ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - X-MEN '97 - What is BASTION'S PLAN? - Avengers vs X-Men, EXPLAINED!

Episode Date: April 27, 2024

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Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Our merry band of beauties have been selling the world a very big lie. Hey, welcome back Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Airy, and I know a lot of you are wondering what the heck is going on in X-Men 97. Episode 7 revealed the villain behind the season, Bastion, who, by the way, we clocked all the way back in episode 4. So you might be wondering, well, who's Bastion? What does he want? Well, we think the Bastion has actually been behind the scenes of the original show for years,

manipulating everybody since the events of the last season. Now, a little later, I'm going to be joined by Geek Lawyer, Mike Mazzella, and a special surprise guest to get their theories. But before we speculate, let me explain everything that we do know for sure. And guys, before we get rolling, I deeply, deeply want to thank all of you for watching us, supporting our channel and shopping our merch store where we design all the merch ourselves. I've been overwhelmed at the amount of support you guys have given us, buying shirts like the Gambit Tribute, Lee and Kirby's Nighthawks parody, the Breakfast Club parody, Fraser Beast, and many more. Thank you all for watching. The links for everything is down below. So, in the comics, Bastion is one of those X-Men characters

that kind of a messy, complicated origin that they may or may not faithfully reproduce in this show, which I think is really good. I don't want them to straight adapt the comics. I want to be surprised. So Bastion was created when Mastermold, the giant Sentinel that makes other sentinels, combined with Nimrod, a super advanced sentinel from the future, and then they past three portal called the Siege Paralus. About then King Arthur? Kind of like King Arthur, yes. But in X-Men comics, though, the Siege Parallus

essentially takes you to wherever you're supposed to be and grant your wish. Basically, it's just like an easy way for writers to take shortcuts with characters. Oh, that's just lazy writing. So Bastion in the comics assumes this human form of a man named Sebastian Gilberty. And his main goal is to use nanobots

to control people and turn them into prime sentinels, like we saw Trask turned into in episode seven. In the comics, this led up to a human event called Zero Tolerance, which will be partially adapted in this show, but I'm not going to spend too much time rehashing the comics because, you know, I don't know if they're going to like adapt it word for word. Now, like I mentioned, Nimrod has appeared at least twice in the original series. And days of future past, it followed Bishop back in time back in time, kind of like the T-1, following the T-100 in Terminator 2. A new Sentinel from my time from the future. Bishop was able to disable the time band that held Nimrod to the present, and then he snapped it. Back to the future. Actually, you know, Back to the Future is an apt reference here because one thing to remember about the X-Men universe is that the timeline is malleable, just like in Back to the Future.

Star Trek, Terminator, Time Cop, Time After Time, Quantum Leap, wrinkle in time, somewhere in time. Hot tub Time Machine. So a time traveler like Bishop can go back in time and change events that affect the present. Unlike in the MCU, where changing the past creates a branching timeline. We also saw this in the two-parter One Man's Worth, when Master Mold sends a mutant called Fitzroy back in time to assassinate Charles Xavier. Also, we see alternate universe storm and Wolverine fighting Nimrod. So that's the past. Here's everything we know about what's happening now. In the future, sentinels have taken control of the world, enslaved humans, and are eradicating mutants.

Mutants are human. We also know that MasterMold is actively using time travel to create his ideal world by sending Nimrod and other people back in time. But all that stuff happened in like mid-20th century. We know that a thousand years in the future, Cable was fighting the forces of a Apocalypse who ruled that era. But in the excellent four-parter beyond good and evil, Apocalypse steals Cable's time-traveling tech and then goes to the crossroads of infinity. From there, he launched a scheme to kidnap psychics from all across the timelines and use them to rewrite all of time. And Mr. Sinister helped him because Apocalypse promised him free reign for his genetic manipulation experiments. I knew of Apocalypse's plan all along being part

of recreating existence. But Cable and the other X-Men stopped Apocalypse, essentially erasing him from existence, temporarily. But now I'm wondering if removing apocalypse from the timeline actually allowed MasterMold to further evolve over a thousand years and turn into Bastion, but more on that later. So what does Bastion want? Well, I do have a theory I'm going to talk about a little bit later, but first, I want to take the time to thank our sponsor better help. Now, guys, I know a lot of us are always telling ourselves that we want more time in our day, but if your time was unlimited, how would you spend it? Therapy can help you prioritize what's actually important in your life. I have been pretty open on the channel about the darker times in my life when I went through depression, and I had some thoughts that really spiraled down and took me to some very dark places.

