House of R - ‘X-Men ’97’ Episodes 1-3 Deep Dive

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

"To Me, My X-Men!" Mal and Jo are here to dive deep into the first three episodes of ‘X-Men ’97.’ They discuss their overall thoughts on the show so far, the history of the original ‘X-Men: The Animated Series,’ and their personal histories with the X-Men (10:51). Then, they go character by character, breaking down everything that happened in the first three episodes (43:14). Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit weathertech.com today. Charles Xavier was the finest man I knew, despite our differences. He never ceased to have faith in our friendship, nor forgive my many failings. Perhaps that is why the old fool has done this. Magneto, what are you doing in our home? Your home. I beg to differ, Cyclops. The last will and testament of Charles Francis Xavier,

as you all will see, his fortune, his school, everything he built, everything he fought for. Now belongs to me, my X-Men. To House of M, House of R. I'm Jordan Robinson joining me today. Oh my gosh. is the Xavier to my magnito. It is Mallory, Professor Mallory Rubin. Hello.

How are you doing, Mel? Joanna, mistress of the elements. These bignets needed me more than you did, monomie. Share, get the gumbo on. We are here to talk about X-Men 97, the first three episodes of the animated series on Disney Plus. That has been running for the last two weeks. We are so excited to talk about this show

that we really love and are overjoyed to get to talk to you. We're not going to be doing like a week-to-week breakdown of X-Men 97. There's a lot of other things going on right now. But we will be doing like periodic check-ins is our plan for this season of television. So don't tune in next week expecting to get a breakdown of episode four. What you can't expect for a must is this. Next week we are doing a sunshine season. Even though it's still raining here, that's okay.

we are doing a sunshine season, spring, summer, high draft meter, where Mallory and I pick the things that are coming up in the next few months. By few months, I meet through the end of summer, that excite us the most. There's a lot. I don't know if you've looked at the June release schedule yet, but there's a lot coming up. And we're really excited to talk about it next week. We also, there's a big anniversary next week of our shared favorite Marvel movie. Yeah.

So did you know, Mallory? I don't know if I told you this, that when Dave Gonzalez, Gavin Edwards and I wrote MC, The Rain of Marvel Studios. New York Times bestseller? Yeah, we formed an LLC and it's called On Your Left. Did you know that? I love it. Absolutely perfect.

Don't find me and sue me. But yes, on your left, LLC. That is our LLC. Anyway, so that's what we're up to next week. The Midnight Boys, Poo-Poo! have a double installment this week as you're listening

to this today on Friday. They've already covered Invincible and X-Men 97 and some Shogun yesterday. They're covering Godzilla X-Kong and Kong, the new empire

in a double edition. Very curious to hear about that. And speaking of monsters like Godzilla, the Mint Edition crew is doing a monster bracket next week.

And then the Mid-Night Boys will be back with more invincible X-Men, whatever they feel like talking about, that's what they'll be doing next week. So Mallory Rupin, that's a lot. It's a lot of stuff that's going on.

How can folks keep track of it all? Now we need a separate hype meter for all the pods that are coming. What hope. What a time. What hope is there in the universe to keep track. I love a seasonal hype meter here on the House of Our. I can't wait for that pod.

We have so much to talk about. How can you follow along? Did I call it hype draft meter again? You're still thinking about the, the last, the annual hype draft. You know, it's an annual draft and a seasonal meter. Yeah. But it's, it's all about the hype and that's really what matters.

Thank you. I appreciate. You can follow along by following the pod on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow along on the social media platform of your choosing. The ringer verses on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. Also, the inbox is. is open. Send your hype meter thoughts. Send your Captain America, Winter Soldier thoughts, send your Apple War thoughts. Whatever thoughts you have, send them over to Hobbits and Dragons at

gmail.com. You might be saying, hey, man, it's been a while since I heard an email read on the podcast. That's true. But we also have a mailbag coming up. So you might want to get your mailbag question early saying, Hobbits and dragons. Spring. mail draft bag is what's happening. That would actually be fun. It's just to like a draft. Somehow make a mailbag a draft at some point. We can find a way.

I think really my brain is just occupied with this like other draft we're supposed to be doing next month that is coming on a different podcast that I'm very excited and intimidated by. Okay. Molly Rubin, my dove, my angel, my one true love. I love when you call me my dove. It just takes us right back. to our time when Searcy.

There's no one I think better exemplifies a loving like sort of warm demeanor than Circee Lannister. My dear, my dainty duck, I want to give you an opportunity.

We did get some emails about Bad Batch. I just want to let you guys know that Mallory and at Bedlindberger planned to do a Bad Batch check in at some point this season. So that is on the horizon. We'll definitely be doing a finale pod at an absolute minimum.

Yeah. is coming. But something else very significant happened this week, which is that the Orioles made a splashy debut. This is such a special thing you're doing right now. This is just the purest sign of love and friendship. I just want to know how you're feeling. You tagged me on an Instagram reel of them like singing the national anthem. It was the beautiful resounding of at Camden during the anthem to open the season. Chills, full-biby chills. Feel the magic.

Orio magic. The O's got off to a great start. You know, it's one game, 161 to go. To baseball season's long. And I have never been more excited for a baseball season in my entire life. And that is a true and sincere fact. Corbyn Burns looked electric in his debut, a true ace. I'm just thrilled.

I'm so excited. They don't have a game today. And I already don't know what to do with myself. I guess maybe I'll use part of today to start scouting for World Series tickets since they don't have a game. Use that time wisely. Look ahead. Okay. So here's my call to arms for House of R this season, this baseball season.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. If you already have a team that you're rooting for the in, you know, in the various leagues of baseball. You should stay loyal to your team, and I support that. That makes sense. But if you are currently unaffiliated, if you aren't that invested in sports in general, but you are invested in the mental health and emotional health of one Mallory Rubin. Hop into the bird bath. Yeah. Let's just make it a year-long project. Last year we watched Doctor Who this year, we're going to get the Orioles to win the World Series. So by our-

single most special thing anyone has ever done for me. Our powers, bind. So, like, get the merch, you know, watch the games, learn all the players. We're going to do it for Mallory. So how's your, how's your computer wallpaper right now? Is Gunner still there? You know it's still Gunner because I literally set you a photo of it like three days ago, though. Yeah. This can change rapidly. It's been there for like half a year for no good reason other than it makes me think of you. So, um, beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. It's their year, the O's. Get into it. All right.

Carlos, are you an Orioles fan or are you a Nationals fan? I've never asked you this. So I'm technically by name a Marlins fan, but I don't really care. So I guess I'm an Orioles fan as well now. Oh, yeah. Welcome. I wasn't thrilled with how that was going at first, but it all worked out by the end.

Welcome, Carlos. A pleasure to have you. Oh, man. Okay. The spoiler warning is just one through, episodes one through three of X-Men 97 today. Also, anything that's ever happened in X-Men the animated series, we are going to be talking about. Why are you laughing? So I just, it's a great spoiler warning to, like, we start with this. I just love our spoiler

warning. It's like, this very specific thing that you're here to listen to us discussing. And then also the entire history of the thing over decades and eons. No, we asked ourselves some spoiler questions as we went through the outline today. So we are not spoiling anything that has ever happened to the X-Men in the comics. They are directly adapting a lot of comic book storylines on the show as they did with the original X-Men animated series. And so if you're watching this and you're not, you haven't read the comic books, we don't want to spoil some of the things that are coming up this season clearly.

So we'll be using some comic book history to talk about things we've already seen. We will talk about X-Men the animated series. We will occasionally maybe dip into one of the X-Men live action. films to talk about some of these characters if we want to, but we're not doing like everything, everywhere, all at X-Once sort of thing, you know? Okay. Let's get into some quick facts about what we're here to discuss today.

This show, X-Men 97, is a continuation, both a continuation of and yet a fairly standalone of Sister's Show of X-Men, the Animated Series, which ran from 1992. to 1997. So this is like season one of X-Men 97, but also kind of season six of X-Men, the animated series, set one year after the events of the original. There have already been a ton of, like, it's very clear, could not be clearer that

everything that has happened in X-Men, the animated series is canon. There have been, like, flashbacks to direct, you know, animated scenes from the original series. So, like, this is all in continuity with the original series. But it's something we're going to talk about today is the intention is, but even if you haven't watched that, and we already asked, we beta tested with our producer Carlos, who hadn't watched the original X-Men Animated series and did watch these three episodes. And he's like, I'm not confused. I understand what's going on. So it's the, they're threading a really complicated needle with this show, which is like trying to invite new viewers in. This is similar to like sort of the premise that happened with Asoka, which we talked about, like can a show both invite new viewers in and make people who have been watching? a story, this story for years and years and years, feel like it's the same story they've always been watching, you know? Yes.

Yeah. I feel, I had a moment, a brief moment of anxiety when they put out the little where we left off, like, ketchup video on the original animated series, which is like mostly just purely there to help people refresh. It's actually a great public service and a wonderful thing. But I had a brief moment of terror. where I was like, oh boy, is this going to require more prior knowledge than maybe everybody who'd be inclined to dip into the show possesses? Like, hopefully that will be value at if you have it.

Not a barrier if you don't. And then that very brief fear proved to be completely fleeting. Mitigated from the jump, I thought it was a very welcoming experience. The Asoka Comp is a really interesting one, and I think a great one. The advantage, in addition to how thoughtfully californ. the show is in that respect, how we treat and receive some sort of connection to the past. What is there is like a branch of knowledge that you might need versus like a life raft that you actually have to grab onto or you're doomed?

I think there's a, there's an ability in 2024 to rely on just a wider base of X-Men character familiarity independent of the animated series than there necessarily was with the rebels. If you haven't read the Throne novels, if you haven't seen rebels, you're going to have a lot of questions about who these people are and what their dynamic are.

Whereas there are between the comics, all of the many, many, many X-Men films that have been in our lives over the past couple decades, the animated series, etc. A number of different touch points for people where you could have some exposure to the history between

Cyclops and Gene or Magneto and Professor X, et cetera, et cetera. So I think that's beneficial to. And overall, I think it's been a very welcoming experience for super fans and casuals alike. I completely agree. And I think something that is interesting to know about the very iconic and famous opening credits with that incredible theme that, you know, just like... Sorry, you're not just going to mention the theme.

