X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 6
"Danger.Exe"
Writers: Beau DeMayo and Mariah Wilson and Bailey Moore
Director: Emmett Yonemura
Cast: Voices of George Buza, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Ross Marquand, Rachel Kimsey, Carolina Ravassa
If, before it started, you'd put odds on this season dedicating an episode to presenting Polaris (a character with one animated appearance prior to the season) and Danger (the sentient manifestation of the X-Men's gym) as kindred spirits suffering from the legacies of their relative fathers, it would have been pretty low. Yet here we are and, surprisingly, it mostly works!
Magneto's Heir
After last episode's Weapon X-themed deviation, this episode opens with a reprise of the closing moments of Episode 4, as we watch Magneto once again die at Apocalypse's hands in front of Xavier (this time, there's some added angles that make it clear A. Apocalypse more or less atomized Magneto and B. was pretty gleeful about doing it). What we're watching turns out to be a simulation running in the Danger Room, the X-Men's high-tech, hard light and hologram-assisted gymnasium. Professor X is essentially replaying Magneto's death over and over as a form of therapy — but calls it to a halt when the holographic Apocalypse goes off script and almost crushes Xavier's head. Asking about the safety protocols, the Danger Room computer — who has been watching all of Xavier's "therapy" sessions — tells him it altered the parameters in light of his repeated failures. It all seems like an honest mistake — Xavier's session is meant to be a mental health one, not a training exercise, you silly computer! — but we've all seen enough Star Trek episodes in our days to get suspicious. Xavier, too racked by grief however, pointedly does not notice.
That sequence turns out to essentially be a post-credits cold open, as the episode then cuts to a group of the evil anti-mutant Reverend Stryker's Purifiers receiving a shipment of high tech guns — a transaction interrupted by the arrival of X-Factor's Polaris. The zeal with which she dispatches the Purifiers upsets Val Cooper, monitoring from afar, and when the Purifiers provoke her further, the rest of X-Factor is forced to intervene to prevent the loss of life at Polaris' hands. In the wake of the incident — and President Kelly's Executive Order outlawing X-Men activity — Polaris is removed from the team.
In the wake of her termination, Polaris returns to the reopened but still under construction X-Mansion, which is once again taking in mutant students. Professor X is introducing the new student body to the Danger Room via a speech that is part eulogy for Magneto and part matriculation address, complete with a holographic Sentinel attack just to make sure everyone is paying attention. The Danger Room is definitely paying attention, watching his speech and ominously taking note of his insistence that the students must be pushed and tested so they can fight. Professor X also appoints Storm as the new headmistress of the school.
Afterwards, Polaris enters the still-under construction mansion and searches out her old room. She is greeted by Cyclops, Jean and Beast, and then meets with Professor X. He admits to still seeing Magneto everywhere and, ominously for anyone familiar with the 1996 "Onslaught" crossover, says he yearns to find a piece of Magneto inside his mind. Polaris is continuing to grapple with her relationship with Magneto, her father, who largely left raising her to Xavier, and the mantle she's been saddled with in the wake of her last mission with X-Factor, the "Heir of Magneto." As Xavier departs to visit the ruins of Genosha, Polaris sets out to find herself at the school.
Attack of the Killer Gym
Polaris reunites with Forge (who previously led X-Factor in Polaris' animation debut back in the original animated series) and Storm, but they are interrupted by Morph, who rushes in with news of danger in the Danger Room. They arrive to find Bishop performing CPR on one of the students, Wing, while the rest of the students look on. Bishop is able to get Wing's heart beating again, but before the adults can find out what happened, a perimeter alert pulls Storm, Forge and Morph away, leaving Bishop and Polaris with the students in the Danger Room. They try to take Wing to the infirmary, but all the Danger Room doors lock, and then the room's assessment protocols engage, turning its various weapons on everyone in the room. The Danger Room computer declares that, with the world outside growing more dangerous for mutants, it too must escalate its methods to meet the professor's directive to prepare his students for life outside the school's walls.
Outside, Storm, Forge, and Morph realize the perimeter breach was a trick, while inside, the Danger Room sets holographic Prime Sentinels against the backdrop of Bishop's dystopic future on the kids, while monologuing about how it has had to evolve to keep preparing the students, echoing Apocalypse in saying that only the strongest will survive. Playing on Polaris' insecurities, the Danger Room gets her to lash out with a massive burst of electromagnetic energy, which it harnesses to pull elements of the room together into a body of its own. Now fully autonomous, "Danger" quickly knocks out Polaris and escapes, stealing a minijet and heading towards Professor X on Genosha. With the X-Men officially on the sidelines due to President Kelly, it falls to Polaris and Bishop to pursue, despite Polaris' concerns over how easily she was manipulated by her high school gym.
Danger arrives on Genosha and, thanks to her knowledge of the X-Men, makes short work of Cyclops, Jean and Beast. Xavier is at least able to remotely fly the minijet into Danger, but it only buys him a few minutes, leaving it to the timely arrival of Polaris to save him. Once again, Danger provokes Polaris, suggesting they are both destined to repeat the sins of those who made them. The ensuing fight only serves to give Danger the energy she needs to self-repair whatever damage Polaris and Jean can inflict (Beast and Cyclops are kind of out of it). Changing tactics, Xavier urges Polaris to generate as much electromagnetic energy as she can, in the hopes of overloading Danger, with Bishop volunteering to siphon off the excess energy to keep Polaris' balanced. Insisting she can do the impossible just like her father, Xavier telepathically shares all his memories of Magneto with her, allowing Polaris to summon the strength to overpower Danger.
In the wake of his encounter with Danger, Professor X holds a press conference in the ruins of Genosha, announcing that his X-Men will evolve to continue their mission to protect mutants from those who fear and hate them, introducing the world to his new venture: X-Corp. In response, Val Cooper and X-Factor hold a press conference of their own, declaring that Xavier can't skirt US law by operating overseas, and that the justice department intends to challenge X-Corps' plans. Inside the brand new X-Corp skyscraper in Genosha, Xavier calls a meeting of his newly-attired X-Men to order, telling them Cooper's resistance just means they're doing something worth doing, and that Danger was right about the world growing more dangerous — because Xavier can sense Apocalypse.
Cut to Athens, where in a hidden chamber beneath the ruins of a temple, Apocalypse activates a machine, bathing a body in energy. After Apocalypse tells his right hand to increase the power, the body begins to groan, then scream, as it becomes awash in pink energy and playing card imagery. Then the figure rises, and Gambit smiles a sinister smile.
Recommend Reading
Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #7-12 by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday
As with the previous episode, "Danger.Exe" is drawing from a bunch of different sources, but the spine of the episode (as evidenced by its title) is the emergence of Danger, which makes the character's introductory arc in Astonishing X-Men an easy recommend (assuming you can hold your nose through the Whedon of it all). Cassaday's art is, unsurprisingly, sumptuous and gorgeous, and the comic book version is significantly darker — and paints Xavier in a much more damaging light.
