If you're wondering how much I love the X-Men and how steeped in its lore I've been for almost 34 years, look no further than this here ICYMX. It's a week-and-a-half late because, well, look at it. I can't leave an Easter egg alone, nor can I let a reference go unannotated. It's a problem, specifically when the show launches with three episodes at once. I'll get caught up eventually! Please, please make this all worthwhile by subscribing to Pop Heist at a paid tier! We're having a sale right now and everything!
Anyway, y'all have waited long enough for this, so let's just get into it — POP HEIST'S ICYMX for "A Force To Be Reckoned With."
X-CREDITS
Actually, before we even get to the credits, we have to address this episode's overall premise: X-Force '97. That's a premise that delights me to my core. '90s X-Force is my favorite comic of all time. It was a comfort re-read when I was a kid. It was my favorite monthly comic in, well, 1997. All of the members are my favorite characters. So with all that said ...
... this is not an X-Force episode, because this is not an X-Force team. Cable and Sunspot, yes, absolutely. But Psylocke and Archangel did not join an X-Force team until the late '00s, during the spinoff's non-Cable era. This frustrates me, as a super-particular X-Force fan, because all but one '90s X-Force member exists in the animated canon!
Domino, Warpath, Feral, and Rictor all appeared in supporting roles in the Season 1 episode "Slave Island." Boom Boom and Cannonball appeared in the episodes "No Mutant Is an Island" (1996) and "Hidden Agendas" (1997). Also, yeah, I get that it's equally possible that it was Warpath's brother Thunderbird who appeared in "Slave Island," since this character is missing Jimmy's huge shoulderpads — but whatever. Just go with it.
And then, Boom Boom briefly appeared in last season's "Remember It," seen partying on Genosha at a Dazzler concert next to Rogue. We never saw a body, so she is alive as far as we know.
I get why X-Men '97's version of X-Force looks like this; it's easier to bring in characters we've already met, Archangel absolutely has to be part of any Apocalypse story, and the classic X-Force sorely lacks a telepath, a necessary role that Betsy fills. And then Jubilee, who was never on any X-Force team, but is Jubilee and absolutely needs this time to shine.
So, I digress.
The opening credits! We get hero shots of the cast, which adds a few more character-specific logos into the animated canon.
Jubilee's hero shot (which I guess is what I'm calling those?) has been updated to include her new haircut and uniform, both of which are pulled from 1995-era issues of Generation X, after Jubilee dealt with the near end of the world by getting bangs (girl, who hasn't?).
Psylocke's hero shot is also notable because it's a direct homage to her 1992 Jim Lee trading card.
And since Jubilee is in the lead cast this episode, the opening credits now feature Chamber, Quentin Quire, and Penance running towards a fence. More on Chamber and Penance in a second; Quentin, a telepathic anarchist and rabble-rouser created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely in 2003's New X-Men #134, is even wearing his "Magneto was right" shirt.
That's the second time this shirt has been referenced, if you'll recall Val Cooper's "Magneto was right" speech from last season's "Tolerance Is Extinction." So ... Val, my gal ... how did you get from that speech to this episode, huh?
That brings me to X-Factor, who pop up in the opening credits in a really kickass, direct riff on the team's debut in 1991's X-Factor #71.
As for the callbacks to previous episodes, we get some team-centric ones — like the transformation of Angel into Death/Archangel in X-Men '92's Season 1's "Come the Apocalypse."
Then we get a shot of Apocalypse palming Archangel, which is from Season 3's "Obsession."
There are also new bits of flashback material, which fill in some gaps — like Psylocke training Jubilee how to fight. This shot is notable for the headgear and weapons seen behind Psylocke.
That headgear could belong to a number of people. The most obvious choice is, duh, Psylocke; she wore a similar piece of headgear when she debuted as a ninja in 1989's Uncanny X-Men #256. But here's the catch: it doesn't actually look like Betsy's Lady Mandarin headgear! It looks most like Domino's headgear, designed by Greg Capullo in 1993 — or Shatterstar's headgear, as illustrated by Tony Daniel in 1994. Both of these characters are actual X-Force members; Domino in particular, it's not a stretch to imagine that she's already teamed up with Cable plenty of times.
And at the end of the credits, a new quartet of mutants are seen rushing between the colliding forces of X-Force and Apocalypse's Horsemen. Two are Quentin and Chamber; another is an original X-Men '97 character, who I've dubbed Parrot Girl because she ... turns into a parrot.
And we also get Angel Salvadore, another Grant Morrison addition to the school.
X-CHARACTERS
The episode's cold open (which is a rarity for this series!) includes a scene of teen mutants running to the now empty X-Mansion, presumably seeking shelter. These mutants are Jill, Quentin Quire, Wing, Monet/Penance, and Mark.
- Jill and Mark are siblings who were briefly seen in the 1983 X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills. In the story, they are killed by a religious terrorist group called the Purifiers and crucified on a swing set, only to be found by Magneto. Their powers are not demonstrated and they've made no further appearances, but the episode's captions name these characters as Jill and Mark.
- Quentin Quire, we discussed above. Of note, he's wearing a color-swap version of a look illustrated by Russell Dauterman on the cover of 2017's Mighty Thor #18.