Thank you. It was there as a quick intro. here are all the characters, this is what their powers look like. You know what you mean? Like every week you got a little like visual aid to let you know who you were watching and what they could do.

So here's Jubilee. She sparkles, you know, so we'll talk about all of that. But anyway, the original X-Men the Animated series is so foundational to the MCU as you know it today. And again,

if you wanted to know more about that, I've literally wrote a book about it So you can read about that. New York Times bestselling author of MCU, the reign of Marvel Studios. Thanks, Valerie. I've honored your wish to stop saying that constantly, but it hasn't felt right to me the last few weeks,

and so I'm glad to be able to say it again. Okay. I appreciate you and I love you and I respect you. The original X-Men the animated series, as it was running, early proving ground for higher ups at Marvel, Ike ProMondon, and Aviar Rod to understand the power of what they call, like, Toyetic storytelling, which is storytelling that exists kind of just to sell you toys. And that was just like a huge part of what Marvel was for a while, a good long while. And then also because that show proved so popular, it's a big reason why Brian Singer's.

X-Men was made that was sort of like a familiar known property and why we then got all these like live-action X-Men films, which is how Kevin Feige, who was on the set of X-Men, got hired at Marvel Studios. So it's all, it's all like very foundational to the origin and a lot of lessons pulled from the X-Men into Marvel Studios and what they did in their early years. in terms of this being like a continuation, a lot, though not all of the original cast has returned. So some of the voices are the same, some of them are different, but none of them are like, I would say demonstrably different. Like they all are trying to sound pretty much the same as the original voice actors.

This show was created by Bo de Mayo, who was then fired and we'll come back to Bo. But what I think the most illuminating thing for me to realize looking at Bodebeo's CV is that he worked on Strange New Worlds, which is a Star Trek show that I've talked about a number of times that I think is amazing. And what that show does is very similar to what the show is doing, which is take characters you know, Spock, Ahura, Kirk, et cetera, and tell their story in a way that feels fresh, exciting. you're playing inside the parameters of a character we recognize, if that makes sense. And so it's like he couldn't have had

a more brilliant proving ground. He wrote a couple of episodes on Season 1 Momentumori, which is a great episode of Stranger Worlds, etc. But that concept of how do you take some, you know, he's someone who grew up with X-Men the animated series,

grew up with Star Trek, so how do you take these characters that you grew up loving and now you get to write for them? And now you get to play in that playground. And some, you know, as we have talked about IP properties over the years together and separately, Mallory, like, we've seen plenty of people pick up that mantle and knock it out of the park or pick out that mantle and we're like, I don't, I don't think you get what makes this special. Anything you want to say about that, Mel? I, as you know, and much to your...

Yes. Horror. No, ongoing lamentation of not yet. seen Strange New Worlds, despite it being one of your favorite shows, one of Ben Lindberg's favorite shows, and one of my husband's favorite shows, and thus a show I am exposed to via three of the people I talk to the most often all the time. But I, you know, I think that the character crafting and deployment and structuring and pacing of the episodes, and in particular, the dialogue, and inside of the dialogue, in particular, the speechifying in the third

three episodes that we've seen so far has been just exceptional. I'm excited to talk about a lot of the different characters today, but I will spoil for you that I am most excited on that front to discuss Magneto, who I think has gotten some of the most riveting runs of monologue dispensation inside of a very brief total runtime in some. I'm trying to remember the last time a character ripped off that many, that many bars. such a short overall stretch of story. It's like, I'm not going to say it's like

Luthin and and or level, but it's like, like, it's reaching for that, you know? In the word, in the specificity of like word choice, etc. It's fascinating. It is why we started with Magneto at the top of the episode today. This show and X-Men the original animated series are based loosely on stories, mostly from Chris Claremont's iconic 16-year run

on the uncanny X-Men from 1975 to 1991. Claremont created, among many others, rogue, kitty pride, mystique, striker, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Sabretooth, Mr. Sinister, marauders, not those ones, Captain Britain, Forge, and motherfucking gambit. So a lot of the things that we consider just like iconically X-Men came from this run of comics.

And this is, again, the playground that this new show is playing in as well. We will have 10 episodes on Disney Plus, including one two-parter and a three-part finale. We're only three episodes in, but it already feels like we're so deep into this world. And we'll talk about the pacing of the season. What do you want to say either about, like, Chris Claremont or the shape of this season or anything like that? I think just in general, one of the really cool things about X-Men as a slice of comic book canon is that so many different fans have the run that they love most. And there's like, there are very few, like, wrong or bad opinions, right?

And, like, that's obviously always one of the things that we love about comic book storytelling is, like, it's such a wide and vast world. And there are so many different, like, that sweet spot of the continuity of the world and character set that you love, the core idea at the heart of it, that draws you to a certain team up or a certain figure, and then the different examinations and areas of emphasis and focus or particular, like, tonal emphasis across a different run. And, you know, X-Men is up there with the best examples of that. Like, there are just so many different access points for people over time. Like, we talk a lot on the pod about how it's never the wrong time. And, you know,

or a bad time if you haven't ever read an X-Ben comic before, like it would be, I think, so understandable to feel unbelievably intimidated by it, right? Like, where would I possibly begin? And so, like, one of the things I always love about a new adaptation and something hitting the screen is, like, there's going to be a run or a run or two that feels, like, most influential and most consequential.

And, like, maybe that could be your starting point, right? To dip in and see. And, like, if that doesn't feel right, if even that feels too intimidating, then you pick a character that you, that you're excited about. You say, I'm going to go find out what, like, an iconic or signature

arc or two for that characters, and that's where I'm going to start. And so, like, it's fun, I think, not only for the people who love Claremont's spin on The X-Men and love the uncanny run to maybe have an excuse to revisit that or to see that, like,

introduced to more people on a small-screen Disney Plus streaming wars era audience, MCU audience, but for all of these people who have no familiar erity with that at all to maybe decide to dip in. That's just always one of the fun things about it. I love it. Speaking of introducing people to something, I do just want to say, for the record,

that one of my great laments of our time together is not making a harder push to get you into sneaker culture with the gambit shoes. That would have been your way in. It would have been and I have some regrets. I have them. I love them. The A6 X-Mex. character drop last year Kiff Clab so many great sneakers in that drop the gambit ones are amazing

I love them Adam got them for me I was thrilled Joe I wore them actually with you once I wore them to your book event at the Grove here in L.A

that's what I had on my feet they come with a little a little trading card do they smell of Benets or the French Quarter yeah they do like midway through wherever you're wearing them. They just did take off their shirt.

And then like a puff of powdered sugar comes out of that. Oh, man. And then you're like, is that jazz out here, Shia? All right. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business. It keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services,

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Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimphia, including important safety information. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activio yogurt a day for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Here we go. This is our opening snapshot, X-Men 97. We've already

said that we like the show. So I don't know that we need to like sort of get into that. But I was curious, Mallory, what your history is with either X-Men the animated series, with the comics, with, you know, the live-action films of varying degrees of quality. What's your, uh, What's your ex-ex experience? I love the X-Men. The X-Men are one of my favorite slices of the comics and superhero world. I love a number of the live-action movies, including having a fondness for some of the really terrible ones, which I enjoy revisiting. X-Men Comics, I also love, I think my husband's favorite, I think he would say that the X-Men are his favorite.

it. We'll find out if I'm right about this. He might say Hulk or Batman, but I feel like those would be the top three and the X-Nem would be number one. So they have a big hold on our household. Animated series, I think everyone who has any exposure to it have like a fondness and affection for it.

It's just like, I don't know, what's not to like? And the excitement about the time, I was thinking back actually too. I know we joked about this in the hype draft this January where I was able to select X-Men 97 actually with Pride and Joy. Great pick. Yeah, I'm feeling wonderful about it. I had, dude, too, but X-Men 97 is really good pick.

It's the number one overall pick, whereas I believe I got X-Men 97 in the fourth round. It doesn't matter. We can trade these comments all we want. We finish third and fourth. So I don't know why we both keep bringing this up. What's wrong with us? Let's never talk about it again. But the fact that it had been drafted two years in a row because the initial hype and the initial expectation for the arrival of X-Men 97 dated back to the prior year where Sean had selected it in the first round.

Like as soon as this was announced, not only like the connections to where we are in the MCU, obviously we've been getting these like drips and drabs of the X-Men and the mutants are entering the MCU. on the precipice finally of Deadpool and Wolverine. Of course, we got like the Beast Stinger and the Marvels. You know, the little hearing the theme song kick in and Miss Marvel and like the uttering the collective gasp that kicks in when like someone like Bruno utters the word mutation. Like we've just all been waiting for so long. And even though X-Men 97 is the connection to like proper MCU multiverse saga canon is different. right, than what we'll get with like Wolverine in Deadpool and Wolverine,

there's still just this backward and forward bridge aspect to the show that is so exciting because it connects to this thing that people have great affection for and nostalgia for. And it's like a promise of the new era of MCU storytelling and the arrival of this long-awaited, precious essential thing that I do not think it is an overstatement to say, the MCU cannot fuck up. And they know that. Yeah. Yeah.

Like it's just like even though this is again different than like what we're going to get in the movies. It's a very promising first note and paired with the nostalgia and affection from what came before and what it directly connects to. It's like hard not to be pretty hyped. What about you? What's your experience with the X-Men at large? When I was, sorry. You know, I don't often bring up the fact that I wrote a book. But when I was a book tour for the book,

a big question that people like to ask was, what's your comic origin story, right? If you write something about comic book storytelling, X-Men the Animated Series, like, without a doubt for me. X-Men the Animated Series and then Batman, the anime, you know,

both of those came out at the same time. Like, those two were my gateway into this world. And I loved X-Men the Animated series. I remember babysitting for a kid around, like, a couple years later. and he had like binders of trading cards, of X-Men trading cards,

and I didn't even know, I was like, what is this world? It was, like, fascinating to me. You know, and then, yeah, the live-action films, X-Men, First Class, has such a strange show call on me. I love that. Absolutely love that movie.

