History TearJerker / XMen97

* Magneto's mass-EMP wave that stops the Prime Sentinels in their tracks is treated as an awesome moment, but according to Wolverine, this could very well be Erik [[ThenLetMeBeEvil finally having enough of humanity continuing to mistreat mutants and declaring war on them all.]] Magneto genuinely tried to be a better person and attempted to see Charles' dream of a shared world through. But the massacre of Genosha and his own capture and torture at Bastion's hands have seemingly reinforced his belief that humans and mutants can never coexist. Val Cooper's speech to Bastion as this scene plays out drives home the finality of it all:
-->'''Val Cooper:''' You know, in Genosha I felt a lot of things: Pain, grief, admiration for those who fought despite the odds. But you know what the oddest thing was? No one seemed shocked or surprised. Not even me. Yes, I was scared, but really, I had the most profound sense of deja vu. As if past, present, and future didn't matter and never had because we always end up in the same ugly place. Thing is, Magneto knows us better than Charles ever did. Knows we know better. That most of us experience tragedies like Genosha as a bit of deja vu before getting on with our day. But the scariest thing about Genosha wasn't the death or the chaos. It was a thought. The only sane thought you can have when being chased by giant robots that were built to crush you: '''''[[VillainHasAPoint Magneto was right.]]'''''

-->'''Val Cooper:''' "You know, in Genosha I felt a lot of things: Pain, grief, admiration for those who fought despite the odds. But you know what the oddest thing was? No one seemed shocked or surprised. Not even me. Yes, I was scared, but really, I had the most profound sense of deja vu. As if past, present, and future didn't matter and never had because we always end up in the same ugly place. Thing is, Magneto knows us better than Charles ever did. Knows we know better. That most of us experience tragedies like Genosha as a bit of deja vu before getting on with our day. But the scariest thing about Genosha wasn't the death or the chaos. It was a thought. The only sane thought you can have when being chased by giant robots that were built to crush you: '''''[[VillainHasAPoint Magneto was right.]]'''''

** Prior to the above, Rogue murdering Trask by letting him fall is a mix of both this and NightmareFuel. The X-Men are too shocked to even move; with Scott, Morph, and Kurt horrified. But Logan curtly says that Rogue just did "what we wanted to do." Morph questions [[KnightTemplar what the team even is now]] before Rogue makes a bitter justification in murdering Trask, who already wanted to die from remorse. After the events of Genosha and their own lingering bitterness towards humanity, the X-Men seem to be falling more in line with Magneto's way of thinking, in that even "mere tolerance" is too much to hope from humanity.

* Magneto's mass-EMP wave that stops the Prime Sentinels in their tracks is treated as an awesome moment, but according to Wolverine, this could very well be Erik [[ThenLetMeBeEvil finally having enough of humanity continuing to mistreat mutants and declaring war on them all.]] All despite having renounced his vendetta against mankind and actually trying to see Charles' dream of a shared world through;
-->'''Magneto:''' '''[[TranquilFury Enough.]]'''

* Cable revealing that he and Bishop got separated in the time stream while going to the future. Meaning that he - as a helpless, sick infant - ended up in the future alone, [[AdultFear horrifying Scott and Jean.]]

** Just to twist the knife even further, [[Franchise/Marvel inemaricUniverse MCU]] fans will recognize those words as what Wanda says to the deactivated and disassembled Vision in ''Series/WandaVision''. Rogue's delivery is every bit as heartbreaking as Wanda's.

** MCU fans would also recognize those words as what Wanda says to the deactivated and disassembled Vision in ''Series/WandaVision''.

* TheReveal of Val Cooper being TheMole for Bastion and Sinister the whole time is this as she comes off as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who gave Magneto a fair trial and took part of the official integration of Genosha into the United Nations, even though [[LockedOutOfTheLoop she didn't know the full extent of their plans]] and [[EveryoneHasStandards was horrified of the Genoshan massacre she was caught in the middle of it]]. [[HeelFaceTurn Fortunately, she turned against them and freed Magneto]] [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished despite the fact she would suffer the consequences later on]].

* Trish Trilby being revealed as a Prime Sentinel is this as she was one of the few humans who supported mutants despite her InnocentlyInsensitive remarks in an attempt to make them relatable to humanity and it even shocked Beast when she attacked him. And it's ambiguous whether or not she willingly underwent the process that transformed humans into Prime Sentinels as Bastion explained to Val Cooper that most of them did it voluntarily.

