"Tolerance is Extinction" is the three-part season finale of the Marvel Comics Disney+ animated series X-Men '97.
Synopsis[]
- Part 1: The X-Men must unite to face a new threat.
- Part 2: The X-Men work to settle the score before it is too late.
- Part 3: The X-Men's dream is put to the test as mutant-human relations reach a tipping point.
Plot[]
Part 1[]
Cable reveals to the X-Men that in his timeline, Bastion used the Genosha massacre to receive backing for his Prime Sentinel program that resulted in a 300-year war and the enslavement of mutants in a human utopia. Furthermore, a temporal anomaly prevented him from stopping the Genosha massacre. Bastion exposes Xavier's whereabouts in the Shi'ar Empire, inciting an anti-mutant protest outside the X-Mansion. Cyclops, Jean, and Cable travel to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Jean learns that Bastion was born a mutant after his father was infected with a techno-organic virus sent by Nimrod. Elsewhere, Bastion reveals Operation Zero Tolerance, a program that turns humans into Prime Sentinels. Beast discovers that hundreds of humans have their Sentinel genes awakened and tries to warn the X-Men, but Trish Tilby stops him and reveals herself to be one of them. As the X-Mansion burns to the ground, Wolverine and Nightcrawler protect an unconscious Rogue from an army of Prime Sentinels. After being released by Cooper, Magneto travels to the North Pole and activates a massive magnetic field that shuts down all of the Prime Sentinels. Following the attacks, Xavier returns to Earth and summons all of the X-Men back to the mansion.
Part 2[]
Xavier is met with some distrust, but the X-Men focus on stopping Bastion and convincing Magneto to reverse his blackout. Magneto re-establishes his mutant haven on Asteroid M, choosing to leave Earth without power and reject Xavier's dream of mutant/human co-existence. He invites the X-Men to join him, which Rogue and Roberto do. The rest of the X-Men return to their former base on Muir Island to regroup, before splitting into two teams: Cyclops's Blue Team goes to Asteroid M to confront Magneto while Storm and Jean's Gold Team heads to Bastion's hideout in the Galapagos Islands with a collar that can block Bastion's technopathy, severing his control over the Sentinels. The Gold Team battle Sinister and an army of Sentinels that Bastion is powering himself. Sinister takes control of Cable's mind and uses him to overpower Jean, who sends a desperate psychic message to Cyclops. On Asteroid M, Xavier attempts to take control of Magneto's mind but is blocked. Wolverine stabs and seriously injures Magneto, who begins ripping the adamantium metal from Wolverine's skeleton.
Part 3[]
Shortly after Magneto critically injures Wolverine, Xavier uses his telepathic powers to override Magneto's mind and shut down the EMP. The Prime Sentinels are reactivated and continue wreaking havoc around the world. Just as Bastion prepares to execute Cable, Jean re-emerges as Phoenix and places the collar on Bastion, immediately deactivating the Prime Sentinels. She then takes away Sinister's powers and control over Cable before the Phoenix Force disappears. Bastion rips Cable's cybernetic arm and merges with it to upgrade himself and fly towards Asteroid M. Upon his arrival, he is confronted by Blue Team. Meanwhile, Xavier struggles to save Magneto's mind. Gold Team arrive on Asteroid M in a commandeered Sentinel to join Blue Team in the fight. Cyclops tells the X-Men to stand down before he attempts to reason with Bastion, but missiles launched by the U.S. military bombard Asteroid M. Bastion is killed by the core reactor's explosion as the asteroid descends back to Earth. The X-Men use their combined effort to stop the asteroid from crashing on the East Coast. Magneto regains consciousness and sends the asteroid back into space before it explodes, presumably taking him and the X-Men in the process. Six months later, Bishop pays Forge a visit and tells them the X-Men are trapped in time. Cyclops and Jean end up in 3960 A.D., where they encounter Mother Askani and a child Nathan. Meanwhile, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Xavier, and Magneto find themselves in Ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C., where they meet En Sabah Nur.
Cast[]
- Ross Marquand as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Latverian OZT Member, Apocalypse
- Matthew Waterson as Magneto, Overeager Journalist, World Leader #1
- Theo James as Bastion
- Ray Chase as Scott Summers/Cyclops
- Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Female Prime, World Leader #3
- Lenore Zann as Anna-Marie Raven/Rogue
- George Buza as Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy/Beast
- Gil Birmingham as Forge
- Alison Sealy-Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
- Isaac Robinson-Smith as Lucas Bishop/Bishop, T'Chaka
- Chris Potter as Nathan Summers/Cable
- Adrian Hough as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
- Holly Chou as Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, Chinese OZT Member
- Gui Agustini as Roberto Da Costa/Sunspot
- Chris Britton as Nathaniel Essex/Mister Sinister
- Gates McFadden as Rachel Summers/Mother Askani
- J.P. Karliak as Kevin Sydney/Morph, Reverened Stryker, Radio Jockey, World Leader #2
- Adetokumboh M'Cormack as Eh Sabah Nur
- Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers/Captain America
- Catherine Disher as Val Cooper
- Cal Dodd as James Howlett/Wolverine
- Theo Chou as Sebastion Gilberti/Bastion, Sentinels
- Ron Rubin as President Robert Kelly
- Kari Wahlgren as Rose
- Donna Jay Fulks as Trish Tilby, Bespectacled Teacher, Female Teacher
- Christine Uhebe as Nina Da Costa
- Anjali Bhimani as Daria, News Anchor
- Rama Vallury as Baron Zemo
- Jeff Bennett as Ford
- Eric Bauza as Mastermold, Prime Sentinels
- Morla Gorrondonna as Empress Lilandra
- Rachel Kimsey as News Anchor, News Pundits, Computer Cube
Aditional voices[]
- Davin Collins
- Terri Douglas
- Robin Atkin Downes
- Arthur Ortiz
- Michael Ralph
- Helen Sadler
- Matthew Wood
- Shelby Young
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Part one was adapted from the "Operation: Zero Tolerance" storyline.
- The premise part two was heavily inspired by the Fatal Attractions storyline.
- Rogue is a stand-in for Colossus, Nightcrawler for Shadowcat, and Gambit for Magik.
- The shot of Magneto ripping the Adamantium out of Wolverine's body is directly lifted from X-Men (Vol. 2) #25.
- Other characters who have appeared throughout the Marvel Animated Universe appear in this episode.
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- In part two, Morph shapeshifts into the Hulk and Mr. Fantastic.
- In part two, Some of the X-Men symbolically change uniforms to convey that the more things change the more they all stay the same.
- Wolverine and Cyclops are based on their Bronze Age and 1980's costumes, respectively.
- Rogue's suit is based on her debut uniform from Avengers Annual #10.
- Jean Grey's wears her Marvel Girl uniform.
- Morph's uniform is based on their Earth-1081 counterpart.
- Cable changes into an X-Uniform based on his Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes counterpart.
- Jubilee changes into her uniform from Wolverine and Jubilee #1
- Cyclops' line to Cable, "What would you expect, black leather?" is a reference to the first X-Men movie where Cyclops said a similar line "What would you prefer, yellow spandex?"
- At one point in part two, Morph Hulk smashes a sign with the name DeMayo's Diner, a reference to X-Men '97 director and head writer Beau DeMayo.
- This episode confirms that Spider-Man from Spider-Man: The Animated Series returned to his original Earth with Mary Jane. For twenty-six years, the fate of Spider-Man and Mary Jane remained unknown after the show was cancelled on a cliffhanger.