I just love that movie to death, and I'm so mad. We didn't get a whole like Eric kills Nazis around the world spin off like something. Yeah, Brian Singer is a real piece of shit, but I mean, he didn't make that movie. But Brian Singer is a real piece of shit, but the legacy of the X-Men live action and the way in which those films introduced a lot of people to the world of superhero storytelling is, yeah, it's just incredible. it's what's been fascinating about watching these episodes. So we're talking about, To Me, My X-Men, Mutant Liberation Begins, and Fire Made Flesh is something I didn't realize

as a kid is, like, how quickly paste a lot of these stories are. There's so much story crammed into these first three episodes. We'll talk about that a little bit more, especially, like, when it comes to someone like Gene. But it's, so one of our listeners on Twitter was calling it, like, telenovel pacing. And I like that, but, you know, I'm not a huge. scholar of telenovelas, though I have seen a soap opera my day. And I was just like, wow, there's so much soap opera in this. There's so much general hospital in this TV show. And that's not a bad thing. Was general hospital you're like, go to? I'm home sick after school.

I'm going to watch something. I'm not supposed to be watching. Mine was guiding light. I watched so much guiding light in middle school. I've a lot to say someday about general hospital. But today is not that day. But I think I think it's so fascinating what they're doing in terms of like giving us what feels different. is the way in which they're giving us at least so far a slightly character-centric episodes, sort of in a more meaningful way than the original series did. The first one is like a

somewhat of a Scott-centric, if you prefer, a Scott-centric episode. Second one is a Magneto-Erycentric episode, and the third one is a gene-centric episode, just like sort of loosely. Everyone's there, obviously. But I think that's like a really fascinating approach to have this like incredibly fast, dramatic soap opera pacing of the series,

cliffhangers on every episode. So Magneto's leading the X-Men. Another Gene is here? Who the hell is this guy who met Storm at a bar and says he can put her powers? But, you know, like all of that stuff to hook you back in is incredible. And the first three episodes, I wasn't unable to find the complete writing credits for the season, but I'll be curious to keep tracking this. But the first three episodes, either were solo written or co-written by Baudemayo. And so, like, this is a real sort of strong creator hand in the shaping of the story and the dialogue and all of that.

Any thoughts about that, Mallory? I'm curious to see. I mean, I think three inside of a 10 episode season is enough of a sample size to assume that we will be sticking with that. A character is the dominant focus inside of this episode that also is ultimately still an onset. ensemble, 28-ish pre-credits story. So my guesses will maybe get that structure or like maintained and intact for like eight episodes and then we'll just be in full-on ensemble zone for the last couple of three-part finale.

Like, yeah, seven and then all three or eight or something like that. But I'm excited because it's been one of the most, first of all, I will just say, I think on that list of three, we're going to talk about all the characters, so I'll save most of this for when we get there. But Scott, as the primary focus of episode one, is a bold choice.

And then, like, you get Magneto in episode two. And I'm like, this is the stuff. Lytle! It just was, I thought, I liked all three episodes, but I thought episode two was astonishingly good.

Like, just unbelievable. I'm an episode three. I, I mean, I liked all of them. But to me, episode two, just because of the dialogue and the substance of what Eric was saying, like just felt like on a different tier. I like three a lot as well. The absence through three episodes.

Two weeks, we should say, because the first two went out on the same week. But two weeks, three episodes of Charles Xavier? Just to throw out an example. Yeah. Well, right. Like, when will Charles be? Yeah. We'll get there in a minute more.

centrally focused, but like a Wolverine episode. I think is brilliant, like to wait because we know, we can trust, we can feel certain that that is coming. And so actually to spend time with some other characters first, knowing that the thing we would have maybe expected is inevitable, is I think a really smart way to bring us into this particular X-Men universe. I completely agree. as you said, Beau de Mayo has been sort of abruptly fired by Marvel. We don't have all the particulars. I don't think it has been fully reported out the real reason why this happened. So we're going to hold off.

We're not going to speculate. But it was sort of shocking timing. We'll just say that it all came out right when this show was debuting. It unfortunately means that there isn't a lot of like interview content from Bo talking about the shape of the season and all this sort of stuff. But I did find an old, oldish interview from 2023 where he's talking with a friend of the pod, Mark Bernardin, at the Austin Film Festival. Legend. It's a really nice.

Mark the king of the nerds. Mark at the time, I think at the time, was that a writer on Star Trek Picard and Bo as a writer on Star Trek Stranger Worlds and both as like, you know, nerds who are also like men. of color. We're just talking about this idea of like genre storytelling and, you know, what it means to have their perspective in this world. It's a really interesting interview conversation up on YouTube that you can go watch. But something that Bo was talking in that is he was talking about his identity as someone who is black and Latino and white and queer, all of those things, and how there are so many stories. He was talking about Spock, but Spock is a, you know,

as a character that is straddling the human and the Vulcan world and this either-or proposition and what they did in Strachey World is like a sort of why not both proposition rather than like these two sides denying one side or another. So when you come to this question of identity because X-Men has always been a insert your particular metaphor for someone outside of society, this question of identity and perspective and what it means to be either a mutant or a human, or is there a way to be part of both, which we'll talk about a bit when we get to Storm, like that this has been on his mind for a very long time

as a way to tell story. I think made him, again, we do not know the particulars of his infiring, but made him a really interesting choice to helm this first season. Anything else? You want to say about that? Well, let's talk about how the show's doing, Mallory. I mean, give it to me straight. What is happening with the reception of X-Men 97?

It's doing great and people love it. It's doing great and people love it, which like, hey, Marvel must be elated. The reviews, close to universally positive. Viewership numbers to the extent that we can ever know, truly, or understand any of this in the streaming era, which it is all in a. a secret sphere that we only gain access to when someone elects to grant it. It seems to be doing really well. The premiere, 4 million viewers worldwide within its first five days of release,

according to this nugget that you have in our doc. According to Disney themselves. They're happy to tell us. According to Just Watch, and again, Just Watch is a website that I go to find out where things are streaming, but I've never looked to them for viewership data, so I don't know how their viewership data was, but this is fascinating.

Courtney Just Watch. X-Many7 was the fifth most-watched television series across all platforms in the United States during its week of release. The fifth most-watch TV series. There's a lot of TV on it right now. I know. Yeah. It's great.

People of the X-Men. It's like that, what? is love is blind on right now? I don't know. The gentleman, Shogun? Like, what are people watching? I don't know. But X-Men 97's up there, so.

This is exciting, and it's exciting not only through the Marvel and X-Men lens, obviously. It's like we're, you know, we talk about Marvel a lot, so it's always an exciting moment here at the House of Our in the Ringervverse when people are excited about a Marvel thing again. But, you know, more broadly, like this is, on the one hand, I think, X-Men feels just like a distinct thing because X-Men, it's, we're talking about the X-Men. But it is also cool that we are continuing this wave of animation, euphoria.

Like, so many animated shows have captured the public attention this year and last. And, you know, obviously, like, we've, we chatted on the Verses and in our best of the year pod and has to recommends and all this stuff. Like we've, we've chatted about Blue Ice Samurai. We've chatted about scavengers rain. We obviously are chatting about this. We've covered, what if on the pod across its couple seasons, we talk about Batch. Like on and on and on the list goes, there are a number of other examples. Invincible, right?

We're covering across the feeds. Currently, there are so many animated releases and, you know, they're just almost never as widely consumed as live action. And that's just the truth. but it's exciting when one of the animated shows feels like it's like capturing the and animating the zeitgeist, right? And like more people who maybe would be reluctant to watch an animated show, which is not how we feel about it. Obviously, we love an animated story.

You're like, oh, man, X-Men. Do I need to check this out? Seems like something I need to check. Maybe I shouldn't wait for the X-Men to be in the movies. Maybe I should watch X-Men 97. And, like, that's awesome. The demographics are interesting because we don't know them, obviously, but, um, I was talking to a film, a TV critic friend who's a bit older,

so wasn't, was sort of too old to have caught X-Men the animated series when it aired. And so they weren't like that excited about the show. And I kind of feel like you either, and they watched it and they weren't that excited about the show. So I feel like you either have to like. Yeah, I mean, we were 80s babies. So like a 90s cartoon was really sweet spot for. This is my point. My point is, my point is not only is it perfect for us.

But it's that perfect kind of nostalgia bait that's going to hook people around our age, a lot of whom have kids who want to share the thing that they love with their kids. It's the same way that the Mandalorian hit where people who like love Star Wars and want to like at home on a weekly basis watch a Star Wars thing with their kid and share it with them. I really feel like this is hitting the millennial, the elder millennial, like wave of parents who have kids who are the right age to now get into the show. It's like sort of, yeah, it's a perfect nostalgia brew. How do you think people are explaining the horniness of this show of their young children? I really think it goes over your head. Extremely horny show in a way that I am quite enjoying. It is an excruciatingly horny show, but I think it would go right over your head if you aren't ready for it, you know?

Phrasing? Last thing we'll say. As you said, this is like a great time for animation in general, and it's, It's like a huge conscious push for Marvel Studios. We get a new Marvel animation logo. Oh, that what if had the Marvel Studios logo? This had... Clear mission for this one than Marvel Spotlight, folks.

Yeah. This one we understand. It really is all right there in the name, Joe. Spotlight isn't clear in terms of Echo? Okay. 2021, variety quote from... Speaking of Fired, Victoria Alonzo, who said, quote, we're going to have our animation branch in mini studio.

There will be more to come from that as well. We're super excited about animation, which is my first love. Which she says, Victoria Alonzo's name is all over the opening credits of this show. But we've got Marvel Zombies that's maybe coming this year, question mark. I want this soon. I want it desperately. The little Marvel zombie stretch of what if season one was one of like the best things I've ever seen. I can't wait for this.

As far as I can tell, this is only a four part. Marvel Zombies is like going to be like a four part. heart little event. That sounds perfect. A little bite of the brain matter for you. Just a notch of the cranium. And then your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, which according to the official website, is coming soon?

I won't fall for this again. It's a promise that I made to you and to myself after Sandman Gate. The first draft meter. This show, Netflix told me that Sandman, it's coming soon. And so here I am, so I'm selecting it with one of my precious spots. Oh, boy. A year later. Okay.

All right. So just as we did at the beginning of the week with three body problem, we're kind of going to go on an... Was that? Was that this week? That feels like so long. We're going to, I mean, that was before the Orioles had played a single game this year. So, you know. Yeah.

That's right. other lifetime. We're going to go kind of character by character, or kind of pair by pair. We're not doing every single character, but we're doing the main cast. But first, when I start with a previously on The X-Men, I just want to underline the fact, because I've seen some confusion about this, though I don't think the show is that unclear about it, but I think when you say things like Last Will and Testament, people are casually watching, it's unclear, but Charles Xavier isn't dead. At the end of, I'm not. X-Men the animated series, the original show at the end of season five, he was headed into space with his beloved Lelandra.

