As the X-Men lay Gambit to rest and provide aid to the people of Genosha, Rogue goes on the hunt for Gyrich and Trask — and from them, answers behind the massacre that robbed her of her beloved. Their answers point to the mysterious group known only as OZT, and a secret weapon that will threaten the whole of mutantkind in a way never before seen!
The X-Men focus on providing aid and succor to the survivors of Genosha following the UN's reluctance to help the wounded nation. As some focus on assisting with triage, Cyclops and Jean Grey search the fallen citadel for survivors. Cyclops holds out hope that Madelyne Pryor may still be alive as he and Jean navigate the ruins, the two still recovering from the revelations following Mister Sinister's cloning plot. While Pryor cannot be found, they do come across one survivor: Emma Frost, whose latent ability to transmute her body into organic diamond helped her live long enough to be rescued. At the same time, Roberto worries about the possibility of a war breaking out between humans and mutants. Jubilee advises him that it may be a good idea to come out to his family as a mutant now before things get worse: there would be nothing worse to a parent than to learn of their child's true nature from news of their death in a tragedy like the one that befell Genosha. Roberto is reluctant, but Jubilee offers to be with him when he breaks the news to his mother.
Meanwhile, out in the mountains, Rogue finds a cottage where she hopes Gyrich are hiding. However, she finds herself confronted by Captain America, who also has a vested interest in finding the fugitive following his transfer from Riker's Island by a secret UN group known only as "Black Book". Inside the cottage, they find an underground compound with mentions of "OZT", and data indicating Gyrich is now hiding in Mexico City. Captain America states that he and his team are preparing to apprehend Gyrich once he has official approval. Rogue, however, is unwilling to wait that long and, against Captain America's warnings about potentially causing an international incident and further damaging human/mutant relations, charges off.
In Mexico City, Rogue finds Gyrich in a mansion guarded by armed forces. They prove to be no match for her as she finally confronts Xavier's assassin. Gyrich insists that he does not know anything about Trask's whereabouts, is evasive when questioned about "OZT", and warns Rogue that he can't be psychically probed like when Jean interrogated him before. Rogue, heedless of his words, takes off her glove and uses her mutant power to attempt to directly syphon his memories. She sees a stranger's face before she passes out.
As Trask suddenly reaches out to the X-Men and requests that they meet him at UN Peace Legion in Madripoor, Roberto returns home and, with Jubilee at his side, finally comes out to his mother as a mutant. Mrs. da Costa, however, reveals that she and her husband have known all along. They are accepting of his mutant nature, thankfully. However, they are not ready for Roberto to go public about his mutant nature, due to their company's precarious financial sitation, souring their relief.
Back in Mexico City, Kurt finds Rogue as she comes to. As the people nearby celebrate el Día de los Muertos — the Day of the Dead, Rogue confides in Kurt about how she still can't get over Remy's death, and kicks herself for going off half-cocked over "losing a boy". Kurt, however, assures her that she enriched not only Remy's life, but Magneto's as well. The rest of the X-Men join her afterwards and help comfort Rogue.
As Gyrich recovers following Rogue's attack, however, his mysterious benefactor approaches him and, chastising him for "nearly ruining the surprise", smothers him to death.
The X-Men arrive in Madripoor and, following Trask's guidance, make their way through the UN Peace Legion building. The upper floors of the building, concealed by a hidden elevator, house cybernetic technology the likes of which are decades ahead of present-day technology, and unconscious guards whose uniforms were also emblazened with the letters "OZT".
On the roof nearby, Trask stands on the edge, ready to make amends for the atrocity he helped unleash by leaping to his death. When Rogue asks about OZT, Trask explains that it's a group from his old Sentinel program that has been preparing something terrible for mutantkind. As to Mister Sinister: he was using Trask's knowledge to create a new, deadlier type of Sentinel, worse still than the one that attacked Genosha!
Trask states his refusal to become "any more of a monster" than he is now and leaps, but Rogue catches him. She demands Trask tell him more about the "real bad guys" behind this dark conspiracy. Trask regretfully says he can say no more. To this, Rogue, her face darkened and to the shock of her fellow X-Men, releases Trask and lets him fall to his death. As Rogue justifies letting Trask die as just desserts for the death of Remy and the Genoshan massacre ...
"Terminate Mutants!"
An explosion splits the UN Peace Legion building in half, knocking Rogue unconscious and forcing the X-Men to make a hasty escape. To their horror, Trask stands before them again, his corpse transformed into a new kind of mechanical horror: a Prime Sentinel! Against this new enemy, the X-Men are unable to do anything, the Prime Sentinel's technology and weaponry quickly overwhelming them.