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Now, let's keep going over what we know for sure, and a little later I'll talk to Mike and our special surprise guest, and then I'll tell you how I think all of this connects back to the original series. Now, we know that Bastion was once a corny 90s villain like Sinister says here. You were one of those villains once? We also know that Sinister is working with Bastion, but this seems like a recent alliance because they are so adversarial to each other. would do is my roadmap for what not to do.

And of course, we also know that Sinister cloned Gene Gray so he could control the infant son of Cyclops. But the process for making that baby more powerful made it sick. So Bishop took Nathan into the future where he eventually grew up to be the time traveler cable. I'm so sorry, Mom. We also know that Bastion used Trask to activate MasterMold on Genosha because only the DNA of Oliver Trask could command the sentinels, just like how Master Mold kidnapped Trask and

Glyric in the episode Courage, so Trask could build them a new body. And we also know that Guy Rick was working for Bastion, and that touching his mind showed Madeline flashes of his plans on Genosha. Remember, Guy Rick also attempted to assassinate the professor at the end of season 5, which sent him off into space. So, let's plug Bastion into all this. We know he's Nimrod because Rogue sees a vision of Nimrod when she touches Guyric. Beast also says, Technology in these cases is like years ahead of ours today. Which probably means that Bastion is from.

from the future. He probably used nanobots to infect humans and these nanobots were likely inside of Gyric, which is why Gene and Rogue were both able to see visions of Genosha and Nimrod respectively. Bastion most likely ordered Gyrr to kill the professor because he was surprised to see that he is alive and with the Shiar. And finally, we know that Sinister originally planned on using Nathan Summers as a genetic test subject until the X-Men interfered. So you would assume that Bastion and Sinister had other plans for Nathan that did not include him going to the future in becoming Cable. Cable first appeared in the original series in Genosha and he shows up right before the massacre to try to warn people to get away. Turn it off. The music. Get everybody out. It's almost as if

he's been time traveling for years trying to prevent this event. And finally, we know that Bastion was working with Dr. Adler and Forge in the past to create technology that would neutralize mutant abilities. This technology would allow Master Mold to create a slave island on Genosia that we saw in season one. So what we're seeing here is that all of this always goes back to Genosia in the creation of Master Mold. what MasterMold really wants is control of the world and to assure its own existence. Now, I've got a theory that I think explains everything, but first, I want to hear from Mike Mazzella and our special surprise guest, Paul, from heavy spoilers.

So, Mike, first of all, we haven't had you on for a while. What do you think about the show so far? Oh, my God, I'm loving this show. It is amazing. I think this is the epitome of what can be done with animation when you treat it seriously. And you see that even back in the roots of the original show from the 90s. It was way ahead of its time in terms of storytelling and character development and everything else. And really, that is what makes a project great.

We all want to see our favorite characters and our favorite storylines play out of a new medium. But what really gets the audience engaged is having these human characters, even if they're not technically humans. I think that the writers... What are you saying? What are they then? Are they dirty mutis, Mike? Is that what you're trying to imply? They are not real humans like the rest of us?

yeah homo superior they are uh the next step in who picked that name by the way it had to have been them paul what about you i mean you know you of course cover the show every week uh on heavy spoilers uh i unfortunately haven't gotten around to watching any of your videos in the past few years uh what do you think about the show so far i'm loving it so far it's really good yeah every episode seems to have its own certain oh shit moment um but it's also got dramatic stakes as well they're really taking it seriously. I think if they just made this live action, everyone would be saying this is the best X-Men's ever been. I hope it's the direction they go with it in the MCU. They've obviously fired Bodomeo, but we'll see what happens down the line. But yeah,

couldn't be nailing it better, I don't think. There's very little that I would criticize about it. And I think, you know, for 30 minutes, those stories are perfect for that amount of time. And, you know, Mike, you said best the pinnacle of animation, and I agree with Paul here. I think this is the pinnacle of what the X-Men could be. You know, a lot of this feels like it's drawing from the tone of the Claremont years, but also diving into comics, which frankly, I have gaps in my reading. Like, I hadn't read the original Operation Zero Tolerance. I'm catching up on it now.

