X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 1
"Days of Past Future"
Writer: Brian Ford Sullivan
Director: Emmett Yonemura
Cast: Voices of Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, Ross Malinger, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Gil Birmingham, J.P. Karliak, Chris Potter, Michael Johnston
In case you forgot — or skipped the lengthy recap before the start of "Days of Present Future" — last season concluded with the X-Men defeating Bastion and his Prime Sentinels in an adaptation of "Operation: Zero Tolerance," Magneto ripping the adamantium from Wolverine's bones aboard Asteroid M in an adaptation of "Fatal Attractions," and the X-Men almost dying on their way back to Earth before being ripped out of their time and deposited into adaptations of two mid-90s limited series, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (aka the Future) and Rise of Apocalypse (aka the Past). Cue credits!
Back to the 90s!
"Days of Past Future" begins a few months after the end of Season 1 in a world without X-Men via a cold open that isn't a cold open — it comes after the opening credits — but reads like one. In it, the time-traveling Bishop and present day Forge finish building a time machine. Bishop, something of a time cop himself, has determined that the X-Men are split across the far future and the ancient past. The duo jump into the timestream, Bishop bound for the past, Forge the future (where his lady love Storm is hanging out).
Forge lands in the year 3960 and is immediately attacked by a squad of Apocalypse's Terminator-esque attack robots. He is aided in his fight by the arrival of Storm and a more savage, broad-shouldered Wolverine — now wielding claws made of bone and wearing a face-covering bandana but, thankfully, in full possession of his nose. Forge tells them he's there to bring them back to their present, but they tell him there might be a problem with that.
Turns out, Cyclops and Jean Grey are less than eager to give up on the chance to raise their son — aka Cable — after having to send him into the future (this future) last season. As they argue their presence may be necessary to ensure Cable grows up to defeat Apocalypse, Forge argues their presence may be disrupting the timeline, and working against Cable's destiny. They settle on a compromise, in which Cyclops and Jean are given a day to say goodbye.
Meanwhile, Ozymandias, an Egyptian pharaoh-looking guy made of stone (comics!) wakes Apocalypse up from one of his periodic restorative naps (I feel ya big guy) to tell him about the prepubescent Cable and how he could serve as an appropriate vessel for Apocalypse, to prevent him from having to take so many naps. Why Ozymandias is only telling Apocalypse about him NOW, when Cable has been in this future for ~ten years, isn't clear. At any rate, Apocalypse dispatches the Four Horsemen of him to aid in the capture of Lil' Cable.
Back at the Askani camp, Cyclops and Jean try to say goodbye to Lil' Cable, but continue to question the whole idea of leaving the future and whether this whole "Cable is prophesied to destroy Apocalypse" thing is even legit. So Cyclops goes to see Mother Askani, who is meditating upside down in the air, as one does. She insists the prophecy is legit, if vague, but mostly doesn't give Cyclops the answers he's looking for. And so Cyclops, Jean and Lil' Cable run off to be their own little family unit. In the process, they run headlong into…Ozymandias, Apocalypse's Horsemen, and some more Terminators.
Planes, Trains, and Ship
The trio puts up a good fight, but are ultimately captured and put on Apocalypse's slave train, heading towards his citadel. Mother Askani is excited, however, because inside the citadel is Ship, the Celestial spaceship that gave Apocalypse his power (and which Beast kind of had the hots for in an episode of the original '92 animated series). According to the prophecy, whoever enters Ship will emerge with the power to stop Apocalypse. Now the remaining X-Men just need to get on the train and free Cyclops, Jean and Lil' Cable before it gets inside the citadel. To do so, they'll need a massive power boost to get the Askani craft flying — a boost Mother Askani says Storm can provide via a solar storm.
Storm is dubious, saying she controls the weather, not the comos, but Mother Askani reveals she hails from a dark timeline where she saw her Storm channel the power of stars. She also reveals that she is the one who sent the X-Men across time, saving them from death in an effort to stop Apocalypse either here, at the height of his power, or in ancient Egypt, before he gained power.
Inside Apocalypse's train (which, like his citadel, has his big ol'face on the front of it, because he's awesome), Cyclops and Jean help Lil' Cable use his power to free the three of them — but what puts him over the top is a heartfelt recitation of their final words to him before they sent him into the future, and the reveal that they are in fact his parents. This (legitimately touching) pep talk enables Lil' Cable to break free of his restraints (how is he able to overcome the power dampening collars they're all wearing? Who knows!) and release his parents, at which point the three make short work of Apocalypse's bargain basement Terminators on their way to stop the train.
Elsewhere, Storm manages to channel energy directly from the sun into the Askani ship, thanks in part to one of her patented grandiose monologues. They arrive just as the Family Summers are about to be overwhelmed by Ozymandias and the Horsemen, and the united X-Men (plus Lil' Cable, wielding a massive repurposed gun) make short work of Apocalypse's henchmen. With the train in their control, Mother Askani slams it into the Citadel, directing it towards Ship. A panicked Ozymandias tells Apocalypse they need to flee, and Apocalypse decides to snuff out the X-Men where they live: the 1990s!
Outside, Lil' Cable is greeted by the slaves freed by the crashing train, getting a taste of leadership in the process, then enters Ship, where he's greeted by the voice of, uh, Ship. Ship tells Lil' Cable it'll help Nathan find the answers he seeks by "walking with" him, at which point Lil' Cable sticks his techno-organic arm into a thing and it transforms into the smooth, shiny metal arm of adult Cable — the idea presumably being that Ship's consciousness now resides inside Nathan as "Professor", the sentient AI which helped him out back in the earlier series.
The focus on Lil' Nathan's arm also serves as a transition point back into the present/1997 for a scene that reads like a post-credits sequence but takes place before the credits. Adult Cable, with a somewhat more muscular robot arm, has gathered Psylocke and Archangel to help him fulfill his destiny and hunt down Apocalypse. But first, they need some more help, setting their sights on Jubilee and Sunspot!
Recommended Reading
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix by Scott Lobdell and Gene Ha.
While some of the details are a bit different (Cyclops and Jean spend a decade in the future, in different bodies, no other X-Men are present, and Stryfe is there), this 1994 miniseries chronicling the honeymoon of newlyweds Cyclops and Jean Grey is obviously the inspiration for the bulk of "Days of Past Future." In it, the title characters face similar struggles as in this episode, grappling with their grief over sending their son into the future as they try to carve out some approximation of a normal life for their little family unit as the future Cable grapples with his destiny. And it's all set amidst an alien, far future backdrop which lets artist Gene Ha really cut loose with some jaw-dropping visuals and design work.
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