X-Men ‘97 Resetting Entire Series In Finale?

Our strongest hints about the X-Men ‘97 finale came in the recent episode “Tolerance Is Extinction, Part 1.” When the team finally gets some extended face time with Cable (who is Cyclops’ recently born son, all grown up and back from the future), Wolverine asks the obvious question. Since Cable has both extensive knowledge of the timeline and the ability to travel into the past, the Ol’ Canucklehead wants to know, “Why the heck didn’t you stop Genosha?”

To that blunt question, Cable responds that he did repeatedly try to save the mutant nation, and his talking tech chimes in to say that whenever they try to do so, they get pulled back into the future. This is what led to Cable’s heartbreaking farewell to his mother, Madelyne Pryor: he tried to stop the attack on Genosha but was yanked back to the future right before she was killed. Cable goes on to say that he has given up on changing the past in that way and is now content on getting revenge on Bastion, setting up our X-Men ‘97 season finale.

You see, Beast (who I’m betting is a big Doctor Who fan) brings up the idea that there are certain events that happen “across all timelines” and speculates that the fall of Genosha may be one such event. His theory is that time itself will keep stopping the would-be mutant savior. With respect to Beast, however, I think the X-Men ‘97 finale will involve Cable saving the day by getting help from someone who may be out of time in the most literal way.

We discover in this episode that the reason Cable’s fellow time-traveling mutant Bishop is no longer with him is that they got ‘separated in the time stream.” You don’t need telepathic abilities and close proximity to Kevin Feige’s office to know that Bishop’s return by the end of the season is inevitable. And since the character was somehow lost in the flow of time, I believe that Bishop will find a way to help Cable finally complete his mission of changing the past by saving Genosha. 

Since I’m already making predictions, I think such a plot twist in the X-Men ‘97 finale would split the fandom in a major way. On one hand, it was difficult not to be utterly horrified as we saw the apocalyptic attack on Genosha and the death of beloved characters like Gambit. If the timeline gets reset, all of those mutants will be saved, and this animated world wouldn’t have to be such a dark timeline that even Valerie Cooper accepts that “Magneto was right.”

On the other hand, countless fans across the world hate when shows hit the reset button like that, and for good reason. It hurts to watch our favorite characters suffer, but suffering is part of life, and our shared pain is how we grow alongside our most cherished shows. If the X-Men ‘97 finale hits the “undo” button on all of these character evolutions and plot developments, it would be hard not to conclude the show has been wasting our time the way Jubilee wastes quarters at the mall.

Of course, I’m not the mutant Destiny, meaning I can’t clearly see into the future. It’s possible the X-Men ‘97 finale won’t take the easy way out and will keep our characters in this increasingly dark and scary world. If I’m right, though, and we decide to destroy this universe and build one with a better finale, we need to agree on something simple: the last one to the M’Kraan Crystal is a rotten bamf.