Moira's son Proteus escapes Muir Island and goes on a destructive rampage while searching for his father, and the X-Men are called in to help.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out:
- The original story had Proteus hijack one of Multiple Man's dupes, and Havok and Polaris played a role in the fight against him. Since they're part of X-Factor, they don't show up.
- Jean as well, as the Proteus storyline had a subplot of her suffering weird hallucinations, which was a lead-in to The Dark Phoenix Saga, but since that's already happened Jean and her plot aren't here.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Kevin/Proteus is here depicted as a confused boy, far from the sociopath he was in the comics.
- Proteus's first victim outside the facility. In the comics, he was trying to bomb Moira's facility because the X-Men hired a boat from him, which he refused to sell out of Fantastic Racism, and it was destroyed by Magneto, and he figured this was the sensible response, even thinking that if any innocents were hurt, "so much the better". Here, he's just a random guy Kevin finds.
- Bar Full of Aliens: The bar Kevin winds up in is the same one Rogue went to in season 1, still occupied by mutants, and Technet (a gang of alien mercenaries who usually bother the Excalibur crew).
- Body Horror: What Proteus subjects Wolverine to, and it mentally breaks him.
- Bowdlerise:
- Proteus' backstory is significantly toned down from the comics, as are his powers (he heavily drains those he possesses but doesn't kill them).
- Joseph McTaggert, Proteus' father (and Moira's ex-husband), is reimagined as a greedy, selfish politician rather than the vicious rapist he was in the comics. The adaptation also omits the detail that he forced Moira into their marriage.
- Call-Back: Charles has a flashback to his engagement with Moira, along with his relationship with Amelia Voght from "Sanctuary", and his meeting Banshee back in "The Phoenix Saga, Part 2".
- The Cameo:
- Morph can be seen at at the beginning of the episode, in Moira's care.
- Namor is briefly seen on the docks, dressed a la Popeye the Sailor Man.
- Lighter and Softer: The episode is a far more kid-friendly take on the comic storyline.
- No Sympathy: Logan has absolutely none for Kevin or his condition and is pretty open about it to Moira's face. Rogue calls him out on it, pointing out he'd feel differently if it was someone he loved suffering.
- Power Incontinence: Kevin can't control his powers. Moira's been trying to help bring him to a sense of normality, but it's not working. However, he's got some control; when Rogue accidentally touches him, she makes the surrounding area go berserk.