And he'll come back, I'm sure of it, when he's tired of endless SpaceX or they cure what was ailing him. He was alien. Does one tire of endless SpaceX? Sounds pretty great. Not with Lelandra, I would say, all right, let's start with it. I mean, as usual, Joe, you can't trust the news, you know? all these broadcasts about assassination. Like, this is why people needed the House of R

to tell them the facts. Wow. Yeah. There's some real J. Jonah Jameson energy coming off for you right now. Oh, no. Oh, no. This is the House of Spinole.

Okay. We're going to start with Gene Gray and Scott Summers and Nathan Somers. X-Men's first family. All right. So Gene Gray. I think is the best example of what we were talking about before in terms of like how quickly the plot is moving.

Only three episodes in the season. Because to recap, Jean has, she was pregnant. When when she started, we're like, whoa, she's pregnant. Then she had her baby. Whoa. She had a baby. And then she discovered she's a clone. Whoa.

And then she broke bad. Scary. Then she redeemed herself, poignant. And then she left to find herself at least a version of her did, whereas original Jean is still at the manner. That's wild. Is this where I request that you begin referring to me as the Goblin Queen? I already do behind your back. Is that something you want me to say to your face?

We have a whole black channel about it. Should I, is that something I should. I just believe it. It's been three days since Mallory has left our house. The Goblin Queen is truly gobleting this time. It's been way longer than three days. I can't remember when I last saw this song. But as

As Logan Roy would say, I've been incredibly unwell So Episode 3, the sort of inferno cloning plot comes from the comics Features Madeline Pryor, the Goblin Queen. I, as I mentioned before, this is my favorite episode because I thought I was like not only a really fun way to have a trippy episode, but a clever way to dabble in

the Phoenix saga. the most worn-out X-Men story that could possibly ever exist without retreading it entirely. The Phoenix Saga, as it originally appeared on X-Men the animated series, over the course, I think it was like five episodes, was like remarkable landmark storytelling because you didn't have like five-episode story arcs on Saturday morning cartoons that just like didn't happen.

So this is just like this huge, cool swing that absolutely worked. then they made the live action X-Men, and they decided to do it once in the worst of the first three live-action X-Men movies. And then they decided to do it again with Sophie Turner. And then we were just like, please God, no more Phoenix saga. And they're like, okay, we're going to do this. We're going to swerve a little bit. But still give you a picture of how scary and powerful an evil Jean Grey can be.

This was genius. Like, invoke the thing that we're wondering if we'll get, tap into and call upon the vast, especially, I liked the meta aspect of this in an episode about memory and like how much of your sense of the thing or the sense of yourself or your shared experience connects to your memory and your shared memory. Like, I thought this was really structurally smart and I was also quite relieved that it was only to. in that fashion and then we did a different thing. Because the title of the episode, Fire Made Flesh, is a quote, like, from the Phoenix saga. And we were all like, ooh, but then it wasn't. Also, the godlin queen looks amazing. Yes.

And it's just full of incredible evil, like, bitchy one-liners that I absolutely love. Like, Mommy's busy, like, making her. Actually, terrifying. It's like, slutty new outfit. It was just like, it was incredible. This is, again, like a slight difference from the Inferno storyline, making it, making her power is much closer to original Jean Grey's powers, telekinetic, all that sort of stuff like that, makes, just makes it closer to a Jean Grey story. And again, we're just seeing how, like, absolutely scary she can be. Plus, the concept of it, which is, I'm going to show you the thing you're most vulnerable in.

scared about, which is a really fun genre storytelling concept we've been doing for decades, but is, again, a really easy way to catch up new viewers on like some of the core concerns of our main cast.

Yes. We'll get back to poor dear gambit later, I promise. Poor guy's going through it, Joe. It's going through it. This was, I love to, like, turning the mansion into the haunted house. Because you could do this in any villainous layer, right, or any, like, sphere that you find yourself inside of, but to make your home a space where you can't trust the thing you're

seeing and you're afraid of your own past just really heightens not only the tension, but the sense that someone you thought you knew is exploiting you, like the great moment where, how could Mr. Sinister be this powerful? It's like, well, it's actually, it's, it's clone gene. Yeah, that's how. The answer is, it's Jean. Yeah. There are a ton of theories going around Mallory Rubin about when Madeline Pryor, which is what she's decided to rename herself, was swapped in for Gene.

Do you have any theories and or do you think it much matters? I'll confess, I don't much care, but I am curious how you feel about it. So we know it's been at least nine months. Yeah. Scott, we have some notes. And so does O.G. Gene. Can't wait to talk about that. Do you think Logan would have been fooled?

No, I think Logan would have known. He would have known. I agree. Yeah. Okay. And I think Gene's going to have to confront that Logan would have known. And Scott fucked a clone. A really long time. Brutal. She's a see.

Scott has a lot to work through in this season of TV. I don't have a theory. I'm reluctant to say that I don't think it much matters only because we are in the era of, and I am so sorry to mention this to you for the second time in just a few pods, secret evasion. And it is on my mind that a story can potentially get this

like, when was somebody swapped, devastatingly wrong and that it can have real consequences. But other than that, aside from that, like, roadie adjacent concern. I'm in the same camp as you. I think the thing that matters is how the characters

are thinking about this. What will Scott need to work through to realize that he had a baby with another woman? Though, as the genes discussed, like, could be much longer. Who actually, yeah, but like who even did marry Scott?

They don't even know when they were swapped, right? So them thinking about it, Scott thinking about it, everybody else in their lives thinking about it. And they're parting. Who really was the Phoenix? Which of us married Scott? All we have now is the future. An unknowable future built on an unknowable past. And then Madeline saying my next life will be mine. Like that feels like, could it, of course, actually matter when they were switched and have some deep canonical

bearing? Of course it could. But right now, the thing that feels most consequential is how it influences the way they think about their experiences and their then ability to plot a new course, all of them. So I'm open. I'm open. Much like Scott is to fucking any clone who sort of, you know, like looks like it's why. What is that, a strawberry blonde? That's close enough. Let's go. All right. So listen, Scott Summers, historically, or at least as long as I can remember, pre-Marsin for sure. The most mocked, stick in the mud, boring, priggish X-Men, just like, out. absolute who gives a shit about Scott. This has been the vibes for a very long time in terms of dear old cyclops.

Tough hang to be in a love triangle with Wolverine. I got to say. I know. You versus a charisma bomb that is Wolverine. What are you going to do, you know? Scott is so handsome that, of course, like we understand that. And, you know, virtuous and fiercely loyal, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah.

Yeah. With Logan. I mean, come on. I just have to say I thought in the run There were a lot of funny moments We're going to talk about a few more of them This has actually been a very amusing show so far

In the running though Quiet stealth contender For funniest moment of the show to me Was when Magneto said I was under the welcome impression That you were leaving That just absolutely killed me And then when Scott brought Magneto the coffee

And he's like, poison Dark roast. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Like, Scott got a laugh out of me when he said dark roast. And so,

oh my God, I chuckle. They're really kind of doing it with Scott. And that's the thing. Just like that clone was doing it with Scott, they are really kind of doing it with Scott. In terms of like, the audience really seems to feel like this version of Scott is much more

appealing. And I have a few theories. Number one, they gave him the classic, I don't want to. John Snow treatment, right? Like, he just wants to be a good dad, his clone wife,

and his weird sickly future baby. Like, he doesn't really want to leave the X-Men. He's got all these, like, I think pretty endearing insecurities about being the one to lead. Something he says when he finds out, again, that he was fucking a clone for about a year. He says, how could I lead the team

when I can't even protect my own son, my own? Her. Brutal. Absolutely brutal. And daddy issues galore. not just like his own biological dad where he's like, I'm not going to be a bad dad, like my bad space pirate dad,

but, you know, also thinking about Xavier when it comes to the House of Horrors, it's like demerits my boy, you know? So that's my number one. I'm just going to quickly hit you with my number two that I want to hear what your thoughts. My number two thought is that in a post Chris Evans and Steve Rogers world, perhaps audiences are a bit more ready than they've ever been to Love a Boy Scout again. I definitely think this is a part of it, genuinely. Yeah.

Yeah. Steve. Thank you, Steve. For your service. We'll salute you next week. We'll salute you for a whole episode next week. That's America's Boy Scout. Captain America.

Can't believe we're going to talk about cap next week. Got a lot of cap talks coming up. What a time. What a time. Okay. I'm compelled by a lot of this logic. I don't know if I've read Scott as a judge. John Snow, I don't want it leader so far.

I think he actually wants it too badly. Like, he's so desperate to seem worthy of the mantle that he thinks he's inherited. And I agree that the insecurity has been, I think, genuinely very compelling and relatable. But he was ready to leave. But Gene had to convince him to do that. And she had to do it with the, like, quoting his younger self and what's the point of being an X-Man? And if we're not allowed to enjoy our lives and, like, calling upon this thing that he had really kind of left behind and almost, like, lost sight of and forgotten. I feel like he was driven so fiercely at the beginning of the season by his desire to prove himself and to prove worthy of this thing.

And then, like, the after Magneto arrives, like, did the professor not trust me? Like, he wants to be the one entrusted to lead. The demerits thing. Inferno Hellscape Sequence. Demerits my boy failed to Cyrochild with the proper wife failed to leave the team. Flunkin failure. I was in tears. This poor fucker.

And then clone jeans saying to him, I knew you'd follow, Scott. It's all you do. I mean, I just, like, it does make you feel tenderly toward him because it's so brutal. But then you also have a moment where you're like, these are like kind of fair notes. It's just been great so far. Cyclops doing his best Daniel Day Lewis and there will be blood but like I won't abandon my child

and my boy and then he's like walk out of him Oh man it's been incredibly entertaining He and we say this with With love for Scott and as people who really believe in the The power of therapy Scott really needs to sit down and have some chats with someone

So much therapy. And with love and respect to James Marzin, who is an actor that I absolutely love. Those cheekbones. Incredible. This is the best Scott Summers has ever been, I think. Only three episodes in, but I think this is the best version we've ever gotten. Also, we're getting this across the show, obviously. But, like, we're getting some really excellent 90s fashion.

