The end. The beginning. Apocalypse moves to mutate the world as the X-men launch their last desperate assault in Ascension, Part 2 on the next X-men: Evolution.
Please read this post the way through. Dont just skip to the bottom as germane info is spread throughout this missive. A tough task and a hard read, but I pray worth it.
I do not know if the show is cancelled, if it has been picked up for another season. If it hasnt been renewed, and what we see here is the denouement of the series, then I think its safe to say it is an extremely fitting conclusion and an extremely frustrating one.
Before launching into Part the Second, a brief look at the highlights of Part the First and a correction from my original posting on that episode.
-- We all knew Mags, Mystie, Stormy, and Chucky werent dead. This is a Saturday morning toon! But still seeing them emerge as the Horsemen of Apocalypse was killer thrilling.
-- Jean was reduced to tears yet again, but she did not play as simpering or weak for showing heartache and frustration over losing both Xavier and Storm to the dark side. When she was levitating in front of the full moon, I got a chill. Is this a premonition of things to come? When she leads the team dispatched to handle Horseman Xavier, Jeans heart may be breaking over what she is going to have to do, but she will see it through. She will never give up. Ever.
-- Mystiques enhanced morphing ability, barely seen but so creepy splitting into separate seemingly independent of one another forms only to rejoin into The Full MystieNow thats shape-shifting, bub!
-- The Sentinels actually helped? A first time for everything, I guess! I mean, they succeeded in their primary mission of disabling the domes and leaving them vulnerable. Too bad 4 little old mutants showed up to turn yet another group of giant robots into spare parts and scrap!
-- Storm actually gets to cut loose with her abilities! So often shes been confined to gusting winds and rain, only the tip of the Windriders powers. Too bad Ororo had to get possessed to rage out.
-- What in the world is the special mission Logan sent Rogue on?! Can it be that one of the most highly featured mutants on the team is going sit out what will be their greatest battle?
-- The 4-way screen at the very end was dramatic, powerful. A great cliffhanger ending!
-- Finally, the correction I have to make, and its a very important one at that. I said that Sam/Cannonball was a member of the team sent to Mexico to counter Horseman Magneto. This is wrong. It is actually Alex/Havok was accompanies Shadowcats team. Along with Colossus, Spyke, Boom Boom, and Angel, he mustve been one of the mutants Scott and Jean were sent to round up by Logan. I apologize for the incorrect identification, butwellSam and Alex just look too much like alike! SowellOops!
However, all that is past is merely prologue. What matters now is how it gets resolved. Who will fall? Who will walk away? What sort of world will they be left with? The answers to almost all of your questions will be found below the ample spoiler space, save for a description of the final 2 minutes of the episode.
Why is that?
Well, its just too special too spoil. Its a payoff in many respects. Gauging my own reaction to seeing it firsthand first time without benefit of spoilers and the state I was left in as the credits rolled, I do not feel right in ruining this end for anyone or for any reason.
I hear you cry foul, call out hypocrisy, but I cannot help the way I feel.
Not wanting to reveal the identities of the Horsemen directly was one thing. This is on a completely different level.
The resolution to the threat of Apocalypse will come before these final minutes, so you will know if he succeeds or fails by the time you finish reading this posting.
The last minutes are a coda.
So please, no begging. No promises of coin, flesh, or firstborn! Ill just feel bad because Ill have to refuse every and any plea for the revelation.
Maybe in saying nothing I am actually saying too much about these concluding minutes.
Sure.
Maybe Im creating such an impossible level of anticipation that you wont be satisfied and actually you will be disappointed because the hype exceeded the fact.
Perhaps.
Guess well find out Saturday afternoon, wont we?
Ok, then. Deep breath. Then scroll.
The space between knowing and not knowing.