As it prepares to kill Cyclops, however, an EMP cluster grenade incapacitates it and saves the X-Men, courtesy of Cable. As the X-Men regain their bearings, Jean suddenly gets a psychic echo from Cable, of his brief meeting with Madelyne Pryor in Genosha. She, and Scott, finally realize Cable's true identity as Nathan Charles Summers — Scott's son!
There is no time for a family reunion, however: Cable warns the X-Men that Mister Sinister is actually working for someone worse, someone who threatens the future!
Elsewhere, Sinister and his new benefactor discuss the Prime Sentinel attack. While Sinister questions the wisdom of letting the X-Men fight against the prototype made from Trask's body, this new villain assures him that everything is going according to his plan. Of particular note is his probes into space discovering that Professor Xavier is still alive and taking shelter in the Shi'ar Empire: news of the Professor being alive when the whole world thought him dead would shake the entire world!
But Xavier is not the only one who survived what should've been certain death! Magneto has survived the Genoshan massacre, and is now a prisoner of this new villain: Bastion!
Tropes:
- Achilles' Heel: Cable defeats the Trask Prime Sentinel with an EMP grenade, which he says is the easiest way to take them out.
- All for Nothing: Rogue’s quest for revenge turns out to be this. Gyrich had psychic blocks that prevented Rogue from finding out where Trask is or anything of importance, Trask tells the X-Men where he is on his own, and her killing Trask ends up just activating the Prime Sentinel. Plus now Trask and Gyrich, who was killed by the true mastermind Bastion, are both dead and cannot be used to get any more information.
- And I Must Scream: Jean manages a psychic scan and confirms there's still some of Trask's personality in the Prime Sentinel, but where Trask was at least remorseful and horrified about what his inventions had led to, the Sentinel definitely isn't.
- Anti-Advice: Bastion says that he's looking to supervillains like Sinister—who have been trying and failing to take down the X-Men for five whole years—as examples of what not to do.
- Aside Comment: Bastion mentions to Sinister that he and other villains have been battling the X-Men "... since '92."
- Asshole Victim: Gyrich is murdered by Bastion after he's fulfilled his purpose.
- Batman Gambit: A mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be Bastion, was counting on someone to get answers out of Gyrich, and Rogue just happened to have the means to for what comes next.
- Big Damn Heroes: Cable, who makes his entry dropping an EMP Grenade on the Prime Sentinel that knocks it out, before the camera pans on the man himself.
- Body Horror: Shortly after Rogue drops Trask to his death, his body returns to knock her out. The rest of the X-Men are greeted by the newly-formed "Trask Prime Sentinel", with his head rotating 180 degrees, his eyes lit up, and his skin pale white and marked with circuitry.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Scott has a holographic conversation with President Kelly, who is seeking reelection but taking a "moderate" stance on mutant rights for "optics".
- Amelia Voght is treating the casualties in Genosha.
- Call-Back: While the episode's title has multiple in-story meanings (Gambit's distinctive eyes, the many tears being shed, what Sentinel-Trask's eyes become, etc.), it was also what Rogue once called Cable in the original series.
- The Cameo:
- Gambit's funeral is attended by Belladonna Boudreaux (Gambit's ex-wife and member of the Assassin's Guild), his brothers Bobby and Pierre (both members of the Thieves Guild) and Aurora from Alpha Flight.
- Rogue encounters Captain America in the process of hunting down Gyrich and Trask. Whilst they aren't explicitly named, Cap also alludes to The Avengers, asking Rogue to let "[his] team" go after Gyrich.
- General Thaddeus Ross makes an appearance during Rogue's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, name-dropping The Incredible Hulk when describing how (seemingly) impregnable the bunker is.
- Among the mutants shown helping with the relief effort in Genosha are Blob, Multiple Man, Angel Salvatore, Strong Guy, and Barbarus (a Savage Land Mutate). Mimic shows up in Amelia's flashback along with other Savage Land Mutates (Amphibius, Brainchild, and Lupo).
- Rogue gets a glimpse of Nimrod when touching Gyrich.
- Jean psychically glimpses the deaths of Dazzler, Sebastian Shaw, and Squidboy.
- Morph turns into Quicksilver during the fight against Prime Trask.
- In Madripoor, buildings of the Roxxon Corporation, Hammer Industries, and Stark Industries are glimpsed, and the Prime Sentinel lab is hidden within a Horizon Labs building.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Bastion describes Mister Sinister and the X-Men's other enemies as "villains", which Sinister implicitly agrees with, reminding Bastion that he was once much the same, who likewise doesn't argue with being considered a villain.