90s fits. Yeah. Yeah. The 90s fits from Scott. I mean, we're getting them, obviously, mostly on the exercise front. Like, the, like, the, like, leotard game from various characters is astonishing. But Scott is breaking out these, like, 90s polos. He's doing okay. Gambit's winning.

I love it. Scott's doing okay. Gambit's in a different, it's not even. Yeah. We're, like, Scott's in a league. Yeah. Yeah. Gambit is the MVP of the majors.

Okay. Yes. Great. Speaking of not abandoning my boy, the boy in question is Nathan Summer. And we had a long drawn out and by that, I mean a few comments in the margin conversation of our notes about whether or not we should say what Nathan Summers means in comic folklore. So why don't you skip ahead a little bit if you don't want to know? Are they gone? Great.

Most people know that Nathan Summers is cable. A time-todelling, very important character in X-Men was in the original animated series, has been in a Deadpool for. film, you know, is a major player. So I don't feel like it's a spoiler to say that that sickly future baby will be back. Do you think soon or like future seasons, if you had to guess? I say before the season's over, given how quickly everything's moving. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Let's talk about Storm and Forge. Please. Got a blip of Forge, but mostly Storm. Storm. I love that you put little lightning bolts in the document. And all cats.

Wonderful. She's the queen. No one else gets all cats. Just storm. Same iconic voice actress with an updated look to comics accurate 70s, 80s, Mohawk. Shout out Alexander Shipp who had the Mohawk in live action as well. But again, the clothing fit award goes to Remilibo. And he's got also great hair.

happening too, but Storm wins the hair Olympics with the mohawk. She looks incredible. It's just amazing. Her friendship with Jean, clone or no,

explored most people in episode two is like, it's immediately evoc. She calls her her sister. There's just like this just incredible closeness between these two characters. And when after she loses

her powers, we'll talk about in a second that incredible moment, she writes this letter that she leaves for Jean to read and it's like sort of to Gene but also to kind of everyone

and to your point about like speeches I agree that Magneto has gotten like sort of the best speeches but this is a banger set to a montage of various clips of I don't know people connecting and disconnecting so Carlos we play this letter from Storm

Gene my sister you of all the X-Men know the heartbreak of saying goodbye having said it so many times So I ask that you help the others understand why I could not stay to say it this day. My faith in your family's future is strong, and I cannot rob you of a bond you have more than earned. It is human nature to crave connection, as it is also mutant nature. To be heard, seen, to feel another soul finally seeing yours.

Connection is a fragile treasure. One, we sacrifice so much to maintain. Only to then sometimes watch it break in a blink that changes your life forever. We are no longer connected, Gene. And now we walk in two very different worlds. But trust that I will cherish what we shared as X-Men, memories that already feel like a lifetime ago. Like another woman's life or another person's dream.

Buff, Ororo. I mean, that's episode two. Are you kidding me? That's like series finale shit, like coming from Storm. And they're like, we're just going to drop this in episode two. Also, that's very clever to have Clone Jean read that very last. line, which is like a little sort of preview, like another woman's life or another person's dream. And then it's like, oh, shit, is that me? Am I clone? Okay, we'll get to that.

As we'll get to Magneto and Rogue connecting in that montage. Can't wait. Truly can't wait. But, you know, this is a, this is sort of a preview of the journey that Storm is going to go on the season in terms of reckoning with what it means to have your identity be so strongly mutant kind and then find out what it means to have that taken away from you. But I think as beautiful as this speech of this letter is,

the absolutes that she's dealing with, like we are no longer connected. We walk in two very different worlds. Like, it's said with love and affection to Jane, it's not, and there's something caustic about it. But if I had to guess,

I would say Storm's journey to understand that, of course, she's still connected. Right. the mutants. Of course they're still all part of the same world. That these absolutes aren't really serving us to go back to that, like, to thinking about the creator, Bodomeo talking about Spock being one or the other. It's like, actually the ideal is something much more complicated than that. Very interested to talk about the conversation between Storm and Gene earlier

in episode two that primed us for this idea of... living the way the humans live, but just more broadly, I think Storm has been one of the highlights of the show easily, so far. The episode of one arrival to fight the friends of humanity,

like, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. Then you are a fool. It's literally a lot. And the, I got a chill in the, the Sentinel master mole.

fight at the end of episode one when Storm arrives and we hear Omega level threat detected. And then the lightning bolts are flashing and then there's this almost like biblical

quality to the way Storm invokes her power. Ancient sands heed my command. Like there's this grand, vast, almost uncontainable aspect of the might so far and then this really intimate, interpersonal relationship aspect,

and the balance has been exceptional with Storm. I think that clip we heard, and the beautiful point you make about this connection to something that seems like very clearly one of the central missions of the season and interests of the season to explore, and just this connection to this larger pursuit of X-Men's storytelling at large,

like we were saying earlier, this idea of outsiders, people who feel like they're outsiders, people who have been made to feel like outsiders, for whatever reason, and by whichever faction or group or person, finding a sense of understanding and acceptance and belonging with their found family.

And that's a beautiful foundation to build a story on. But the thing that really, then I think elevates X-Men storytelling beyond that is that it isn't just the simple mutants versus humans. You have all of these fractures or riffs or aspects of yearning inside of that found family. What happens when that found family fractures? What happens when a character like Storm feels

like this is a choice she has to make? Like she no longer has a place in this family that she has built. What happens when ex-Bessies, as Magneto and Charles are described in this run so far, cannot find common cause with each other anymore. And I loved the little moment, not to jump ahead to Magneto,

but I feel like it's connected to this theme we're discussing here with Storm. Like, I loved that moment when he was talking to Rogue about his helmet and how, like, you know, why he felt he needed it and what it was really blocking. And Rogue, who we can see knows him very well in this slice of the story. Mm-hmm. It's like you didn't, the thing you didn't want was to feel that he loved you. Like, that was just such a absolute gut punch for Eric to have to confront that and for us to see that that's true, right? So that's just all been beautiful so far in the story.

And when we see Storm lose her power and we see a character who, whether it was those lightning strikes or that omega level, the PA announcement, you know, coming over the loudspeaker. splayed out, not only literally powerless in the sense that her power has been worked for her. Splayed out. Yeah. Crawling, curling, curling, reaching out. The breeze is gone. I cannot feel it. Nor the moisture.

Nor the air. It's just like, it did make me think a little bit of like Avatar Legends of Coral. Like, what does it, when, if you rob someone of their bending, what are you really taking from them? And is that a decision anybody should. be able to make, that Storm Gene conversation where Gene basically is asking if she can call upon their affection for each other and their trust to confess to Storm, something that she has not confessed to anyone else, which is that she wants her baby to be human. Because she is afraid. Such a good conversation. How do I tell him he's different, that the world will remind him of it

every day? And Storm's reply, like, of course, this is, this is priming us for everything that's going to happen with Colon Gene slash Madeline and Nathan, everything that's going to happen with Storm losing her powers. But Storm's response, I have wondered what it would be like to be human. It is a tempting daydream. And you're like, of course. Like, that makes sense that even one of the mightiest and most powerful beings in creation would wonder what it was like to not have to worry about always being the object of somebody else's mistrust or ridicule or scheme. Yeah. Yeah. And then for her to then immediately build to, but then I remember how my mutant gifts brought me to this mansion,

to this family to a sister. And then like, so you think about that clip again and that letter, and it's just even more devastating because she has told us that the thing that allowed her to really accept who she is and find that connection is specific, like it was that thing, that connection that allowed her to feel that comfort and that peace finally. And that's the thing she feels like she can't have anymore and that she has to let go and leave behind. It's really tragic.

It's such a good comic storyline that they've decided to adapt here. X-Men losing their powers is a constant storyline in the X-world. And it happened to storm in the life-death arc first published in 1984 by Chris Claremont, Barry Windsor Smith. The story follows pretty closely what we saw in episode. to storm is attacked by weapons and that strips forever powers. What's exciting to me, and in addition to everything that you were just saying, brilliant stuff as per use from you, Mallory, and like this idea of where do I belong, how do I connect, what makes me, me, all of those questions. Is this idea of like a side quest for a character outside of the team and outside

of the manner? It just makes the world feel bigger. I mean, we have Bishop going to a different time. So there will be like that kind of expansion of the story. But to have Storm and a character that we are so emotionally invested because of her place in the larger X-Men fandom. So it's never, it's never, if we cut away to her, we're never going to be like, ugh, here we go, cutting away to story, you know, which forgive me, Scott might have happened if Scott decided to go off or something like that, right? Tough pod for Scott Summers. No, but listen.

Now we, yeah. He got some jokes. jokes in and he fucked a clone. So, you know. Yeah, that joke wasn't the only thing he got in, Joe. Had a baby lost a baby. What are you going to do? You know? But it's, yeah, it's just going to be a really interesting way to sort of balance the

equation of the show going forward is like there's going to be our main plot with our heroes, but what's going on with Storm? And is that going to be something that is only parceled out in tiny crumbs? Like we got just a tiny crumb of her in episode three. and then wait for her, like her episode to cover it? Or are we going to, like, routinely check in on her in a little bit more substantial way? I don't know, but I really kind of trust that these writers are thinking about how to balance that equation and make the world feel big. Which you can get in danger of with X-Men because we have seen a few of these conflicts.

Charles versus Eric versus Sentinels versus Bolivor versus this versus that. Like we've seen that happen over and over again. A new team forms. An old team collapses and new team forms. This character dies. This character comes back. Like there's a lot of cyclical stuff about X-Men that can make it feel a bit small. And so I think anything that's going to push the story out into the world is a really good, smart thing.

Forge is the person that Storm meets at the end of episode three. Also, we think it's safe to say. is probably also who Bishop is talking about when he says he knows a guy in the future. The way it was cut makes it seem like this is who he's talking about. Forge tech genius. Yeah. Reasonable deduction. We're not going to get into it too much, Forge.

Hopefully we'll know more soon. I just want to shout out Gil Birmingham, an actor that I love is doing the voice of Forge. And I'm really excited about that. One of the new voice actors. I'm really, really excited about that. Which breaks us two. I can't believe you. Frankly, cannot believe you.

