Marvel Studios ‘X-Men '97’ Episode 6 Review - Look, The Professor Has Returned

At this point, there is nothing new you can say about X-Men '97. As the opening theme started playing, I wondered how confined the creator of this series, Beau DeMayo, is to nostalgia and fan-pleasing. From the day X-Men '97 premiered on Disney+ streaming service (or let's say from the second episode onwards), I thought, if Charles Xavier is indeed dead, why does he still appear towards the end of the opening credits? Is Marvel afraid of displeasing their fan base, or is the studio devoid of a creative mind? Episode 6 has an answer. It screams, "Yes and yes!"

In my review of Episodes 1 and 2, I wrote: "Well, anything can happen, especially in the superhero universe. I won't be surprised if the professor returns in the future." I remained true to my word because I was not surprised to see Charles Xavier. He is...alive (yawn). X-Men '97 doesn't even try to present this revelation as a shocking event. It feels as if the series knows that by now, even the audience expects nothing daring, creative, or marvelous from Marvel. Xavier simply walks into the frame, and you regard him with a dismissive shrug. Only the audience on the screen looks surprised by his appearance (they have clearly not watched a Marvel show or film).

So, what has Xavier been up to? Does it matter? What you need to know is that Lilandra Neramani, empress of the Shi'ar Empire, announces her marriage to Xavier near the beginning of this episode. This gives Deathbird, Lilandra's sister, a chance to come up with a scheme to seize the throne of the Shi'ar Empire. She tells Xavier to erase his memories of the Earth to prove his loyalty towards the empire. Furthermore, Lilandra is assigned the task of deletion. Deathbird knows how to be cruel.

Will Xavier's memories be erased? Will he forget Earth and X-Men? Do you think something like X-Men '97 can actually be complex? If you know the answer to the last question, you will easily see where this episode is headed. The series continues its tradition of disguising predictability as a dramatic plot point. Of course, Xavier decides to go back to the Earth, to the X-Men. Everything that occurs before this decision is empty noise. X-Men '97 is nothing more than a colorful distraction - it's an unremarkable time filler.

Do you remember The Adversary? That big evil bird who conjured nightmares for Storm? This feathery creature is killed in the laziest way possible. He didn't even get to register his presence. The black-colored bird is defeated two times in this episode. During the second time, his defeat is packaged as a moral lesson: Believe in yourself. You see, Storm lost her powers not only due to the X-Cutioner's neutralizer but also due to the lies and her plethora of fears. "So let them thunder, for I am lightning," says Storm. Here is another line from this weather-controlling mutant, "What are demons but reflections of our fears and shame (in case you didn't understand what The Adversary 'represented')? Things we bury within us, hide from loved ones, even as they poison our hearts until we finally heal our adversary by embracing it." The Adversary shouldn't have bothered using his powers. The writers do this demon's job of generating nightmares through their dialogues.