X-Men 97 Episode 6 Breakdown: LifeDeath Part 2

In LifeDeath Part 2, we finally see what happens between Forge and Storm after The Adversary pays his visit. And we have a big surprise on the other side of the galaxy: the Shi’Ar and someone who could easily join The Masked Singer in that outfit.

The love story between Storm and Forge continues

The Adversary is no ordinary fiend but a tough one. After he infects Forge with a poison that slowly but surely will kill Forge, Storm is adamant about preventing that from happening.

The Adversary is a mystical being who preys on your weaknesses or tries to instigate bad feelings like guilt, and hatred and tries to convert you that way from a loving being into a hateful one, especially against the ones you love. In this case, it is Forge, the man Storm has fallen in love with.

The Adversary tries to get Storm on his side by saying things like: He is the one who got you into this, his weaponry made you lose your Omega-level mutant powers of weather control.

But Storm does not give up hope or leave her friends in a rut. Especially, not one who is severely wounded like Forge. The Adversary keeps taunting her about her condescendence towards humans by quoting what she said to Jean after she lost her powers: I want to know what it feels like to be a normal human being.

Storm does not budge and keeps looking for something to fend off The Adversary while looking for a cure. Just when The Adversary has her cornered and ready for the kill, Forge uses his Shaman knowledge to put The Adversary back into the hell he came from.

This is an interesting development. The use of mystical powers in the X-Men Animated Series has not been done yet. I applaud the development because it opens a ton of possibilities. Not just from Forge and his Indian tribe but what about Alpha Flight’s Shaman? Or how about we have Snowbird?

This brings me to my next dream: to have the X-Men vs Alpha Flight comic put into the animated series. It is a story from 1985 where Madelyne Pryor and Scott Summers crash-land their plane and the non-mutant passengers come out with extraordinary powers while Cyclops finally has control of his optical blast. The entire comic is about mystical powers since their newly found powers stem from Loki, the God of Mischief.

The story of Storm and Forge is not over yet. They are transported into hell The Adversary was thrown into looking for that cure for Forge.

The Adversary keeps taunting Storm while she searches. And then, as if it is magic (yes, let’s keep it in the mystical spirit), Storm realizes that the loss of her powers isn’t physical but psychological.

And just when she realizes that we see Storm transform from helpless and depowered but firm in her beliefs and convictions to the Storm we know and love: The Omega level mutant who controls the weather and is one with Mother Nature.

They even changed her Mohawk to her beautiful long white hair and the hairband she wears in the comics. On top of that, we finally see her in her original outfit: The black one with the red ruby on her chest.

Storm manages to grab the cure and put The Adversary back to where he belongs. The cure is used on Forge who rapidly heals and the two are on a cross road now.

Because what now? Go back to the X-Men? Continue life together as a love couple? I am curious to see what is next for them, but I am not holding my breath until the next episode!

The Shi’ar make their re-entry and they have a mystery guest

The Shi’ar make their entry with Deathbird taking on the Kree with the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard is one of the strongest teams in the universe. Especially with the likes of Gladiator, who is just as strong as Superman.

Fun fact: Gladiator is meant as a character who satirizes Superman. He is as strong, as fast, and as durable as Superman but it stands or falls with his self-confidence. Just like very charismatic people who you can feel coming a mile away, they lose that confidence and you won’t even feel them when they stand right next to you.

The Shi’ar make light work of the Kree and while Princess Lilandra walks with her mystery guest I kept guessing why he is not on the Masked Singer, it turns out that he is none other than the late Professor Xavier.

Yes, he still lives. But there are some twists and turns to that. First of all, who is the Xavier who died and managed to keep himself hidden from the X-Men? I mean, if you are presumed dead but you are not then isn’t the first thing you do contact your loved ones to tell them that you are ok?

Second of all, how did Xavier get to the Shi’ar? Was he transported or was it something else? There are several explanations for this or I should say theories rather.

The first one is that it is not exactly Xavier but a clone of his. Back in the days when Chris Claremont took over the comics and Dave Cockrum and John Byrne penciled the X-Men, there was a storyline with the Brood implementing eggs into mutants’ bodies so that they could inherit their powers that way.

Xavier was one of the mutants, the brooding process severely damaged his body and he could not be saved anymore. Instead, a Shi’Ar doctor droid said that the only way to save him was by cloning him.

And they did, for a long time the comics had a Xavier who could walk and join the X-Men during their missions before The Shadow King crippled him again. It lasted for about 80 issues in the X-Men comics. Which is roughly 7 years.

The other explanation is that Xavier is truly dead but a shapeshifter, The Skrulls, took over his body and mind and also his powers.

The Skrulls have done that in the comics as well. They took over the identity of Xavier and he kept up appearances while the actual Xavier was captured while his powers were being siphoned to the Skrull who stole his identity.

The Shi’Ar are trying to make Xavier one of their own but they fear that he wants to unite mankind with the Shi’Ar so they ask Xavier to renounce everything on Earth, which he did until they ask if he would renounce the X-Men.

He hesitated too long and Deathbird attacked. Just as the fight starts, Xavier realizes that he can take them to the Astral plane and reactivates his powers.

While he is giving a class like a teacher, he comes to realize that some of his X-Men are dead. I think this marks the spot that makes him want to go home. His students were his life and the other way around.

As stated before, the return of Storm especially Xavier, can only mean one thing: The X-Men will have to face their biggest threat of all.

I speculated before that the hatred towards mutants was no coincidence. From what we saw when Jean / Madelyne used Cerebro during on Gyrich, there was something elusive happening in the background.

I still think that that is the Shadow King and that Xavier will find out soon as well.

What did you make of the episode? Loved it or hate it, drop us a line in the comments!