The restraint. I was going to start with it, but that I was like, we have to start with Jane and Scott. I thought for sure you'd either start or end with Gambit. But, here is. No, but then I'd have to wait way too long to get to my guy, Gambit. All right, we're going to talk about Gambic and Rogue and Magneto, question mark. So I just need a moment to talk about how important animated Gambit and Rogue are to me. Like, Gamp, like, you know, people talk about their first animated crushes and, like,

the Fox Robin Hood is probably my first, but like, Gampett's right up there. Remy LaBoe is very important to me. And I am so excited to see this version of him back because obviously they have failed many times to try to capture him elsewhere. So let's talk about Rogue first, first and foremost. Rogue, who's got, I think, one of the coolest, most poignant for storytelling power sets. Of the live-action film adapted characters, Anna Pac-Wan's Rogue was always bothered me so much because she's so off from what I want and need from Rogue. It's not Anna's fault.

in a Pac-Wan's fault. It's just the way that she's just drawn that way. It's the way they wrote her. But episode two of this three episodes, a tiny three-perisode run, gives us this great moment with Rogue in terms of this emergency for clone Jean and the baby coming.

And we are reminded as audiences or told for the first time, if you don't understand Rogue's full skill set, that only can she, like, absorb superpowers from people, but she can absorb. medical degrees, thoughts, memories, skillsets, all kinds of stuff from people that she touches.

But also there's this fear. What happens if I touch your baby? Like, what happens? And Scott, this was so intense. We trust you. Yeah. Tell me how all of that played out for you,

Mallory. This was like a, I didn't actually time it, but I want to say this stretch was maybe like 45 seconds long. And it managed to pack in such a hideously effective reminder of the prejudice that mutants are facing all around them all the time.

Clone gene is in labor. This baby is on its way. And this doctor do no harm, right? Has devoted a life to helping heal and protect and oath. And nurture and care for living beings refuses to deliver her baby. The you people, the refusal to assist because of the fear that like Jean will lose control of her powers and he will be harmed.

And it's not just how horrific it is that Jean has to suffer through that. It's the fact that this innocent child would be the victim of this bigotry as well. It's just like so foul. And then the balm on the other side of that of we see what Rogue is capable of, we see the fear, as you noted, and then the embrace by the people who have grown to trust her, particularly powerful because part of what

Rogue is helping Magneto through in these episodes is I didn't have a glossy, shiny past either. I had to make my way into these people's hearts, and I didn't demand it of them, and you can't either. I earned it, and you have to earn it. And then so, us for us to actually have proof of that, right, in a number of ways, but in such a high-stakes way here, to see how earned that trust really is and how that manifests, they trust their newborn child in her hands. And like, why wouldn't they, right? So that was just all, like, incredibly efficient and effective. It was a great scene. Where does this back to Gambit? My trench coat wearing, begloved, playing card throwing,

beloved Gambit. What they did, with Taylor Kitch's Gambit in live action is one of the worst cinematic crimes of all time. Like, it's just terrible. Talk about, like, not understanding what you're adapting. That's what we got with that version,

that repulsive version of Gambit. And I have been waiting for the knee Gambit, right? It's not Taylor. It's not Taylor's not. No. It's just those posts, you know, that that Taylor Kitch run, what could have been?

John Carter. off the, yeah, John Carter and Battleship and Gambit and like, all, I mean, man. One bad choice after an ex, True Detective. I thought, I thought Taylor Kitch was great and True Detective. That season's terrible. Are you kidding me? There's this whole sequence of me just like, angrily, great in season Taylor, his motorcycle up and down the PCH.

It's like so stupid. All right. When they announced that Channing Tannam was going to do a Gambit, movie a good a trillion years ago. I was in a Hall H at Comic Con when this happened and I lost my mind and I was so excited and they were like it's the start of a new era. Here we go.

And then... Here you are still waiting. Here I am still waiting. But are you waiting anymore? Isn't this what you needed? Here it is. I think this is what I needed but I just want to say that there have been whispers around of people saying like Austin Butler should play give it in live action. And I just want to say...

shut the fuck up. No. Absolutely not. On the one hand, if they put enough eyeliner and like the head gear on him and stuff like that and maybe I can't really tell it's him

and he just does like a pitch perfect imitation of anime and a gambit. This is the thing. I'm not, I can't say I'm in favor of this or truly motivated to compel you. I also don't think Austin Butler would do it right now. I don't think it's the move for him right now.

The one thing is like the gift for mimicry. The gift for voice work. It's his mutant ability. Imagine the accent. I want to put forth another candidate. Okay. And when I think of New Orleans and I think of live action and I think of someone really slutty, which is what something Gammon needs to be.

Yeah. I think of Sam Reed, who is currently playing the vampire list at on interview with a vampire. That's my candidate. Awesome Butler, sit down. Okay. It's not awesome. Austin didn't put himself forward for this. He's just minding his business, still doing himself as some pressure.

Okay. But let's talk about this incredible, unfairable soap opera tension between Gambit, one of the sluggiest humans, mutants alive, and Rogue, one of the absolute sexiest mutants alive. And they can't touch each other. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And the way that, like, Brian Singer absolutely befowled this with his take on Rogue and, like, Teenage Puppy Love and all that sort of stuff like that. It's just, like, so stupid when I'm just like, you have this. The best thing that has ever happened, which is Rogue and Gambit, and they can't touch each other. Oh, man. It's very Ned and Chuck in pushing Daisies. You know, you have this, like, incredible long, long. and chemistry.

It's electric. It's crackling. It's Mariko and John Blackthorn. Shogun heads rise up, you know? That show is unbelievable. The restraint is what is where the juices as they don't say that. I love the gambit is. I mean, he's ready for it, obviously, in general in all respects.

The Benier kitchen sequence, iconic. Can't wait to discuss it further and hear all your thoughts on the fit. But the basketball sequence, when Gene tells everyone you need a reminder, can't use your powers? And he takes his shirt off and says what about Camvitz other powers? Just the truest, I have no notes thing that we could possibly get. But when they're at the, um, oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I was about to say the club. I'd like to apologize to you and our listeners when they're at the club, the club. And they're looking for Roberto. And there's that, like, really sad moment where Rogue is looking at all the, like, the young people dancing and touching.

Oh, it was heartbreaking. But then what does Gambit say? Any worthwhile man would gladly suffer your hand in a dance. Like, he's here for it. Camben, I love you. My problematic, unproblematic king. The way he talks about himself and the third person is just all part of his cartoonishly stereotypical. typical Cajun charm.

But when he says Gambit can never unsee that, let's talk about Magneto. All right. I would love to. Magneto. I don't know if you've heard, but we love a character on an arc, especially if that arc has the word redemption in front of it, right?

We love it. There's this great episode three line from the Goblin Queen herself, the bitch queen herself, who says, look at you, a villain playing dress up as a hero this goes right to the core of Magneto, not on slutty himself.

The shoulders are out. The fit is incredible. It's painted on. It's painted on, Joanna. We're an SI swimsuit. He's got like opera gloves, but sleeveless, you know, garment. And then the hair is just flowing, a mane, a snowy mane, incredible. Lush locks.

Bane pillars. Wow. Thrilling. It's not just about hornyness. This is about emotion as well. And Charles making Eric, the leader of his X-Men, is just top-tier Xavier mind-fuckery, just like crumb de la Crem of what Charles Xavier might do to once again try to redeem his old pal, Eric.

It's a fairly common X-Men trope for Magneto to show up and lean. the X-Men, he's done in a number of times in different alternate realities, various extreme circumstances. It's genuinely always very fun. Amusing when Bishop was like, that's a new one. And we're like, is it? Is it? But you mentioned episode two.

You mentioned episode two being your favorite. Again, we will get to what happens in episode three. But episode two, centric Magneto, and this concept of will you ever be good enough? Will we ever be good enough for you? will I ever be good enough for you? It's really giving me like Sawyer and Lost vibes of like when will you take my redemption seriously, right? Jamie Lannister. Honestly ideal. You're just listing our favorite. I know, I know. Let's listen to this clip, please, Carlos. Lies, this is your dream. My kites played before you, powerless and afraid. All the X-Men have

Donis use their awesome power to protect a world that hates and fears them. Behold their reward. What must we do to be good enough? Is this the high road's destination? If so, I say, as I have too many times before, never again. Incredible score, we should say. Really good. Word choice. splayed before you, as you already mentioned. Who says splay anymore? No one. Let's bring it back. I say splay fairly regularly. Oh, great.

I use it sometimes to describe how Halo has positioned himself. Yeah. It is a very halo posture. Is this the high roads destination? Yeah. And then, of course, the never again invoking the Holocaust, Eric's, you know, origin story. What do you want to say about this speech? any of the other speeches that you love,

episode two, hit me with your thoughts. Man, I just thought this was great. Like, beat for beat, note for note. Hearing that clip, I can, like, see. I love when a memory of a story locks so quickly into your mind. I can see the camera panning in on his, like, scrunching up face

and the venom in his eye. We're hitting so many notes with Magneto so quickly. The, like, the tragic fact that I did not consign those sapiens to the waste bin of history is proof of my desire to honor Charles Xavier's dream. I didn't murder everyone.

Praise me is like the origin the origin of the beginning of where we are with Magneto and with the X-Men. One of the things that I thought was most delicious about it was obviously this is largely

about Magneto needing to, but also choosing to. This is a bequest he could decide not to heed or honor. Like, choosing to work his way closer to, or at least try to work his way closer to Charles' dream of harmony. It's also about the X-Men needing to work their way a little bit closer to an understanding of why Magneto has done the things that he's done. Now, not to his, like, as the news broadcast repeatedly,

Reminds us terrorist ways. But there's an interesting aspect to this of just like perspective, right? And will you even take the time to try to understand why somebody else has done the things they do? So I really loved the moment when everyone, like, obviously Scott most of all is like, what the fuck is happening here? Why are you here? Why did Charles decide that this was the thing to do? What is going on?

And Magneto says, after all our tetatets, you have finally realized something I realized. something I realized long ago. Even Charles Xavier can make a mistake. And so it's not just about like a deifying Charles. Part of the thing that is going to push these people together

is the acknowledgement that they're all flawed or do things sometimes that puzzles somebody else. I just really like that as a foundation. Nobody's perfect. And maybe Dumbledore should have given teenagers

more than riddles before he sent them out on a quest to save the world. I certainly have some notes for Albus, always. I love, to your point about, like, we've gotten versions of this before, but it always is compelling and always something that we enjoy seeing.