X-men: Evolution - Ascension, Part 2
Previously - The mutant Apocalypse awakens from his centuries of slumber. Rogue, hurt and vengeful, shatters the stone form of her foster mother Mystique as her foster brother and Mystiques biological son Kurt looks on in horror. Apocalypse powers up and transforms, in the process imploding both Storm and Xavier as he had previously done so to Magneto. Scott tries to comfort Jean over their loss. Nick Fury appears. SHEILD has reactivated the Sentinel Program and the mutant-hunting robots are now attacking Apocalypse. To counter this effrontery, Apocalypse summons his Four Horsemenrevealed to be the enthralled Magneto, Mystique, Storm, and Xavier!
The story continues right where we left off--4 teams of X-men and their allies are sent to combat the Horsemen guarding the 3 pyramids of Apocalypse and his control center at the Sphinx.
-- The team to counter Horseman Xavier in Egypt - Jean, Tabitha, Amara, Jamie, and Colossus.
-- The team to counter Horseman Storm in China - Hank, Bobby, Ray, and Evan.
-- The team is counter Horseman Magneto in Mexico - Kitty, Roberto, Alex, Warren, and Wanda.
-- The team to counter Horseman Mystique at the Sphinx -- Logan, Scott, and Kurt.
-- Over their communicators, Wolverine addresses the teams in one final rallying speech as they bare down on the Horsemen.
Quote:
Ok, teams, this is it. Everything you've ever learned about yourselves--your strengths and your limits--it all comes down to this very moment. Tonight, we're the world's last, best hope to stop this madman. So we're gonna trash those pyramids any way we can...no matter who we gotta go through to do it."
-- Jeans telepathically reaches out to Xavier begging him to see that he is being used to inflict a horror upon the world that goes against everything Charles Xavier has ever believed in. Xaviers answer to his pupils pleaa vicious psi-blast that plows her into the ground. Jean has no choice. She orders her team to spread out and attack. Amara calls up magma vents. Tabitha creates a huge time bomb, which she hands to Colossus to enact their own version of a Fastball Special. The metallic mutant hurls the explosive globe at Xavier.
-- Evan tries to reach out to Storm, but she returns his cries with a rain of lightning followed by massive chunks of hail. Beast gets Evan out of the way before he gets crushed. Bobby creates an ice shelter for them while Ray stands up to Storm, hurtling the same electrical discharge at her that she has been bringing down on them. It does no good. Ray must run for the shelter. Evan pleads with his teammates not to hurt his Auntie O because she is a victim in all of this just like they are.
-- Wanda begs Magneto to snap out of his enthrallment to Apocalypse, but the magnetic mutant answers by pulling apart the carcasses of defeated Sentinels, ready to crush his daughter under them. Frozen in fear and disbelief, Wanda watches her father bring down a huge Sentinel head upon her own. It appears Magneto has utterly destroyed his daughter. When the dust settles, a baffled Wanda remains alive and intact. She looks down and sees that Kitty has phased up from underneath and made Wanda intangible. Kitty urges Wanda to fight because the Magneto who serves Apocalypse now is no longer her father. As if to prove this, Magneto cobbles together the wreckage of the robots to make his own operational Sentinel.
-- In the Sphinx, Logan, Scott, and Kurt press forward for the control center of Apocalypse. Wolverine warns that he cannot get a fix on Horseman Mystique because of her amplified powers. She could be standing right next to him and he wouldnt know it. Kurt looks down into a puddle of water on the ground. Deep inside the Sphinx, a machine activates and the puddle ripples from the rumbling effect. As Kurt wonders what it is, the puddle suddenly whips around behind him and reforms as Mystique. She grabs Kurt and hurls him into the stunned Wolverine, leaving Cyclops to deal with the shape shifter. He fires a punishing optic blast that punches a hole right through her torso. That should be the end. Its not. Mystique still stands, the gaping hole in her midsection quickly refilling before she shatters into a swarm of bats that fill the chamber, attacking from all directions. As Logan and Kurt try to defend themselves, Scott vainly fires blast after blast at the Mysti-bats.
-- Secure that his Horsemen will counter any threat left, Apocalypse moves ahead with his scheme to mutate all humans on Earth, sending a command out to the 3 pyramids that causes the apex of each one to lift and separate from the base.
