X-Men '97 Season 2: [SPOILER]'s Death Explained
by Devin Meenan · /FilmSpoilers for "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 4, "Rise of Apocalypse" follow.
Magneto (Matthew Waterson) was the crowning achievement of the all-around superlative "X-Men '97" Season 1. Out of all the X-Men, the show's writers had the sharpest handle on his eloquent voice, and he had the most dramatic arc. Trusted by an absent Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) to lead the X-Men, Magneto showed his best and worst selves.
He began as a hero, containing his vengeful impulses in Episode 2, "Mutant Liberation Begins," but after the genocide of Genosha in Episode 5, "Remember It," Magneto went back into super-villain mode. The absolute highlight of season finale "Tolerance is Extinction" was the telepathic therapy session between Charles and Magneto. My skin still runs cold with chills when the once more reformed Magneto awakens, stopping Asteroid M from destroying Earth and proclaiming, "Magneto lives!"
But now ... no more. Season 1 ended with Xavier and Magneto thrown back in time to ancient Egypt, alongside Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Beast. They met the mutant En Sabah Nur, the future Apocalypse. When we return to them in "Rise of Apocalypse," we see Magneto has been mentoring Nur, trying to stop Apocalypse from ever existing by putting Nur on a more heroic path.
Sadly, he fails, and Apocalypse rises. Magneto volunteers himself to contain the black hole Apocalypse opens above the Pharaoh Rama-Tut's domain. Beaten and bloodied from the effort, Magneto falls and crashes to the ground. He's in no shape to fight back when Apocalypse grabs him, slowly crushing his head in before vaporizing him, all in front of Professor X's eyes. Only Magneto's helmet remains, and Charles cradles it.
If this is the end for Magneto, it was a somber, tragic, but fitting close. What does that mean for "X-Men '97" going forward?
On X-Men '97, Magneto dies atoning for his mistakes
Magneto's role in "Rise of Apocalypse" shows how deeply affecting his psychic talk with Charles back in "Tolerance is Extinction" was. As Xavier warns against meddling with time, Magneto says he wishes to make En Sabah Nur the first X-Man. A younger Magneto might have tried to push Nur to conquer humanity, but now, he passes on the wisdom of Xavier.
When his plans fail, Magneto lets himself reap the consequences, sending the X-Men back to the 1990s so that he alone will contain Apocalypse — but Charles refuses to abandon Erik. The episode's climax is the two old friends fighting side by side to prevent Apocalypse's first atrocity.
Magneto knows now that he and Apocalypse are cut from the same cloth. Just as Magneto survived the Holocaust then grew up to wield terror in the name of protecting mutants, Apocalypse is a former slave striking out at a world that has hurt him. In Magneto's last, doomed plea to Apocalypse, he explains, "I too once thought violence can heal the world." He wanted to create a hero in Xavier's image by mentoring Nur, but only helped set the stage for a villain.
And so Magneto's last words to Charles, delivered with a hug, are the perfect full circle for his character: "Honor me with action, not tears. [The future] needs you [Charles]. It always has. Perhaps that is why I gladly played the Devil, who pushes sinners to embrace the saint."
Magneto has accepted his friend's path was the correct one, and sacrifices his life because the world needs Charles Xavier more than it needs him. "X-Men '97" began with Charles entrusting Magneto to build a prosperous future for mutants alone. Now, Erik places the same faith in Charles.
X-Men '97 could explore the resurrection of Magneto
Season 1's "Remember It" was the episode that made "X-Men '97" viewers sit up, because it showed "X-Men" had indeed grown up just like the '90s kids who watched it. "X-Men '97" took a huge risk killing off a beloved hero like Gambit (A.J. LoCascio), but it was a worthy sacrifice. It proved that in this new, darker "X-Men," not even sacred cows are safe.
Magneto's death is doubtlessly going to draw comparisons. If "Rise of Apocalypse" was designed to be to Season 2 what "Remember It" was to Season 1, mission accomplished. Even the death scenes are similar; both Gambit and Magneto die in a burst of red-violet energy. But while Gambit's was a Sentinel-enveloping explosion, Magneto's death is more intimate and painful; the kill shot is seen reflected in an extreme close-up of Xavier's watering eyes.
As epic and emotional as Magneto's last moments in "Rise of Apocalypse" are, they come with the asterisk that permanent death is rare in the Marvel Universe. Even Gambit is all but confirmed to return this season as one of Apocalypse's Horsemen. Assuming Magneto's death is only a temporary benching, it's still probably a good call. Magneto was the star of Season 1, so let's give other heroes in this expansive ensemble time to shine.
Come Season 3 or 4, I wouldn't complain at all if "X-Men '97" adapted Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio's 2024 comic "The Resurrection of Magneto," where Storm literally goes to Hell to retrieve Magneto's soul. Part of the challenge in rescuing him is convincing his guilty soul he deserves to be saved. But for now, let Erik Magnus Lehnsherr and his blessed memory rest.
"X-Men '97" streams new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+.