* Bastion's backstory. As a boy whose father was merged with the time-traveling remains of Nimrod, Bastion was troubled by the voices in his head telling him that he'll one day become the strongest mutant in the world and just wanted to be normal. Although his mother tells Bastion that he's still normal to her, that wasn't enough to prevent her son from becoming the monster we know today.
* Roberto's mother handing him and Jubilee over to the Prime Sentinels, despite showing her support for Roberto being a mutant in the previous episode.
* Magneto's mass-EMP wave that stops the Prime Sentinels in their tracks is treated as an awesome moment, but according to Wolverine, this could very well be Erik [[ThenLetMeBeEvil finally having enough of humanity continuing to mistreat mutants and declaring war on humanity.]]

** Also the reason why Scott was so angered in the first place was that in fighting with Wolverine, Jubilee had smashed the picture of Charles with the First Class of X-Men (Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Iceman, and Angel).

* The remaining X-Men watching the terrorist attack in abject disbelief and horror. Scott wants to know how many have died, and all Beast can do is put his head in his hands and try not to weep. And they have yet to find out that two of their own are gone.

* Last thing Callisto hear before she dies is that her Morlocks are being killed or just plain dead.

** Prior to the above, Rogue murdering Trask by letting him fall is a mix of both this and NightmareFuel. What's even more frightening and heartbreaking is that nobody else on the team moves in to ''try'' and save him. Scott, Morph, and Kurt are horrified, but Logan curtly says that Rogue just did "what all of us wanted to do." After the events of Genosha and their own lingering bitterness towards humanity, it seems the X-Men are falling more in line with Magneto's way of thinking, in that even "mere tolerance" is too much to hope from humanity.
* When Cable shows up to disarm the Human-Sentinel, Jean and Scott realize that he's Nathan. Cable coldly tells Jean to get out of his mind because, "You're not [Madelyne]," and is equally cold with Scott, seemingly affirming Scott's worst fears about Nathan growing up feeling abandoned by his father the same way he did.

* During the battle with Trask, Morph takes a nasty blast to their head. Wolverine is quick to react, and belts outs a BigNo. This no doubt reminds Wolverine of nearly losing Morph from the original series.

** The X-Man who doesn't appear? It's Rogue, hellbent on finding Bolivar Trask and getting revenge for the attack in Genosha. Underneath her rage is guilt and grief, which finally pours out of her in heartbroken sobs when Kurt talks to her. Lenore Zann's performance in this scene is nothing short of gut-wrenching.

* If the ending didn't drive the point home on the aftermath of the attack, [[SolemnCreditsTheme even the ending credits song was a somber rendition.]]

* If the ending didn't drive the point home on the aftermath of the attack, even the ending credits song was a somber rendition.

* It seems that Boliver Trask has a measure of morality as he's completely and utterly horrified that the Master Mold-type that attacked Genosha ''murdered'' so many.

*** Lenore Zann would later [[https://x.com/ZannLenore/status/1783274880433266851 confirm on Twitter]] that her performance came from losing her young niece to cancer.

** Hank's attitude during the survivor search is equally heartbreaking. While he initially tries to keep everyone's spirits up by quoting Creator/FredRogers, he's clearly heartbroken by the destruction of Genosha, flat-out calling it "the death of the dream". He and Trish take a walk and come across a mutant girl at a shrine for the deceased Leech. The two then talk about the mutant riots that have sprouted in the wake of the massacre, with Trish saying that humans won't accept mutants if they feel afraid. [[InnocentlyInsensitive Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time]] as Hank begins to doubt Xavier's dream of peace between humans and mutants and bitterly wonders if begging for humanity's tolerance was their first mistake before leaving off in a huff. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness You know things are bad when the kind and gentle Beast becomes unusually cold and distant.]]

*** Thankfully, at the episode end he's shown alive and back on his feet, but it's likely that his joyful, happy-go-lucky personality from just earlier will now be shattered forever.

-->'''Rogue''': Sugar...I....[screen fades to black]...I can't feel you...

*** For Jean, she has PartingWordsRegret with Madelyne as she called the latter [[ItIsDehumanizing "it"]] when she caught Madelyne trying to comfort Scott about their son and his issues in their psychic link before cutting off their connection. With Madelyne gone, Jean can never reconcile with her.