-- In Mexico, the apex slowly rises up into the sky, tethered to the pyramid base by a band of energy. Wanda is still holding back from fighting her father, who is easily keeping her teammates at bay. Kitty urges her to start attacking, but then Kitty gets taken out by a flying piece of debris. Wanda accepts what she must do. Using her powers, she strikes at Magneto, causing him to temporarily lose control of his Sentinel. Kitty recovers in time to see the apex of the pyramid suddenly zoom off through the clouds.
-- The same thing is happening at the pyramid in China, as an eerily serene Storm hovers nearby. Hank realizes the pyramid apexes are heading into the upper atmosphere in order to affect the entire planet with Apocalypses forced evolutionary process.
-- Finally, the apex of the Egyptian pyramid streaks into the night sky. Upon reaching the proper elevation, all 3 of the apexes break apart into hundreds of smaller pyramid-shaped relays, linked together by the energy beamed up from the 3 pyramids bases, creating a lattice that encircles the entire globe. Jean fears that theyre too late to stop Apocalypse.
-- Apocalypse observes the creation of the mutation grid, but his sensors detect 3 Sentinels rocketing towards it.
-- Aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, a subordinate informs Nick Fury that the last Sentinels have been deployed. Absorbing this, Fury turns and knocks on a door. It opens. The shadowed figure of Rogue grants him access.
-- The Sentinel Trio launches a barrage on the lattice. Force fields pop up around the relay components, but they buckle under the assault of the relentless robots.
-- Down below, Bobby completely encases Storm in ice. Hank warns all the teams that the ascended pyramids are actually orbital relays. They have to destroy the energy generating bases to knock them out. Even as he utters this directive, Storm shatters her frozen prison, lighting now streaming violently from her eyes and mouth into the heavens. Hank, Bobby, Evan, and Ray are swept off their feet by a powerful hurricane blast.
-- Magneto has regained control of his Sentinel, which Roberto seeks to destroy by plunging through the robot in Sunspot form. As this draws Magnetos attention, Kitty phases up from underground behind him, bringing with her Alex, who unleashes his Havok power on the base. They are interrupted. Turning around, They see the damaged Sentinel, a gaping hole in its chest, ready to topple down on them.
-- Tabitha is churning out hundreds of time bombs which she hands off to hundreds of Jamie duplicates, who in turn fire the explosive charges at Xavier with slingshots. This keeps the Horseman occupied while Colossus approaches the base and pounds through its exterior. Seeing the deception, Xavier lets loose a psi-bolt that completely discorporates most of the Jamie dupes. He then lets loose a salvo on Colossus, who staggers, tries vainly to continue his assault, but crumbles to the ground. Magma fires bolts at Xavier which bounce off him harmlessly. Unfortunately, she fares worse when Xavier bolts her back. Watching from the SHIELD transport which brought her team here, Jean dons the Cerebro helmet to face Xavier the only way she can--mind to mind. Jean hopes linking with Cerebro will even the odds against the augmented and enthralled Xavier. Jean and Xavier circle one another in the air, teacher and student turned into villain and hero. Xavier sends out his astral form to attack. Jean has no choice but to counter likewise.
-- Scott, Logan, and Kurt are fighting a running battle against the Mysti-bats. The men get through to another chamber and seal the door behind them, hopefully keeping out Mystique. Scott warns they are running out of time. Logan sniffs. Theyre close. The inner sanctum of Apocalypse is just ahead, behind another set of doors. He orders Nightcrawler to check the chamber out. Kurt teleports into sanctum. Scott and Logan wait, but Kurt does not come back. Inside, Apocalypse towers over the unconscious blue X-man.
-- Logan tells Scott to blast the doors open. Before he can comply, Mystique brutally strikes down Cyclops. Now it is time for Mystique and Wolverine to dance. She morphs her arms into blades and attacks.
-- In orbit, the Sentinels continue destroying the relays, significantly compromising the lattice.