So I love that they're able to, like, be the definitive X-Men story because they're drawing from so many different eras. Whereas I kind of feel like, and I want to hear what you think about this, Paul, that maybe the X-Men movies did the first film, found what worked, and repeated it over and over and over. You know, Wolverine Magneto, Wolverine Magneto. What are your thoughts on how this stacks up to the live action? I think it's just more kind of exploring the comic book characters. And I completely agree with what you say.

I remember, obviously, I watched the cartoon when I was a kid, show my age here. I never really read the comics. And then I went and saw the films. loved them. I can remember seeing that first one and it just blowing me away. And then I picked up the comics and it was like, this is almost like a totally different experience. I was expecting it to be very Wolverine heavy. You know, those are the characters they were kind of touched upon, but they always felt like supporting characters. And I really think they're fleshing out what makes those other characters work really well and why they deserve the spotlight as well.

You know, Rogue is absolutely fantastic. And sure she was the main character of the, well, one of the main characters of the first movie, you know, a lot of it was built around her and Wolverine's relationship. I think she is the main character. She's the POV character and then the series totally sideline her. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. She kind of introduces you to Wolverine and then through that, you go through the X mention and stuff. But they've taken her in a new dimension and also given her, you know, a love interest with Gambit. Storm's had a fantastic, you know, arc by herself off doing her own thing. They've not really relied on Wolverine that much. And that kind of taking the people who were brushed to the side and really showing you know why they

are famous names in comics and that's something that i think when you first start reading the x-men especially if you had my experience where you go from the movie to the comics it opens a door for you and they're doing a great job of that and probably introducing these characters to new people and making them think wow why haven't we got like solo beast movies right and stuff like that Well, Mike, over to you then. So what do you think that Kevin Feige and Marvel studios, live action studios, I should say, what do you hope they learn from the success of this show? It all starts with the writing.

I think that that is the big takeaway here. Think about the difference in production between a live action movie and an animated show, right? If you wanted to change something in the script or modify the plot line in some way in a live action, it requires all of these reshoot. and ADR, and we've seen that happen countless times with all of these different live-action Marvel famously has that baked in to every project, right? Like Marvel is always saying, go in without a script, we'll fix it later. Sorry, go ahead.

Right, yeah. And I think that that's the problem, and that's what they need to get away from. Whereas, you know, that's kind of a something that they've kind of been using as a crutch in live action. With animation, they don't have to think about, you know, oh, we've got to do all these reshoots, we do all this other stuff. It might take a little bit of time for the animator. to change things.

But more or less, I feel like the script is more locked in with the animated series. And if they took that approach to the live action, I think that they'd have a lot more success with the box office, with the stories. I mean, the most successful Marvel movie over the last couple of years was probably Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.

And that's because you had James Gunn at the head of it, you know, leading direction on the script, leading direction on the production, and with one unified vision from the start. And you've got shows like, you know, Falcon of the Winter Soldier or, you know, any of the other Disney Plus shows that have come out where you've got more of a team of people with differing ideas and people making, you know, decisions later down the line that contradict someone else's decisions from earlier in the production. And then it just becomes kind of this garbled mess. And they go, eh, good enough, put it out there.

We'll get some money in the box office. It'll be fine. I think what this show, X-Men 97, proves, is that it doesn't matter about the special effects, it doesn't matter about star casting, it doesn't matter about any of that stuff. First and foremost, what is most paramount to a successful adaptation from comics is the story. It's the writing. It's the dialogue. It's the character development and the character relationships. And that's what this series does so impeccably well.

Yeah, and as you said, that's why Marvel Studios has gotten into same. much trouble because you have other, you know, when these projects are so effects heavy, the effects artists have, I can redo things. Really, they're so effects heavy, it's not that much different from animation, you know, when you look at the workflow. But one thing you both talked about, like, is the source material, right? And Paul, you mentioned the comics. So I think you're actually at this point probably better versed in some of the comics they're drawing from than I am. Like, I'm a little, I've got big gaps. Like, I got gaps between, like, the end of the jimbley era and onslaught and stuff like that. So,

What do you think, like, one great thing about this show is, we don't know what's going to happen. Like, they've done such a great job seeding, like, the mysteries about Genosha and Cable and now Bastion. Paul, where do you think this is going to go? What are your theories for what's going to happen? I don't know because you kind of bring in the Shiar Empire into it as well, and that's going to kind of complicate things as well. I think we are going towards Operation Zero Tolerance, you know, the next episode coming up, well, the three-parter is called Tolerance as Extinction or something. I kind of feel like they might borrow from the ultimate X-Men run. I feel like Onslaught could be popping up.

