Okay, we need to talk about X-Men ’97’s “Rise of Apocalypse” two-parter because oh boy….it’s a lot to take in.
Episodes 3 and 4 of season 2 follows Magneto, Professor Charles Xavier, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Beast after they meet En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt 3000 B.C.. Magneto is convinced he can become a mentor to En Sabah Nur, that his guidance can prevent the first mutant from becoming their future enemy Apocalypse. Xavier is hesitant because they have no way of knowing how their actions will affect the timeline. But the possibility of preventing Apocalypse from coming into existence and creating a better future for mutantkind is too good to pass up. And so Xavier and the rest of the time-displaced X-Men agree to go along with Magneto’s plan.
It’s a familiar plotline that harks back to the original 1990s classic X-Men: The Animated Series. Go back in time to prevent the catastrophe that’s waiting for you in the future. Usually, they succeed but “Rise of Apocalypse” makes it clear there are some disasters that can’t be prevented.
Magneto’s Plan Was Doomed From the Start
Nearly every action the X-Men take to prevent En Sabah Nur from becoming Apocalypse pushes him closer to that destiny.
Magneto convinces the Sandstormers to accept Nur as one of their own instead of treating him like a monster, which gives Nur confidence and standing he didn’t have before. At the same time, Magneto is using Nur’s war against Rama-Tut in the hopes of using the Pharaoh’s advanced technology to build a time machine that will take the X-Men back to the 1990s.
Fearful that Magneto’s actions will cause more harm than good, Xavier tries to protect Nur by hiding the full truth about why the X-Men are really there. But when Nur discovers they were keeping secrets, he feels betrayed. When Nur and the Sandstormers capture General Logos, Xavier probes his mind for answers about Rama-Tut’s technology. Logos mentions a temple that has the power to turn the Pharaoh into a god, but refuses to share additional information. Instead of helping them avoid Apocalypse’s transformation, Xavier’s actions lead the team to the temple and Ship, the place where Nur learns about his destiny.
Plus, there’s Nur’s connection with Bael. Bael took Nur in after the mutant was abandoned by his mother in the desert. It’s Bael’s social darwinistic beliefs that leads Nur to develop his “survival of the fittest” mentality. The feeling that only the strong survive is reinforced by Nur’s experiences of being shunned due to his red eyes, gray skin and blue lines streaking across his face.
Magneto’s plan fails because he refuses to accept that his personal experiences can’t apply to other people. He believes that since Xavier was successful in changing him from an anti-human extremist to a hero willing to give co-existence a chance, then maybe he can do the same with Nur. But a brief friendship with a stranger from a different time period isn’t enough to undo a lifetime of trauma and conditioning.
Kang’s Warning to Xavier
What does Kang the Conqueror have to do with anything? Well, he’s actually Rama-Tut! And he’s also looking to claim the celestial power residing in the temple.
In “Rise of Apocalypse Part 2,” Rama-Tut enters Xavier’s mind to try and convince the Professor to let him be the one to seize the power of the temple, not Nur. It’s heavily implied that Rama-Tut is not only aware of Nur’s future, he even went as far to enslave the mutant until he could claim the temple’s celestial power for himself. But Xavier is still hopeful that Nur can become a force for good.
“Magnus believes Nur can be turned. And I will not betray Magnus,” Xavier tells Rama-Tut/Kang.
And what is Rama-Tut’s response?
“Then you shall see for yourself. You cannot stop him. You never stop him.”
We don’t get an explanation of how many times the X-Men have attempted to prevent Nur from becoming Apocalypse throughout before (or after) Magneto, but Kang makes it clear that Apocalypse’s rise to power is inevitable.
Apocalypse’s Existence Is Treated as a Cosmic Necessity
When the X-Men and Nur reach the temple, the group splits up to explore their surroundings. To Beast’s horror, he realizes they’re not inside some ancient temple. They’re inside Ship, Apocalypse’s weapon that was created by cosmic beings called the Celestials. The team has unknowingly led Nur to the place that will trigger his transformation. By the time they catch up to Nur, it’s too late. He’s already found a section of Ship that has glyphs spelling out what he’ll become. He knows now that the X-Men didn’t just lie to him about why they’re in Ancient Egypt, they’ve been trying to change his destiny.
After beating the shit out of the X-Men, Nur enters a crystal where he has a chat with the Celestial Eson, who tells Nur that destruction and endings are part of a larger cycle.
“All creation is forged through destruction, the end bringing forth the beginning, the beginning returning to the end,” Eson explains to Nur. “You will be the end of things, En Sabah Nur. Armies will dream of your demise, curse you, fear you. But all creation must crash against the Eternal Shore in order to thrive and grow. If you can endure it, then say the words.”
“I am the rocks of the Eternal Shore,” Nur declares. “Crash against me and be broken!”
And just like that, En Sabah Nur transforms into Apocalypse. To drive the point home that he has zero redeeming qualities, Apocalypse vaporizes Magneto in front of Xavier, leaving nothing but his helmet behind.
The act is so cold-blooded that Xavier, a man who believes in second chances because he strives to see the best in people, tells Apocalypse that his mother was wise to abandon him as a baby. That the world would have been a better place if Bael had left him to bake in the desert sun. When Xavier uses your greatest trauma as a weapon against you, you know you’ve gone too far.
But the jabs barely register. As Apocalypse walks towards a helpless Xavier, he presses his foot against the telepath’s forehead. Instead of killing him, Apocalypse keeps walking while proclaiming to be above the need to step on “ants” like Xavier.
Entertaining the idea of Apocalypse could be saved from his fate was not only a waste of time, but it cost Magneto his life. I have a feeling that the Celestial’s involvement is one of the reasons Apocalypse’s transformation can’t be prevented. When Eson declared Apocalypse was essential to the balance of the universe as a foil to the power of creation, the encounter made a nexus event. The short story is that Nur’s transformation into Apocalypse is a fixed point in time that can’t be changed or altered in any way.
Apocalypse will always come to be no matter what anyone does to prevent it, just like Kang said.
Season 2 of X-Men ’97 is streaming now on Disney+. New episodes premiere every Wednesday at 3:00 a.m. ET/ 12:00 a.m. PT.