-- Enraged, Apocalypse projects his image to Magneto, who then flies up to handle the robots. Wanda realizes this their best chance to destroy the base, but the rest of the team has been knocked out. She tries to awaken Kitty to no avail. Wanda must now fight alone.
-- Magneto makes contemptuously short work of the final 3 Sentinels.
-- Reaching out with her powers, Wanda attempts to disrupt the flow of energy from the base to the orbital relays. She almost manages this feat, but Magneto descends and stops her. He moves to crush his daughter once again with Sentinel debris, and this time there will be no Shadowcat to save her. Magneto brings down the debris
-- Wanda beats the odds again, this time thanks to her brother Pietro, who has arrived with the rest of the Brotherhood. Toad explains they bummed a jet, got lost, but still managed to show up in time to save the day. Lance is stricken to find Kitty unconscious. Todd tries to get fresh with Wanda yet again, but she pushes him away. Toad has little time to burn at the rebuff as Magneto snags the very jet the Brotherhood arrived in and hurls it at them. Blob intercepts the craft and wrestles it to the ground. Pietro orders Avalanche to bring down Magneto. Making sure that Kitty is ok first, Lance complies. Kitty stirs just in time to see Magneto buried under a crush of earth, trees, and debris.
-- Inside the sarcophagus of his converted timeship, Apocalypse activates the final protocols. The orbital lattice activates, spreading out, blackening the sky, covering the whole of the Earth in a complete and terrible darkness.
-- The world over is assaulted by terrible storms as the orbital lattice makes ready to mutate the entirety of humanity. No corner of the globe will be spared.
-- Mystique and Wolverine continue their sparring in the Sphinx. Logan hacks at her, but Mystique remains undamaged.
-- Xavier and Jean continue their psi-duel. She fights valiantly, but Jean is losing. Her avatars shield is starting to crack. Xaviers astral form morphs its scythes into blasters, which seek to completely shatter Jeans shield. The attack is punishing, but Jeans avatar fights back even as her shield deformsspreading outflaring up like the wings of birdand suddenly erupting in a dazzling display of psi-power that forces Xaviers astral self back into his body. The Horseman collapses to the ground. Drained by her magnificent counter attack, Jean too must recall her psychic avatar before she falling to earth, utterly spent. Enhanced by Apocalypses technology, Xavier quickly recovers even as Jean lies powerless. He levitates above her and prepares his astral self for one final assault upon Jean.
-- Toad is wondering if theyve actually won. Pietro snorts. Doesnt Toad ever learn? Oh, yeah. We never win, Toad replies as Magneto violently resurfaces.
-- Storm manages to take out Hank, Evan, and Bobby with lighting. However, Ray merely absorbs the electricity, boosting his own powers and allowing him to go berserk on Storm, whom he sends reeling from the sky. Ray moves in for another strike. Furious, Storm creates a downpour which causes Ray to short out. Beast, barely holding on, calls Wolverine on his communicator. He says they arent going to make it.
-- Logan urges Hank not to give up hope, reminding him that they have one play left. Mystique breaks apart into vipers which ensnare Logan in their steely grip.
-- Outside the Sphinx, a SHIELD transport lands. Rogue is onboard with Sam and Fury. With them are two other very special guestsMrs. Leach and her son Dorian, the young boy whose mutant gift is to shut down energy sources around him. Rogue assures Mrs. Leach that this as far as Dorian has to go. Kneeling down to look him in the eye, Rogue tells Dorian not be scared. She needs to borrow his energy dampening ability in order to save the world. She takes off a glove off and asks if hes ready. Dorian looks to his mother, then to Rogue. He nods his agreement. Rogue absorbs the boys power. Dorian falls into his mothers arms as Rogue rises empowered by the power drainer. She looks to Fury, who gives her the go ahead. Cannonball picks up Rogue and flies her into the Sphinx.