I think that's kind of what they're leading towards with that. It's pretty difficult because I also feel like that they might be heading towards Maasai Complex as well and introducing Hope Summers. You know, there's a big thing with setting up cable who ends up looking after Hope. Just for a second, I want to just give a quick description of what some of these storylines are for people because not everybody watching has read the comics. Onslaught was basically a story where Big TLDR, Xavier and Magneto's consciousness

combined into one villain. The whole thing took over the Marvel Universe for a long time. Not my favorite story, but that's what it was. And Messiah Complex is basically where a mutant is born who named Hope Summer. It's Hope Summers, right? It's Hope Summers come from the future. So it takes place after House of M.

Wanda has done the whole... no more mutants thing and it's made most of them extinct so what's happened with that is the X-Men have been whittled down to their lowest point which you could see also as being what's happened with Genosha I don't know if they have the rights to wonder in the show

or if they would use her but we've hit a point where a lot of mutants have been killed and what hopes summers is is basically hope they think mutants are going extinct but then they realize that someone's being born with mutant powers and there's lots of political sides trying to get to this. So there's Mr. Sinister, his purifiers,

the X-Men want to get them as well, the government. There's lots of different factions in it, and it's about kind of getting a hold of that mutant. I think with bastions behind that as well. So I think they're kind of touching upon that, but I feel like that's going to be something at the end of the series. Interestingly, we haven't seen Mystique in this season at all as well. And I feel like she, yeah, So she's revealed to be masquerading as a certain character in Maasai complex. I won't spoil it in case it happens because I think it might.

But I think that would be quite an interesting way to take things because she was in the original series as well. And I think, yeah, I think they're kind of heading towards that. New Rockstars pointed out, and you might have done your video too, that she acts very funny during the Genosha attack. She's like, we have to get out of here ahead of time. We have to have a council meeting. she's directing people toward the path of destruction and you know I think that would be an interesting twist for the show

I haven't read Messiah Complex in a long time so I don't know if I don't remember if she's the person in that when I say a long time I haven't finished it I'm reading it right now I lied I lied completely about having ever read the Messiah Complex even if you had read it even if you had read it it's difficult to remember all this stuff I mean I was saying Onsaw was like a Sentinel and you just it's like because I haven't read it for about 20 years

you know what i mean i'm getting stuff wrong right i can say on this channel because people here already hate me i'll never admit it on my own one though well when you make a video in finance or less you're gonna get some things wrong i think that's typically how how you work over there yeah but i think that's one thing that's endearing about your channel is you're not somebody who have a big squad behind you feeding you information who's never cracked open a comic book in your life you're an actual you're like me you're an old school fan and like any fandom everybody's got their ears. We have our periods where we dropped off, picked up. It's like professional wrestling. You know what I mean? Like we're all sort of diving in in different

places. Look, dude, I've always wanted to finish the whole Claremont run. And this show gave me an excuse to do that. And like, I'm like listening to the theme on my runs. Like I absolutely am so psyched to have this show to talk about. Mike, uh, well, Paul, I'm going to circle back on your theories in a second. Mike, what do you think is going to be happening here? Yeah. So I, my third kind of dovetails off of what Paul was just saying. I do think that we are working towards Messiah Complex storyline. I don't think we're going to have the House of M moment that happens that leads up to that, but something is going to happen that results in the vast majority of mutants either dying or losing their powers. And on that,

I'd like to throw this out there. This is kind of a stretch. I'm pulling together a lot of different things from this season. You remember when Storm got shot with that gun and lost all of her powers? That was very interesting, something that we hadn't seen before. And it does set up this great stand-alone storm story where we get to see how Storm got our groove back. And that's fantastic. But what it also does is it lays some important groundwork for a piece of technology that has been developed that can sap the mutant powers from a person. Now, when the Kaiju Sentinel or the Godzilla Sentinel, as Gambit called it, attacks Genosha, you'll notice that it's killing mutants left and right, kind of swatting them away like flies. but then when it sees Magneto, it says omega-level threat detected.

