This article contains spoilers for X-Men ’97 Season 2, Episode 10.
X-Men ’97 Season 2 has come to an end, and Marvel’s mutant heroes did not all manage to make it out unscathed. The show has not shied away from killing major characters since its debut in 2024, and Season 2 upped the ante with Magneto’s death in the two-part episode “Rise of Apocalypse.” Magneto’s end proved to be one of the most shocking moments this season, but Season 2’s finale, “Survival of the Fittest,” also seemed to end the stories for two major characters.
The penultimate episode of X-Men ’97 Season 2 promised a battle between X-Men, X-Force, and X-Factor, and “Survival of the Fittest” delivered just that. The three teams found themselves at odds over Gambit’s fate, as he still had part of Apocalypse within his mind. Ultimately, the conflict failed to decide Gambit’s fate, as three members of the X-Men traveled to Apocalypse’s Ship to find a way to end En Sabah Nur’s threat: Rogue, Beast, and Nightcrawler.
One X-Man Makes the Ultimate Sacrifice
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Image via Marvel Television -
In Apocalypse’s Ship, Rogue is able to communicate with one of the Celestials, who reveals that Gambit’s salvation requires a sacrifice. Rogue is more than willing to take that trade and is given the power to purge Apocalypse from Remy’s body in exchange for her life. After restoring Gambit to his old self, Rogue finds that her sacrifice was taken on by one of her fellow X-Men: Nightcrawler. Rogue’s adopted brother appealed to the Celestial for her life, as Nightcrawler knew that it would result in Gambit and Rogue getting a chance to be together again.
Nightcrawler played a relatively minor role in the ’90s Fox X-Men series, but the character has been a staple of X-Men ’97‘s first two seasons. He’s one of the more religious members of the team, and his faith has long been a key element of his character. When the Celestial asks why Nightcrawler is so sure that his sacrifice will benefit the rest of the X-Men, Kurt once again leans on his faith. The moment is very much in keeping with Kurt’s characterization from the comics, and it’s a fitting end to his story in the animated series.
X-Men ’97’s Post-Credit Scene Reveals a Surprising Death
Nightcrawler was not the only X-Men ’97 character to seemingly meet their end in “Survival of the Fittest.” The show ends with X-Factor leader Valerie Cooper seemingly killed by Mystique, following the results of a presidential election that saw Graydon Creed (Mystique and Sabretooth’s son and Nightcrawler’s half-brother) defeating an incumbent President Kelly. While Valerie Cooper’s fate seems pretty open and shut, it’s suggested that Mystique will continue to act as the head of X-Factor in Season 3. That might give Mystique greater access to her son, and Creed’s anti-mutant stance has clearly been a source of anger for his parents; in “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs,” Sabretooth tells Morph that he should have killed Creed when he was a small child.
X-Men ’97 has adapted lots of different stories from the comics, freely picking and choosing different storylines and diverging from the source material when appropriate. “Survival of the Fittest” already has one big deviation from the comics: Graydon Creed was assassinated by Mystique on election night and never actually became the President of the United States. That makes it a bit harder to predict where things might go in X-Men ’97 Season 3, and how the X-Men will deal with a mutant-hating leader in charge of the country. Creed was eventually resurrected in the comics, and it’s possible the show’s writers could adapt some of the stories that came after his return, including his affiliation with the terrorist group known as Orchis.
What This Means for X-Men ’97 Season 3
While X-Men ’97 had two big deaths to cap off Season 2, the reality of superhero fiction is that characters often come back from the grave; Gambit seemed pretty dead before the teaser at the end of Season 1, and the hero is now back on the X-Men roster. It’s possible Nightcrawler could come back in Season 3, or that Valerie Cooper might have survived her wounds from Mystique. But if Nightcrawler really is dead, it should be interesting to see what impact that has on Mystique, especially following her other son’s election victory.
The best X-Men stories have always balanced superhero action with soap opera moments, and Season 2 seems to have set up both in a very big way. Rogue might have gotten Gambit back, but things won’t be easy with her mother Mystique’s return and her half-brother Graydon Creed’s ascendancy in America.
- Release Date
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March 20, 2024
- Network
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Disney+
- Directors
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Jake Castorena, Emi Yonemura, Chase Conley
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