- Wing was a teen mutant introduced in 2004's Astonishing X-Men #3, gifted with the power of flight but depowered by the events of M-Day. He died soon after appearing.
- And Monet, as well as her alternate Penance form, are stalwart X-characters after their debut in 1994's "Generation Next" storyline, and Generation X #1. Their whole deal is, uh, very confusing. Research her if you have a few hours to spare.
The cold open also includes a shot of X-Factor apprehending a mutant, Chamber. Jonothon Starsmore was also a member of the '90s teen team Generation X, alongside Jubilee and Monet. Chamber's body envelops a furnace of burning psionic energy, which blasted away his jaw, neck, and chest.
There is another cameo, later on, that ... feels pointed but also like a stretch. When we first see Emma Frost, she is flanked by two dudes of unknown occupation/function. Are they boy toys, bodyguards, super-fans, associates? Who knows? But one of them is the spitting image of X-Force leader Cannonball, circa 1995.
Is this Cannonball? No idea. There is circumstantial evidence, though, like the fact that Cannonball first met his future classmates in 1982's Marvel Graphic Novel #4 while he was employed by the Hellfire Club.
Both in the comic and cartoon, Emma Frost was a high-ranking member of the Hellfire Club.
Then there's the other guy standing next to Emma Frost. Is that Iceman?
In 1996, Iceman and Cannonball went undercover as aides in Graydon Creed's presidential campaign. Seeing a blonde guy with floppy '90s hair standing next to a brunette ... I don't know! Circumstantial evidence for this being Iceman: Iceman's sole significant appearance in X-Men '92 canon was in the Season 3 episode "Cold Comfort," where it was revealed that he and his girlfriend Polaris were former members of the X-Men who had left and joined X-Factor. The big catch here: while Jubilee, Cable, and Sunspot never met Cannonball, Jubilee did meet Iceman and knows what he looks like de-iced. So ... just putting a pin in this.
And now ... the reason why this has taken so long to put together: the X-Factor detainees. I went through these scenes frame by frame, and broke down who's who cell by cell. There are 29 mutants here, not including Jubilee! Oh my god! So just, have fun with this:
Notes:
- Cell #5: The Cord siblings were members of Quentin Quire's Omega Gang, and this feels like a stretch. It may be them. Fans think so. I will say, this girl is not Loa, despite the facial tattoos. Loa has already appeared in X-Men '97, on the front page of a newspaper seen in the first scene of Episode 1 — and she looked different.
- Cell #7: No idea who the girl in the red (if it's red) with the ponytail is.
- Missing: Jill and Mark were detained in the cold open, so where are they?
I've also seen fans say that Boom Boom is among the detainees, and I did not find her.
X-CETERA
The cold open includes a look at Cable's own research into Apocalypse's plans and, whoo boy, it's packed.
We've got:
- Apocalypse's ancient temple (X-Men '92 5x05, "The Fifth Horseman")
- A photo of Fabian Cortez, the "Fifth Horseman"
- A list of names, including F. Cortez, Caliban (a Hound), W. Worthington III (Archangel, formerly Death), A. Kieros (Abraham Kieros, War), Plague (ex-Morlock, Pestilence), A. Rolfson (August Rolfson, Famine)
- 6/86 - the publish date of Apocalypse's first cameo appearance, X-Factor #5
- S1.10/2.27.93 - The episode number and airdate of "Come the Apocalypse"
- L. Simonson and J. Guice - Louise Simonson and Jackson Guice, Apocalypse's credited creators
- A photo of the Hounds from "The Fifth Horsemen," Whip, Blade, Caliban, and ... the other one
- A photo of Apocalypse's human guise, a member of the Friends of Humanity, from X-Men '92 2x08 "Time Fugitives Part II."
- A photo of Candra, from X-Men '92 2x06 "X-Ternally Yours" — I have a lot more to say about her, but we gotta wait for ICYMX #4. It'll come out in 2027.
After knocking the crap out of War, Jubilee strikes a pose that will be familiar to anyone who watched Sailor Moon in the '90s:
When Psylocke reads War's mind, she gets a glimpse of War delivering a casket to Apocalypse's lair. This is Gambit's casket. Compare what we see in War's memories to what we saw at Gambit's funeral in Season 1's "Bright Eyes."
In the comics, Gambit eventually becomes Apocalypse's Horseman of Death. This was already teed up in the post-credits scene of the Season 1 finale, where Apocalypse finds one of Gambit's cards on Genosha.
And lastly — oh my god, this is too long — there was a lovely moment of symbolism during the episode's darkest moment. When War is killed offscreen, we see this:
A wave crashing against the rocks on the shore. That is exactly what Apocalypse said he was in Season 3's "Obsession":
X-TRA CREDIT
If you want to learn more about the stuff seen in this episode, check out ...
- X-Factor #77 (1992) by Peter David, Larry Stroman - Polaris lets a member of X-Force escape arrest
- X-Factor #84 (1992) by Peter David, Jae Lee - X-Factor vs. X-Force, Round One
- X-Force #19-25 (1993) by Fabian Nicieza, Greg Capullo - The real X-Force at the height of its creative power
- Generation X #1-4 (1994) by Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo - Meet a lot of the mutants seen above, plus, great Jubilee stuff
- Generation X #26-27 (1997) by Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Joe Bennett, Pop Mahn - Jubilee detained and interrogated by the government
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