- Character Death: Bastion smothers Gyrich to death, and Rogue drops Trask to his death.
- Continuity Snarl: Captain America appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Seriesnote , where he had been trapped in a vortex with Red Skull since the 1940s, when he led the American Six. Here, he's an established superhero who leads the Avengers in the 1990s. In addition, if the Spider-Man series takes place around the same time as its airdates, then the Six Forgotten Warriors arc takes place over a year after this episode!
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Trask Prime Sentinel manages to lay out the X-Men before it is finally stopped by Cable's EMP grenade.
- Dangerously Close Shave: Unlike most examples, Bastion has no intention of harming Magneto during his shave. However, the fact he's able to keep Magneto captive and completely defenseless while he's giving him a shave shows how much power he has.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the comics, Trask sacrifices himself to destroy Master Mold while Gyrich is Thrown Out the Airlock. Here, Gyrich is suffocated by Bastion while Trask is tossed off a building, turned into a Prime Sentinel and ultimately destroyed by EMP.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Roberto revealing his status as a mutant to his mother is framed very much like an LGBT person 'coming out,' complete with a fellow member providing emotional support, the parents already knowing due to prior moments of indiscretion but letting the secret come out on its own, and a well-meaning but insensitive encouragement to use discretion about this new revelation for fear of how it may change perception from others. Earlier, the conversation between Jubilee and Roberto discussing the potential for his parents only finding out about the 'real' him posthumously via the news is also a pretty clear analogy for similar revelations for some families in the wake of hate crimes subsequently outing the victims via news coverage, with Jubilee even giving a hypothetical scenario of Roberto dying that calls to mind the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
- Double Entendre: Trask declares that he won't let Sinister turn him into more of a monster, presumably because of his own horror over the massacre. His words take on a more literal meaning when it turns out that he has been turned into a human-Sentinel hybrid.
- Downer Beginning: The X-Men, sans Storm and Rogue, attend a funeral to mourn their fallen team member Gambit before heading to Genosha to help with recovery, processing the devastation as well as human tensions. Rogue, meanwhile, is facing her own grief as she hunts down Gyrich and Trask; the latter of the two the likeliest suspect who has sent the Sentinel.
- Driven to Suicide: When the X-Men arrive, Trask is preparing to jump to his death out of regret for his role in the massacre in Genosha. Rogue stops him from falling when he tries to jump, but expedites the process when Trask can't give them any more information.
- Everybody Knew Already: With Jubilee's help, Roberto finally works up the nerve to tell his mother about his mutant powers — only for her to breathe a sigh of relief. She reveals that she and his dad had figured it out after four of their family homes "mysteriously" burned down since he turned 16, though they trusted him enough to wait until he revealed himself.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Without in-story emphasis, Jean is wearing her hair loose (like Madelyne) instead of in her customary ponytail this entire time.
- Genocide Survivor: A small handful of Genosha's citizens survived the new Master Mold's attack. Among the notable is Emma Frost, whose latent diamond transmutation power awakened under duress. Magneto also survived, albeit as Bastion's prisoner.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The true mastermind behind the Genoshan massacre is revealed to be Bastion.
- Happily Adopted: Played with and Discussed, as Rogue confirms that she and Kurt are adopted siblings, and the two love and support each other.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Savage Land Mutates, once Sinister's minions, show up as part of the humanitarian efforts in Genosha.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: As Nightcrawler notes in his eulogy, Gambit was prone to this, dwelling on his past sins and dismissive of the idea that he was a hero, though Kurt believes that Remy did know his real value, and that his insistence to the contrary was a tell that confirmed it.
- Hope Spot: Jean Grey is contacted by a telepath who survived the attack on Genosha and is buried under the rubble, and Scott believes that it might be Madelyne, only to discover it’s Emma Frost.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: General Ross assures his soldiers (while drinking coffee no less) that their facility can handle Rogue, as it was built to keep out the Hulk, before Rogue bursts right in to confront Ross on where Gyrich is.Rogue: Daddy always used to say breakin' into prison was easier than breakin' out.
- Internal Reveal:
- Bastion reveals to Sinister that Xavier is alive and he intends to reveal it to the world.
- Scott and the rest of the X-Men learn that Cable is Nathan Summers.
- In Vino Veritas: Mrs. Da Costa is guzzling wine, and apparently this is a daily routine with her. In her inebriated state, she admits to Roberto about knowing all along that he's a mutant, but also reveals that Slave to PR ramifications are her main worries over all else.
- It Always Rains at Funerals: Gambit's funeral takes place in a downpour, fitting the downcast mood of the mourners.
