Y'know, a two-year wait isn't that long considering how long we waited for this iteration of X-Men to pick up where it left off. And when the opening salvo of Season 2 consists of three absolute bangers? "Worth the wait" doesn't come close to describing it.
There is a downside to a three-episode premiere: covering it. Think of the journalists! And when the series exists in a perpetual state of Easter, it makes each egg hunt as exhausting as a session in the Danger Room. But — that's the kind of workout that I'm into. I also started swimming again this week, so I guess I'm also into that workout? But if knowing bizarre X-facts could keep one fit and healthy, I would have been Insta-gay fit-fluencer famous years ago.
So without any more ado, let's kick off the first installment of POP HEIST'S ICYMX, an episode-by-episode breakdown of all the references, callbacks, teases, etcetera, first in "Days of Past Future."
X-CREDITS
Never. Skip. The. Credits. Not only do the X-Men wield one of the most powerful theme songs in animated TV history, the opening sequence is essential to understanding the episode itself. The credit sequences — yes, plural, they change every episode! — act as an extended "previously on," including scenes that led up to this episode. And the character spotlights, those introduce you not to the extended cast, but to the specific cast you're about to see. It's cool, is what I'm saying. Take the "skip intro" button off, Disney+.
The first opening credits of Season 2 include some major changes. The first: Storm's hair is back to goddess lengths.
She famously sported the mohawk in Season 1, but after her dynamic recharge (a scene that gets referenced later in the credits), she's back to the long, flowing locks we all recognize. And considering the uniform she's wearing, it looks like once she's out of the dystopian future, she'll be back to her '90s Jim Lee-designed look, having left Dave Cockrum's black swimsuit look behind on Asteroid M.
The next big change: Wolverine's claws are all bone!
Remember how Magneto pulled all the adamantium covering Wolverine's bones out of his body? If you don't, there's a reference to it in the opening credits, which is one of the most striking visuals in the episode:
Anyway — Wolverine's bone claws were a huge deal back in 1993's Wolverine #75, which detailed the fallout from Wolverine essentially having his skeleton ripped out of his pores. Up until then, it was always assumed that Wolverine's claws were wholly created by the Weapon X program. Not true, it turned out. The claws were part of his mutation! X-Men '97 eschews all that, likely because, un, I think there are a few generations of X-readers now who never even knew that was a mystery.
That's not the only change to Wolverine's spotlight, either. Wolverine is now wearing his John Byrne-designed brown and tan costume!
Of course, that's not how he looks in this episode (more on that in a sec). Listen: it's undoubtedly insanely expensive for X-Men '97 to animate and re-edit the opening sequence for every single episode. I'm not gonna be salty about them not animating ponytail Storm and feral Wolverine for use in one opening. While the brown and tan costume is primarily associated with Wolverine's '80s tenure (he started wearing it in 1980's X-Men #139), he continued to wear it in 1991's seminal X-Men #1-3, Chris Claremont's swan song with the franchise. That plus its inclusion in the 1992 Konami arcade game makes it feel appropriately '90s. No, it's timeless.
There are also a lot of quick flashes from previous X-Men episodes — including moments from last season. Those include: Bishop taking baby Nathan into the future, the Summers family road trip/Prime Sentinel fight, Magneto ripping the adamantium off of Wolverine's bones, Storm and Forge's connection, and the team falling through time. There are also scenes from the '90s series, which have been reanimated in the style of '97. Those include ...
... Bishop approaching Forge, in "Days of Future Past Part 2" (1x12), which establishes how these two characters know each other, as seen in the opening of this episode ...
... and a glimpse of Cable's "Clan Chosen" in action against Apocalypse, a restaged version of what we saw in 1993's "Time Fugitives Part 1" (2x07).
X-CHARACTERS
First up: those freaky looking robots that Forge tangles with immediately after dropping into the future. While they aren't from the comics, they are from the '90s animated series. They first appeared in Season 2's "Time Fugitives" two-parter.
The glow-up is real here.
Next: Mother Askani! Now, she's techincally not a new character, since she briefly appeared at the end of Season 1. But since this episode doesn't spill all the tea on this incredibly important character, I thought she should be included.
So, this is Rachel Summers, the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey (specifically Jean Grey with all her Phoenix-ish-ness) from the "Days of Future Past" timeline. Yeah, the timeline from that Season 1 two-parter, "Days of Future Past." In the comics, Rachel was also responsible for pulling Cyclops and Jean Grey into the future to raise baby Nathan. However, that mission lasted for the duration of Nate's entire childhood (Cyke and Jean's consciousnesses were placed in quasi-lookalike bodies, which explains how Cable didn't instantly recognize them as soon as he grew up and traveled back in time). This isn't Rachel's first appearance in the cartoon, either. She first got a cameo back in the '90s series when she was captured alongside a bunch of other telepaths in Season 4's "Beyond Good and Evil."
Next we meet some of Apocalypse's friends, like Ozymandias!
In the comics, Ozymandias was originally a warlord under the pharaoh Rama-Tut in Ancient Egypt, one tasked with stopping En Sabah Nur's rise to power. He failed, spectacularly, and became Apocalypse's first servant. If the name Rama-Tut sounds familiar, then I bet you watched Episode 3, too. More on him later.
Then there's not the Four Horsemen, but the FINAL HORSEMEN!
I mean, these guys aren't notable as individuals, as most of Apocalypse's Horsemen were until he started turning actual X-Men into his pawns. But, this quartet comes from the 2010's Uncanny X-Force run. They are: Famine (Jeb Lee of the American Confederacy), Death (Sanjar Javeed of 4th century Persia), War (Decimus Furius of Ancient Rome), and Pestilence (Ichisumi of 19th century Japan)
X-COSTUMES
Let's talk about some mutant fashion. First, Storm!
Storm's wearing the traditional X-uniform, rounded out with some future tech and Mad Max-ian accessories.
Next: Cyclops and Jean Grey!
These two are wearing their second X-Factor uniforms, albeit restyled with a bunch of stuff from the Askani thrift store.
And my favorite of the bunch, Wolverine!
Wolverine's oddest era immortalized in animation. In the comics, Wolverine's body reacted in an extreme fashion to the trauma of losing his adamantium. This led to him ... devolving, essentially? He grew his hair out, lost his nose, and really let himself go, style-wise. X-Men '97's take on this isn't as extreme; his uniform seems free of tears. But he's got the mask, hair, and claws.
Speaking of those claws — Wolverine breaks his bone claws in this episode! That's also a callback to a comic, Wolverine #79, where Cyber stomps Wolverine's claws, snapping them off.
Don't worry: Wolverine still has a healing factor, and it applies to his bones.
X-TRA CREDIT
If you want to learn more about the stuff seen in this episode, check out ...
- Cable #6-8 (1993) by Fabian Nicieza, Aron Wiesenfeld
- Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4 (1994) by Scott Lobdell, Gene Ha
- Askani'son #1-4 (1996) by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Gene Ha
- Uncanny X-Force #1-4 (2010) by Rick Remender, Jerome Opena
If you haven't already, consider supporting worker-owned media by subscribing to Pop Heist. We are ad-free and operating outside the algorithm, so all dollars go directly to paying the staff members and writers who make articles like this one possible.
