, much less robotic and more classic arch-villain. I think it’s a different voice actor, too, but the credits for one-off performances like these are notoriously hard to sort out.

• Master Mold’s revenge plan for Xavier includes linking their brains so that Master Mold can use Xavier’s powers to destroy all mutants. This, I must point out, is basically the plot of X2, the best X-Men movie.

• Beast, hacking into the severed head of a Sentinel, quotes a few lines of “Ozymandias”. Chef’s kiss!

  Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
  Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

• Cyclops initially thinks the big “Welcome Home” banner is overkill for Gambit and Rogue, who have been elsewhere since the last episode. They’re not here, but the episode spares a line to remind us that they’re somewhere. The show hasn’t bothered with this kind of detailed continuity since season 2.

• On the toilet: Jubilee.