Threat, I think, is the operative word there. It doesn't call him a target, which makes me think that that giant Kaiju Sentinel was sent there for something bigger. And I think you pointed out that in this last episode, Guy Rick is obsessed with beetles and bugs and caterpillars and butterflies, and that's what that Kaiju Sentinel looked like. I have a theory that maybe before Gambit blew it up, it was absorbing energy or absorbing power to transform into its final form and possibly use that same power sapping technology that was used on storm in a larger scale to basically drain nobilities from every person that was

in and around genotia or possibly on the entire earth. And I think that that is going to happen at some point in this series. Most of the mutings on earth are going to lose their powers. And then that sets up the Messiah Complex storyline, basically replacing what happened in House of M with this new sentinel technology. And Scarlet Witch has appeared. You know you bring up, go ahead. I was just going to say also on what Paul said, like Scarlet Witch has appeared in this show before,

but it was in the original version of this show. And it was really just a standalone episode to give Magneto more backstory. It wasn't really so much focused on Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. They were more or less props in that episode to act as like an emotional tether for Magneto. but I don't see her popping up again and them doing House of Em, but I could see some type of Sentinel technology being used to basically eradicate most of the mutants.

I love having you on because as a lawyer, you always pay particular attention to wording of different things. Like you'll find a word and go, oh, that this particular thing could imply this meaning that the rest of us didn't get before. And as you said before, the riding of the show is so tight, so compact. So good. Can't think anything they do as an accident. And also you bring up an interesting choice of words where you say every mutant on Earth, Paul brought up the Shiar.

It could be the, you know, the team is pooled. I don't know if we'll see this extinction event happened before episode 10, but it could be the team is in space for some reason when this occurs. Or some mutants are in space, the ones who aren't could get their power sapped away. I'm surprised neither of you mentioned, like I said before, I have my own theories on kind of more of a basis of what's going on here. But I'm surprised none of what was really teased in this episode, which is Avengers versus X-Men, which, you know, tied into this whole thing that Paul was talking about with the mutant Messiah and the offenders wanting to, going to Genosha and trying to apprehend her, which set up to this conflict that really had lasting repercussions throughout the X books.

This episode, we didn't just have Captain America, who was also in the original series. We had Captain America teasing his team. And this show takes place in the same universe as Spider-Man, and I believe the Spider-Man animated series, and I believe is the Fantastic Foreign Iron Man cartoons from the 90s as well. Paul, do you think that they might just go all in and give us Avengers versus X-Men? Yeah, I think that you would need to introduce Hope first because that's kind of the element that they were fighting over.

But they could definitely do it in the season two. But I do think Spider-Man will probably pop up at some point. Bodeo has teased at it. I think Spider-Man's a big character that could return. We got mention of the Hulk as well. So they are laying the groundwork there. I'm just interested, I do kind of for this first season, almost want to keep it focused on the X-Men. I like seeing Captain America, but it almost felt like a kind of, I don't know,

off-the-wall sort of thing where you wouldn't expect him to show up and the way he was brought into his story. It felt more like cameo porn almost. We'll see how it goes down the line, but I hope for this, they just keep it to these guys, you know, seeing a Spider-Man, I'm guessing that's going to happen. But they could lay the groundwork for X-Men Avengers. versus X-Men. But I think personally that the better key conflict is just what's going on at the moment. I'm actually thinking that Magneto might end up becoming a sort of villainous character again, and rather than doing onslaught, they might kind of get Magneto to go back to his old ways,

either through brainwashing or hypnotising or something. And I feel like Rogue's going to be the person to bring him back, and possibly the return of Professor X as well. But I really feel his relationship with Rogue, that's going to be the key to kind of bring him back from the darkness. And she's quite close to it herself. So I think if she wins herself back, you know, and pulls him back along with her, that'll kind of be a good arc for both characters. 100% I think he's going to go heal again. I kind of saw the start of this season as them fulfilling Chris Claremont's vision, where his original plan was for Magneto to fully become and for Charlie to die by issue 300 and for Magneto, the guy going forward.

