History NightmareFuel / XMen97

* An army of sentinels attack Genosha, killing countless mutants and knocking out Rogue. When Rogue comes to, Gambit is telling her about an elite sentinel that seems impervious to damage and is extremely powerful. Magneto fights it and fails to defeat it. He seemingly dies while trying (and failing) to protect some Morlocks.
* Gambit dies while fighting the Sentinel. The other X-men get the news through a television report. All of them are utterly horrified, but Beast takes it especially hard. The episode ends with Rogue crying over Gambit's body.

* While Genosha is having a grand celebration, Madelyne suddenly gets a nosebleed and heads outside. Cable comes rushing to her, urging everybody else to evacuate as soon as possible. He reaches his mother, but before he can fully explain what is going on, he gets dragged back into a different time.

* An army of sentinels attack Genosha, killing countless mutants and knocking out Rogue. When Rogue comes to, Gambit is telling her about an elite sentinel that seems impervious to damage and is extra powerful. Magneto fights it and fails to defeat it. He seemingly dies while trying (and failing) to protect some Morlocks.

* The Friends of Humanity's raid on the courthouse where Magneto is standing trial. The parallels between the scene and the events in Washington D.C. on [=1/6/2021=] make it even more harrowing.

*** Morph's subsequent reaction is equally terrifying: he genuinely appears to believe that he and the other X-Men are in Hell. It goes a long way to selling his abject, gibbering terror in the face of Sinister, and his continuing trauma response to the man who broke him. Interestingly his comment seems to give Sinister/Madelyn-as-Goblin-Queen some inspo, as the illusions immediate kick up a notch from 'nightmareish' to 'the team literally is sucked into a fire and brimstone pit and assaulted by demons'.

[[caption-width-right:1000:'"Most refer to me as '''Mister Sinister.''' But you can call me '''Father'''."'']]

[[caption-width-right:1000:"Most refer to me as '''Mister Sinister.''' But you can call me '''Father'''"]]

** When his procesure to infuse the techno-organic virus into baby Nathan is thwarted by Cyclops and Goblin Queen's timely intervention, Sinister gives a ''haunting'' [[IronicNurseryTune recitation]] of the lyrics to "Ladybird" to let them know just how much they've screwed things up by interrupting the process.

-->''Ladybird, ladybird. Fly away home. Your house is on fire. '''And your child [[AdultFear long gone]].'''''

** Jubilee and Sunspot are sat together watching television, before a haunting voice mimics what the TV character is saying, and said character turns and looks at them with a smile that screams ill intent. Both of them are immediately alarmed... and then the character taps on the screen and ''crashes through it'', turning into a grotesque malformation of flesh that crawls like Sadako through the television.

** VocalEvolution plays a huge part in just how much more of a menace Sinister is now compared to the original series. Back then, Sinister was a ColdHam who [[ChewingTheScenery stole every scene]] he appeared in. With the DarkerAndEdgier tone of '''97'', his more dramatic manner of speech is dialed back considerably, to such an extent where it's almost no longer present. This makes Sinister come off as much more as a SoftSpokenSadist who relishes in tormenting those he manipulates like puppets, making him much more reflective of his visage - a demon,.

** Morph sees Logan in the shower and jokingly offers to help him wash, only for the distorted and familiar voice to reply, with his distorted figure obscured by the steam of the showers. When he realizes who it is, the OhCrap face he has speaks volumes about his experiences with the man. Then he leaps out from the steam and attacks Morph like a feral animal.

* '''Mister Sinister.''' Already one of the creepiest Marvel villains, the series reminds us ''exactly'' why he is so hated and feared. His voice drips with malice and [[FauxAffablyEvil an eerie, monstrous charm]] that honestly sounds like a demon enticing mortals into making a deadly pact (and his horrifying SlasherSmile, complete with shark-like teeth, helps sell this). His speech towards Jean is also ''dripping'' with [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything truly horrific undertones]] that is sure to send chills down your spine. The animators and Creator/ChrisBritton did an ''incredible'' job with his opening scene.

* Jean hushing young Nathan in the quiet dark of the bedroom, only for a ''very'' creepy voice to suddenly and tantalizingly call to her on the baby monitor, akin to a very scary scene from ''Film/ParanormalActivity''. And the one making those sounds on the monitor...

* Mixed with a little bit of Awesome, but the illusions projected by Jean, now possessed by Sinister, are absolutely ''terrifying''. The animation serves only to make it even more nightmarish.

* Jean hushing young Nathan in the quiet dark of the bedroom, only for a ''very'' creepy voice to suddenly call to her on the baby monitor. And the one making those sounds on the monitor...

* '''Mister Sinister.''' Already one of the creepiest Marvel villains, the series reminds us ''exactly'' why he is so hated and feared. His voice drips with malice and [[FauxAffablyEvil an eerie, monstrous charm]] that truly sounds like a demon enticing mortals into making a deadly pact (and his truly horrifying SlasherSmile, complete with shark-like teeth, helps sell this). His speech towards Jean is also ''dripping'' with [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything truly horrific undertones]] that is sure to send chills down your spine. The animators and Creator/ChrisBritton did an ''incredible'' job with his opening scene.

** Jubilee and are sat watching television, before a haunting voice mimics what the character is saying, and said character turns and looks at them with a smile that screams ill intent. Both of them are immediately alarmed... and then the character taps on the screen and ''crashes through it'', turning into a grotesque malformation of flesh that crawls like Sadako through the television.

* Jean Grey discovering that she's actually [[spoiler:Madelyne Pryor, and that all the times she has shared with the X-Men, including Scott and her son Nathan, were all machinations of a cruel and despicable man. Imagine living your life as normal (as far as normal for being a mutant goes at least) and you've just had your first child and have big plans to start a new life... only to discover it was never your life to begin with.]]

[[folder:Episode 3: Fire Made Flesh]]

** Morph sees Logan in the shower and jokingly offers to help him wash, only for the distorted and familiar voice to reply, with his distorted figure obscured by the steam of the showers. When he realizes who it is, the OhCrap face he has speaks volumes about his experiences with the man. Then he leaps out from the steam and attacks Morph like a feral animal.