- It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: Rogue and Kurt come across a Día de los Muertos celebration in Mexico.
- Jerkass Has a Point: President Kelly argues he's taking a moderate stance on mutant rights and aid to Genosha in order to prevent the election of an openly anti-mutant candidate.
- The Juggernaut:
- Rogue trashes her way through a US Military bunker that, according to Gen. Ross, was designed to withstand the Hulk, without breaking much of a sweat.
- The Trask Prime Sentinel floors Rogue with a single punch, doesn't even flinch at any of the X-Men's attacks, and easily defeats the entire team before Cable takes it out with an EMP grenade.
- Kick the Dog: The Trask Prime Sentinel mocks Cyclops and calls him an orphan while preparing to kill him. Notably, Cyclops is the only X-Man the Sentinel goes out of his way to mock, having subdued the others with ruthless efficiency.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Barely 10 seconds after Rogue drops Trask to his presumed death, he, now fully a Prime Sentinel, zips back up and decks her with a single punch.
- The Trask Prime Sentinel taunts Cyclops about having been abandoned by the future and immediately afterward gets taken out with an EMP grenade from Nathan Summers, Cyclops' son from the future.
- Leitmotif: Cable returns, as does his theme from the original animated series.
- Ludicrous Gibs: The Prime Sentinel makes Morph's head explode into a gooey mess (though if they're like their comic counterparts, this hasn't actually killed them - just hurt a lot).
- Meaningful Funeral: The episode opens with a funeral held for Gambit, attended by the X-Men and Remy's friends and family from the Thieves Guild. Nightcrawler serves as the funeral's celebrant, his eulogy painting his friend as a man who was humble and believed in a better future.
- Mundane Solution: Trask-Sentinel tanks everything the X-Men use against him and curb-stomps them all, then gets taken out instantly with an electro-magnetic pulse, courtesy of Cable.
- Mythology Gag: A building owned by Vistacorp is visible in some shots of Madripoor. This is the company that Scott Lang once worked for in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a position that ended up leading to his getting thrown in prison due to events he explains in the first Ant-Man film. They also own the WHIH News Organization seen in some supplemental MCU materials.
- Rogue's moves, during her attack on Thunderbolt Ross' military base, are similar to Capcom's XMenVsStreetFighter.
- Never Found the Body: Neither Madelyne nor Val Cooper were found among the dead on Genosha; Cyclops tries to use Val's unknown fate to get more help from President Kelly, and he and Jean try to find Madelyne among the rubble, but neither of them are found.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The soldiers inside the military facility watching Rogue's rampage are understandably terrified. General Ross not so much — at first, thinking that Rogue couldn't break in, until she proves him wrong.
- Other than Wolverine, the X-Men are shocked by Rogue dropping Trask to his "death."
- Rogue herself has one right before what used to be Trask flies back up and knocks her out. Followed by the rest of the X-Men when they see what Trask had become.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Despite Trask's remorse, Rogue still drops him to what she assumes will be his death as revenge for his role in the deaths of Gambit and the innocents of Genosha. Wolverine lampshades it.
- Playing Card Motifs: Befitting Gambit's association with playing cards, Nightcrawler makes several gambling and card references during his eulogy, which adds a touch of levity that Remy would doubtless appreciate.
- The Power Of Potential: According to Nightcrawler, Gambit was a believer in the potential of everyone. Tragically, he was blind to his own potential because of his own self-loathing. Nightcrawler firmly believes that Gambit lived up to his own potential by saving Genosha with his Heroic Sacrifice in the previous episode.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Mister Sinister criticizes Bastion for exposing the Prime Sentinel technology to the X-Men so soon, saying that they should have waited until their endgame was ready and just overwhelmed them. Bastion replies that, having seen Sinister and villains of his ilk fail to kill the X-Men for years, he takes what they would do in his place as a good example of what not to do.
- Psychic Block Defense: Gyrich brags to Rogue that Jean Grey's telepathy is no longer enough to get answers out of him. This prompts Rogue to take a more direct approach by siphoning his memories through her touch, but even then she only receives an incomplete image of Bastion's master plan.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Captain America, while sympathetic to Rogue and giving her the information to find Gyrich, tells her he can’t go with her to Mexico to get Gyrich due to not wanting to raise an international incident.
- The Reveal: Mister Sinister caused the Genoshan massacre at the behest of Bastion, who is keeping a very alive Magneto prisoner.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Rogue starts the episode in this, rampaging through a US Military bunker before going after Gyrich.
- Rocket Punch: The Prime Sentinel shows it can shoot off its fists at enemies.