After everything that's happened, though, I definitely think he will go heal again. I don't know for sure if he'll come back. I hope he does. I think it's a more interesting show with Magneto leading the school and Xavier not there. I was kind of disappointed he's coming back so soon. But anyways, Mike? Yeah, so I think that what Bastion is doing with Magneto, right? now is he is going to infect Magneto with this sentinel virus, which seems to be some type of

evolution of the techno virus that Cable had as a baby. But it allows Bastion to basically bend people to his will. In this world, Magneto is the face of mutant kind. For better or for worse, when the average human being on earth thinks about a mutant, probably the first person that comes to their mind is Magneto. And I think Magneto's showing at the UN, while it did demonstrate how powerful he is. It also demonstrated how willing he is to show mercy and how much of a sympathetic figure he was. So I think that in the minds of most people right now, they recognize Magneto as extremely powerful and dangerous, but also rational and decent. And if Bastion can make Magneto go and do something that is not rational and decent, but rather

very gruesome and brutal, that is going to turn the public opinion against mutants. Bastion, I think, is going at this from many different angles. You've got this virus that turns people into prime sentinels. You have got the actual sentinels that are going out and just trying to pick off as many mutants as they can. But the bigger weapon in all of this is public opinion. And if he can get the vast majority of humans to turn against all mutant kind, that's going to be the easiest way for him to wipe them out, is to take away their support.

So I think that what this series is going to end with, or this season is going to end with, is Magneto doing something horrible, and then Cyclops having to decide and make that ultimate decision, does he stand with Magneto in his school of thought on human mutant relations, or does he revert back to what Professor Xavier has taught him all along about human mutant relations? And there, I mean, you see like a very big ideological divide, but it's one that is as old as mankind. It is when you have two groups of people that want the same outcome, right? You've got Charles Xavier and Magneto both want the same thing. They want mutants to be accepted in society. They want to live free, happy lives. But they disagree about how to go about achieving that. Magneto would rather do it through force and by eliminating human threats that he sees as oppressing mutants.

and Charles Xavier would rather do it through unity and harmony and teaching the humans that the mutants are no different from them. And I think it's going to come down at the end of this season to Cyclops being the person who has to decide which way am I going on this. Do the ends justify the means or can we reach a peaceful outcome here through nonviolent means? Which would be great because it would really mirror the journey Cyclops goes on. He ends up being one of the most dynamic characters in the X-Men Comics after being fairly static for decades. You also mentioned the virus. I think Rogue is infected with the virus. I think

when she touched Gyrick, the Nimrod virus went in her as well. But it's hard to tell. Like, Guy Rick, maybe he's a prime Sentinel, too. Maybe he's still out there. We also don't know what's going on with Roe. Last question for you. Like, just one more point on Rogue. I think that

her relationship with Magneto, whether through you know, just normal things that happen when you're in a couple with somebody, when you have a partner, you kind of tend to adopt each other's mannerisms in schools of thought, but also because Rogue quite literally absorbs thoughts and opinions from people. I mean, we saw her murder a guy this episode.

That is wild, you know? And by the way, just from a legal standpoint, even if a person is trying to kill themselves and then you save them and then kill them, it's still murder. That's still a murder. Rogue committed a murder on a children's animated show. And we were all just like, okay. And then, yeah.

The rest of the X-Men were just like, okay, yeah, cool. Paul's been asking me to kill him for years. Yeah. So just as, by the way, Mike, you have a show coming up, right? I do, yeah. I am performing in a live improv show here in Chicago. It is a Star Wars parody show. It's going to be on May the 4th at 6 p.m. at the I.O. Theater. So if you're in Chicago, you love Star Wars and you love to laugh. Go to I.O.improv.com and search for it.

It's going to be called Go see a. Star War Episode 2, Revenge of the Script. And it's going to be a one-night only show. It's going to be a lot of fun. So come out and check us out. Awesome. Yeah, we'll have a link for that down below as well. So, Paul, just, we don't have time for much here, but I want to get your thoughts on something. Seeing how this is part of the MCU, like we saw The Watcher, we know it's in the multiverse,

and how they're just starting up the X-Men of the MCU, the Moira, and we've got Frazier Beast and all this other stuff. Do you think this show is going to do things like Avengers versus X-Men? Are they going to save that for live action? How much do you think this show is going to even be considered when crafting like mainline 616 stories? Well, I've said several times that I think it is actually part of the MCU, and I think that's going to be one of the surprises at the end. Not specifically part of the 616 or the 199-99-99-9-9 timeline that everyone argues which designation it is.