I loved Beast quoting Mark Twain when Logan's like, what's going on? Once again, what was Charles thinking? The only safe and sure way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend. And like with Charles and Eric, the idea that that's not just about a future, you might seek to forge,

but a past that you knew existed and was something you cherished is like a really rich emotional text. The clip that you selected is a great one. That is, I thought, like a chill-inducing post, the Friends of Humanity have attacked. Executioner. Incredible villain moniker, ex-daccuser.

Yeah. It has attacked. Eric makes this big speech. She's very disappointed in everyone, including the jury members. Wonderful. I thought the. speeches before and after that were equally riveting, the origin story that we get. The very brief and succinct summation of canon that we are probably, most people watching

the show are probably familiar with, like Eric's backstory, right? But then to build that into this like snapshot of how Eric's experience shaped what he considers a fundamental truth about existence, right, about how people treat each other. In history's sad song, there is a refrain, believe differently, love differently, be of different sex or skin, and be punished. We sing this song to one another. The oppressed become oppressors. And this is why Magneto is one of the great characters in the history of story, not just in

the show, is because you hear him say these things and you know that he's right. And then you also have to confront the fact that he has become the perpetrator of the thing that he laments. And that is the genius of the character. And so for him to have to, in the flow of this episode and season, confront that and acknowledge that and confront what it meant to Charles that that was true for Eric is just incredibly interesting and compelling to watch. Then he takes everybody up into space.

Now space. Space is not fine. It turns out here. It's cold. And it's cold. Joe. It's very big. It's also very, very big. Space is big. Lissidore 3 BodyPod, if you haven't yet. This speech was my favorite of all the Magneto speeches. Looking back down on planet Earth,

big it, ingrate, sycophant, worm, so small I could smite you with a step. And he's like lowering the boot. There was a time I would smite you. Oh! was done to storm. But today I have saved you from your own. For an old friend has challenged me to remember this view of earth, how vast it is versus how small we make it. Charles Xavier entrusted me with his dream and it does not ask you to love or embrace my kind as your own, but merely to accept that this is a shared world with a common future and that my kind like yours have the right to live in it. I am trying to be better. Please, do not make me leave me. Let you let you down.

I thought this was an all-timer. Do not make me let you down is such a good line. Incredible character woman and incredible writing. How vast it is versus how small we make it. What an incredible way to sum up the limitations of people in the world, trying to make their way through the day, right? A shared world with a common future. As you noted earlier, you can map the X-Men onto any number of things.

And like, this is an important thing for the story to, engage with, and that is a beautiful summation of, you can apply this to so many different things in life right now, in the past, in the future, sadly in the future, inevitably in the future. And so it's like a harrowing and really sad thing, but then you can also find purpose and hope inside of it. And you're like moved almost to tears listening to this, and then you get that final note, which is, on the one hand, Eric's trying to be better. And on the other hand, like, you kind of can't help as an X-Men fan but feel the threat in it, right?

And also that note of maybe inevitability, like, how much can people change really? And what will you be pulled back into always? I think especially in, that's always a question in storytelling. Like, you know, Jamie Lannister going back to Circe, you know, whatever it is, that sort of like slip back into an old habit

or, you know, that idea that you will stick in a worse position just because it's the position you know rather than risk the vulnerability of putting yourself in a better position. So that's all fascinating. And again, like, think of what we're talking about inside of 90 minutes of a cartoon, only two, like, Magnetius only been in two of those episodes, really? You know, like, it's astounding what the show has accomplished already with this character. But yeah, it's the kind of character, especially in comic book or superhero storytelling, when these archetypes constantly reset themselves, you know, through the nature of the cyclical nature of comic storytelling.

So when he says, like, this is a song we sing to each other. These are cycles we're trapped in. That's like both true, sadly, of our society, but also just like a comic book storytelling where it's like, we've reset the continuity, you're back into the villain role. We've reset the continuity. You've never had this relationship with this other person. We reset the continuity, this, that, of the other thing. And so Eric is always the villain at some point, no matter what he does. And the idea that, like, if we get a villainous Magneto, a Magneto versus all these X-Men that he is, like, forming these connections with and attachments to or enmity with, perhaps, in the case of Gambit, the tragedy of what will that mean if that person is then later on the other side of the battlefield with you?

Juicy. Sure is. It's not as juicy as whatever's going on. The low triangle that very few saw coming, even though it's somewhat comics accurate. In The Uncanny X-Men number 274, the cover of that gives us a version of that. Both Mallory and I wrote our notes

as the Harry Hermione Horror Crux vision that Gambit has in episode three, except in the cover of that Uncanny X-Men. It is rogue in that sort of like green loincloth situation, but Magneto is in his like full armor. So it is like honestly much kinkier. But then there is, you know, there is some art from them on the interior that is this like we're double loinclothing, a lot of skin. Though in none of these versions is their skin gooping into each other the way that it does in the vision. in the vision that Gambit has that he can't see.

There's two reasons for this. One, it makes it so much more horrifying, right? They're, like, they're touching each other, and also they're, like, melting at the same time, scary. But also, the very thing that Gambit is, like, so frustrated, but, like, cool about, but still frustrated by the touch. So it's not just we're touching. Our skin is one thing.

Just blended into each other. We have morphed and melded into each other. There's no barrier at all. Horcrooks, rogue, saying I found myself a real man. Oh, run along. Run along, Remy. There's... The question is, is this a love triangle?

What have we seen? We have seen them sort of kind of touch each other-ish, Definitely an embrace. Yeah. Yeah, the head nuzzle. We have definitely had Morp and Wolverine Logan sort of making some allusions to it.

And we definitely know what Gambit thinks is going on. Yes. But what do you think is going on? I think they are having sex with each other. You think they're fucking, okay. Now let me ask you, do you actually not or do you just hope they're not because you're so firmly entrenched in the Gambit Rogue camp.

I just like to think that Rogue wouldn't do that without talking to Gambit first. Like, it's one thing for her to be like, hey, listen, I have history with this person and I can touch him in a weird way. She wants it to be secret, said the cat's got to stay in the bag. And it was her third cat reference of that conversation. I don't know. I just don't think we've seen. I think what they're doing is a classic. show us something that looks like something.

Show us what everyone assumes that it is. And I like to believe that he's teaching her how to touch without killing. So she and Gambit can do it. That's really beautiful. Really, really beautiful. It's honestly beautiful. Rokes my babe. It's not about not being with Gambit because if she talked to him and she's like, listen, this other thing, I don't.

But to not tell him, I don't. she'd do that. But when Eric eludes to their history, she's like, she seems petrified of what would happen if people do. History is one thing. But now? That's true. I don't know. It's... All right. Thank you. Speaking of assumptions about what's going on and people making matters worse.

Let's talk about Wolverine and Morp. Besties. All right. So as you already astutely pointed out, Wolverine, probably at this point, maybe neck and neck with Deadpool, the most famous mutant, thanks to decades of comic lore, his appearance on X-Men in the animated series, and then also just like what Hugh Jackman has done with the character for a very long time. and to, as you say, show that restraint to keep him kind of backgrounded is wild and impressive, quite impressive. I think it's, again, not to keep bringing up Strangely Worlds, but it's kind of somewhat of what they're doing in Strangery World's where, like, Kirk is there sometimes, but not very much. And that's a fascinating decision. But the main emotional moment he gets is this moment with the real Gene Gray when, you know,

everything is going sideways with the Goblin Queen, who again looks amazing, is phenomenal. Love her forever. She did nothing wrong. But he's like, Gene, we need your help. Can we hear this clip, please? Carlos. Better my mind, Jeannie.

Just my mind. Right here. I'm right here. Such pain. I must help. You will. You always did. Remember who you are.

What you mean to us. To me. Logan. I remember you. Keep going deeper. I mean all that to you. More. He's in danger.

I have to go. Mother fucking. Cock-block for Cyclops. More. And then Scots in danger, I have to get a lot. Beautiful, beautiful, incredible moment. Lovely scene. Absolutely lovely scene.

Really well played. The fact that... Love when we get tender, vulnerable, Logan. This, yeah, like, Logan is so gruff and tough and so soft for Gene. But the fact that this voice actor, Cal Dodd, the way that he... Is he soft for Jane? The way that he, imagine your voice actor and you get the line read of, you get the line on the page, keep going deeper. And you have to figure out a way to read that so it doesn't sound pornographic.

And I think he did a great job. Did it not sound pornographic? No. He kind of like threw it away. More kind of did. But I think keep going deeper. He did a really good job with it. What's your favorite Logan line?

And why is it I'll show you a C-section bub? which he says to the doctor who reviews is gene care. That is iconic. It definitely is keep going deeper because that is just so clearly what he wants Gene to say to him. But as a runner-up, I will offer Gene saying,

Logan, he's here. And Logan's saying, Ew, Apocalypse. And then Gene's saying the baby. That killed me. It will back on it. So funny. Dark roast.

Oh, man. Then we get Morf, Logan's besty shitster Easter egg machine. This is like, this is an incredible little vehicle for the writers to throw a million different Easter eggs at you because Morph will just be changing into whoever in the background. And it doesn't really matter if you know who they're changing into. they will just swap from character to character. And if you have deep knowledge of the comics or the animated series, you know. And if you don't, it's sort of inconsequential what's going on. This is a bit of a character redesign, this sort of like blank face version of Morphe from the original version that we got in X-Men the animated series.

Though we see a flash of that face with hair and eyebrows and all the rest. when morph is remembering that they were mind controlled by Mr. Sinister in the original series. What's your favorite morph line? And why is it rogues really training your stamina with the new bonds? That was a great moment. It's just another devastating one for Gambit, but an absolutely great morph moment. All right. This one was easy for me.

I thought this was so funny. Morph, pretending to be Gene while talking to Logan, saying, I'm having the most beautiful baby in the world with the most boring man in the world. Just simple, elegant, savage. All right. Oh, Morph. Logan and Morph. Yeah.

Best Buds or more? So we get this. I really loved eating. When we got Storm's letter in episode two, and we were seeing all these little moments between the various characters, I loved the moment where a Morphe rocks up to Logan, and there's like a six pack of beer, and then just like changes into Sabre 2

so that they could like spar and tussle together. We'll get back to the tussling. And that's what like finally drew Logan down from the tree branch too. Yeah. It was just like Morph knew exactly what their pal needed. But there's also the shower scene in episode three. Carlos, can we hear that, please? Hello, that you, Gambit. Logan?