-- Logan is grappling with the Mysti-vipers, which then reform into a fierce panther. Before she devour Wolverine, Mystiques shape-changing abilities leave her and she collapses to the floor. Rogue appears from behind Logan. Not missing a beat, Logan hacks and slashes at the doors to the sanctum until they break apart. He orders Rogue to go in and finish this. She leaps through the opening even as Mystique, still powerless, struggles back to attack.
-- In the sanctum, Rogue stands next to the limp form of her foster brother Kurt. She reaches out with Dorians ability and completely deactivates the massive energy field Apocalypse is generating to maintain the orbital lattice. Apocalypse in his sarcophagus cannot believe whats happening.
-- The base in Mexico deactivates, its energy fountain cutting out. Magneto sweeps in to destroy the Brotherhood and X-men, but then pauses, falters. Not only has the lattice been disturbed by Rogue, but so too has Apocalypses hold over the Horsemen. Magneto tumbles from the sky. Toad yelps, but then realizes matter-of-factly that theyve won.
-- Storm falls next as the base in China goes dark. The implants of Apocalypse wither and die, falling away from Ororo and releasing her from servitude.
-- Jean recovers to see Xavier hovering over her, but he too is now disconnected from the power amplification and enslavement of Apocalypse. He plummets. Jean grabs him with her TK and gathers her fallen mentor into her arms, evoking a pieta. From above, the pieces of the now destroyed lattice fall back to earth, burning up in the atmosphere like meteorites.
-- Mystique finally collapses into Wolverines arms as her implants shrivel up and slough off.
-- Rogue approaches the seemingly inert Apocalypse in his sarcophagus. He suddenly reaches out and grabs her arm. They struggle. Rogue sneers, Youve used us for the last time! With all her strength, she starts to close the lids of the sarcophagus, sealing the ancient mutant within his own machine. Drained, Apocalypse cannot fight back. He struggles inside, seemingly in pain. Logan enters and order Rogue to turn the juice back on. She does so and the timeship rumbles into life, apparently out of control. Certain that Apocalypse is now trapped by his own devices, Logan and Rogue flee as the timeship reassembles into its pyramid form before completely vanishing. Logan hopes that the vessel has fallen through the cracks of time, never to be seen again. Rogue doubts theyd be that lucky.
-- The orbital relays continue to burn up in the sky as Logan helps the wounded Cyclops out of the Sphinx. Cannonball and Rogue do likewise for Kurt, who observes the irony of it all. You did it, Rogue. The girl who shuts herself off from the world just saved it! Rogue replies, I wish I could say I did it for the world.
-- Mystique appears and approaches her children, begging them to understand her actions, all of her actions. Kurt cuts her off, now firmly sided with Rogue, who says even Mystique herself no longer believes her own excuses. Kurt and Rogue want to be left alone. Brother and sister walk off together arm in arm before disappearing in a teleport bamf. Mystique is left all alone, her face melting into a mask of maternal malice.
-- Magneto revives to find his children standing over him. They help their father to his feet. This family is reunited as the Brotherhood and X-men look on fondly.
-- Ororo and Evan embrace as Hank and Ray observe them approvingly. Bobby adds a thumbs up.
-- Tabitha is jazzed. Wow! That was some party, guys. Thanks for the invite! she giggles as she, Colossus, Amara, and Jamie walk back to their SHIELD transport.
-- Xavier removes the deactivated control collar of Apocalypse from around his neck. His is free again, crippled again. Jean levitates him. Charles thanks Jean for saving him. They embrace.
-- Instead of relief flooding his features, Charles Xaviers face darkens. He looks at Jean with great worry and fear. Then closing his eyes, he tries to find contentment in their victory.
-- The Ascension of Apocalypse has been thwarted. The X-men have saved the world.
Thats it, folks. Thats all I will share.
As stated far above, this is not how the episode ends. Theres a couple of minutes that follow this touching, troubling shot of Xaviers face which wrap up the story, the season, and perhaps even the series. Youll find out what those minutes contain when you watch the episode yourself
Well, all from me for now. Heck, aint that enough?!
Whatever will be will be.
Heres to Life After Ascension!
