Jonathan Dobres

Season 5, Episode 10. Air date: September 20, 1997.

X-Men: The Animated Series ends roughly where it started, with Henry Gyrich screaming about the mutant threat in front of Congress. I can’t fault the show for coming full circle in its final half hour. I just wish that season 5’s animation could rise to the occasion. This version of Gyrich, sporting a different hair color and no glasses, bears no resemblance to his season 1 self, nor any explanation for how he re-entered polite society. He could be any anti-mutant bigot. I’d like to believe that the show was making a point there, but then again, this shot of Xavier makes it seem like he’s missing half his body.

Xavier argues with Gyrich for tolerance. In response, Gyrich pulls out some kind of device and zaps Xavier with it, causing him to lose control of his powers and emit some kind of painful telepathic blast. Xavier falls into a coma from the strain, and the world learns that Charles Xavier is a mutant. Gyrich is hauled away (never to be seen again) screaming about how we now finally have proof that “they can look like us!”

I was taken aback by the implication that Charles Xavier was not publicly known to be a mutant. The comics have played with the idea, particularly the Ultimate X-Men line, but the TV show has never so much as mentioned the need for Xavier to keep his true nature hidden. He frequently appears in public with costumed mutants and spends his professional life arguing for mutant-human peace in front of Congress. How could the world not know? For that matter, the world has certainly seen global broadcasts from the likes of Magneto and Fabian Cortez, two mutants who look like perfectly normal (if well sculpted) people.

But you know what, I’ll grant the episode a little leeway on this “reveal”, because the attempt on Xavier’s life galvanizes the world’s mutants into all-out rebellion. As one Genoshan mutant puts it, “They attacked Xavier on TV! Magneto was right all along! Xavier was about as normal as we mutants get. He was famous, rich, and human-looking. And someone went after him in front of the whole world!” Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a canonical “Magneto was right,” and it’s hard to argue against. If even the wealthy and respectable Charles Xavier can be gunned down in public, then no mutant is safe.

Mutants the world over are in open rebellion. They converge on Genosha to be led by Magneto, we’re told. I’m not sure what happened to Genosha between seasons 4 and 5. Last we saw it, the island nation was a lot bigger and still had an anti-mutant government firmly in control. Maybe rising seas swallowed both its coastline and its former leaders. Anyway, Magneto has a fortress here now. He emerges and tells the people, “This is our world now! Take it!”

Meanwhile, the X-Men are doing what little they can to calm everybody down. They put out a message from Xavier asking the world for understanding. In the moment, I was thinking this could be a computer simulation of Xavier or even something he prerecorded for emergencies, so I was genuinely surprised when it’s revealed that “Xavier” is actually Morph, returning at the eleventh hour to help their friends save the world from the latest threat. I won’t lie, it’s good to see Morph one last time.

Xavier’s condition is dire, beyond what even Beast and Moira MacTaggert can heal. Beast says that perhaps the advanced technology of the Shi’ar could help, but with Xavier unconscious, there’s no way to contact them. Jean offers the idea that she could help guide Xavier into contacting Lilandra Neramani, but she needs more power to pull it off, and in the world of late-series X-Men, power means Magneto.

The team (or half of them, anyway) jet over to Genosha to confront their old nemesis. Magneto pulls the Blackbird out of the sky and likely would have won the ensuing fight, but the news that Xavier is in fact dying shocks him. On the cusp of leading the worldwide mutant takeover he has so long desired, Magneto instead decides to step away and try to save his old friend.

It’s a touching moment, but from here on out, the episode simply abandons the global unrest plot line so that it can wrap things up for the series. Magneto links up with Jean to perform the psychic signal boost (“This might kill you if it doesn’t work,” etc.). Xavier regains consciousness with a rather tender, “Hello, Magnus” (nothing to see here, folks), and he proceeds to deliver some very cheesy character summaries for each principal X-Man. Wolverine, perhaps understandably, gets a long one, including the line, “Cynic, you have found faith.” Lilandra teleports in, stabilizes Xavier, and declares she’ll have to take him back with her to complete his treatment. Charles Xavier departs the Earth in the most literal sense, in a faster than light spaceship.

Do I think this is a good finale? No, not really. It doesn’t have enough time to convincingly sell a worldwide rebellion and bid a proper farewell to the series, and would have benefited from a two-part structure (almost any season 5 episode could have been sacrificed to make room). Gyrich disappears after trying to kill Xavier, and the episode straight-up ignores the global unrest storyline so that it can do the tender farewell. That said, that “VIVA MAGNETO” graffiti is the kind of thing that sticks with you, and I was genuinely surprised and delighted to see Morph return to the team at the last minute. I’ve seen worse series finales, that’s for sure. By season 5’s low standards, it’s not bad.

Now That’s What I Call ’90s: As Gyrich is hauled away by security, he screams, “Trust no one,” one of The X-Files’s most famous slogans.

Stray observations:

• The season’s lower budget continues to show. Morph changes appearances with a quick cross dissolve rather than an actual morphing animation.

• The show gets Cyclops and Wolverine’s relationship right, finally:

  Wolverine: You wanted to see me?

  Cyclops: I need your advice.

  Wolverine: First time for everything.

• On the toilet: no one. Not every X-Man gets a big moment, but they’re all here. Even Morph!