- She's Back: Downplayed in that the episode doesn't emphasise it but this is the first episode that has Jean Grey suit up in costume and go into action as an X-Man again.
- Shout-Out:
- Beast, in dark irony, quotes Mr. Rogers when they arrive to help in Genosha.
- On entering the Prime Sentinel lab, audio is being played declaring, "Asimov's law be damned, we cannot limit our scope."
- Morph calls Trask a "poor man's Oppenheimer", and then Trask paraphrases the quote about Death used by Oppenheimer.
- Bastion listens to Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater" when he kills Gyrich and shaves Magneto.
- Slave to PR:
- President Kelly, while not unsympathetic to the suffering of mutants in the wake of the Genosha massacre, isn't willing to lend too much public support for fear of negatively affecting voters. Cyclops is unimpressed, arguing that if Genosha looked more "human", Kelly would be more concerned with death tolls than polls. Kelly responds that if he doesn’t, someone less kind to mutants could take office.
- While accepting of her son as a mutant, Nina Da Costa quickly, and to both Roberto and Jubilee's discomfort, starts making plans to keep his status from getting too public to avoid a negative impact on their family's holdings.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: When the X-Men witnesses Trask across the building rooftop, preparing to make his suicide attempt, Morph makes a small aside that Trask is "Poor Man's Oppenhiemer". Moments later, Trask unexpectedly recites Oppenhiemer's "Now I Am Become Death" quote, in a loudly theatrical and dour fashion.
- Tempting Fate:
- General Ross assures his troops that the facility they're in was built to contain the Hulk, so they can handle Rogue. As Rogue quickly proves and points out, the facility was designed to keep the likes of the Hulk from getting out; keeping someone from getting in is another story.
- The Trask Prime Sentinel taunts Cyclops by asking how it feels to be abandoned by the future. Cue EMP grenade from Cable.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Jean tries to comfort Scott by declaring Madelyne as being almost another sister to her like Storm has been, though it's likely she's trying to assuage only her own guilt.
- To Be Lawful or Good: While he's more sympathetic than Kelly and actively trying to find Gyrich himself, Captain America insists to Rogue that they do things by the book and refuses to go on a vigilante mission, prompting Rogue to dismiss him and toss his shield far into the wilderness.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Emma Frost's diamond transmuation power awakened during the attack on Genosha, and allowed her to survive even when buried under the citadel's rubble.Beast: Perhaps a dormant mutation triggered by duress?
Emma Frost: ... I've always done well ... under pressure ... - Uncertain Doom:
- While Magneto has been confirmed to be alive, the fates of Leech and the other Morlocks whom he was shielding at the moment of his presumed death remain unknown. A picture being left at a vigil for Genosha's lost, however, hints that they may have perished.
- It's unclear if Cable's EMP grenade outright killed the Trask Prime Sentinel or just temporarily incapacitated it.
- Unexplained Recovery: It is never explained how Captain America came back to the present when he was last seen (in this universe, mind you) trapped in a vortex alongside the Red Skull.
- The Unreveal:
- Sinister unleashed the entire Genoshan massacre and continues to work with Bastion all on the expectation of Bastion providing something back that Sinister wants. Whatever the hell in all existence that could ever be remains unknown.
- It's unexplained how Magneto was taken alive and (seemingly) uninjured when all others struck directly by the Tri-Sentinel's beams appeared to vaporize.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Rogue meting out a Disney Villain Death to Trask immediately results in him becoming a Prime Sentinel and thoroughly trouncing the X-Men until Cable shows up and fries his circuits with an EMP grenade.
- Villain Team-Up: Sinister has teamed up with Bastion and aided in the creation of Prime Sentinels.
- Wham Episode: Sinister is revealed to be working for Bastion, who is the true mastermind behind the Sentinel attack on Genosha and is keeping Magneto, who is alive, hostage.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The rest of the X-Men are horrified when Rogue drops Trask to his death ... except Wolverine, who says she did what they all wanted to do.
- Which is presumably true, since at the very least Jean (through telekinesis) or Nightcrawler (through teleportation) could have easily saved Trask if they'd wanted to.
- The Worf Effect: While most of the old Sentinels are hulking giants that can be taken down easily, the same cannot be said for the newer Prime Sentinels. The one Trask becomes is smaller and agile, and has enough firepower to take on the entire group of X-men.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- After Rogue probes his mind for answers, a recovering Gyrich is assassinated by Bastion via suffocation, saying that he almost "ruined the surprise".
- When Trask can't tell Rogue anything else about what's going on, she drops him to the streets below to resume his suicide. However, her and the rest of the team to quickly discover that he is still useful ... to Bastion and Sinister as a Prime Sentinel.