One too many redheads for you. Here. Need some help for those hard-to-reach spaces. Always with the jokes, eh, morph? As if I don't know. As if we all don't know. So listen, as we mentioned, Bodeo is a is a queer man and this idea of X-Men as like queer allegory has been you know,

has something that has existed, not since the beginning I would say, but, you know, certainly in the wake of the Brian Singer films, that sort of emphasis of like that's specifically what the outsider is. And I think X-Men should be sort of like blanket representative of a number of different feeling on the outside. But given how many people. be they, E. and McKellon, be they whoever, have, like, adopted this idea of X-Men as, like, queer allegory. I think it matters a lot to have a character who is queer and be they genderqueer or a sexuality queer in this case.

And for them to have that, not just queer, but, like, deep-seated fear of exposure around it is really poignant and powerful to me. So strongly agree. Yeah. Anything else you want to say about Morf and Logan? I think we'll be getting more time with Morph and Logan in an episode soon. We haven't gotten much, but I'm eager for more. Very eager. Speaking of not much, and we're really sort of like going down the list of like less and less and less, Beast and Bishop, who I've sort of grouped together as science bros, kind of.

Tech science bros. Love it. Not a ton yet for these two. I'm looking good. Oh, man. Hank showing up to either quote classic literature or quickly and definitively solve a science question, just a very, like, the utility of this character is off the charts. Bishop's guilt over Sister Shard, which is revealed in the Inferno sequence,

that's just like a really good nugget that, again, is like, you get enough to get it if you get it. Right. You know he is consumed by guilt over having let someone. down. If you don't know the exact connection, you still get the emotional truth of it. Yeah. There's also the incredible Scott Power assist to Bishop in midfight in episode three, which just just allows us to take a moment. You invoked Avatar earlier. I was just thinking a lot about Avatar when I was watching this moment of like the joy of animation in being able to do all these fight scenes with all these extraordinary strange and unusual powers clash movie.

other and try to imagine how they might all blend or clash, et cetera. What could I do here with storms power? What could I do here with rogues power? What could I do here? So this idea of like powering up Bishop is part of the fight was just like a really fun little moment. Yeah, I love it. Made me think of like charging up Tony's repulsors. But I love the animation point specifically. But any time you have a power sets in a scene together, like how they, how they, how. people either learn to like work together and amplify each other's powers or um make somebody else's power their vulnerability in a kind of group setting is that it's just always one of the fun things about a team up and a showdown i i thought be beast has had a lot of good lines with limited time

i really loved this one that i'd like to share with you now to roberto besides a cavity and a layman's existential fear of metaphysics Mr. DeCasper here is in perfect health. So I loved that. A layman's existential fear of metaphysics. Oh, and a cavity. Wonderful. Maybe laugh.

The writing is so good on this show. Really is. Yeah. I hope oftentimes with a TV show, there are many different voices contributing to scripts. So just because the script is designated to one person, it does not mean that it wasn't, it's usual, almost always crafted by a number of people. I'm just like ever so slightly concerned if Bodeo has like a very strong hand in the scripts here, which we both agree are excellent. And then what will that mean for season two if that person is not in the room?

And again, we don't know concretely the reason that they're not going to be in season two. And, you know, if it's for good reason, it's for good reason. And I support it. But, you know, I am just relishing the writing. And at the same time, like, potentially, morning as happens since in season two. I hope that's not the case. Bishop, as a time traveler, wibly, wabbly, timely, wimmy potential abounds with this character. And you know what that means now. She's pointing at her TARDIS. I'm attempting to point in my tardis, but I guess I don't know how.

You keep hitting Zilder. What's happening? Why do I not know what train of my hand? There we go. Shocking and disturbing. Got my little Tartis. We always love it in Marvel. when they try to explain to us how time travel rules work. Yeah, always. Shout out the completely airtight descriptions that we got in Infinity weren't in game. But let's hear what Bishop has to say about how time works here, Carlos. Bishop, you said in your future, you hadn't heard of Magneto taking over the X-Men.

What about this? Time isn't some history book, man. It's always writing. flipping back a few pages, rewriting things, skipping forward, headed in. Oh, my stars and garters.

Sorry, I just kept in B saying, oh, my stars and garters because it cracked me in so much. Absolutely delightful. Oh, my fur and whiskers. We need Bishop and Ant-Man in a scene together so that Scott can say to, Scott Langans can say to Bishop.

So back to the future is a bunch of bullshit. And we get to hear Bishop's response. That would be wonderful. That's a time machine. Last. and certainly least, I bring you, Roberto and Jubilee. Roberto, Sunspot, you know, sort of stepping into that new kid at school role that Jubilee filled in the original series and Rogue filled in the Brian Singer story. I have always hated Jubilee.

I find her so annoying. Lana Condor who played her in the sort of young crop of live action stars they brought in, that was the closest I've ever gotten to like in Jubilee because Lana Condor is so charming and I just like really liked her but that Jubilee had like nothing to do. Jubilee who could just like emit sparklers

is just such a use. I don't know. I just never like Jubilee and I just Loki in Season 1, Episode 3 on the train, the little fireworks display, but like just that. I'm willing, I am, I hope that

I think, according to the description, next week's episode is a Jubilee episode and I'm hoping that they, I know, you just gave a face. I don't know. Well, I hope that they could do for her what they've done for Scott. Okay. Lord, I've seen

what you've done for Scott Summers. Bring that same out of you to Jubilee. I would appreciate it. Okay. I have a question for you. Yeah. Have you ever shared this exchange with another? human being. What's your job?

Hot and rich. Don't forget single. Page me. The 90s markers page me takes the cake. Roberto, I'm like not, it's too new for me to have a strong opinion on Roberto one way or another. In terms of this world. I was emotionally compelled by the. His inferno vision.

Brief glimpse of the insecurity. that we get of fearing, like, what his family thinks, yeah, in the Inferno vision and his mother, but then telling Jubilee,

whenever I do this, it just reminds me that I'm different, that I'm lying to them be an X-Men Jubilee. I don't even want to be myself. Also, I thought the Sunspot power looked unbelievable.

Yeah. So I'm excited to see that. Much cooler power set than Jubilee, yes. Do you think they're setting up an animated new mutant spinoff with Roberto Jubilee. I always think they're setting up a spin-off.

My answer to this question will always be yes. I mean, the answer here is definitely, right? Yeah, I feel like, yeah. Like, we're getting young Avengers and we're getting new mutants. Yes. But when will we get Pet Avengers? When you take over Marvel Studios, and I think it could be any day now. Kevin, call me.

Page me. Kevin Page me. Oh, man. All right, best of the rest. Anything you want to say about the villains that we've seen so far? Sinister, Sentinels, we got a trash reference, the U.S. government. Anything you want to say? Can maybe hit the villains more on one of our future check-ins?

Yeah, I'm fine with that. I think the consistent voicing of a hideous thing from a villain, like that's whatever character is saying something to reflect the... Because we open the series on this note of like Charles's, the absence of Charles Xavier has one mutant kind, a new degree of acceptance and understanding from the masses, right? And then everything we see from one of the villains, whoever we're worth it to give in a moment,

is chipping away at that gain, right? Line after line after line. Like Geierig saying, normal people know the more room we make for your kind, the less we leave for hours. like horrifying. He says tolerance is extinction. Appalling. Trask saying, you have no idea how it feels to be left behind by the future. The implication that there can't be room for everybody. Deeply dismaying. Sinister, I thought, had a lot of... Sinister was really fun. Really good lines. And also, like, very, like, a lot of harbingers, right? In terms of Nathan and, like, what we might be heading toward that, that literally shrinking into the shadows.

exit, like that very ominous. You have doomed the boy final moment there. But on the sinister front, I think we would be remiss if we end the pod without mentioning not only the very like mauler twin style lab, like a love of AttaGoo. But yes, that's why I made you baked you. Yeah, baked you. It's one of the things I have ever. He's great.

I love him. Come back, Sinister. Do more damage. Also, I love that he's like Scott and Gene. These are, this is Uber Mench. These are the paragon, two gingers, the paragon of genetic. Anyway, I love a ginger. Honestly. Me too. I love a ginger. In terms of people we haven't seen so far, mutants, humans, who are you most excited to see? Is it Mystique? Is it? Almost always. I was asking Carlos, who Carlos' favorite, um,

he said, Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler is supposed to be in this season. Um, anyone else? Anyone else, you're usually anticipated? I'll pan, uh, I'll pan away from the character considerations for a second here and just say, whoever Theo James is secretly voicing. Because we do not know. The cool fan favorite character.

Yeah. So that's, that has to be my pick. Like, maybe it's just the Duke from the gentleman. We're really in a Theo James moment. I'm, I'm, get on board with the gentleman. I think you would really enjoy it, Mallory. As I told you, I asked Adam last weekend and if we could start watching it. And he said, already watched it?

You didn't tell me that. I didn't. No. It's just become like a, I can't. Another betrayal. Oh no, Adam. I'm rooting for you. It wasn't nearly on the scale of Blue Eye Samurai, which we had actually put on our shared

holiday viewing list. And then he watched it without me anyway. We hadn't previously discussed the gentleman, but he did not even mention that he I was considering watching and just watched it without me. Brutal. I will watch it. I will. This summer, when we're living the same place, I'll come watch all the things that Adam watched without you.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I'll also watch Orioles games with you. It's going to be a great summer. Okay. Listen. They're on every day.

Get ready. Every single. Oh, no. Okay. That's the joy of it. I was wondering how we're going to get to 160-something games. That's so many. Okay.

To me, my Mallory, this has been our X-Men deep-ish dive, medium dive of the first three episodes, a show we're loving. And I just can't wait to watch more, even the Jubilee episode. I'm not deterred. I'm excited and optimistic. Thank you, as always. Two, show me a dinner on the social. Arjuna, Ram, Go, pal for his production mark on this episode.

And Carlos Churaboga, my pal, for me. trial by content filling in for Steve today on House of R. Thanks to you, Mallet Rubin. We'll be back next week with a spring hype meter, not a draft, and some winter soldier love from the two of us. If you've got winter soldier, thoughts or feelings or questions or comments or concerns, Hobbs and Dragons at gmail.com. And we'll see you next week. Bye.