X-Men ‘97is officially halfway through its freshman season, and it’s embodied all the hallmarks that made the Children of the Atom iconic comic book characters. The X-Men have found triumph, as Cyclops (Ray Chase)becomes a father and Jubilee (Holly Chou) was able to defeat the villainous Mojo on her own.
They’ve also encountered tragedy, especially in the most recent episode, “Remember Me,” where Gambit (AJ LoCasio) sacrificed his life to stop a wild Sentinel from utterly annihilating the mutant nation of Genosha. A new teaser for the second half of Season 1 hints at challenges and cameos to come, including apotential visit from Captain America. But the first half ofX-Men ‘97has been hinting that a certain villain is menacing the X-Men,and his name is Bastion.
A band of mutants use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them; they’re challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
Who Is Bastion in Marvel Comics?
Bastion first appeared inX-Men #52byScott LobdellandPasqual Ferry, going by the name of Sebastian Gilberti. He spearheadedOperation: Zero Tolerance,a government strike force designed to hunt and exterminate mutants. In the wake of presidential candidate Graydon Creed being assassinated and the rise of Onslaught, a creature formed from the darkest parts of Charles Xavier and Magneto’s psyches, as Bastion was able to launch Zero Tolerance. He kidnappedJubilee, scattered the X-Men, and used the Xavier Institute as his new base of operations. Iceman led the surviving X-Men in a counterattack against Bastion’s Prime Sentinels, with Bastion ultimately being defeated and imprisoned.
Afterward, Bastion is revealed to bea fusion of the Master Mold and Nimrod Sentinels.Zero Tolerance and the Prime Sentinels were merely extensions of his anti-mutant programming; he also possessed the ability to transform people into Prime Sentinels as well as highly advanced Sentinel weaponry, making him a formidable opponent. Bastion continued to oppose the X-Men, gathering theirhuman foesand infecting them with a virus that transformed them into machine hybrids similar to himself. He struck his biggest blow against the mutant heroes when Hope Summers (Cable’s adopted daughter and the potential “mutant messiah”) arrived in the future; in the battle with the X-Men,he ended up killing Nightcrawler(though the teleporting X-Men would later return to life because of, well, comics).
Bastion’s Presence Has Been Hinted at Throughout ‘X-Men ‘97’
The seeds for Bastion’s appearance have been subtly planted throughoutX-Men ‘97, particularly with the reappearance of Sentinel tech. The anti-mutant group known as the Friends of Humanity have gotten their hands on Sentinel tech, which theX-Cutioner used to depower Storm(Allison Sealy-Smith). The mutant inventor, Forge (Gil Birmingham), has a picture of Bastion in his house, and in “Lifedeath - Part 1,” he reveals to Storm that he was hired by the U.S. government to build anti-mutant weapons. Given Bastion’s origins as a Sentinel, it’s possible that he’s been supplying anti-mutant forces with the technology they need to “even the odds.” It’s a strong possiblity that he also programmed the wild Sentinel to attack Genosha, since his abilities include technopathy.
Former ‘X-Men ‘97’ Showrunner Addresses the Significance of Episode 5’s Tragedy
Beau DeMayo says that the events of the episode were in his original pitch.
Bastion’s influence even extends to Henry Peter Gyrich (Todd Haberkorn) and Bolivar Trask (Gavin Hammon). Trask created the Sentinels, and even though he seemed to show remorse inX-Men: The Animated Series, Bastion could influence him to create more Sentinels. In fact, Gyrich tells Cyclops that “Tolerance is extinction”, which acts as both a nod to the Operation: Zero Tolerancestoryline and is the name of the three-part Season 1 finale. With five episodes left in the series, there’s plenty of time for Bastion and the X-Men to come to blows.
X-Men ‘97is available to watch on Disney+ in the U.S.
Watch on Disney+