But it is obviously in an offshoot universe, and they can do that because it's the multiverse. But I've always said I feel like this might be setting up the Marvels, and I think the groundwork's getting more and more steady there. Even the Shia Empire, you know, they could introduce binary that way and have her go to Earth and work with the X-Men, because that was always a bit of a weird thing with the Marvel's post-credit scene. Sure, the X-Men were there, but I was like, okay, why is binary there? That's just a weird character to have in there. So I feel like they need to introduce the cosmic element somehow, which they're clearly doing with Professor X. so I feel like they are actually leading towards Avengers versus X-Men and it might be in the Marvels

and then you can kind of build from that you know there's rumours coming out that they are going to do Avengers versus X-Men before Secret Wars so they need to set it up pretty quickly I think just making this a backdoor origin story for that universe at the end of that in live action would be a smart way to go and then we're not having a great adaptation with this

and then having to do you know another one that might not be as a zero good and fans might be like well I don't like the live action I prefer the animation origin for it and I'm sure Kevin Faggy's even said if he might be considering making it canon to the

MCU or something so I hope we will get Avengers versus X-Men and either way I think it would be stupid to do it in live action and animation and a separate thing together and I hope they kind of see the fan love for this and realize that they have

a good thing on their hands and they should be trying to integrate this as much as possible. They will, and I think this also shows just how much potential there is in these animated stories. Like we, they could go back, they could show us, you know, Captain America's Avengers from the end of Ybaltron before Civil War. There's all these storylines that we kind of skip past

and I think they could further explore an animation. So those were all great thoughts, but when we asked the question, what does Bastion want? For me, it all comes down to one word, control. In season one, Master Mold saw that mutants and humans were the same. So to create a safer world for everyone, needed to control the world by conquering it.

It was obvious. It was. And then, throughout the centuries, Mastermold has sought to rid the timeline of irregularities, like the X-Men. That's why it sent Fitzroy into the past to kill Charles Xavier. And remember, Fitzroy and Nimrod were initially successful.

They killed the professor, and this created a future where Master Mold was fully in control. But then, Bishop and Alternate Universe Storm and Wolverine repaired the timeline and stopped Nimrod's assassination of Xavier restoring the timeline to its normal flow. So here's what I think happened. When the X-Men defeated Apocalypse in season 4, it removed him from the timeline, and it created a distant future where MasterMold was in control because Apocalypse was never around to defeat him.

So this makes Cable a man out of time, and his goal is to stop the massacre in Genosia. I think this massacre in Genosia is going to ignite a human mutant war, and the end result of this war is that humanity is going to give control to Master Mold. That is why we first saw Cable and Genosia in season 1. But there's an important event at play here, retrocausality. Cable cannot change in. any events that would erase himself from the timeline, because then that would mean that he's not around to stop MasterMolt. Similarly, Bastion cannot erase Cable from the timeline because he needs

Cable to defeat Apocalypse so MasterMull can take control in the distant future. And this is why we keep seeing Apocalypse and Cable fighting in the opening credits. Now, I think this is why Bastion had Mr. Sinister clone Gene Gray and create Nate. So then Nate could travel into the future and become Cable, and then Cable would defeat Apocalypse, which would clear the way for Master Moll to be master of the planet. And this is also why cable seems to have such a narrow window when he can travel into the past. He cannot risk erasing himself from existence. In the original series, we did see that it is possible for people to exist outside of time if they still have a time band on their wrist. As soon as that time band is removed, you automatically return to your own time.

Those four were untouched. Like you, they existed outside of time. So what Bastion is ultimately trying to do is to nullify that. He's trying to create. an inevitable past where he will always come into Bean. I am inevitable. And we've seen this. Bastion knows exactly how the future is going to play out. Bravo, just as you dreamt it. Bastion didn't dream anything. He's actually seen the future. He has records of it. He has the receipts. He knows every move the X-Men are going to make before they make it.

But again, the wild card here is Cable. Cable is the loose element, the irregularity in the timeline that Bastian can not control. But guys, those are just my thoughts and theories. Thanks very much to Mike and Paul for joining me, and you can find everybody's social links below. And if it's your first time here, please subscribe, smash that bell for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.