* As bad as Bolivar Trask has been, the sight of him standing over a ledge and prepared to end his life over his part in the Genosha massacre illicits pity, and it turns out that [[FateWorseThanDeath not even death was a release as Trask's dead body revealed to be a Human-Sentinel]] that then attacks the X-Men, following the anti-mutant programming.
** Prior to the above, Rogue murdering Trask by letting him fall is a mix of both this and NightmareFuel. What's even more frightening and heartbreaking is that nobody else on the team reacts or even tries to save him. Scott, Morph, and Kurt are horrified, but Logan curtly says that Rogue just did "what all of us wanted to do." After the events of Genosha, it seems the X-Men are falling more in line with Magneto's way of thinking, in that even "mere tolerance" is too much to hope from humanity.

* When Cable shows up to disarm the Human-Sentinel, Jean and Scott realize that he's Nathan. Cable coldly tells Jean to get out his mind because "You're not [Madelyne]," and is equally cold with Scott, seemingly affirming Scott's worst fears about Nathan growing up feeling abandoned by his father the same way he did.

** When Cable shows up to disarm the Human-Sentinel, Jean and Scott realize that he's Nathan. Cable coldly tells Jean to get out his mind because "You're not [Madelyne]," and is equally cold with Scott, seemingly affirming Scott's worst fears about Nathan growing up feeling abandoned by his father the same way he did.

** Hank's attitude during the survivor search is equally heartbreaking. While he initially tries to keep everyone's spirits up by quoting Mr. Rogers, he's clearly heartbroken by the destruction of Genosha, flat-out calling it "the death of the dream". He and Trish take a walk and come across a mutant girl at a shrine for the deceased Leech. The two then talk about the mutant riots that have sprouted in the wake of the massacre, with Trish saying that humans won't accept mutants if they feel afraid. [[InnocentlyInsensitive Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time]] as Hank begins to doubt Xavier's dream of peace between humans and mutants and bitterly wonders if begging for humanity's tolerance was their first mistake before leaving off in a huff. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness You know things are bad when the kind and gentle Beast becomes unusually cold and distant.]]

** The X-Man who doesn't appear? It's Rogue, hellbent on finding Bolivar Trask and getting revenge for the attack in Genosha. Underneath her rage is guilt and grief, which finally pours out of her in heartbroken sobs when Kurt talks to her.

* Scott tries to get President Kelly to help search for more survivors in Genosha, but Kelly says that with the world on edge from the massacre, the UN can't send any troops to help, meaning the X-Men are effectively on their own. Not only that, Kelly informs Scott that he's SlaveToPR to ensure that he remains as President or else someone else with anti-mutant prejudice will take his place. Feeling abandoned by the humans he constantly fought to protect in the face of prejudice, Scott begins to openly doubt Xavier's dream of peace between humans and mutants and even begins to think that maybe Magneto was right all along.

--->'''Rouge:''' Remy's dead, but that don't mean I'm ready to accept it.\\

'''Rouge:''' You sure pulled the short straw in the "Adopted Sister Department", didn't you? Got the gal who goes bonkers over... (''voice breaking'') losing a boy.\\

'''Rouge:''' (''finally breaks down sobbing as the other X-Men arrive to comfort her.'')
* Scott tries to get Senator Kelly to help search for more survivors in Genosha, but Kelly says that with the world on edge from the massacre, the UN can't send any troops to help, meaning the X-Men are effectively on their own. Feeling abandoned by the humans he constantly fought to protect in the face of prejudice, Scott begins to openly doubt Xavier's dream of peace between humans and mutants and even begins to think that maybe Magneto was right all along.

** Scott and Jean begin to reconcile over Madelyne and everything that happened. Then Jean gets psychic feedback from a telepath, and Scott hopefully calls out for Madelyne. When the mutant is revealed to be Emma Frost (who survived thanks to developing her diamond skin powers), everyone is overjoyed that they found another survivor. Cut to Scott, tears of anguish falling down his face as it hits him that Madelyne - the woman he loved, mother of his only child - is truly gone.

** Prior to the above, Rouge murdering Trask by letting him fall is a mix of both this and NightmareFuel. What's even more frightening and heartbreaking is that nobody else on the team reacts or even tries to save him. Scott, Morph, and Kurt are horrified, but Logan curtly says that Rogue just did "what all of us wanted to do." After the events of Genosha, it seems the X-Men are falling more in line with Magneto's way of thinking, in that even "mere tolerance" is too much to hope from humanity.