Issue #4 of X-Men ’97 Season 2 is split between two different periods in time. We get a glimpse into what some of the X-Men have been up to since they were sent to the future back at the end of season 1 of the adult animated series. Meanwhile, in the year 1997, X-Force got their hands on the opal belonging to one of Apocalypse’s servants Ozymandias in their hunt for the Horseman War. What they don’t realize is that Ozymandias is preparing to create an heir for Apocalypse to act as a vessel for his great power.
Lost in the Future
Far off in the year 3960 A.D., the time-displaced X-Men are stranded in a desolate wasteland ruled by Apocalypse. Wolverine finds himself cornered by a pair of massive robotic minions loyal to their mutant Lord. As the machines threaten him, Logan threatens to slice them like Canadian bacon.
Before the robots can overwhelm him, Storm channels the future’s atmosphere into a massive lightning strike that fries the mechanical horde. Morph, shifting from Wolverine back into their default form jokes he was worried his replicated claws wouldn’t cut it.
But the battle isn’t over. The real Logan’s feral side takes over as he recklessly tears through another wave of attack bots with enough force to break his bone claws. Morph shapeshifts into a hulking muscular form to step between Logan and the fray, cracking jokes to snap him out of it. Lost in a berserker rage, Logan lunges at Morph until Storm steps in, blasting Logan with freezing air to literally force him to cool down.
Once he comes to his senses, Logan admits the bleak wasteland is pushing his instincts to the edge. Morph reminds him that everyone is “on edge with this whole ‘hopelessly lost in time’ thing.” But Logan is convinced Cyclops and Jean Grey seem content with being stuck in such a bleak future with their young son, Nathan.
Storm defends Scott and Jean for wanting to spend time with their son, asking Logan if he wouldn’t do the same in their impossible situation. She reminds him that Mother Askani believes Nathan is destined to defeat Apocalypse across all eras. Their time here might not be an accident, but fate though Logan still insists they should prioritize getting back to their timeline.
Suburban Horror in 1997
Back in 1997, Cable’s X-Force team is tracking down clues to stop Apocalypse’s Horseman, War. They arrive at a quiet, seemingly picture-perfect American suburban town.
Cable wants to bomb the whole place from orbit, but Jubilee protests out of fear of harming any innocent civilians that live there. Cable believes the entire town isn’t real, it’s a hidden stronghold for Clan Akkaba, an ancient religious cult of bloodlines that have worshipped Apocalypse for generations, hiding in plain sight. Psylocke confirms this using her telepathy, noting that almost everyone in town wears psi-blockers. She does detects an ancient presence nearby linked to the opal she scanned in issue #3.
Jubilee and Roberto da Costa (Sunspot) volunteer to go undercover to prove X-Force can infiltrate a place without causing needless property damage. Dressed in civilian clothes, they pretend their car broke down to talk to a friendly neighbor named Harold.
Harold invites them inside to call a tow truck, but red flags start to pop up once the couple are in his house. Jubilee notices a creepy golden statue resembling a Sentinel on his table. Before they can react, an elderly woman wearing red robes who appears to be his wife comes down the stairs complaining about a stain left over from “the last sacrifice.”
The woman grabs a spiked mace while Harold pulls a dagger while screaming “for the eternal glory of Apocalypse!” Jubilee knocks Harold out by throwing the gold bust at his head. Roberto dodges the mace, giving Jubilee an opening for her to subdue the woman with a blast of pyrotechnic energy. Jubilee radios Cable to admit he was right about the town.
“Yeah, kid. We know. We’re halfway through the elementary school now,” Cable tells her. Cable, Archangel and Psylocke breach the school gym, where red-robed cultists are praying to a shrine. Archangel slams a cultist into a basketball hoop, muttering about how it feels a little too much like his old mansion days, while Psylocke kicks a heavy table into a crowd of cultists.
Cable instructs Jubilee and Roberto to strip the robes off the knocked-out cultists, blend in with the crowd, and head to the town square to see what Clan Akkaba is planning.
Creating the Heir of Apocalypse
At the town hall square, Clan Akkaba has set up a massive, glowing chamber covered in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. When a loyal cultist suggests Ozymandias use the rejuvenation chamber on himself to regain his strength, Ozymandias snaps at him. He explains that his current immortal, stony form was a “gift” from Apocalypse for his past hubris. This chamber is reserved strictly for Apocalypse…or someone meant to stand by his side.
Ozymandias orders his followers to bring forth Autumn Rolfson, the Horseman known as Famine. Autumn arrives wearing a frilly white-and-pink dress with purple gloves, joking that it feels like her wedding day. Ozymandias questions why she has returned. Autumn admits she doesn’t have many options in the normal world, especially since her decaying powers make it impossible to live a normal life.
Ozymandias questions whether Autumn is truly worthy of bearing an heir for Apocalypse. Autumn defends herself by arguing that Apocalypse’s “dating pool” is pretty small and that she’s a much better option than that “nasty old Pestilence,” whom she calls a walking disease incubator. Ozymandias reveals why Apocalypse is so hesitant to choose a mate. Centuries ago, Apocalypse was betrayed by an External named Candra.
After Apocalypse overthrew Rama-Tut, Candra came to his side, but she was solely motivated by power. Seeing her as a near-equal, Apocalypse let his guard down and shared a fraction of his power with her. Once she had it, Candra struck him down, stole his strength, and fled to become an immortal ruler in her own right.
Apocalypse has never forgiven that betrayal, meaning anyone seeking to stand beside him forever lives under Candra’s shadow. Autumn breaks it down nicely: “Bad breakup. Nightmare ex. Got it.”
Enter Exodus
Disguised in stolen cult robes, Jubilee and Roberto blend into the gathering at the square. A suspicious cultist asks when they joined Clan Akkaba, but Roberto quips he probably doesn’t recognize them because they just washed their cloaks (really Roberto? Is that the best you can do?). Suddenly, an eerie mist rolls over the entire square. Jubilee initially thinks Cable threw a smoke grenade, but Cable confirms over the radio that it isn’t his doing. Out of the fog steps Exodus alongside his faction of Acolytes.
Exodus announces that while he respects Apocalypse for shaping him into who he is, “the time for Exodus has arrived.” Apocalypse believed in survival of the fittest, Magneto believed in leaving no mutant behind, and Xavier believed in education. Exodus claims his vision combines the best of all three into the true future for mutantkind. He tells Ozymandias he knows Clan Akkaba brought Apocalypse’s Rejuvenation Chamber to town with the intention to turn Autumn into a suitable broodmare for Apocalypse. But Exodus has a different plan: he intends to use the chamber to resurrect Magneto.
Ozymandias refuses to surrender the machine, calling Exodus by his original name, Bennet du Paris. So take this as the threat it is: you will take this chamber over my dead body.” Autumn is furious that these Acolytes are ruining her “big day.” With a single touch of her decay powers, she instantly ages one of the Acolytes into a withered husk. Shedding their cult disguises, Jubilee calls X-Force to report that while they came looking for War, a different kind of war has found them instead.
